Final Touch (15 page)

F
rom my place on the couch, I eyed the two-way radio sitting on the coffee table, useless and silent. Joshua had quit talking to Schwartz, and now he didn’t want me near the thing. “Nothin’ left to do but count down the hour,” he’d told me. “There’s no halfway about this. Either they leave or they don’t.”

And what if they do go, Joshua?
I wanted to ask. Did he really think they’d just leave me here, a kidnap victim, forever? My guess—he
knew
they wouldn’t leave. He was just buying time. Otherwise, why give them an hour? Why not demand they leave in five minutes?

Joshua didn’t dare get near a window to see what was happening outside. One sighting of him, and a sniper would shoot in an instant. He’d given an ultimatum, and he couldn’t even check to see if it was being followed.

He was trapped. He didn’t know what to do. Somehow I had to use that.

But I hadn’t gotten a chance. Minutes streamed by, and Joshua grew more volatile than ever. By now the hour had to be almost gone. The man couldn’t stop pacing. His limbs trembled and jerked as if hooked up to electrodes. His right hand gripped a handgun. Any second he might explode. Just pivot and shoot me. Joshua cursed Caleb for abandoning him; he cursed me. Finally he cursed God. After a while my ears grew so used to his verbal abuse I barely heard it. My body sank in on itself, wrapped in cotton. I tried to tell myself I wasn’t really there. I was…somewhere else. Drifting. This was all a dream.

Joshua strode to the coffee table and slapped a hand around the
radio. “Hey, Schwartz!” His eyes fastened on me as he talked. They were flat and hard. At that moment I knew it was over.

“Schwartz here, Joshua.”

“You got five minutes.”

“According to my watch we have fifteen.”

“I just moved it up. I’m
tired
of this.”

“There’s someone here wants to talk to you. Just a minute.”

I didn’t dare move.

“Joshua.” A new voice crackled over the radio. “It’s Caleb.”

Joshua cursed and threw the radio on the table. “I ain’t talkin’ to that Judas.”

I cringed on the couch and studied Joshua, pulse skimming. Caleb’s voice had thrown him.

You’ve got five minutes.

“I’ll talk to him.” I pushed to the edge of the sofa.

“No, you ain’t!”

“Let me find out why he abandoned us.”

Us.
Joshua gave me a long look. His lip curled.
Us.
I could see the effect that word had on him. He wanted Caleb to hear my loyalty.

Joshua shrugged.

I leaned over and picked up the radio. “Caleb, it’s Shaley. You here—outside?”

“I came back to talk to Joshua.”

“We want to know why you left.”

“Why do you think? I didn’t know he was going to kidnap you.”

I locked eyes with Joshua. “That how you treat your friends? Just up and ditch them?”

“I didn’t want any part in what he did.”

Silence. I waited him out, envisioning Schwartz standing nearby, telling Caleb what to say. What a game of chess we played. With my life at stake.

“Get Joshua on the radio,” Caleb said.

I stood and held out the radio to Joshua. He cursed again and turned away.

“Come on, Joshua. Here’s your chance to tell him what a traitor he is.”

No response.

“I want to hear you tell him. I want to hear the kind of man you are.”

My captor’s gaze cut back to me, his eyes narrowed and cold. His mouth tightened. He closed the gap between us and whisked the radio from my hand. “I’m here, Caleb, so whad’ya want?”

“I want you to come out of there. You think I want to see you killed?”

“Ain’t nobody killin’ me. They all got to leave
now.
”

“They’ll leave for sure if you come out.”

Joshua’s face turned crimson. “
I am not giving up!
They leave now or Shaley dies. You tell them that!”

I sidled toward the front window.

“There’s no good can come of this, Joshua.”

“I ain’t goin’ to jail!”

“Why would you go to jail? I thought Shaley wants to be with you.”

“You heard her.”

“Then come on out with her. She wants to stay with you, you can be together. Don’t have to be holed up in that cabin.”

I reached the window. Stepped just beyond it and edged aside the curtain an inch. My line of vision cut diagonally across the yard.

“What’re you doin’?” Joshua bellowed.

My insides shook, but I didn’t let the curtain fall. “Checking outside. Stay where you are, they can’t see you.” I pushed my face toward the glass.

“Close it!”

“I see him.” My eyes raked over the police cars. No sign of a man who could be Caleb. “He’s just standing out in the yard, nobody around him. Like he trusts you. He knows you won’t shoot him.”

Joshua snorted. “Man that stupid won’t live long.”

Motion down the road caught my attention. I leaned a little to
the right. More cars rolled toward the cabin. And a huge armored vehicle some distance behind them.

Did they want to get me killed?

I licked my lips. Glanced at Joshua.

“What’s Caleb doing?” He took a step in my direction.

“He’s waving at me,” I said in a rush. “
Don’t
come any closer. The police cars are still out there.”

