Charity's Storm (Charity Series Book 4) Read online

  The next morning, we had learned that Grandmammy had grown ill during the night and was recovering in the medical center, with Doc and Hector keeping watch. She made a fuss about the attention, she was eighty-nine after all, but this didn’t stop us from making the fuss anyway. Chef Barney made her favorite vegetable soup, Mr. Bones read to her from the Bible, and I washed her hair while the boys drew her pictures of rainbows and of Fang snatching, and eating, her dentures. They just loved that story. Afterwards, they pinned them to her refrigerator and argued over whose was the best.

  The next few days we stayed at home and looked after Grandmammy, but she began to improve slightly, so on the third day, after I had picked up the boys from their class, I called Hope, Wesley’s wife. We had made arrangements to meet in the park to allow the boys a playdate. Although her son, A.J. was only three and a half, he was the cutest thing, and my boys loved to play with him. I tried to get Ashley and little Glory to meet us too, but Ash said she had plans to meet up with her mom for some shoe shopping. And one thing you could count on about Ashley was she never cancelled shoe shopping…ever.

  Hector was supposed to come with us, but I had encouraged him to stay home with Grandmammy this time. He had eventually agreed, though reluctantly.

  The children gobbled up their snacks quickly and made a mad dash for the swings with Fang tight on their heels. Hope and I cleaned the picnic table and discarded the trash all the while talking about her current pregnancy. She had finally shaken her morning sickness and was looking remarkably good. Her flaming red hair was long and flowing, and her green eyes were vibrant and lit up every time she talked about Wesley and A.J. Her love for them was incontestable, and I was beyond happy for them. Wesley had changed severely after falling in love with Hope. He had finally met his match, and if the rumors were true, he was still meeting his match on a daily basis, because she kept him in check at every turn. I wish I felt sorry for him, but he needed it—and he deserved it.

  Hope and I were talking about the new nursery when a commotion drew our attention to the center of the playground. A boy, maybe eight or so, was grabbing his throat and appeared to be panicking.

  Without hesitation, I jumped up and ran toward him. He then fell to the ground and began to roll around. Was he having a seizure?

  I knelt down to inspect him and soon discovered that he appeared to be choking, as he frantically pointed and grabbed at his throat. I pulled him to his feet and spun him around to where his back was against my chest and immediately began performing the Heimlich. Thank goodness for the little bit of nursing training I had. After only a few moments, it became clear to me that this boy wasn’t choking at all, because he was moaning and complaining that I was hurting him. I spun him around and studied him.

  He instantly began to cry. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to fake it!”

  I was confused as I continued to study the boy. “What do you mean, fake it?”

  He pointed toward the woods. “That man paid me twenty dollars to fake it. I knew it was wrong, but I wanted the money. I’m sorry.” His crying increased.

  A pit suddenly formed in my stomach though I wasn’t quite sure why. “What do you mean, that man paid you? What man?”

  “The park officer. He wanted me to create a diversion is what he called it.”

  “A diversion? Are you sure?”

  He wiped his tears with his arm. “Yes, ma’am.”

  My eyes grew wide as I spun to search for the boys. “Hope, where are the children?”

  Her alarm matched mine as she, like me, realized our children were nowhere in sight.

  “Darrow! Deacon! Dixon!” I yelled as I bolted toward the woods. “Boys!” I could hear Fang’s frantic barks, and I began to panic.

  Just then Darrow exited the woods, running while carrying a limp Dixon in his arms with A.J. trailing closely behind them.

  “Dixon!” I ran to them and pulled Dixon into my arms and inspected him frantically. He was unconscious. “What happened?! Dixon? Dixon, baby, can you hear me?” But he wasn’t responding.

  Darrow was crying. “Some man was trying to take Dixon, but Deacon stopped him! Momma, they took Deacon instead! I tried to stop them, but their car was too fast! Fang chased after the car!”

  My heart pounded painfully in my chest, but I remained calm as I handed my phone to Darrow. “Here, baby. Call your daddy.”

