Mountain Peril (17 page)

T
hirty minutes later Jack snapped his attention to the back door of the Webster home. Nathan emerged carrying the black suitcase Jack had seen in the hallway. Neither Jack nor Will moved a muscle as Nathan walked to the garage, popped the car’s trunk and heaved the suitcase inside. Jack hardly dared breathe.

Nathan walked from the garage and stopped at the sundial. He pulled something from his pocket and stared down as if he were in deep thought. After a moment he bent forward and pushed whatever he held into the top of the sundial.

Jack raised his head and peeked through the mountain laurel bush in front of him to get a better view. His eyes grew wide as Nathan grabbed hold of the dome’s top and pulled.

The concrete slab slid to the side to reveal a hole in the ground. Jack and Will stared at each other in disbelief as Nathan stepped into the opening and disappeared from view.

“That’s no sundial,” Jack croaked. “That’s some kind of underground bunker.”

Will nodded. “Yeah. And that birdbath must be an air vent. Webster has a perfect place for hiding a hostage.”

They pushed to their feet and pulled the guns from their belts. “Ready?” Jack whispered.

His heart raced, and his stomach felt as if it was resting in his throat. Will nodded, and Jack breathed one last prayer for Danielle before he and Will crept across the yard.

Danielle sat on the bed, her right hand clutching the wedge-heeled pump she’d worn to the fundraiser. At the first sound of the trapdoor opening, she circled the toe of the shoe with her fingers and slipped her hand behind her back.

Nathan descended the steps and stopped in front of her. He reached out and trailed his fingers down the side of her face. “It’s time, my darling. They’re waiting at the judge’s chambers in Asheville for us. Everything’s ready for the wedding.”

She stroked the skirt of her dress with her left hand. “This dress is wrinkled. It doesn’t look good enough for a wedding.”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry. My housekeeper is waiting there with a dress. I checked your closet for the right size. I promise you’re going to look beautiful.” He held out his hand. “Are you ready to go?”

She nodded. “Almost. There’s just one more thing.”

His eyes sparkled. “What’s that?”

“This!”

Danielle sprang from the bed and threw the full force of her weight into the arc of her arm. The wedge heel connected with his temple, and blood spurted down his face. Nathan stumbled back and sank to his knees.

Hiking her long dress to her thighs, she bounded toward the stairs. The concrete floor scrapped at her bare feet, but she raced for the sunlight. The metal of the steps felt cool to her feet, and she moved upward.

About halfway up, a rage-filled roar split the air, and a hand clamped around her ankle. She fell to her knees and clawed at the steps for a hold, but Nathan pulled her back to the
floor. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he picked her up and threw her across the room.

She struck the wall behind the bed and bounced onto the mattress. Before she could scramble to her feet, he lunged onto the bed and circled his fingers around her neck. His eyes glared like dark orbs, and his chest pumped with deep breaths.

“You’re just like all the rest! I would have given you everything. Now you have to die.”

Danielle balled her fists and struck at his face. He drew back one hand, slapped her and regained his hold on her neck. His fingers tightened, and she struggled to breathe. The room grew dark. She blinked in an attempt to remain conscious, but Nathan’s face faded before her eyes.

Jack and Will had crept about halfway across the yard when an almost inhuman bellow erupted through the top of the bunker. A woman’s scream followed the roar, and Jack sprinted forward.

Without thought for his own safety, he jumped into the hole and landed on a staircase. At the bottom he could see Nathan bending over a bed. Jack couldn’t see her face, but he recognized the dress Danielle had worn the night before.

Leaping to the floor, he lunged forward and tackled Nathan. The impact sent Nathan sprawling, and Jack was on top of him by the time Nathan hit the floor. Jack pressed his gun to Nathan’s head. “Give me an excuse to pull the trigger.”

Will appeared at his side and grabbed Nathan’s arms. Together they dragged him to the staircase and handcuffed him to the railing.

Jack whirled and dashed back to the bed where Danielle lay unconscious. “She has a weak pulse, and I don’t think she’s breathing.”

Will headed toward the steps. “I can’t get a phone signal in here. I’ll go outside and call nine-one-one.”

“Wait,” Jack yelled. “Help me get her onto the floor.”

Will ran back to Jack and grabbed Danielle’s legs. Jack took her shoulders, and they laid her on the floor. Jack leaned over her, tilted her head back and listened for breathing, but he heard nothing. “I’m going to start CPR. You go call for help.”

Pinching her nose closed, Jack lowered his mouth to hers and blew two breaths into her mouth. “Come on, Danielle. Breathe.”

