The Road Home (28 page)

She pried once more, and the bolt slid back with a quiet click. Jenny slowly opened the door a crack and looked down the hallway toward the main room. She could hear the men. Their talk was coarse, and they seemed to be egging Jorge on toward something Jenny didn't even want to think about.

She looked around. The light from the front room lit the hallway dimly, and she could see a door at the end of the hall. She opened her door and slipped silently into the hall and made her way to the door. The men laughed again, and she gently turned the knob. To her relief, the door opened.

A light brush of snow was silently drifting, and a pale quarter moon gave a ghostly light through the passing clouds. Not enough snow had fallen to stick yet, and the ground was still bare. Jenny started to open the screen door and slip out when she heard a sound behind her. She looked around and gasped. Jorge was standing at the head of the hallway, a wicked grin on his face.

“Goin' somewhere?” he asked, his words slurred. He looked at her with bloodshot eyes and then lurched toward her.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-T
HREE

Call to Arms

B
OBBY
, R
EUBEN, AND
J
OHNNY
sat in Bobby's office. Reuben looked grim, and Johnny sat on the edge of his chair.

“So, what are we going to do, Sheriff?” Johnny asked. “We don't have much time. Those guys aren't going to fool around. If Sal doesn't contact them soon, they'll hurt Jenny.”

“I know, son,” Bobby said, “and we're going to get out there as soon as we get some help. Maxie told us where the hideout is, and I've contacted the local authorities. But it's going to take a few hours to get some men together. I don't know anything about that area.”

“Where is it?” Reuben asked.

“It's near a place called Bear Lake, off Interstate 80.”

Johnny's eyes widened. “Bear Lake?”

“That's right, son. Why?” Bobby asked.

“I used to spend my summers up there! My Uncle Jim lives in Wilkes-Barre, and he has a cabin up in the mountains near Thornhurst. He used to take me fishing at Bear Lake. I've ridden my bike and hiked all through that area. You can get there from 80 or Wilkes-Barre. It's pretty rugged and there are only a few roads up there. What road is it on?”

“It's on a road called Stone Tower.”

Johnny stood up. “Sheriff, I know right where that is. You go out of Wilkes-Barre on Bear Lake Road. Then you turn on Tannery Road and go toward Thornhurst. Before you get there you're behind Bear Lake, and then you come to Stone Tower Road. It takes you up the hill. There's a place up there where you can park and hike down to the back side of the lake. There are some old cabins up there, but I thought they were closed in the winter.”

Bobby and Reuben looked at each other in amazement. Jonathan went on.

“We can take a plane into Wilkes-Barre, and I could take you right there. It's only about forty-five minutes, maybe a little longer in snow.”

Bobby interrupted Johnny. “Wait a minute, Jonathan, who said you were going?”

Johnny's face was animated and his hands waved. “Jenny's in danger, and we're wasting time. I can take you right there. We have to go now, and we have to move fast.”

“Can you handle a gun, Jonathan?” Bobby asked.

Johnny reached for his wallet and pulled a card out from one of the compartments. It signified that he had received an Eagle Scout marksmanship merit badge.

“Number one in my troop,” he said with a grin.

Bobby frowned. He was silent for a moment, and then he decided. “Okay, Jonathan, I'll take you along. We better get going.”

“Wait a minute, Bobby,” Reuben said quietly. “Aren't you forgetting something?”

“What?” Bobby asked.

“Me,” Reuben said. “You're not leaving me behind.”

“But, Reuben,” Bobby said, “this is going to be dangerous. I need everybody armed.”

“You're talking about my daughter. A long time ago I told you that
I knew that there were some things worth fighting for. I haven't had to make a choice like that in a long time. I know my faith constrains me, and I believe what Jesus said about killing other men, but I also remember that He took a rope and whipped the men who were making a mockery of His Father's temple. I don't want to kill anybody, but if it's a choice between hurting the men who have Jenny and saving my daughter's life, then so be it. If it means that they throw me out of the church, I'll live with that too. Besides,” Reuben smiled, “I'm a much better shot than you.”

Bobby stared at his friend. Then he grinned. “Reuben, you never cease to amaze me. Okay, you two, raise your right hands.”

Bobby commandeered a Cessna six-seater at the Wooster airport for the ninety-minute flight to Wilkes-Barre. The pilot was an old friend and was happy to help. Bull stayed behind and called the Wilkes-Barre police to organize a group that would be waiting for Bobby.

