Bug Man Suspense 3-in-1 Bundle (142 page)

Nick knew he would never find her; he knew he had to stop that combine before it found her first.

He stopped and bent down to catch his breath for a few seconds. He suddenly straightened; he thought he heard the sound of an engine somewhere in the distance. He listened. There it was again—it sounded closer this time. He jumped and looked.

Nick saw the combine bearing down on him just a few yards away. He stumbled backward and fell. By the time he got to his feet again the combine was almost on top of him—he could see the glassencased operator's cab and six blinding headlamps glaring down at him. The cornstalks just a few feet in front of him were lashing back and forth like palm trees in a hurricane and then falling into the combine's crushing jaws.

“Hey!” he shouted. “Down here!” But there was no way for the combine operator to hear him over the roar of the diesel engine or to see him beneath the towering stalks of corn. Nick knew he had to get out of the path of the combine fast. He ran a few steps to the side and turned to let the combine pass, then discovered to his horror that the cutting head on the front of the combine was much wider than he thought. He spun around and dove headlong just as the teeth of the combine mowed down the corn where he had been standing.

He looked up at the cab as the combine rolled past. The operator was still staring straight ahead—he had no idea that he had almost run a man over. Nick felt around on the ground for rocks, chunks of corn stover, anything loose and hard—then he scrambled to his feet and started running along beside the combine, hurling the objects one at a time at the glass wall of the cab. A stone finally found its mark and the operator turned and looked in his direction. Nick jumped up and down, waving frantically for the man to stop.

The driver brought the combine to a halt and let the engine idle. He opened the door of the cab and stepped out onto the combine's deck. “What are you, nuts?” he shouted down at Nick. “You can get yourself killed that way!”

“Shut it down!” Nick shouted back.

“What?”

“There's a little girl lost in this field!”

The operator stepped back into the cab and shut the engine down. He looked down at Nick again. “What little girl? Where?”

“Can you communicate with that other combine?” Nick asked.

“No—the radios don't work. It's the storm.”

“I have to get to that other combine,” Nick said. “Don't move this thing until we find her.”

He turned and plunged back into the corn.

Callie stood shivering in the field. Her sundress was torn at the shoulder and her face and arms were smudged with dirt. She looked down the long furrow and saw nothing but darkness. The corn that surrounded her everywhere whispered in the wind and the leaves hung down like an old man's fingers. Lightning flashed and the corn shook from the rumble of thunder.

Callie squeezed her eyes tight and shrieked at the top of her lungs.

49

K
athryn and Alena ran as fast as they could, but they could barely keep Phlegethon in sight; it didn't help that the dog's fur was as black as coal. Only the occasional flash of lightning gave them a brief glimpse of the dog's dark form lumbering ahead of them—and he was gradually pulling away. They finally gave up and collapsed to the ground, panting.

“Callie!” Kathryn shouted.

She listened but heard nothing.

“Callie, it's Mommy! Where are you, honey?”

No response.

“I'm so sorry,” Alena said. “This is all my fault.”

“You were only trying to protect her,” Kathryn said. “How far do you think we are from that combine?”

“I don't know—I can't see over all this corn. I thought it was straight ahead of us, but I can't be sure.”

“Even if we can stop the combine, it might not do any good.”

“What do you mean?”

“We might not find her for days. She could die of exposure. She could die of dehydration. Kids get lost on big farms like this—it happens sometimes.”

“Callie!” Alena shouted.

Nothing.

“This can't be happening again,” Kathryn groaned. “First my husband runs out into a field and gets killed; now my little girl runs out into a field—”

“Would you shut up?” Alena said. “We're going to find her.”

“How? Callie doesn't even respond to her own name. She could be ten feet away from us right now and she might not answer.”

“Callie!”

“Why doesn't she answer? She makes me so mad sometimes I could—”

“I love her too,” Alena said.

Kathryn looked at her. “What?”

“You're not the only one worried about her, okay? So shut up—you're starting to annoy me.”

Another flash of lightning and another blast of thunder. The storm was almost on top of them now.

Alena straightened. “Hey—did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Right after that thunder—just as it was dying away—I thought I heard a scream.”

“Callie always screams at loud noises,” Kathryn said.

“I know. Listen.”

They held their breaths until the next peal of thunder—and as the echo died away they heard a tiny shriek trailing after.

Nick plunged through the corn as fast as he could go, cutting across the rows and smashing down the corn as he went. Maybe the girls had managed to find Callie, but he had to assume they hadn't. He knew they hadn't reached the combine yet because he still caught glimpses of moving lights ahead. He had to reach that combine. He had barely managed to escape that cutting head himself; if Callie was caught in its path she wouldn't have a chance. The huge machine shredded cornstalks as if they were tissue—what would it do to a little girl's limbs?

He poked his head above the corn and saw the combine less than fifty feet away.

“There it is again!” Alena said. “I'm sure I heard it this time.”

“I heard it too,” Kathryn said.

“Callie! Where are you?”

There was no reply.

“She won't answer us,” Kathryn said. “We'll have to wait for the thunder and listen for her scream—then see if we can zero in on her.”

The thunder rumbled again. As the sound died away they heard a shrill note piercing the air behind it.

“Over there!” Kathryn said.

“Are you sure? It sounded like it was coming from over here.”

“Wait—what's that other noise?”

Both women looked up. Above the corn they saw a row of six headlamps rumbling toward them.

Nick headed directly for the combine, planning to use the same tactic he had used successfully on the other machine—throw whatever he could find at the cab's windshield and get the operator's attention. As he ran he ripped an ear from one of the cornstalks, tore off the leaves, and broke the cob in two. He was just about to hurl one of the pieces when he heard a clap of thunder followed by a highpitched scream.

Callie!

The sound came from somewhere just ahead of the combine.

He hurled the chunk of corn—it bounced silently off the cab's metal frame.

He threw the second piece—it hit the glass dead center, but the operator paid no attention. Nick looked at the man's face; he seemed to be in a daze.

I don't have time to do wake-up calls
, he thought.

He darted in front of the combine and started walking forward with it—staying just ahead of the devouring teeth and using the headlights to search the oncoming corn.

“Callie! Say something! Shout—scream—anything!”

“Nick! Is that you?”

He heard Kathryn's voice shouting from the darkness somewhere ahead. “I'm right in front of the combine headed your way! Can you see the headlights?”

“We see them! Callie's here somewhere—we heard her scream!”

“Get out of the way—the cutter on this thing is huge!” Nick swung his head from side to side, scanning the corn as it marched past him and into the combine's waiting jaws. He could hear the swishing of the leaves and the clatter of the cutters behind him as they slashed the cornstalks into little pieces.

Not a good time to fall down
, he thought.
I wouldn't have time to get up again.

The headlamps didn't penetrate far into the darkness and he could see the stalks only for a few seconds before they disappeared behind him. He was trying to scan an area thirty feet across, yet the girl was so small—how would he ever spot her in all this corn, and when the headlamps finally revealed her position, how long would he have to scoop her up and carry her out of the way? What if he was too slow? What if he misjudged the distance?

What if he didn't see her at all?