Chapter 12: On the Run

Awakening

“Adam!” Gee panted when he found the doctor. Adam looked up from a cup of coffee in the hospital cafeteria. Julia and Mead sat with him.

“Are you hurt, Gee?” Adam asked as he started to stand.

“No. Winded. Ran from the Woods.”

“That’s ... about three miles,” Mead offered. “Why are you running?”

“No driver’s license. The children, Adam. They’ve been eating nuts in the woods.”

“What? That’s not possible. Their blood tests showed markers for RDH in their system but they’d get that from long-term use of Lustre.”

Gee put the dirty blanket on the table, causing those seated to pull their cups and dishes out of his way.

“This is what was in the children’s nest in the Patriarch. A blanket. A few ragged clothes. A plastic cup. Mushrooms and nuts. There were plenty of broken shells to indicate they’d been eating them,” Gee explained.

“And a butter knife?” Mead said, spotting the flash of silver in the pile.

“That and the cup are the only domestic things I could find. And here. The remains of their shoes. I don’t know how far they walked to get here, but they are completely worn out.”

“We need to get a nut tested,” Adam said. “Maybe these don’t have the concentration of RDH in them that the nuts in the Forest have.”

“Or we could be dealing with addicts who have developed an immunity to the poison,” Mead speculated.

“You know, I ate a nut from the Patriarch the first time I found him.” Gee said.

“You did? When?”

“Thanksgiving. It didn’t seem to have the same effect that the first nut had. And remember, Karen ingested seven of them when she was kidnapped. I assume they were from the Wild Woods,” Gee said.

“We should run another sample of your blood and Karen’s to see how the markers compare to the children,” Adam said. “I don’t see any signs of withdrawal in the children. In fact, I was going to suggest you can take them home now.”

“We can ... What?”

“They aren’t sick. When the little children were here, we were feeling our way. They were unresponsive and we tried to figure out what was wrong. Nina was never admitted because, aside from her damaged memory, she wasn’t sick. These kids are like her. They need a healthy diet and people who will take care of them. That’s what a family does,” Adam said. “I plan to release Jane, John, and Genesis Evars into the care of their family.”

“Pending the judge’s approval,” Mead added.

“You’re saying Karen and I are their family?”

“Convince me otherwise, Gee.”

“What do you think, Karen?” Gee asked. Mead gave him a lift home after their meeting at the hospital. “It’s ... So much of the work falls on you now. I don’t want you to feel like I’ve gone out and created a burden for you.”

Karen grabbed Gee’s head and turned it toward her before kissing him passionately. Tears streamed down her face. She pulled away to look at him and then kissed him again.

“Do you think the only child that mattered to me was Renee? We found her. Nina is here. But if we could adopt every child who has been taken and abused, I would.”

“We’ll need more help.”

“I’ve already asked Raven if she would be interested in helping with the children. I’ll put her on full time instead of as a part-time housekeeper. What were Ben’s last words to us? ‘Fill this house with children.’ You don’t think he meant I should become a baby factory, do you?” Karen laughed through her tears. Gee hugged her to him.

They heard a sniff and turned to see Nina standing in front of the sofa.

“Nina, honey, are you upset?”

She shook her head and Karen shifted so Nina could sit between them.

“You ... won’t send me away, will you?”

“Absolutely not!” Gee said. “Nina, this is your home. We would never send you away. Aren’t you the one who reminded us that we have a lot of bedrooms?” She released a shuddering breath.

“I ... knew that. I was afraid. When Sir and Madam got a new girl, they sold me.”

“Honey, we don’t own you. We love you. When we bring more children into our home, we’ll love more. We don’t need to take away from you to give to Jane and John and Gen,” Karen said. Nina considered a moment and began to smile.

“It’s like Jeanie! I don’t have to stop being friends with her to be friends with Leslie. And that means I can love Mommy and Daddy and still have room for John and Jane and Gen.”

“You are growing up to be such a loving and kind daughter,” Karen said, hugging her.

“Do you want to come and live with us?” Gee asked the children as they sat together in the hospital room. Karen cuddled baby Gen and Nina had chosen to sit close beside Jane.

“Will we be together, sir?” John asked. He hugged Jane possessively. They still spoke softly but seemed to have as much language skill as Nina. They had lived rough for nearly a year but had poor experiences living in a house with their owners.

“First, I am not ‘sir’. I’m just Gee. John, we don’t own you. No one is ever going to own you again. We will give you a home and a safe place and invite you to be part of our family. You and Jane and Gen will live with us as long as you like and we will help you learn and become independent as your own family. Is that what you want?”

“Yes, sir. I mean yes, Gee.”

Jane had not spoken more than a few whispers to John. Karen looked to her.

“Jane, this is your choice as well. Do you want to live with John and Gen in our home as a family?” Jane looked at John and visibly relaxed. Her smile was radiant when she looked at Karen.

“Yes, ma ... Miss...”

“Just Karen, dear.”

“Yes, Karen. You won’t take us away from each other?”

“No, sweetheart. Not at all.”

“Then yes.” She clung to John.

“Judge Warren needs to ask you some of the same questions so we can go home,” Gee said. “Just answer him honestly, even if it is different than what you told Karen and me. We’ll wait outside.”

A happy parade left the children’s room. Adam and Julia followed the family of six and chatted with Mead Oliver and Judge Warren. All four had witnessed the agreement between the children and Gee, Karen, and Nina, verifying they all wanted to live together. It would take time and proper paperwork to make it a permanent arrangement but the Judge had signed temporary custody over. There had been one stipulation the Judge required and talked it over carefully with Jane, John, and Adam. After the exchange, Jane had received a birth control implant. She sighed when the bandage had been applied to the insertion point.

