Freefall Read online

  “Why haven’t you gotten any sleep?” Brent asked. “You have to be exhausted.”

  “I took a nap a while ago.” Amy hesitated a moment. “Can you tell me what happened last night?”

  Brent shifted, closing his eyes for a moment while he waited for the medicine to take effect. When he opened his eyes, Amy was still staring at him.

  “With the exception of a few of the militant groups, this area is mostly uninhabited. I had hoped we could pass by without being seen, but when I saw that light, I wanted to see what we were up against.” Brent took another sip of water. “I found a good-sized base right in our path, probably one of the local tribes that keeps challenging the government for power.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “Regular military would have equipment, Jeeps, that sort of thing. These guys have horses and are as ragtag as they come.” Brent took a deep breath as the pain started to ease. “I was circling back to you when another group came out of the hills. It sounded like they were warring factions from the same group. Anyway, a couple of stray shots caught me when I was trying to take cover.”

  “I was so worried about you,” Amy admitted.

  “I was worried about you too.” Brent reached out and took her hand. He hadn’t even realized he had done it until Amy shifted to sit closer to him. Then it seemed silly to take his hand back. “I saw those men come right past you and I couldn’t tell if . . .” His voice trailed off.

  “I’m fine, thanks to you.” Amy gave his hand a squeeze. “I did what you told me and faded into the shadows.”

  Brent felt himself drifting, Amy’s hand still warm in his. He looked at her, for the first time noticing the bloodstain on her sleeve from when she had hugged him hours before. He wondered if he would have a chance to hold her again under different circumstances. With that thought on his mind, he drifted off to sleep.

  * * *

  “I can’t believe they haven’t heard anything.” Matt Whitmore paced across his parents’ living room, nearly colliding with Charlie. For the past five years, Matt had enjoyed a successful career in major league baseball along with the financial benefits that went with it. Even more importantly, he and his wife, CJ, were grateful that they could live together safely.

  CJ had been even younger than Amy when she had entered the Witness Protection Program after witnessing a friend’s murder. Of course, CJ had only been hiding from the men involved in the smuggling operation she had helped expose. Amy was hiding from an entire country.

  Frustrated, Matt ran a hand over his face. More than once he and CJ had faced men with guns aimed in their direction, but he never expected that any of his family would confront that kind of terror again. He could feel his perspective shifting as he thought of his sister. Up until a couple of days ago, his only real problem had been finding time to spend with his family during baseball season. Now, all he could think about was how his sister was going to get home.

  “Doug said we probably wouldn’t hear anything before tomorrow,” CJ reminded her husband, even though she was just as impatient and worried as he was.

  “Mama!” A little voice sounded from the kitchen. “Horsies!”

  CJ turned to see her eighteen-month-old daughter in her mother-in-law’s arms. Katherine forced a smile. “Kailey wants to go up to the barn.”

  “I’ll take her.” CJ stood up, her stomach just starting to show the signs of her pregnancy.

  “No, honey.” Matt stopped his pacing and turned to his wife. He laid a hand on her arm and kissed her cheek. “I’ll do it. I need something to take my mind off of this.” He crossed to his mother and took his daughter into his arms. “Besides, it’s not often enough I get to spend time with my little girl.”

  “Daddy!” Kailey grinned as she shifted into Matt’s arms.

  “I’ll come with you,” Jim told his son.

  Together they went through the kitchen and out the back door toward the narrow path leading through the thick trees behind the house. They walked up the path together in silence, Kailey squealing in delight when they reached the opening where the stable was located. Two horses were in the pasture, standing in the shade of the barn.

  Matt moved closer so that his daughter could pet one of the horses. He set her down, taking her by the hand to keep her safe.

  “You know, it seems like just yesterday that you were this age,” Jim said. “I don’t know where the time goes.”

  “I know. I just can’t stop thinking about Amy. It wasn’t that long ago that she was sixteen and Charlie and I were taking turns intimidating her boyfriends.” Matt shook his head. “Now she’s all grown up and we have no idea when she’s coming home.”

  “I never should have let her go.” Jim’s voice was filled with anguish. “I should have stopped her.”

  “Nothing any of us said would have stopped her,” Matt told him. Then, as though reading his father’s thoughts, he added, “And if you had pulled strings to keep her from going, she never would have forgiven you.”

  “Logically, I know you’re right.” Jim watched his granddaughter petting the horse. “But emotionally, I feel like I failed by letting her go somewhere where I couldn’t protect her.”

  They stood there for a moment in silence. Kailey moved closer to the corral, and Jim scooped her up in his arms before Matt had the chance.

  “How about giving your grandpa a big hug?” Jim asked, running a hand over her blond curls.

  “Kiss!” She puckered her little lips and leaned forward to kiss her grandpa on the cheek.

  Jim turned to Matt with tears in his eyes. “Enjoy your kids while they’re little. They grow up too fast.”

  Matt nodded, his own eyes moist. “I will, Dad.”

  * * *

  “Is there anything I can do?” CJ asked her mother-in-law.

  “I’m just glad you and Matt were able to come up for the day.” Katherine stood in the kitchen peeling potatoes.