  He nodded and took the phone as I pulled the limp Dixon up into my arms again and began to sob.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Deacon’s POV

  When I woke up, my head felt funny. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. I looked around to see that I was in a helicopter. I always wanted to ride in a helicopter, but this didn’t feel like fun to me at all.

  “Well, well, well. The brave little boy decided to wake up.”

  The man sitting beside me was ugly, with a scar down the left side of his face. He was the one trying to take my brother. “You’re a faker! You’re not a park officer! You’re a bad man! And your scar is ugly!” I jumped on him and began hitting him as hard as I could. My mommy would be proud of me. I think I hit him harder than Darrow could.

  “You little brat! Get off of me!” The man threw me to the other side of the small space. “Now, behave and no one else will get hurt. But act out and I will go get your brothers next.”

  That made me madder, but I stayed still. My head began to hurt. “I don’t feel very good,” I said right before I barfed all over the floor and the man’s shoes.

  “Oh man!” he yelled. “These shoes cost me one hundred dollars!”

  I wiped my mouth and smiled at him. “Well they’re ugly…just like you!”

  He reached over to hit me, but the man driving the helicopter stopped him. “Remember the plan, Jason. If you hurt him it will ruin everything. We need him alive and well.”

  This Jason man yelled. “I know the plan! I’m the one who made it! And you would be wise to remember that!”

  To be a grownup, he looked like he was pouting to me. It was the same look my daddy got when my momma didn’t do what he wanted her to do.

  “You’re acting like a baby!” I said. It just jumped out of my mouth…really it did.

  He pointed at me. “You’re pushing it, kid!”

  I decided then that I better back off a little…but just a little.

  The helicopter landed and they took me to a car. I sat quietly just waiting for a good time to get away. I could run very fast as long as I could get away from them. They would have a hard time catching me. I could even run faster than Darrow. He calls me a liar, but it’s true. You can ask my dad.

  We were in the car for a while and then we stopped. They opened my door and grabbed me.

  “Here is your new home for a while, kid,” the ugly, scarred man said to me.

  I looked up to check out the house. It was a cabin, and it wasn’t very big. I’ve seen one that looked like it in one of my coloring books back home—only I colored it red, and this one was brown. The ground was all dug up around the house like a huge dog had gone crazy looking for his lost bone, or something.

  They took me in the house and the scarred man jerked me to a bed in the corner, and then chained my ankle to a chain that was hooked to the floor, but it didn’t hurt.

  “Are you hungry, kid?” Then he disappeared into another room.

  I sat down on the bed. It was soft but not as soft as my bed back home. I wondered about Dixon. I hoped he was okay. I hoped that nasty smelling stuff the scarred man put in his face didn’t hurt him. I wondered if my mom and dad were looking for me. This made me sad…and mad. I wanted to hurt this man and pay him back for hurting my family, but my mom always said we weren’t supposed to pay people back for the bad they did to us. But I think I would hurt this man if I got the chance to.

  “Here’s you something to eat, kid.” The man sat a plate down with a sandwich on it.

  I picked it up and smelled it. It was peanut butter and jelly, my favorite. I gobbled it down as the m
an watched. Just as I swallowed the last bite, I started to cough. My voice was shaking. “Umm, is there nuts in this?” And then I barfed all over the floor, almost hitting the man again.

  “Oh man!” the man yelled, jumping backwards. “I grabbed the wrong kid!! How can someone so small give me so much trouble?!!” He was pacing back and forth, rubbing his head—and he was mad.

  “Umm, can I go to the bathroom?” I asked the man. “My mouth tastes like butt.”

  The man gave me a mean look. “Your mom doesn’t spank you enough!” He unhooked my ankle and took me to the bathroom. “Get out of my sight!” he said and then slammed the door shut in my face. I looked around for a way to get out, and then I saw the window. I knew I could get to it by climbing up the sink, so I did. The window wouldn’t open all the way, but after a minute I was able to squeeze out. I landed on the ground, like Spiderman, without even making a noise. I ducked behind some bushes as a black van pulled into the driveway and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 men jumped out. They all looked mean and were covered from head to toe in camouflage. I knew about camouflage from watching Duck Dynasty with my uncle Eli. My mom wouldn’t let me watch it because she thought it might make me want to start shooting things, but my uncle Eli snuck and let me watch it any way, mostly just to make her mad.

