Her Name is Beth: Alone: Book 5 Read online

  The swing was still there, slowly twisting in the wind.

  Beth was long gone.

  Sarah went to him, there on his knees crying uncontrollably. She went to her knees as well, and wrapped her arms around him.

  “Why? Why? Why did I wait so damn long to come for you? I could have braved the winter months. Should have braved them. I should have been here months ago. Maybe I could have prevented it.”

  Sarah’s tears started to fall too. Not for little Beth, for she was beyond that. But for Dave, because she knew the way he felt. As though someone had plunged a dagger deep into his heart.

  “No, honey. Even if you’d have been here months ago, you wouldn’t have been able to change a thing.”

  No other words escaped either’s lips for several minutes.

  Finally he composed himself enough to ask, “How did she die?”

  It wasn’t until that moment that Sarah realized: he didn’t know. Then she felt incredibly stupid and cold. Of course he didn’t know. How could he have known?

  “Honey, you don’t understand. Beth isn’t dead. She’s still alive.”

  Dave’s tears stopped. His jaw dropped. For a moment he couldn’t catch his breath. Everything started to spin around him.

  It stopped when he snapped his head toward hers.

  “What? What do you mean?”

  Sarah had made a mess of things. She held up a finger and pressed it against his lips. She wanted him to remain quiet, and not to interrupt her, while she went back and started at the beginning.

  “About six months ago, as summer was drawing to a close, Lindsey and I were in the field harvesting the last of the tomatoes. We were to can them for the coming winter. From sun-up to late afternoon we were out there, and came back bone tired.

  “We didn’t see Beth when we returned, but Karen’s door was closed so we weren’t overly concerned. Karen watched Beth for me when we worked late, and she sometimes went to bed early. I assumed Beth had crashed with her. She’d done it many times before.

  “The following morning Karen didn’t report for breakfast, and neither did Beth. I went to her room to check on her and I found Karen gagged and tied to her bed. She’d been beaten horribly. She was terribly distraught. She could barely speak and kept apologizing over and over again. She was sorry, she said, for letting them take her. Letting them take Beth away from her.”

  Dave immediately drew within himself. Just as he’d learned to do in Iraq when his Marine buddies were blown to death or maimed horribly by IEDs or enemy fire.

  As he’d done when his mother died. Then again when his father followed a year later.

  Sarah had seen the look in his eyes before. The look void of emotion, of feeling. It pained her, because she knew there was nothing she could do. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. She felt his body shudder. She knew he was dying on the inside.

  “Honey,” she said to Lindsey. “Go ask your Aunt Karen to come in here. Your father’s going to have a million questions, and some of them I won’t be able to answer.”

  Chapter 3

  Dave wasn’t sure what to feel. He was grieving, but thought it stupid. She wasn’t dead. He felt anger, but couldn’t lash out. Sanchez, the man who’d sold his baby into slavery, was dead. He was one of the men Dave had shot.

  His head was swimming.

  There was no question he was going after her. He and Sarah both knew it. But first he needed to find out as much as he could about his daughter’s captors.

  He shook off the jumble of feelings running through his mind and tried to focus.

  Karen spoke slowly and methodically. Dave’s eyes were glazed over. He seemed to stare out into a vast sea of nothingness, and she wanted to make the words easy for him to understand.

  “Sarah and Lind were in the fields. Beth was playing in the front yard with the neighbor’s girls. I was in the kitchen waxing the floor. I swear to you, Dave, I never knew it was happening, or I’d have stopped it. I swear to God I would have. I loved that child too, as though she were my very own…”

  Sarah went to her sister and held her.

  “Shhhhh. Nobody blames you, sweetie. We know it was out of your hands. We know that. Stop blaming yourself.”

  Between sobs, Karen continued.

  “The front door opened and the screen door slammed closed. I heard Sanchez laughing and babbling, but I couldn’t make out the words. He seemed to be taking great glee in something. But I tried to ignore him. We all did, whenever we could. It was just safer that way. He was a very violent man with a ferocious temper.

  “After a couple of minutes one of the other men, Romero, burst into the kitchen looking for Swain.

  “He said, ‘Man, oh man. Where the heck is Swain? He’s got to hear this.’

  “I told him Swain had gone upstairs half an hour before to try to get some sleep. He’d been on a meth high and had been up for four straight nights. He left instructions that no one was to bother him or he’d shoot them on sight.”

  She paused to catch her breath. Sarah took the opportunity to wipe her sister’s tears before she went on.

  “Romero was easier to deal with than Sanchez. He sometimes snuck us extra food when he thought he could get away with it. I could talk to him about things I would never dare discuss with Sanchez.

  “I asked him what was going on in the other room.”

  “He said that Sanchez just sold my niece for seven silver coins.”

  She began to cry uncontrollably, burying her head into Sarah’s shoulder and heaving.

  Sarah tried to console her by holding her tightly with one arm and by running her fingers through Karen’s hair.

  And by continuing Karen’s story.