Joshua pulled the radio close to his mouth. “Hey, out there! You got five minutes. Hear me? The hour’s up in
five minutes.
”

The cars drove up a little more and stopped. The armored vehicle stopped too but remained about thirty feet from the cars. Maybe they didn’t want to bring it any nearer for fear of being heard. A thing like that had to make a lot of noise. Men in camouflage gear and vests, carrying large weapons, piled out of the cars. They made no sound.

SWAT team.

Part of me couldn’t believe it. This should be Brittany and me watching a cop movie. Eating popcorn. I couldn’t really be here.
In
this.

“What’s he doing now?” Joshua smacked the gun against his leg.

I peered out the window. “He’s talking to people behind the police cars. I can’t see them. I think he’s telling them to leave.”

“That’s right, Caleb,” Joshua spat into the radio. “You tell ’em to
go.
”

I left the window and trotted over to Joshua’s side. If he found out I was lying, he would shoot me in an instant. “Give me the radio.”

“No.”

“I can watch them out the window and talk. You can’t.”

Suspicion creased Joshua’s face. “I got to see for myself.”

“How? They see you, they shoot you.”

He studied me, unsure.

“Come on, Joshua!” I reached for the radio.

He handed it over.

I swiveled away and ran back to the window before he could
change his mind. Lifted up the outer edge of a curtain. “Caleb, it’s Shaley. I see you in the yard. You were talking to the police. You telling them to leave?”

The SWAT team men were bent over, running in different directions.

Please get what I’m doing.

“Yeah, Shaley.” Caleb’s voice crackled. “I’m telling ’em to go. I’ll stay. Joshua and I can talk. We’ll figure out what to do.”

“I got nothin’ to say to him,” Joshua retorted.

Two SWAT team members were headed straight for the front door.
The front door!
Others moved toward each side of the cabin. That bedroom I’d been in had a back window.

A tremble started in the soles of my feet. Moved up to my ankles.
If I die, I’m takin’ you with me, Shaley.
I resisted the urge to glance at all the weapons on the kitchen table. The gun in Joshua’s hand was enough. One noise from those back bedrooms and I was dead. I knew that. Looking at Joshua, seeing the craziness in his eyes—I didn’t stand a chance.

“Shaley.” Caleb’s voice.

I could stop this charade right now. Stop the gamble on my life.

And then what?

“Shaley?”

“Shut him up!” Joshua barked.

My shaking finger slipped as I keyed the radio. “I’m here.” I could barely hear my own words. Blood whooshed in my ears.

“You see them getting in their cars?”

Policemen emerged from behind the vehicles. Slid inside the cars and slammed doors. I turned to Joshua. “Hear that?”

He cocked his head, listening.

More policemen got into the cars that had just brought the SWAT team. Engines started up. They began to move—away from the cabin and down the road. Even the armored car made a wide turn and rolled away.

They wouldn’t have to go far. Just around the hill.

“They’re leaving.” My voice trembled. “They really are going. Only our car’s left.”

“I got to check.” Joshua strode toward the window in the kitchen. “You see anybody with Caleb?”

“I don’t even see Caleb. I think he moved behind the Camry.”

“Yeah, him and who else?”

No reply from me.

“Tell him to stand up and put his hands in the air.”

It was so quiet outside. Where were all those SWAT men? Was Schwartz behind the Camry with Caleb, still telling him what to say?

“Caleb, Joshua wants to see you. Stand up behind the car and put your hands up.”

A pause. “What for? So he can shoot me?”

“He wants to see you don’t have a gun in your hand. He’s not going to shoot you.”

“How do I know that?”

I pierced Joshua with a look. He gripped the handgun, his teeth clenched and wildness on his face. My heart smacked against my ribs. I lowered the radio. “You’re not going to shoot him, are you? Everyone has left. There’s no point.”

He aimed the gun straight at my head. “I just want to see that they’re gone.”

I had to let them know where Joshua was.

I raised the radio to my lips. “He won’t shoot, Caleb. Just look toward the other front window.”

Joshua’s gun remained pointed at me. I had to make this happen.

“Okay,” Caleb said. “I’m standing up. See? Nothing in my hands except the radio.”

I swallowed hard, nodded to Joshua.
Do it!

He turned his gun away from me, positioned himself at the edge of the window—and edged back the curtain.

Gunfire exploded. The front door blew open.

R
andy stormed into the cabin, Bray, Rex, Bear, Volt, and Eagle stacked behind him. Glass broke toward the back of the building. Starsky and Coop breaching the rear window.

Randy pivoted left. From the corner of his eye he saw Shaley. She screamed and fell to the floor.

The HT reeled back from the window. He hit the wall hard, a gun falling from his hand. Randy’s shouts blended with his team’s. “On the ground, on the ground!”

Fledger lunged toward a table loaded with weapons.

Randy aimed his gun. “On the ground
now!
”

The HT’s hand launched out, scrabbled for a gun.

D
eafening gunfire burst through the cabin. I curled into a ball on the floor, arms over my head. The whole world was breaking apart.

