“Jackson, go left!” Mark shouted.
Jackson curved away from them. He figured they wanted to surround the area.
He followed the sounds directly ahead. Mia seemed to be heading back toward the cave. Every few seconds, she yelled out again.
He’d let her out of his sight for a few minutes. She’d been fine, then suddenly he’d heard a man yell, followed by her scream.
He’d hear that sound in his nightmares for the rest of his life.
Mark yelled orders into his radio.
Dispatch responded, “Backup is on the way to your location.”
The radio crackled, and Captain Balluff’s voice boomed into the clearing. “Southwold police units, block all roads in and out of the surrounding area.”
Jackson approved of the call, but would they arrive in time? He wasn’t sure who had Mia, but he knew there were at least two of them. He could hear multiple sets of feet running ahead.
Mia screamed again. Her voice was growing hoarse.
Hold on, Mia. We’re on our way.
He sent up a silent litany of prayers. Unable to think of the words, he used one word and repeated it again and again. Help.
Mark’s radio crackled.
“A helicopter is on the way to your location.”
The dispatcher’s voice crackled through the radios. “All available police units report to assist. Multiple kidnap victims, multiple suspects, armed and dangerous.”
He didn’t have to do this alone. His colleagues, his friends, were all coming for the woman he’d been falling in love with all over again.
Would it be enough?
I can do all this through him who gives me strength. The familiar verse from Philippians ran through his mind.
No, he was not alone. He pumped his arms and continued running. His brother was in good hands. Now it was up to them to help Mia.
“We have visual.” Ace’s voice came over the radio. He must be piloting the helicopter. “She’s running toward the main road at the north end of the woods. I see a car waiting there.”
Jackson shuddered. She was running from one danger to another.
“I have visual of her pursuers. Guys, I recognize one. He’s her father.”
Blaine Turner. Hunting her like an animal.
Jackson’s stomach knotted, and it had nothing to do with his running. He feared that Blaine had something much worse planned for Mia than an early grave.
He was going to sell his own daughter. Jackson swallowed the bile that erupted at the thought and continued pushing on. Their voices were getting closer.
Come on, Jackson. Move it, move it.
He stretched his legs and pushed ahead of Mark, running to save the woman who had wormed her way into his heart.
It didn’t matter if she never loved him back. He wouldn’t face a world without her. God had given them another chance.
Jackson raced on, knowing everything was at stake.
Mia tore through the trees, lungs burning, her breath wheezing from her tight chest. Thankfully, no gunshots cracked behind her. She had no sense of where the enemy lay in wait.