Vanished (23 page)

“Good girl,” Brynn said. “Open your eyes. We’re going to get you warmed up.”

Ava brushed something black on the girl’s coat. Dog fur. She looked at the dog, who sat nearby, watching their every movement with careful eyes.
Had the dog stayed close to share its body heat?
Dog fur covered Henley’s mittened hands as if she’d been clutching the dog.

Ava’s eyes watered. “Good dog,” she whispered.

Mason stepped over to the dog and patted its head. “Good boy.” The dog rubbed its shoulder against Mason’s leg, and Ava sat up straighter.

“Mason, is that your dog?” Ava asked.

Brynn stopped her ministrations on Henley to glance back at the dog and Mason.

“Damn right, it’s my dog,” he whispered. He thumped the dog’s sides with both hands, and Ava could have sworn the dog smiled.

The dog pranced between Mason and Henley on the hike out of the forest. The men took turns carrying Henley, using their body heat and Brynn’s thermos of hot water to get the girl warmed up. Mason had tried to call Robin but couldn’t get cell reception in the ravine.

“That’s why we use radios,” said Brynn. She’d notified the other teams that Henley had been found. Mason noticed she kept a careful eye on Henley, monitoring her breathing and doing everything possible to get warm fluids into the girl.

“Are you a nurse?” Mason asked after watching her peer under Henley’s eyelids.

“Yes,” Brynn answered. “But I volunteer for the
SAR
team.”

“She gonna be okay?” he asked in a low voice, and the woman gave him a warm smile.

“I think so. She’s got good circulation going to her fingers and toes, and her pupils are responding to the light. She’s not dehydrated, just cold. She was bundled up pretty warmly, and that made all the difference. And it looks like the dog stuck close, sharing his body heat.”

“Thank you, Lord,” Mason said.

“How did your dog get out here?” Brynn asked. She gave the dog a pat as he darted by to get closer to Henley.

“Looks like the same guy who took Henley took my dog. I’d suspected as much.”

Brynn screwed up her brows, trying to make his statement add up. “But why?”

“Good question. But I want to know why he made us haul ass all the way out here to find Henley. Why’d he go to all that trouble?” Mason asked.

Ava spoke up from behind him. “I don’t like this. He clearly didn’t hurt Henley, but she could have easily died out here. He left her warmly dressed, but what if we couldn’t get to her in time? Why orchestrate this search?”

Henley stirred in the Forest Service worker’s arms. “Mommy?”

Mason caught up to the pair. “We’re gonna take you to your mom, Henley.” Blue-veined lids fluttered again, and brown eyes peered at him for a split second. “Hey, do you know who I am?” Mason asked.

The child blinked, her head resting on the shoulder of the man carrying her.

“Henley,” Mason said. “I’m Jake’s dad, Mason.”

Her eyes flew open, and she stared at him. She started to squirm in the man’s arms. “Hey!” he said, nearly dropping his suddenly active load. She stopped, exhausted, and her eyes fell shut, her head flopping back on his shoulder.

“What was that?” Ava asked.

Mason was stunned. “I don’t know. She looked scared to see me.”

“Maybe it’s because you’re a man. I wonder if Brynn or I should be carrying her,” Ava worried.

“She looks fine now,” Mason muttered. “That was freaky.”

“Does she know you?” Ava pressed.

Mason shrugged. “I’ve only met her a few times. I barely remember it. I figured she’d have a clearer idea of who I am if I told her I was Jake’s dad.”

They hiked on in silence for a few more moments. Mason kept stealing looks at the sleeping child ahead of him. Her blond hair was messy and greasy under the hat. He’d noticed earlier that she’d been wearing a man’s socks, not little-girl socks. They were baggy above her shoes like they were ten sizes too big. No pink sweatshirt, but she was wearing an old brown coat that also appeared to belong to a man. Her hands had disappeared inside the long sleeves. The Forest Service worker handed her off to one of the FBI agents for a turn. Mason thought Henley seemed small for an eleven-year-old, but carrying her up the rough slope was still a hard job.

He stepped carefully around some rocks and looked up to see wide eyes staring at him over the agent’s shoulder.

“You know who I am now, Henley?” Mason asked. A small nod answered him. Relief flowed through him. She squirmed in the agent’s arms, trying to find her hands in the too-big coat she was wearing.

“Hold on there,” the startled agent said as he stopped and adjusted his grip. Henley found one hand and dug at the neck of her jacket.

Mason stepped closer, not wanting to scare her again. “You okay, honey? What’s the matter?”

She pawed at the zipper, but her fingers wouldn’t function right.