  “Actually, if you don’t mind, I thought I might stay a little longer,” CJ said casually. “Most of Matt’s games are on the road this week.”

  Katherine looked up, hope filling her eyes. “I would love it if you could stay.”

  “Thank you.” CJ smiled. She didn’t have to explain to Katherine that she didn’t want to be home alone while Matt was on the road with his baseball team, or that she didn’t want to have to drag Kailey on a road trip where she would be stuck inside a hotel room all day. She thought of Amy, afraid to mention her, and equally afraid not to. “Maybe we can have a big family dinner on Sunday night. If I remember correctly, Matt’s game is in the afternoon. By then, we should have Amy home.”

  “I hope so.” Katherine set a potato aside and looked up at her. CJ looked like a typical young wife and mother, but her life had been in jeopardy more than once after witnessing a friend’s murder. “I just can’t believe that after all we went through with you and Matt we have to go through something like this again.”

  “Yes, but I was in the Witness Protection Program for three years. Hopefully Amy will be home in three days.” CJ knew what it was like to face danger, but she had never before played this waiting game. “Was this what it was like for you when I was in hiding?”

  Katherine shrugged. “In some ways. There were days when everything seemed so normal, and then I would see something on the news about a shooting or a car bomb and I would realize that it could be you.” She hesitated a moment. “Now I’m afraid to watch the news. I’m afraid of what I might see.”

  “You know, when you’re in these kinds of situations, you just react,” CJ told her, thinking of the numerous times she had heard gunshots fired in her direction. “You do whatever it takes to survive. Amy is young, and she’s strong. She’s not going to just give up over there. She’s doing everything she can to get back here so that we can all yell at her for not listening to us.”

  Katherine laughed despite herself. “She has always been stubborn.”

  “That could be a good thing right now.”
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  CHAPTER 5

  “Why are you being so stubborn?” Amy stood with her hands on her hips as Brent continued to argue with her. “I just want to see if I can find some water.”

  “With hundreds of insurgents in the valley right below us,” Brent pointed out.

  “Insurgents with horses,” Amy reminded him. “Horses can’t travel through these rocks, and I have to imagine that there is some kind of natural water source around here or those men down there wouldn’t have horses.”

  “Are you always this difficult?”

  Amy stopped a moment and considered his question. Finally she nodded. “Yes. I think I am.” She poured the remaining water from the water bag into Brent’s canteen and then stood once more. “The sun is already starting to set. I’m just going to look around for a few minutes. If I don’t find anything, I’ll be right back.”

  Brent sighed in frustration. She had clearly gotten over her initial shock about their situation, moved past the realization that she couldn’t get home without him, and jumped right into an equal partnership he wasn’t so sure he wanted. Whatever tender moment they had shared as he had drifted off to sleep earlier was now lost in the battle. Resigned, he pulled up his pant leg, revealing a pistol. “At least take this with you.”

  Amy stared at him for a moment before reluctantly moving forward to accept the weapon he held out to her.

  “Do you know how to use it?”

  Amy nodded. “Yes.” Her father had taken her to the shooting range to teach her how to use a gun when she was a teenager. She checked the weapon, made sure the safety was on, and then slipped it into the pocket of the backpack she now thought of as her own. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  “If you’re gone over thirty minutes, I’m coming after you.”

  “I’ll be back before dark.” With that, Amy stepped out of the cave and started farther up into the rock formation. She tried to imagine she was spelunking in the caves of West Virginia with her dad and brothers, but she couldn’t quite pull it off. She found two caves, but she estimated that both of them were too shallow to provide any kind of water source. She was headed for another cave when she noticed an opening in a rock face that was more of a crack. It was only about five feet high and barely wide enough to squeeze through. Following instinct rather than logic, she moved to the cave opening and peered inside. She put her hand on the rock, then immediately pulled it back and rubbed her fingers together. Moisture.

  She ran her fingers along the inside of the opening once more, again wetting her fingers. Then, ducking, she squeezed through the opening and took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. A few feet inside, the cave ceiling expanded so that she could stand up straight. She only had to move a few yards farther to find the spring inside the cave.

  With a grin, she leaned down and filled up the water bag. She glanced down at her wrist where her watch should have been and remembered that it was still in her hotel room. Estimating that she had only been gone for fifteen minutes, she set her pack down and pulled out the toiletries kit she had found when she had surveyed the contents earlier that day. She moved several feet away from the spring to preserve the freshness of the water, removed her clothes and carefully set them on a rock. She dumped some of the water from the water bag over her head. After washing off, she then used the rest of the water to rinse off. Though she wanted to wash her clothes also, she realized that the chill that would accompany nighttime made that idea impractical. Instead, she hoped Brent wouldn’t have too much of a fit if she came to wash her clothes tomorrow when the sun would dry them quickly.

  After drying off with the little camp towel she had in her backpack, she got dressed and refilled the water bag. Amy then moved back to the opening of the cave. She waited for a moment, listening for anything that didn’t belong. She then moved through the mouth of the cave and back down to where she had left Brent. Her return trip took less than ten minutes, and she found Brent sitting with his weapon in his hand.