Her chest didn’t rise, and he laced his fingers together and placed them on her chest. He counted the compressions as he pumped. “One, two, three…”

When he counted thirty, he opened her mouth again and gave two short breaths. Still no movement.

From the staircase, Nathan chuckled. “You can’t save her. She’s dead.”

Will hurried back down the stairs and stopped beside Jack as he began the next thirty compressions. “I got through to the department. They’re on their way with an ambulance.”

Jack nodded and kept pumping. He had completed ten when she coughed. Jack bent forward. “Danielle, can you hear me?”

The sight of her chest’s rise and fall brought tears to his eyes. She took two deep breaths and opened her eyes. She blinked and stared up at him. She tried to speak, but he put his fingers on her lips.

“Don’t move. Help is on the way. Just rest. I’m here with you, and I’m never going to let anything happen to you again.”

She smiled and inched her hand toward his. “Jack,” she whispered.

He grabbed her hand and brought her fingers to his lips. “I love you, Danielle. Everything is going to be all right.”

She squeezed his hand, smiled and closed her eyes.

Will sat down on the bed and patted him on the back. “I’m
glad your hunch paid off, Jack. If we hadn’t been here, she’d be dead by now.”

Jack glanced across at Nathan handcuffed to the stairs. He no longer looked like the domineering head of a university. His eyes twitched as his gaze appeared to bounce off the walls of the small room. A low babbling rose from his mouth. “Danielle should have listened to me. She’s no different than the others.”

Will jerked a finger in Nathan’s direction. “He started saying that when you were doing CPR, and he keeps repeating it.”

Jack looked back at Danielle who appeared to be sleeping. He wished he could make her more comfortable, but he was afraid to move her until the EMTs arrived. Right now he just wanted to look at her and thank God that her life had been spared.

The next day Danielle lay on the couch in her living room. Her father sat reading the newspaper in a chair beside her. Dishes rattled in the kitchen where her mother was preparing dinner.

Her father lowered the newspaper. His shoulder-length hair swayed as he shook his head and peered over the wire-rimmed glasses perched on the end of his nose. “The paper says that the police have charged Nathan Webster with three counts of murder here, and that he faces one count in Chapel Hill.”

Danielle nodded. “Stan’s death. He told me he killed Stan.”

Her father folded the newspaper and laid it on the coffee table. “I can’t believe that man was such a monster. I can never repay Jack for what he did for us. If anything had happened to you…” He bit his lip.

Danielle reached over and patted his hand. “I’m safe now, and the doctor says I should be able to go to Atlanta by the first of next week.”

“Do you still want to go, baby girl?”

She sat up straight. “Of course I do.”

“What about Jack?”

Her heart pricked, but she forced a smile to her face. “I’ve hardly seen Jack since my rescue.”

He reached over and squeezed her hand. “He wouldn’t leave your side until he was sure you were going to be all right. He’s been very busy today, but he’s called several times. Your mother and I really like him and wouldn’t mind having him in the family.”

She frowned at a memory, or maybe it was a dream. It seemed as if she remembered Jack saying he loved her. She shook her head. That was probably her subconscious wanting him to say those words.

Before she could answer her father, the doorbell rang, and he jumped up. “I’ll get it.” He hurried to the door and opened it. “Come in, Jack. It’s good to see you.”

Danielle swung her feet to the floor and sat up, but Jack rushed toward her. “Don’t get up. You’re still weak.”

She laughed and sank back into the couch’s cushions. “My parents have tried to make me an invalid, but I’m fine.”

He smiled. “I’m glad.”

Her father coughed and backed away. “I think I’ll go help Mary with supper. You’re staying, Jack. We won’t take no for an answer.”

Jack laughed. “Okay.” He waited until her father had left the room before he sat down in the chair next to the couch. “I’ll stay if you want me to, Danielle.”

“I do. I’ve hardly seen you since I woke up in the hospital, so I’m glad to have an opportunity to thank you for saving my life.”

“I was just doing my job.”

She’d been so happy to see him when he came into the room, and now she felt deflated. “So it was just another case?”

His eyebrows arched. “I didn’t mean that. Of course you’re more to me than another case.”

“How?”

He frowned. “What do you mean how?”

She leaned forward and propped her hands on her hips. “When Nathan was choking the life out of me, the only thing I could think of was that I wouldn’t see you again. Then I opened my eyes, and you were there. Now you come here, and I see the Jack that I first met, all reserved and afraid to show his feelings.”