“Your coat bugging you?” Mason reached over the agent’s shoulder and tugged Henley’s zipper a few inches. “I don’t want you to get cold.”

Henley plunged her hand under her coat and felt around. Mason heard the crinkle of paper as she pulled a folded note from a pocket inside the jacket. She thrust it at Mason. He took it, his heart racing. Had she gotten away from her kidnapper with something that would identify him? Mason unfolded the paper.

Hello, Mason. Now it’s my turn to destroy something precious of yours.

Mason’s hands shook, making the paper quiver.

“What does that mean?” Ava asked, reading beside him. She looked at Henley. “Did someone tell you to give that to Mason?” The girl nodded and laid her head back on the agent’s shoulder. Her eyes closed in exhaustion. “That’s why she was thrashing around when you said your name. She’d been instructed to deliver the note.” Ava’s voice cracked. “Poor little thing. She took her duty very seriously. I wonder if he threatened her?”

“Ava. I need to call Jake.” Panic ricocheted through his nerves. Nothing else was precious to Mason. They could burn his house, wreck his vehicle, and destroy his health. His son was everything, and someone knew it.

He pulled out his cell. No reception. “Anyone else have cell reception yet?” he yelled.

Everyone in their party checked their phones. No luck.

“We’re not far from the vehicles,” Brynn said.

Mason wanted to run up the hill. He didn’t care if he left his team behind. Sweat dripped down his back, and Ava put a hand on his arm. “Hey,” she said. “A few more minutes.”

“Something’s wrong. I can feel it.”

“We left Jake safe at home.”

“And a big chunk of the FBI is up here to rescue Henley,” Mason pointed out. “There were just a few Clackamas County deputies outside the house when we left. Something could have happened.”

“No one has Jake,” Ava said, but her gaze faltered.

23

His team reached the top of the road, and Mason jogged ahead. The other teams had beat them back and were waiting at the vehicles. Mason checked his phone. No service.

Jake.

“Anyone have service?” he shouted at the other group as he ran to join them. The agents dutifully checked their phones and shook their heads.

“I’ve radioed the ranger station and asked them to call the number you gave Brynn. I haven’t heard back yet,” Wolf told him. “The little girl okay?”

“Brynn says she looks good. Just cold,” Mason replied. “I need to head back to town.”

Sanford caught up with him. Ava had shown him the note Henley had been carrying. “We’re heading there, too. We may have Henley back, but it sounds like this isn’t over.”

“I’ll drive,” Ava said, holding her palm out for Mason’s keys. He handed them over. It was his turn to be on his cell as they drove. He was about to climb in his passenger seat, but turned and dashed over to where Brynn was buckling Henley into the back seat of an Explorer.

“Where are you taking Henley?” he asked. The little girl looked calmly at him as she let Brynn fuss over her. Her eyes were tired and glassy, but she was awake and sitting up on her own. Brynn slid into the seat next to her.

“Emanuel Hospital. We’ll get her checked out.” She met Mason’s gaze, and Mason realized she was concerned about a sexual assault. His heart dropped. “I’ll keep trying to reach her parents,” Brynn continued. “If you get ahold of them first, tell them to meet us there.”

“Right.” Mason took one of Henley’s mittened hands. “You ready to see your mom?”

She nodded, and her eyes lit up.

“Good. She’s missed you something terrible. We all have. Jake’s gonna be happy to know you’re okay.”

She leaned over to look past him. “Dog,” she whispered and held out her hands. Mason’s dog jumped past him into the SUV and sat on the floor at Henley’s feet, his tongue hanging out as he gazed at Mason. The dog was taking his sentry duty very seriously. Mason rubbed his ears. “Good boy.”

“What’s his name?” Henley asked in a soft voice.

“He doesn’t have a name,” Mason answered. “Do you want to give him one?”

The girl nodded and screwed up her face in thought. “Bingo.”

“That’s a good name. Bingo.” The dog tilted its head at the name and held Mason’s gaze. “I think he likes it.”

He nodded at Brynn and slammed the door.

He went back to his truck and climbed in. Ava gave him a questioning glance.

“They’re taking her to the hospital to get checked out. Let’s go,” he stated.

Ava guided them down the service road while Mason kept an eye on his phone, waiting for the service indicator to grow some bars.

It flickered, and he hit Robin’s cell number.

“Mason?” Robin answered.

“You heard?” he asked.

“Yes, we got a call from the Forest Service station. They said your group radioed in that Henley is fine. Is that true? Is she really okay?”

“Yes, she’s sitting up and talking. She seems good.”

Robin burst into tears, and Lucas came on the line. “They’re taking her to Emanuel? Is that right? Was she hurt?”