  “Karen flew by Romero and into the living room, screaming every step of the way. She got to the front window just in time to see the pickup, drawn by two horses, disappearing into the distance. Sanchez laughed at her and called her names, then told her to shut the hell up and go back to her work.

  “Instead, Karen screamed at him and attacked him, pounding him with her little fists.

  “She was no match for him. He quickly got the upper hand and beat her severely. He broke her nose and knocked out three teeth and blackened both of her eyes. He beat her so badly she couldn’t open either eye for several days and we were worried he might have blinded her. He ordered her gagged and bound in her room, and two of the others did as they were told. After they had their way with her.”

  “Despite Swain’s constant warnings that any attempt to escape would result in one of our own being executed, Lindsey wanted to go after her. I wouldn’t let her. I told her that whatever she was likely to go through in the weeks or months ahead, it probably wouldn’t be any different than here. That anyone who would pay seven silver coins for her would likely treat her well to protect their investment.

  “And I told her that you would be here soon, and you would track them down and bring Beth back. I didn’t think it would take you so long to get here or I might have run away myself to find her.”

  Dave suddenly felt he’d failed.

  “I’m sorry, honey. I’m so sorry. I should have planned better. Should have set out much earlier. I swear, I thought you were in safe hands. I didn’t know about the escaped convicts until long after winter had set it. Then I waited for spring, so I could walk if the Explorer broke down or someone was able to take it away from me. I shouldn’t have waited. I’m so sorry.”

  “Dave, it wasn’t your fault. I didn’t mean to imply that. You came. You rescued us. And you didn’t know. You couldn’t have known.”

  “I’ve got to go after her.”

  “I know you do, honey. I always expected you to. That was the only thing that kept me going after she left. I knew that eventually you’d get here. And that you’d get her back. Karen and Lindsey and I have talked about that many times.”

  “But I can’t take you with me. It would be too dangerous. They likely won’t give her up without a fight.”
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  Karen spoke up.

  “Dave, I’ve got neighbors to the west and about a mile away. The Dykes brothers. There are four of them. They live on a well-fortified ranch. They were preppers like us before the blackout. They were way better prepared than we were. We were best friends before the blackout, and I know they’ll take us in while you’re gone.”

  “How do you know they’ve survived? Maybe the escaped inmates took over their place as well.”

  “No. Swain knew about them. The man he bought his drugs from told him. Swain sent a team of men over there to see if they could take over their place. To steal whatever gold they’d hoarded and anything else of value Swain thought he could make use of.

  “Six men went over there. Only one came back. Swain called him a coward for deserting his mission and executed him as an example to the others. But before he died, the man begged for his life. He said the Dykes brothers lived in a hardened concrete bunker, with firing ports on all sides. That they kept watch in shifts, so that there were always two men on guard. Each man manned opposite corners of the bunker. One man was able to cover the north and east sides. The other was able cover the south and west sides. Swain’s guy said they had high powered rifles and were able to pick them off before they even got close.”

  “So how do we contact them? If we go over there they’ll do the same thing to us.”

  “No. They won’t. Like I said, they were friends before the blackout. They’ll remember me. I’ll just walk toward them with my hands up. They won’t shoot me.”

  Dave looked at Sarah.

  “I don’t like this. I don’t like it one bit, letting Karen walk into an armed camp and hoping they remember her. What if they don’t?”

  Sarah said, “I know, Dave. We’ve had this argument a hundred times, in whispered conversations behind the backs of Swain’s men. We knew that you’d be here someday, and that we’d ask the Dykes brothers for help. Karen has always insisted she could get to them to talk. That she’s probably the only one in the county who can safely approach them. And she’s always said she was going to do it whether I liked it or not. Because she knew they would help us, and that she felt responsible for Beth’s disappearance.”

  Dave turned to Karen and said, “That’s ridiculous, Karen. Why on earth would you feel responsible?”

  “Because they took her on my watch, Dave. I could have done so many things differently. I could have kept her inside that day. I could have had her help me clean the kitchen. I could have told her she had to come inside anytime strangers came calling. I could have prevented this. She disappeared on my watch. Sarah and I always knew you’d go after her. The Dykes brothers will help protect us while you’re gone. It’s the only way, Dave. It really is.”

  Chapter 4

  Karen hadn’t worn a dress since the blackout began. They no longer suited her lifestyle. On the day the lights went out the world became a dramatically different place.

  The frivolities of life were suddenly gone. People no longer felt a need to socialize with their friends or neighbors. They didn’t leave their houses unless it was to gather provisions. It was just too dangerous.

  Jeans became the norm for a new and much harsher lifestyle. Dresses were not suited for crawling around in the dirt, trying to get life-sustaining crops to grow. Nor for climbing aboard trailers to scavenge for any food still edible.

  Dresses were banished to cardboard boxes or to the backs of closets. In many cases they were burned in fireplaces during cold winter months, along with everything else that would provide warmth.

  But Karen would resurrect a dress for a special occasion.

  She wanted to make darn sure she wasn’t mistaken for a man, even from a long distance.

  She chose a bright yellow sundress which came down to her knees and had a matching yellow hat. She’d worn it the week before the blackout, when the Dykes brothers came over for a barbeque. It had been a beautiful early spring day, and Tommy wanted to celebrate by cooking out.