He swallowed, rose to his feet and began to pace back and forth. “I had my speech prepared today. I knew exactly what I was going to say. Then I come in here and see you lying on that couch, and I remember how scared I was when I was pumping your chest trying to get you to breathe. I didn’t think I could live if anything happened to you. That’s why I kept praying that God would save you so I could tell you how much I love you.”

She pushed to her feet, grabbed his arm and stopped him midstride. “What did you say?”

He stared into her eyes. “I said I love you.”

She shook her head. “No, not that. The part about God.”

He smiled. “You were right, Danielle. I finally came up against something I couldn’t handle alone, and God was right there waiting to help me through it. If you hadn’t kept after me about turning to God, I might never have known the peace that I have now.” He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close. “So you really saved my life before I saved yours.”

She circled her arms around his neck. “So you’ve made peace with the past?”

“Yes, and I want a future with you. I love you, Danielle. Marry me.”

“I love you, too, Jack.” A thought struck her, and she pulled
away from him. “What about your work? I can’t live in Webster Falls anymore.”

He laughed and pulled her back to him. “I can’t, either. I’m thinking about moving to Atlanta. I’ve been offered this good job with an organization that’s starting a mission to the Batwa people in Africa. It seems the rock star who runs the project needs someone to oversee security, and he thinks I’d be perfect.”

She squealed and hugged him. “You’re going to work with us?”

His eyes bored into her. “I am. God just keeps surprising me with blessings. He’s given me the most wonderful woman in the world and a job with my teenage rock idols.” His lips trembled. “Your father is a good man, Danielle. He’s made arrangements for my mother to be placed in a facility in Atlanta that deals with her condition, and he insists on paying for her care because I saved your life.”

She stared up at him. “I can’t believe it.”

“What?”

“When I first met you, I thought you were a remote, private person who detested being a member of the human race. Now you’re going to help minister to people in Africa. God sure can work miracles.”

He smiled. “I’ve got a lot to learn, but with your help I’ll make it.”

Once she’d thought his eyes cold and aloof. Now she could see only love in their depths. “We’ll make it together.”

His lips moved closer. “I didn’t know I could ever be this happy. Thank you, Danielle, for saving me from myself.”

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed reading
Mountain Peril
. As I wrote this book, the story and the characters became very special to me. At times Jack and Danielle became so real in my mind that I had trouble remembering they were products of my imagination.

I grieved for Danielle’s losses, and I sympathized with Jack for the troubles he’d endured since childhood. In the end, though, what they needed was what we all desire—the assurance that God loves us and is concerned about every aspect of our lives.

Years from now this story may be a dim memory for you. However, I hope the truth that I’ve tried to convey will always be in your heart. The Psalmist said it best when he wrote:
You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to You.
Psalm 86:5.

Sandra Robbins

1. Danielle lived for years with the unsolved murder of her best friend and then her fiancé. Have you had to cope with such a tragedy in your life? If so, how did it affect you?
   
2. Jack felt as an adult he had become like his unloving father. How do you think childhood experiences shape the adults we become?
   
3. Danielle’s parents had faced the demons of drug abuse and with God’s help had conquered their addictions. How can we as Christians help those we see struggling to overcome habits that are ruining their lives?
   
4. Danielle feared loving someone because she couldn’t face the possibility that she might lose them. How do we overcome such fears?
   
5. Jack felt responsible for his wife’s death because he thought he drove her into the arms of another man. Do you think his actions played a part in her death, or do you think she was responsible for her choices?
   
6. When you make a mistake in life, do you tend to blame someone else, or do you take responsibility for your actions?
   
7. Jack’s inner thoughts reveal a very sensitive man who guards his emotions. Do you know someone like that? How do you reach that person to let them know you care about what troubles them?
   
8. Danielle had been taught by her parents to love all people, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, but her superiors at the university didn’t share her beliefs. How do you deal with people who demonstrate attitudes contrary to what Jesus taught?
   
9. Danielle told Jack that he would one day face something that he couldn’t handle alone. Do you try to solve your problems by yourself, or do you rely on the strength of the Lord and His guidance to help you through troubling times?
   
10. Since his mother’s diagnosis with Alzheimer’s, Jack had felt alone and missed the woman who didn’t recognize him. Does your family struggle with a debilitating disease? How do you cope?
    
11. Danielle is surprised that Jack is joining their ministry to the Batwa people of Africa. Have you ever been involved in a mission trip that ministered to destitute people either in this country or abroad? How did it affect your life?
    
12. Jack comes to see the need for having God in his life and prays for forgiveness for denying Him for so many years. Have you done the same in your life?