A rusted chain, bolted to the wall, was tethered to a thick leather band. A cuff that looped Calvin’s ankle.
The boy was shackled.
Like a spark to gunpowder, a bolt of fury flared through Ellis. The only thing containing it was the need to get Calvin as far away from here as possible.
Lily was struggling with the binding, in a panic. “I can’t get it loose.”
“Tell me, buddy”—Ellis did his damnedest to sound calm—“how do they get this thing off ya?”
Calvin shrugged that he didn’t know. Or if he did, he wasn’t up for yammering about it.
“That’s okay. We’ll get creative.” Ellis set him back down and joined Lily in scavenging the place for some kind of key or a cutter, anything. Then a noise came from outside, and they stopped.
Ellis would gladly take Mr. Gantry on—the wretched bastard—but he couldn’t jeopardize the lives of everyone else.
Already near the door, Ellis looked out. No lights or movement that he could see. Still in the clear, for now.
He resumed the hunt until Lily called to him, “Will this do?” She indicated a tool that resembled oversized pliers, hanging among gadgets on the wall.
“Let’s try it.”
She reached high to pull it off a hook but sent it toppling. The handles bounced off the rail of the adjacent stall. The startled horse burst into fit of squealing and snorting. Lily tried in vain to quiet the animal as it kicked the wall with its back hooves.
Ellis raced to snatch up the tool—all the noise was going to wake the house—and returned to Calvin. The poor kid was shaking. There was no time to soothe him. Ellis tried to cut through a rusted link, to no avail.
His heart was pounding against his ribs.
Leaning down, he cupped Calvin’s face to ensure the boy listened. “Don’t move a muscle. You hear me?”
Calvin eked out a nod, his chin caked with dirt.
The horse had ceased kicking but was still whinnying and shifting in its stall.
Ellis laid out the chain away from Calvin. Standing with feet apart, as if splitting wood with an ax, he gripped the tool overhead with both hands and came down hard. Clank. The links moved but stayed intact.
“Damn it.”
He laid them out again as Lily came to Calvin’s side. This time, Ellis singled out a weaker-looking section. Fully rusted, it flaked between his fingers. Keeping his eyes on the target, he swung with all of his strength. Clank. A link broke free.
“Thank God,” Lily said.
“Help me get him loose.”
She hurried to unhook the chain as Ellis swooped up the bundled kid. Then she snatched the flashlight, and they all headed to the door. She opened it wide enough for them to pass through. But before slipping out, Ellis glanced toward the house. Upstairs, a light traveled past a window.
Someone was coming.
Ellis commanded in a hush, “Run.”
They took off in a sprint toward the car that felt a thousand miles away. Raindrops assaulted Ellis’s eyes. His lungs burned. More than one stone nearly rolled his ankles, but he held Calvin snug to his chest, refusing to let him tumble to the ground. Lily never left their side.
They were almost at the car when a man’s bellowing burst out. “You! Get back here!”
A gunshot cracked the air, and Ellis reflexively ducked. Lily covered her head.
“C’mon, c’mon!” Ellis told her. “Let’s go!”
She opened the passenger side and jumped in, arms outstretched for Calvin. Ellis transferred him onto her lap, the remaining chain rattling, and slammed the door. He rounded the car and got behind the wheel. The odds that the engine would come to life without several turns of the crank were slim. But with him already there in the seat, the engine still relatively warm, he gave the starter pedal a try. The motor coughed and died. But it was close.
“Ellis, he’s coming!”
In the distance, the truck’s head lamps were moving by the barn. Mr. Gantry’s silhouette loomed at the steering wheel.
Ellis tried his starter again. A longer cough with a sputter.
“The truck stopped,” she said.
It must have stalled. Ellis could hear the farmer’s engine struggling just like his.
“Please, please, please,” he murmured to his dear, beloved Model T. If it cooperated just this once, he’d keep it forever, restore it better than new.
He pressed the pedal again…and the car shuddered to life!
Head lamps on, Ellis opened up the throttle and tore off down the road, back the way they had come. A faint revving from behind told him not to celebrate. Hopefully, the pebbled drive