  They were close to the Dykes brothers back then. As close as two families could be. And they were both families of preppers. As such they frequently got together to share ideas and strategies.

  They’d had a great time on that particular spring day more than a year before. The youngest of the brothers, Jonas, had complimented Karen on the yellow dress. His brothers had nodded their approval as well. Karen was convinced they’d remember the dress and recognize her immediately when she appeared out of nowhere at their fortified bunker.

  She was so convinced that she was staking her life on it.

  Sarah still didn’t like the idea, nor did Dave. But they realized the urgency in Dave getting started in the search for his youngest daughter. And they recognized the danger involved if Sarah and Lindsey went with him. They would be a major liability, hindering both his progress and his ability to move stealthily. And to carry out a campaign against the people who’d taken his daughter once he did find them.

  But the women and children couldn’t stay here either. Not without protection. It wasn’t that they weren’t willing to defend themselves. But if word got out that Swain and his men were out of the picture, others like them might try their luck at retaking the farm. Others who might outnumber them significantly. And who might be just as ruthless as Swain.

  Dave had already checked out the local law enforcement. He’d done so before he started his guerrilla war on Swain’s men. And the local law, while sympathetic to Dave’s plight, had been decimated by the blackout and the plague that followed it. They had no manpower to contribute. And no equipment either, save a sniper rifle they’d donated to Dave’s cause.

  Karen’s presenting herself as a target and hoping the Dykes brothers didn’t shoot her by accident was a lousy plan.

  But they didn’t have any better ones. So there she was, hidden in the tree line ninety yards from the Dykes’ bunker, steeling her nerves to step out into the open.

  Crouched in the red dirt with her was her sister Sarah and her niece Lindsey.

  Forty feet farther to their west, just inside the same tree line, was Dave. Dave already had his sniper rifle focused on the bunker, in the event the Dykes brothers were hostile and opened fire on Karen. Of course, he’d only be able to save her if they were bad shots and missed her the first time. He told her that if they opened fire on her, he’d rain hell upon the bunker and try to buy her enough time to crawl back to the trees.

  Dave separated from the others because he knew as soon as he fired his first round he’d draw fire to his location. And he certainly didn’t want any more of his loved ones to fall victim.

  Their hands were shaking, every one of them, as Karen slowly stood up and walked into the clearance before her.

  The exposed part of the hardened bunker resembled a German Army pill box from the Second World War. It was square and squat, about four feet off the ground. Each side was about eight feet wide, and featured a rectangular firing port about four inches by twelve inches.

  The firing ports were situated on two of the four corners, so that each of two sentries commanded an unobstructed view of two sides at the same time.

  Atop the structure were daytime and night-vision cameras facing in all four directions. Someone below ground might well be watching their every move on monitors in a control room, ready to send additional manpower running in event of an all-out assault.

  It was an impressive set-up, and one which worried Dave immensely.

  In the Marine Corps he received extensive training on how to evaluate his enemy and then to find their weak spots.

  The occupants of the bunker weren’t his enemies. Not yet. But Dave had learned in the previous year never to take anything for granted. They could become his enemies someday. He hoped not. For he could see no cracks in their armor, no flaws in their planning.

  No way in, unless invited in through the main hatch.

  He sure hoped these guys were friendlies.

  Karen progressed slowly across the cleared land toward t
he bunker.

  Her arms were raised high in a classic symbol of surrender.

  Dave could see the barrel of a rifle protrude from the approach side firing port and point in Karen’s general direction.

  And everybody held their breath.

  Chapter 5

  “Stop where you are!”

  The voice came from a loudspeaker attached to the top of the pill box, mounted just below the infrared cameras. It reminded Dave of the series of speakers installed throughout the Marine Corps Air Station he was once stationed at in Kaneohe, Hawaii to instruct his Marines whenever they drilled. His Marines called the speakers “Giant Voice,” as though the commands emanating from them came from the gods themselves.

  The voice was clear and demanding, leaving no room for argument. Yet there was no hint of anger or hostility.

  Then it softened just a bit.

  “Karen? Is that you?”

  Karen nodded vigorously. She shouted in a loud voice, “Yes. Yes, it’s me!”

  The giant voice speaker erupted again. This time the voice had a very distinct tone of suspicion.

  “Are you alone?”

  Karen had expected this. In fact, had discussed it with Dave and Sarah before the group split up. Their game plan was for her to be completely honest with her friends, just in case they were under surveillance.

  “No,” she shouted. “I have some of my family with me. But they mean you no harm.”

  There was a delay. Dave tried to imagine what was going on inside the bunker. There was no way of knowing for sure, but such delays usually meant there was uncertainty about how to proceed. Dave imagined the men in the bunker were debating among themselves whether Karen might have been coerced to set them up. They were trying to decide whether she was trying to lure them into a trap.

  He didn’t blame them. The world was a cold and dangerous place now. Those who got sloppy or careless didn’t live very long. Under the same circumstances, he’d have been suspicious too.