When the plane landed, the local men met with them outside the terminal. The local sheriff had five men with him and told Bobby the Pennsylvania State Police were headed up the mountain from Interstate 80 already.

The sheriff, Gary Wagner, was an affable older man. His smile belied a toughness that Bobby picked up on right away.

“You a vet, Gary?” Bobby asked.

“Hundred and First Airborne,” Gary answered. “Normandy, Operation Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge. I was at Bastogne with McAuliffe when they demanded our surrender and he told the Germans, ‘Nuts!' ”

“USMC First Division,” Bobby said. “Guadalcanal.”

Bobby nodded at Reuben.

“Both of you?” Gary asked, looking at Reuben curiously.

“Yep,” Bobby said. “Reuben's a CMH winner.”

“Bobby, you don't need to tell everyone,” Reuben said with an embarrassed smile. “Besides, you did your part as well.”

Sheriff Wagner stepped forward and shook Reuben's hand and then turned to Bobby and shook his. “Proud to serve with you, Gyrenes. Now brief me on what's going on—and who's this kid?”

“This is Jonathan Hershberger. He was with Jenny when she was kidnapped. Reuben is Jenny's father. I brought Jonathan because he says he's been up to the area where the hideout is and knows the trails through the woods. His uncle owns a place up there.”

“Who's your uncle, son?” Gary asked.

“Jim Connors,” Johnny said. “He lives here in Wilkes-Barre.”

“Jim Connors Chevrolet?” Gary asked.

“That's him,” Johnny replied.

“Jim's a buddy of mine. We're in Rotary together. Why the long hair, son?” Gary asked with a smile.

“It's a long story that I don't have time to tell right now,” Johnny replied. “We need to find Jenny.”

Gary laughed. “She your girlfriend, Jonathan?”

Reuben stiffened. Johnny was smart enough to pick up on the tension. “No, sir, she's…she's just…my friend.”

Reuben relaxed, and the men returned to the business at hand. Bobby pulled out a map of the area and spread it out on the hood of the sheriff's cruiser.

“Maxie had only been to the hideout once. All he remembered was that it was on Stone Tower Road. What do you know about it, Jonathan?”

“There are two ways to get up there,” Johnny said. “One is to go up Tannery Road until you get to Stone Tower and then on up. There are only two or three old cabins back in the trees along Stone Tower, and one of them is probably the hideout. But if you drove up there, they would hear you coming a long way off.

The other way is to come in from the Bear Lake side. There's a fire road around the lake and a path up the hill where a stream comes down a ravine. The ravine runs behind the cabins and then goes under the road and down the east side of Stone Tower Road. The ravine is pretty steep, but there are ways to get up to the back of the cabins. I used to fish that little creek in the spring, and I did a lot of exploring up there. It would only take us about thirty minutes to get there once we got around the lake. We could get right up on the hideout without being seen, and it's more hidden than going up Tannery.”

“Okay,” Gary said. He turned to one of his men. “Call the PSP and have them block off Stone Tower at the bottom. We'll take the helicopters up to the Lake. There's a big cleared field on the west side. Have the police meet us there. We'll go in the back way and contact the PSP by radio and have them move up Stone Tower. Remind them that the perps have a prisoner and won't give up easily. If we do this quietly we should catch these guys between us and get the girl out before anything happens.”

He turned back to Bobby. “Did you deputize these men?”

“Yep, and they can both shoot if they need to.”

Reuben winced. Sheriff Gary turned to his men. “Okay, let's go.”

Jorge leered at Jenny.

“Where ya going?” he asked. “Don't you like me? I just want to have a little fun. You can be my girlfriend now. Once you get to know me better, you'll like me.”

Jenny froze. Jorge moved toward her, almost stumbling.

Suddenly a voice spoke to her spirit.
Run!

Jenny turned and burst through the screen door and into the darkness. Jorge shouted something, and the screen door banged again as he ran out after her.

“Come back here, you tramp! Come back here, Jenny, or you'll wish you did!”

Jenny ran like the wind across the open space behind the house and dashed into the woods. Her heart was pounding as branches whipped her face. Suddenly she heard a crash and a curse behind her. Jorge had fallen.

Jenny ran on. The clouds had cleared for a moment, and there was some light from the sliver of moon for Jenny to see by. She burst through a clump of Scotch broom and came to a trail that ran to the left and the right. She followed it left and continued running down the trail.

I've got to lose him. I've got to get off the trail
.

Behind her she heard Jorge shouting her name. The path was uneven, and several times she came close to tripping.

Give me hind's feet on high places, Lord
.