Gabe's Second Chance (Appledale 3)

Liz had to step up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek since she was much shorter than him. “Go find him, honey, poor thing is out there all alone. I’ll take care of Kari.” She gave him a confident smile knowing Ethan wouldn’t quit until his nephew was found safe and back in his mama’s arms.

Ethan nodded grimly, hugging Liz tightly and hiding his face in her neck for a moment to gather his emotions. He was so glad he had wised up and married Liz. She gave him such support in difficult times like these and he’d be lost without her. “Thanks, angel. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Ethan was worried but trying hard not to let it show. Toby was small and not familiar with these woods. What had possessed him to break an important rule and go in the woods alone? Ethan and Gabe had been over safety rules with the boys many times. Toby had boundless energy and never stayed still but he never purposely broke rules.

Ryan Clark patted Ethan on the back in sympathy and handed him a handheld walkie-talkie. He wasn’t as tall as Ethan but he had a muscular build and short blond hair, which was hidden underneath a yellow rain poncho. “Everyone is divided up and is responsible for a different area. Logan took his team out already to search and I’m heading out too. We’ll find him, Ethan. We’ve got every square inch of these woods covered with volunteers. Even Mr. Harris came out to help Logan search his farm and surrounding area.” Mr. Harris was a lonely old man in his eighties that often reported his cows missing just to have company visit him. Ethan was touched the man went out in the rain to search.

Ethan swallowed his worry, feeling touched that more than half the town was out here on such a rainy night. His family was depending on him to be strong and he would be. “Thanks, Ryan. I appreciate everyone coming out despite the awful weather.”

“That’s what friends are for, Ethan,” Gabe spoke up, grabbing a walkie-talkie from Ryan and putting a rain poncho on. “I’m heading out now. Logan took a group out toward the south so I’m going north.”

Ryan nodded, anxious to get started too, and yelled out. “Okay people, my group, let’s get this search on.” He turned to kiss his wife Lacy good-bye, as she was staying with Kari and Liz. “Be careful out there, baby,” she whispered to her husband and went into the house. Ryan was proud to live in a community where people came out to help one another in times of trouble.

Before Ethan could leave with his own team, Nancy White came running out of the house in tears. “Ethan! Tom from Thorn’s Bar just called. Karissa Suthers found Toby lost on the road to Thorn’s. She called him from her car to say she was taking him to the station. Someone was chasing them on Road 2007. Tom said Karissa screamed and he lost all contact with them.”

Ethan felt his pulse speed up with fear. This wasn’t a simple case of a lost boy. Someone was after his nephew! His adrenaline sped up with his anxiety. He radioed Ryan, Gabe, and Logan with the updated news and got his group together to start the search immediately, feeling the adrenaline rush through his veins. Road 2007 was a long distance from here. How the hell did Toby get that far? Gabe’s group was the closest to the area and they were headed over there with Ryan’s group following them.

“Call Casey Evans, she is Karissa’s older sister, and see if she knows anything. Maybe Karissa tried to contact her,” Gabe suggested over the radio, sounding as if his heart dropped at the news that Karissa was also missing and being chased by someone. Fear hit him square in the gut like a physical punch and he was determined to find them before something happened to her or Toby. She might hate his guts but no one would harm a hair on her beautiful head if he could help it!

“I know Casey. She’s my friend. I’ll call her,” Kari offered, looking at her brother with an expression of faith. “Go and search, Ethan, and hurry. This is worse than we thought.”

Praying for a good ending to this awful night was all they could do.

Chapter 3

Casey Evans heard the phone ringing, waking her up out of a deep sleep, which didn’t happen often since she’d had a baby four weeks ago. She groaned and shook her husband Roy who was snoring next to her. “Answer it, Roy, before the baby wakes up again,” she whispered sleepily, pulling the covers tighter around her body. Rainy nights were made for sleeping. She mumbled grouchily to herself.

Roy picked up the phone sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. “Hello,” he mumbled, not fully awake yet himself and wondering who would be calling them.

“I need to speak with Casey, it’s an emergency,” a tearful voice said over the phone, waking him up in an instant.

Roy sat up feeling alert and shook his wife awake, thinking of his sister-in-law, who worked nights at a bar. “Honey, it’s an emergency.”

“Karissa?” she mumbled in a scared voice sitting up and wide awake too, grabbing the phone with shaky hands.

“Is something wrong with my sister?” Casey asked into the phone with a terrified voice, afraid of what she would hear.

“This is Kari. I’m so sorry to scare you, Casey.” Kari explained what was going on with Toby and Karissa and asked if Karissa would go to any certain location to hide or if she knew the woods well at all.

“Oh my God, all this time I thought she was at work.” Casey cried, tears falling down her cheek. She felt her husband’s arms encircle her and she leaned on him. “You mean they are running on foot? Oh God. Let me think for a minute and I’ll call you right back, Kari.”

Casey looked up at her husband with teary eyes, hanging up the phone. “Karissa ran into Kari’s son, Toby, and they were being chased by someone. The search group just found her car crashed into a tree on Road 2007 but no sign of Karissa or the boy.”

Roy hugged Casey as she cried for her little sister, trying to soothe her. “They want to know if there is any place Karissa knows in the woods to hide but she hasn’t been home in so long, Roy.”

Roy thought for a moment, knowing his wife was too upset to think clearly. He had only lived in town for three years but Casey had told him a lot of her childhood stories of living with an alcoholic father and having to spend a lot of time hiding from him when he got violent. “How about that secret cave on the hillside you and Rissa called the magic fort. Wasn’t that over there somewhere?”

“Oh yeah, God it’s been so long I’m not sure I can remember the exact location. Do you think Karissa will?” she said hopefully looking up at him with her tear-filled green eyes. “It was by the creek off Road 2007, but you couldn’t see it from plain view. It was just a hole in the hill but it went in deep enough to hide. I’m not even sure it’s there still.”

Roy picked up the phone right away to call Ethan and tell him his idea. “It’s worth a try, Ethan. Karissa has a good head on her shoulders, if she was out that way she’d know to find shelter quick. She loves to hike and be outdoors, she’ll know to get out of the rain quickly before hypothermia sets in. I’m on my way to help, Ethan. I’ve been hunting in that area and know it well.”

“The creek? I know the creek but not too much of that area. Let me get this information to one of my men. They might know more. Thanks, Roy. We have a lot of volunteers if you want to stay with Casey and the baby.” Ethan’s voice came over the phone.

Roy looked at his wife who shook her head and mouthed the word go. She’d feel better if Roy was out there helping since she couldn’t leave Jonathon or take him out in this storm.

“I’m going, Ethan. That’s my sister-in-law lost out there,” Roy stated firmly and got up to dress quickly. What a night!

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