  I ran through the woods as fast as I could. I stopped to rest a few times and found a bush to sleep under when it turned dark. I was so sleepy. If I could just sleep for a little while then I would go find my momma. She was probably worried about me.

  I woke up with a flashlight shining in my eyes.

  “Thought you could escape, did ya kid?”

  Some man jerked me up and threw me over his shoulder. I kicked and fought, but he was too strong for me. Oh well, I’ll get away tomorrow…after I get some good sleep.

  The next morning, I woke up to lots of men talking. I pretended to be asleep and listened.

  “We’re almost ready, Jason. We have a few more traps to set, and then you can call the mom.”

  “Are the cameras ready?”

  “All but one. We’ll get that one set up today.”

  “Good work, guys. Just a little longer and we’ll all be rich and famous.”

  The men laughed and clapped. I had no idea what they were talking about, but they were gonna call my mom. What did they want her for? This made me mad again. I had to protect her. It’s what my dad would do.

  After I ate lunch, I watched as a bald man with a weird mustache put in a camera in the corner of the room near the ceiling. There were six cameras in the room. They were planning to film something. I didn’t know what so I decided to ask.

  “Hey! Whatcha gonna film?” I asked the bald man.

  He laughed. “You’ll find out soon enough, kid.”

  “Fine!” I pouted.

  The scarred man came in the room. “Everything is ready, kid. Now it’s time to call Mommy.”

  I got mad. “What Popeye does to Bluto is nice to what my daddy’s gonna do to you!”

  The scarred man walked to me and picked me up under the arms pits. “Oh yeah? Why don’t you tell me all about your daddy?”

  I growled in his face, but then I heard my momma’s words in my head, warning me not to tell about our secret, or even hint at it. I bit my lip to keep from saying more. “You stink! You smell like throw-up! And you’re ugly! And if you hurt my mommy I’ll poke your eyes out! And I know how to do it because I watch Deadliest Warrior with my uncle Eli!”

  He laughed and dropped me. “Nice try, kid. Just sit back and enjoy the show.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Charity’s POV

  I paced back and forth, trying desperately to tone down my panic for the boys’ sake. My mind was at war with itself. While a huge part of me was in full-fledged panic mode, there was another, more silent part of my mind that told me everything was gonna be alright. Deacon was a werewolf after all, and so was his daddy. And as such, with their sharp hearing and powerful sense of smell, it wouldn’t take long for the pack to trace his scent and thus find my missing boy—and whoever took him. While I paced and bit my nails to infinity and beyond, Darrow and Dixon were cuddled on the sofa in their grandmother, Irina’s arms. The day had turned to night and the night to morning, and Levi and his elite were trashing the forest in search of Deacon, and I just knew it couldn’t be much longer now.

  I jumped as the phone rang and made a mad dash to grab it by the second ring. “Levi!”

  “Hey, baby,” he responded, but his voice held a grimace.

  “Did you find him?! Please tell me you’ve found him!”

  There was a pause then he cleared his throat. “Not yet. We traced Deacon’s scent to a small airport outside of Happy, but we lost all traces of his scent there. We found Fang. The poor thing had apparently chased the vehicle all the way to the airport. Whoever took Deacon must have taken him away in a small plane or something.” Then he growled so loud I could feel it vibrating my teeth through the phone. When he returned to the phone his voice was calm—almost a dead calm, and it scared me. “I will find him, Charity. Please don’t worry. I’ll find him.” Now his voice was pleading.

  I fought the hot tears, but they began to flow nonetheless. “I know, Levi. I know you will.”

  “Don’t cry, baby. It kills me to hear you in pain. He’s okay though. I could tell by his scent that he’s okay. Our boy is okay. Do you hear me?”

  “Yes, I hear you. Now, go and find our baby.”

  “I will, and I love you!”

