The Hero - Robyn Carr Page 0,47

what to do. So, when she saw the road curve where Laine had promised a truck would be waiting, she grabbed young Mariah’s upper arms and said, “Jacob is in trouble. There’s no doubt the police are coming and he’ll fight to keep his possessions. People will be hurt, they will be taken away. If you come with me now, we might escape. If you don’t, your baby will be born in jail. I can almost guarantee that.”

“No!” Mariah said in a sudden panic.

“Mama?” Mark was suddenly frightened.

Reese crouched down to Mark’s level, peering into his eyes. “We have to leave, Mark. We have to leave now or face danger. You have to do as I say.”

Then she rose to Mariah. “You can refuse to come with me, but if you do, we are all in danger. You most of all, I think. See that truck? I was told it would be waiting for us. Let him take us to a safe place before it’s too late.”

“And you’ll stay with me?”

Reese brushed her hair back a little. “I’ll never leave you, I promise. Never.” Reese took Mark’s hand, then Mariah’s. “Say nothing and trust me,” she said, leading them down the road where a dark truck waited.

Reese opened the door and looked inside. The man wore a ball cap, but the hair on his head was short. There was a rifle in his gun rack. He turned his head to look at her and then immediately he started the engine. “Hurry up,” he said.

She lifted Mariah into the truck first then Mark, then she squeezed in.

The man pulled away, using only fog lights until he’d gone quite a distance. When he turned on the headlights, she said, “Take us to the police.”

“Police it is,” he said.

* * *

It was barely dawn when Laine was putting plates and flatware around the long table—enough for fourteen people, and a high chair for a two-year-old. They were six women and four men, including Jacob who sat at the head, and five children including little Liam. The women were busy preparing the meal and rounding up the children. Lorna was making toast and bacon, Pilly was scrambling eggs and Charlotte was spooning oatmeal into bowls for the children. And then Jacob arrived.

“There’s a hole in the fence!” he boomed. “Who knows about this?”

The women all looked fearfully at each other. Laine knew, without a doubt, she would be the most suspect, given the fact that she was the newest to this clan.

“Who’s missing?” he thundered. He looked around the kitchen. “Where are Reese and Mariah?”

The women exchanged even more troubled glances. Finally it was Lorna who said, “Gathering eggs, I think. That’s where they should be.”

“There’s no one in the henhouse!”

Charlotte stepped toward Jacob. “But they would never leave,” she said. “Not Reese—this is her home. This has been her home for eight years! And Mariah is close to having her baby—where would they go?”

Laine braved his wrath. “Jacob, are there any vehicles missing? Mariah’s too pregnant to get far on foot. Shall we go looking for them?”

“I’ll take care of this,” he blustered, stomping around the room. “Get the children downstairs right now!”

And four women scrambled to do as he ordered.

Laine knew exactly who would be missing, but their lives depended on her ability to be convincing and helpful.

Tears ran down Laine’s cheeks and she twisted her hands. “Jacob, Reese and Mark and Mariah aren’t here.”

He let out a roar, picked up a plate from the table and threw it against the wall. Little Liam in the high chair began to cry and Laine rushed to pick him up. This broke Laine’s heart; he was the baby of the house and she desperately wanted to get him on the other side of that fence. She just cried harder as she thought about this.

“Did you betray us, Laine?”

“Me?” she asked on a choked sob. “Why would I do that? If I wanted to leave and knew the way, wouldn’t I go? Jacob, they can’t have gone far—let’s look for them. I’ll help. We’ll all help.”

“There’s a conspiracy here,” he thundered. “And when I find it, you’ll be sorry!”

Laine just held the toddler against her, weeping.

But when he turned to leave, she sent daggers at him through the narrow slits of her eyes. If she’d had a weapon at that moment, he might be dead.

A half hour later the men—all four of them, armed—left the compound in three big dark SUVs. Suddenly they were all