“She seems okay, Lucas. She really does. I talked to her for a bit. I think it’s just a precaution. Is Lilian all right?”

Mason heard Lucas relaying his information and female voices answering.

“Yes, Lilian knows and is ecstatic. We’re leaving for the hospital in a minute.”

“Can I talk to Jake?” Mason’s heart sped up.

“Hold on.”

Mason heard Lucas giving instructions and then he returned to the call. “Robin’s getting him. We’d almost forgotten about him since the Forest Service called a minute ago.” His voice cracked. “I still can’t believe Henley’s okay. Dear God, Mason. There are so many different ways this could have ended.”

“I know, Lucas. I know. Believe me, I’ve thought through every one of them.”

“Me too.” Lucas sucked in a deep breath. “I can’t believe it,” he repeated.

Mason heard Robin’s voice in the background.

“What do you mean he’s not there?” Lucas asked, his mouth away from the receiver. “He went
where
?”

Mason closed his eyes.
Jake.

“Robin says he left a note on his bed saying he was going to McKenzie’s house for a while. He didn’t tell us he was leaving. I’m gonna strangle that kid!”

“I’ve got to call him.” Mason could barely speak. He looked away from the road, the blacktop they were speeding over making him dizzy.
What was Jake thinking?

“Robin’s already calling,” said Lucas. “Hang on.”

Ava shot Mason a worried glance from the driver’s seat. “What’s going on?”

“Jake left a note that he went to his girlfriend’s house.”

“What?” said Ava. “I told him this morning that he had to take someone with him.”

“You aren’t the only one,” answered Mason. Nerves twisted in his stomach.

“Robin left him a message on his phone,” said Lucas. “He didn’t pick up.”

“Shit. Those two Clackamas County deputies still there?” Mason asked. “Tell them to haul ass to McKenzie’s house.”

“What’s going on?” Lucas’s voice dropped. “Henley’s safe. Why—”

“He’s going after Jake now,” Mason spit out. Hysteria sank its fingers into his brain. “He left a note for me with Henley, saying that what’s precious to me is next. That’d be Jake.”

“Holy shit,” Lucas breathed.

Mason heard him shouting at someone in the background as he laid the phone on the seat. The curves of the road and the stress of the morning caught up with him. “Pull over,” he muttered to Ava. “I’m going to be sick.”

She yanked the steering wheel to the right, and Mason had the door open before the SUV had even come to a halt.

Minutes later, Mason and Ava were speeding down the twisting highway. Mason’s brain spun as he tried not to think about Jake at the mercy of the same person who’d held Henley captive for three days.

“He didn’t harm Henley,” Ava stated, her focus on the road.

“Not that we know of yet,” Mason mumbled. “I’m thinking this wasn’t about Henley, or someone from Lucas’s business trying to strike back at him. This is about me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That note. He’s focused on me. No note was left for Lilian or Lucas. What I don’t understand is why he even took Henley if his goal was to get to me.”

“We don’t know that was his goal. You’re jumping ahead.”

Ava drove toward Lake Oswego and McKenzie’s home. Over the phone, they learned that Clackamas County had immediately gone to the girl’s home and found the front door unlocked. Jake’s girlfriend McKenzie was found inside, gagged and tied to a chair. She said that an older man had broken in earlier that day, hit her across the face, tied her up, and used her phone to text Jake.

He’d blindfolded and tied up Jake, then taken him, leaving Jake’s cell phone behind.

The teen girl was helping police the best she could.

“How’d he know she was Jake’s girlfriend?” Mason asked Ava as they pulled off the freeway toward McKenzie’s home. Ten more minutes. He wanted to talk to the girl himself.

“Good question. Probably the same way he knew Jake went to Duke and that he was out for pizza the night when he was approached.”

“You think that was him?” Mason asked.

“McKenzie’s description sounds close enough. I’d say someone has been stalking Jake for a while. How much does he put out about himself on social media?”

“I don’t know,” Mason admitted. “I’ve told him to be careful.”

“But have you looked?” Ava asked. “Is his Facebook page private? Do his other accounts list Duke in his bio for the world to see? Instagram, Twitter, ask.fm, Snapchat. All that crap. Kids post stuff all the time that they shouldn’t and assume no one will ever see it but their friends.”

“Shit.” Mason rubbed his forehead. He had never asked Jake to show him what he posted about his life. “I can’t keep up with that stuff.”

“You don’t try,” corrected Ava. “You’re like 99 percent of parents—you choose to not educate yourself about it. I hear it every day.”