  He looked up at her, surprise lighting his eyes. “Why is your hair wet?”

  “I took a shower.” Amy handed him the water bag. “There’s a spring in one of the caves up there.”

  “How did you manage a shower?”

  “I used the water bag.” Amy sat down beside him and pulled out one of the energy bars from her pack before she continued. “The opening is so small I almost missed it. I thought tomorrow I could go back up to top off our water and wash our clothes.”

  “I wouldn’t mind heading up for a shower myself,” Brent admitted.

  Amy broke her energy bar in half and handed the larger portion to Brent. “How many more of these do you have?”

  “Just one.”

  “I have three more in my pack. That means we have two days worth of food, right?”

  Brent nodded.

  “That’s not enough,” Amy stated matter-of-factly, hiding her concern. “You said it would take us a couple of days to get to the coast, and that was before you got shot and we made this detour.”

  “If we ration, we can probably stretch the energy bars to last for an extra day,” Brent told her. “I was studying the maps earlier. It looks like we might be able to work our way through these rocks and avoid the insurgents down below.”

  “How far out of our way will it take us?”

  “About six miles,” Brent told her. “And it isn’t an easy six miles.”

  “There’s a cave right next to the one with the spring,” Amy said, unfazed. “Why don’t we move up there for the night and then tomorrow we can wash up and rest. That is, if you think you can move.”

  “I can move.” Brent nodded, but instead of standing up, he motioned for her to sit down with him. “But why don’t we say an evening prayer before we start out.”

  Surprise lighted Amy’s eyes, followed by a smile. “I’d like that.” She knelt down next to him as he moved to kneel as well.

  “Do you mind if I offer it?”

  Amy shook her head, bowing her head as he began. She felt such a warmth come over her as Brent expressed his appreciation for their safety and the Lord’s guidance during their travels. Then he asked that they would be blessed with protection and guidance as they made their way home. When he closed his prayer, Amy felt tears sting her eyes. She blinked several times before looking up at him.

  “Let’s get going.” Brent stood up, reaching out a hand to help her stand as well.

  Amy stared at him for a minute before asking, “Is it hard being LDS and being a Navy SEAL?”

  Brent shook his head. “Not really, especially since my whole unit is LDS.”

  “Everyone? How did that happen?”

  Brent gave her a quick grin. “You have to realize my unit is only five people. It started out being just me and Kelan Bennett. Kel got promoted about the same time Tristan Crowther and Quinn Lambert finished their training. The commander of our SEAL team was reorganizing and he decided he might as well throw the Mormon boys together.”

  Amy looked at him, questioning. “That’s only four. What about the fifth?”

  “Seth Johnson.” Brent’s grin widened. “He was the odd man out who got stuck with the Mormon boys. The funny thing is that he’s the one who suggested we start each day with a prayer. He converted to the Church about a year ago.”

  “That’s amazing,” Amy said as they packed up and started toward their temporary home. Brent moved slowly, but they had just enough light for him to be able to see the rough terrain. They reached the cave just outside of the one where the spring was located and settled in for the night.

  “Let me check out your arm,” Amy said as soon as Brent had sat down against the smoothest of the cave walls.

  “It’s fine.”

  “Good.” Amy retrieved a flashlight from her pack. “Let me check it anyway.”

  Reluctantly, Brent took off his shirt and let her examine the stitches. The antibiotics he had taken right after Amy had stitched up his arm seemed to be working and there wasn�
��t any sign of infection. The new supply of water would help him get the fluids he needed to help counteract the blood he had lost.

  “I’m no expert,” Amy said after she unwrapped the bandage. “But it looks like it’s starting to heal.”

  “Since you insisted on seeing that for yourself, are you going to bandage it up again for me?” Humor laced his voice and he saw the beginnings of a smile on her face.

  “I suppose.” Amy took the med kit he handed her and pulled out a package of clean gauze pads. After giving him the flashlight to hold, she then went about the task of placing the pads over the wounds and wrapping his arm once more. “Is that okay?”

  Brent moved his arm, wincing in pain. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

  “If it’s bothering you, why don’t you take some more painkillers?”

  “I’ll take some Tylenol before I go to sleep.” He turned off the flashlight. “I just need something to take my mind off of it. Tell me about your family.”

  She blinked in surprise, but she settled down on the ground next to him. Darkness enveloped them, with only a bit of moonlight coming through the cave opening. “Well, I’m sure you know my father’s a senator.” When he nodded, she continued. “I have two older brothers. Charlie is two years older than me. He’ll start law school in the fall. Matt’s the oldest. He plays baseball for the Florida Marlins.”

  “Are they married?”

  “Matt is. His wife, CJ, was an Olympic swimmer before they started having kids. Their second baby is due this winter.”

  “I remember reading about her,” Brent commented. “She’s the one who was a government witness against that huge smuggling ring right before competing in the Olympics.”

  Amy nodded. “Her best friend was a cop, and she was there when he was killed by a couple of men he was investigating. CJ helped figure out who was heading up the drug ring.”

  “Pretty impressive.” Brent shifted to get more comfortable. “What about your mom?”