The seconds jarred into slow motion. I heard men’s shouts. More gunfire. I twisted my head toward the kitchen window. Saw Joshua slam back against the wall. His arms came up. One wrist hit the window frame, the other smacked into the edge of a cabinet. Horror and shock gripped his face. His glazed eyes cut toward me.

For a final split instant we stared at each other.

Joshua’s eyes rolled back in his head. His arms fell. He collapsed to his knees and onto his side.

Men ran toward him.

Joshua twitched. Then lay still.

The world spun.

It couldn’t have happened so fast. After the last two horrible days? I’d dreamed this rescue. Any minute now Joshua would wake me up, drag me out of the cabin. Tell me what to do, where to go. Hit me if I didn’t obey…

Darkness closed around me. A sea swept me out…away…

“Shaley.” A man’s voice seeped into my senses. Not Joshua’s. “Shaley.”

Hands on my shoulders. A gentle shake. “Shaley. It’s okay now.”

My eyes opened. A man knelt over me, dressed in camouflage and a thick bulletproof vest. A helmet lay on the floor beside him.
He had dark hair and large, dark eyes. The kindest face I’d ever seen in my life.

My mouth moved. No words came.

He smiled. “It’s okay now. It’s okay.”

“Who—who are you?”

“I’m Randy. We came to help you.”

Randy. The SWAT team.

All the memories flooded back. And the fear. I gripped Randy’s sleeve. “Where’s Joshua?”

Randy shook his head. “He won’t hurt you anymore.”

Relief and elation and exhaustion swept through me like a tidal wave. I sat up and threw my arms around Randy. Burst into wild sobs. “Thank you, thank you!”

He stroked my hair. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

The sobs kept coming. I couldn’t let go of him, and I couldn’t stop crying.

I sensed other men crowding around. Heard voices in radios. “It’s done. HT’s taken out. Hostage is fine.”

A new thought spiraled through me. I pulled away from Randy. Tipped my face up to his. “I want to talk to my mom!”

T
hrough teary eyes I watched Mom walk down the aisle in her stunning wedding dress, escorted by Ross and Stan. Her face was radiant, full of love for my dad. He stood waiting at the front of the huge church, hands clasped in front of him, a wavering smile on his lips. I knew he was trying not to cry.

The church was packed with our friends, old and new. Every person who’d helped find me had been invited. Agent Scarrow, his FBI team, the Utah State Police members who’d tried to rescue me from the first cabin. Ed and Jean Carroll, whose trailer Joshua had broken into. And the SWAT team.

Unable to forget the terrible days they’d spent at Ed Schering’s mansion, Mom and Dad had chosen this church in Southern California for the wedding. But they’d taken their time. I’d needed a new bridesmaid dress. And we’d wanted a month’s healing behind us—both emotionally and physically. I’d told them everything that had happened to me. They and the FBI had been surprised to hear some of the details, like the car trunk Joshua had put me in after the van. They hadn’t even known about that vehicle. As for my bruises, they’d turned from purple and black to greenish yellow, finally fading, then disappearing completely.

My gaze slid from Mom toward a pew she’d just passed, where Randy Sullivan sat with his wife. He caught my eye and smiled. My eyes burned all the more. I clamped my mouth together and nodded.

“
I’ve been dreaming of this day my entire life!
”

Four weeks ago I’d said that to my mom. Now the day was finally coming true.

“She’s so beautiful,” Brittany whispered beside me.

“I know.” Underneath my bouquet, I rubbed Dad’s ring, stuck on my forefinger.

All eyes were on Mom, but she could only look at the man she loved.

My thoughts flashed back to the day I was rescued. To driving toward Peace with Rick Schwartz until we picked up a phone signal. Calling my mom on his cell. I remembered the moment I first heard her voice. I slumped toward the dashboard, crying and crying. Mom sobbed too. Then Dad was on the line. He couldn’t even talk except for one word. “Shaley…Shaley…Shaley.”

I threw him a look across the aisle. He was fixated on Mom. His clasped hands fidgeted with excitement.

Thank you, God. Thank you.

The three of us had done a lot of talking since our reunion. About God, and how he cares for us, even while allowing trouble to come into our lives. That was the hardest part to understand—why God let everything happen. Still, in the end our prayers had been answered.

Mom, Stan, and Ross reached the front pew. A few more steps and they neared Gary.

“Who gives this woman to this man?” the black-robed preacher asked.

“
I
do.” Ross spoke the words with animation. His eyebrows rose. This was his moment, and he was going to make the most of it. “I do.”

“And
I
do!” Stan said even louder.

“And me!” I burst out. “And me!”

A chuckle ran through the audience.

Mom threw me a smile. Her eyes said:
Shaley, don’t make me cry.

I watched Ross and Stan place Mom’s hand into Dad’s and step back. As the entire bridal party turned toward the preacher, tears spilled down my face. I couldn’t stop them.

I didn’t even want to try.