Mason wanted to deny it, but she was right. He knew there were sites out there where kids communicated. He’d never asked Jake to show him. And he’d never tried to look for his son’s info other than a halfhearted peek at Facebook.

She pulled in front of McKenzie’s house, mere blocks from the Fairbanks home. Cars from Clackamas County and the FBI filled the street. Mason wondered how long it would take the media to put two and two together about the activity so close to the hub of Henley’s disappearance. He spotted a few neighbors watching from their windows and figured not long.

Inside, they found McKenzie sitting with a female deputy and ASAC Ben Duncan. Other officers and agents littered the scene. Mason had never met the girl. Heck, he hadn’t even known she existed in his son’s life until a few days ago. She turned swollen but beautiful blue eyes his way, and he understood why his son had fallen so hard. A welt was reddening on her cheekbone.

“Are you Jake’s dad?” McKenzie asked before he’d said a word.

Mason nodded.

“The hat,” she said. “He always said you were a cowboy.”

Mason twisted the brim of the hat in his hands. “Who was it?” he asked, his gaze taking in Duncan and the female deputy.

McKenzie shook her head. “I don’t think Jake knew him. He seemed completely surprised to see him and didn’t say anything that indicated he knew him.”

“I told you that you can wait to talk until your parents are here.” The female deputy touched McKenzie’s arm.

McKenzie shook her head, pulling her arm from the woman’s touch. “I’m eighteen. I can talk to the police if I want. And they need to know
now
what I saw to help get Jake back. Not when my parents get home.”

“You’re doing just fine, McKenzie,” Ben Duncan said. “You’ve been a big help already. Let’s talk about what he looked like again.”

“I told you what he looks like,” McKenzie said, holding up her hands. “There isn’t any more.”

“Say it again for Mason to hear,” Duncan suggested. “Maybe something will ring a bell with him.”

McKenzie straightened and met Mason’s gaze. “He looked like anyone’s grandfather. Silver hair, tall, maybe six foot two, good build. It looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days. His shoulders were wide, not hunched at all.”

“Age?” Mason asked.

The girl lifted one shoulder. “Sixties? I don’t know. He was still strong. He hauled Jake out of here with no problem.”

“He carried him?” Duncan frowned.

“No, he pulled on Jake’s arms. They were tied behind him, but he was so fast, he had Jake nearly tripping over his feet.”

“What did you talk about while you waited for Jake?” Mason asked.

McKenzie’s eyes looked down and to her right as she remembered. “He wanted to know about us. How long we’d been dating, where we went on dates. I told him we mostly just texted and Skyped since we lived in different states. We hadn’t really gone on a date since he left for school.”

“He knew Jake went to school at Duke?” Mason’s stomach was in a vise. His son was missing, yet part of him felt like he was analyzing the case of a stranger. His heart was being ripped in half, but his brain was on autopilot; his rational cop side was kicking in to protect his emotions and discover the fastest way to find his son.

“Yes, he seemed to know that already.”

Mason exchanged a glance with Ava and Duncan, who both nodded. It looked more and more like the same man who had approached Jake near campus. His arms ached to wrap around his son and never let go again.

“Did he talk about Henley?” Ava asked.

“He asked Jake if he wanted to know what he’d done to his sister, but then he wouldn’t say if she was alive or not. He kept taunting Jake about her fate. He told Jake he’d slit my throat if he didn’t do what he said.” She shuddered. “I thought it meant he’d done that to Henley. I think Jake thought the same thing.”

A Clackamas County deputy stepped in the room. “None of the neighbors noticed a strange vehicle here today. One neighbor noticed when the parents left, but no one else spotted a car or truck nearby.”

“He parked it in our garage while we waited for Jake,” McKenzie told Mason.

“How’d he know your parents would be gone for that long of a time period?” Mason asked.

She blinked. “He asked me. I told him they were going to a party for a few hours. But he couldn’t have known that before he came in.”

“How were they dressed?” Duncan asked McKenzie.

“Nice. Dad had on a tie and mom a dress. They were clearly going to something.”

“He was willing to take a chance they’d be gone,” Mason mused, focusing on McKenzie’s words instead of racing out the door to blindly search for Jake. “Did he seem stressed over the fact that they might walk in any second?”

McKenzie thought for a moment. “He seemed stressed the entire time. He was more focused on getting Jake over here. Over and over, he asked if I thought he’d come. I think he only asked about my parents once or twice.”

“Did he have anything besides a knife?” Ava asked.

McKenzie nodded. “He had a gun.”

Mason’s heart stopped.

“She’s described a revolver to us,” Duncan added. “Kept it in a coat pocket most of the time.”