  “I love you.”

  Everyone rushed at me once the phone was back in my pocket, but I couldn’t answer any questions. I walked right past them and into the bathroom where I closed and locked the door behind. Before I had another thought, my knees hit the floor and the desperate prayers and floodgate of tears poured out of me with a passion I couldn’t control. I felt so helpless. How could this have happened? Who would want my son? And why? It was the why that was driving me mad. I had to keep my faith and my sanity—Levi and Deacon both depended upon it.

  Dixon was having guilt over what had happened, blaming himself for Deacon being taken. But once we explained that Deacon had chosen to protect him and put himself at risk, he seemed to ease up on himself slightly. He had recovered from the chloroform. I suspected that Deacon had also been drugged with the dreadful stuff. I will say this for whoever took my son, he was gonna pay for it, and if Levi caught him he would pay with his life.

  When my tears and strength had both been exhausted, I took a seat on the closed toilet, not yet ready to face the others and their unending questions. That’s when my phone rang. I didn’t know why but I felt hesitant to answer it, but by the third ring I pressed the phone to my ear and hit talk.

  “Yes?”

  “Charity Bell?”

  I gulped when I recognized the hideous male voice on the other end. I closed my eyes and somehow continued. “Yes.”

  The man on the other end of the phone laughed. “I bet you’re worried sick right now, huh?”

  Anger rose up inside of me then unlike anything I had ever felt before. “If you hurt even a hair on my son’s head you will…”

  “…I will what?! I’m in control of this situation, not you! Now shut up and listen! I will say this only once. I’m gonna tell you where to come, but you must come alone. You can’t tell anyone where you’re going. I’m not here alone. I have men surrounding me, so I’ll know if anyone follows you. If I even think that you’ve been followed the boy is dead. Got it?!”

  I cringed. “I-I understand.”

  “Do you think you can handle that? Can you get away without being seen?”

  I squared my jaw. “I’ll make it happen.”

  “Good. Now here is where I want you to come.”

  As the evil Jason Franco murmured off the directions to a little cabin in the woods some two states away, I wondered how on this mighty round earth was I gonna leave this facility without being seen. As soon as the question entered my mind, I
had an answer. Hector.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I had to remind myself why I was doing this as I peered anxiously out of the tiny peephole in the chest full of laundry. At least this time it was clean laundry, unlike that dreadful day five years ago when I had to sneak into the facility to see Levi. But unlike last time where Levi’s life depended on me, this time it was the life of my son. If I didn’t pull this off, my son would die. If I knew nothing else, I knew that Hector was the man to help me. And just like last time I was determined to get my way. Before I had even asked for his help, he was sworn to secrecy—and this he had to keep, and I knew he would, even if everything within him said otherwise. And just like last time I had to concentrate really hard not to vomit all over myself as Hector carried me, not so gently mind you, in the chest across the facility and into the parking garage.

  I sprang from my hiding spot just as Hector sat the chest on the ground.

  “Can I please come with you, Mrs. Charity. I don’t like the idea of you running all over the place alone looking for Deacon. You could get hurt, or lost. Please,” he begged.

  I reached up on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, big man, but this is something I have to do on my own. Deacon’s life depends on it. I’ll be careful…I promise. Now, I need your car.”

  Before he could even respond, I snatched his keys from his belt and was soon in the car and speeding up the ramp and out of the underground facility. I reached down and turned off the GPS on my cell phone, secretly thanking Eli for showing me how, and quickly turned off my phone. I couldn’t take a chance on Levi finding me until I needed to be found. I wouldn’t risk our son’s life…not for anything…not even my own. He was counting on me, and I couldn’t fail him.

  I drove straight through the city of Happy, N.C., heading right toward West Virginia. The drive took almost five hours, and four hours in I became very sleepy. But by the time I reached the turnoff to the cabin, surrounded by thick, murky woods, I was wide awake and ready to see my son. As soon as I pulled onto the road leading to the cabin, I turned on my phone, turned on the GPS, and hit Levi on speed dial. It didn’t even ring once.