“Someday I might want another baby,” she said. “I love Gen. But it was very hard and hurt a lot. Caregiver Adam said it was because my hips haven’t grown up yet. When I grow up all the way, then John and I can have another baby.”

“That’s very mature of you, Jane,” Karen said. She held baby Gen again and smiled at the gurgling infant. “You have a good Mommy, Gen. And Grandma will be right here to help.”

John stopped in the hall so abruptly he was almost run over. Jane followed his eyes into the room they were passing. John reached for Gee’s hickory walking stick and asked for it with his eyes. Gee found the children all liked to reach out and touch the stick but was puzzled by John’s request. He nodded and let John take the stick. They followed the boy into the room where Rena Lynd lay silently in bed, Pastor Lance Beck sitting beside her.

“What is the meaning of this?” Beck asked. “Are you here to rejoice in my suffering. Dr. Gaston has already told me she won’t last much longer. Let her go in peace.”

Without hesitating, John and Jane approached the bed opposite where Beck sat and laid the hickory staff next to Rena. They carefully moved her hand and wrapped it around the smooth wood. Both children held her hand against the staff.

The room was silent, Beck shocked to stillness by the children. Rena gasped, her eyes flashing open as a long moan escaped her lips. For a moment, Gee thought it was her death rattle. Lance reached for her hand and she turned her head toward him. A piercing scream issued from her throat.

Mead was in action and pulled Beck’s hands behind his back, snapping handcuffs on him. Never one to wait on formalities, Mead immediately started asking questions.

“Is this the man who attacked you, Rena?”

She shook her head and looked at Beck, tears forming in her eyes.

“I loved you,” she whispered. “You didn’t have to send me to them. I would have done anything for you.”

Judge Warren held up a hand, silencing Mead. Adam and Julia efficiently began checking Rena’s vitals. She never let go of the staff.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Judge Warren said softly as he looked at Rena over the children’s heads. “Rena, do you know who did this to you? Who you were sent to and who pushed you into the quarry?” Rena nodded slowly.

“Dr. Jones,” she said. “And Deacon Stewart.”

Pastor Lance Beck was freed, protesting that he knew nothing about her treatment and believing he had sent her to a place where she would be safe. Rena, however, made it clear that she did not want him to come near her again. Ever. He left in tears.

She was so exhausted from the sudden awakening and dramatic outburst, she could hardly keep her eyes open. Julia stayed with her as she fell asleep, having given Mead and Warren enough information to generate an arrest warrant for Deacon Stewart. The story was one of drugs and rape. Before she drifted back to sleep, she looked up at the children and smiled at them.

“Thank you,” she whispered, “for bringing the Forest to me.” She released the staff and dropped off to sleep.

“She’s very weak,” Adam said once they were in the hall. “Even now, I don’t know if she will make it. We’ll do everything we can.”

“I’ll start the warrant,” Mead said to the Judge. “I’ll need Sheriff Johnson. Stewart lives about ten miles south of town.”

“Have him meet us at my office,” the judge said. “And get lots of backup. State police if you need them. This is the end of the road for him.”

“How did you know she needed the staff?” Karen asked the children during dinner at the mansion that evening.

They had been happy but not overly impressed by the little suite of rooms that Karen showed them to—just a bedroom and bath. Raven had prepared a big meal, having already told Sherry at the Pub & Grub that she could no longer work there. Timmy sat at the table with the rest of the family and Gee realized they had adopted the young man with a mind as damaged as the others. He stood as soon as he had finished eating and announced that he needed to wash dishes at the pub. He left.

“When Gee found us, we were afraid. We stayed away from the evil men,” John said. “We hid in the trees. But then we touched his stick and everything was okay. We knew we could trust him. He belonged to The Tree and so did we.”

“When we saw the girl in the room, we recognized her,” Jane added. “We saw her come to the cabin. The evil men visited her every day. Then she left and never came back. We ... felt ... she belonged to The Tree. So, we took the stick to comfort her.”

“Will she be all right?” Nina asked.

“We don’t know yet,” Karen said. “The caregivers will do all they can for her.”

Jane asked for her baby, being held by Raven. As soon as she had her, she gave the infant a tiny breast to suckle.

“We will help to give Gen more food from a bottle so she can grow strong like the two of you,” Karen said. “You scarcely have enough energy for yourself, Jane. Always eat as much as you want so you can grow.”

The girl smiled and whispered, “Thank you.”

Fire

Deceived. He had been deceived. Could his own deacon have been the one who tried to kill Rena? Lance Beck went straight from the hospital to the church. There, he knelt at the altar to pray.

How could it be possible for the church of God, his flock, to sink so low? Had he, on a mission to save children from the evil influence of homosexuality and disobedience, been used for some unrighteousness by his Deacon? He had taken the sins of those children on himself. Done unspeakable things to show them the way to salvation. With the assistance of the drug created by Dr. Jones, he had carefully wiped away their evil natures and made them obedient to every word of their parents. They’d been brought to him one at a time over the past ten or more years for instruction that he gladly gave.

Yes, the unwashed sinners of the town would likely not approve. Some would even condemn him as a child abuser. But those people were the first to condemn the youth of today for not having respect or the discipline that their parents, themselves, had failed to instill in them. They didn’t dare even spank a disobedient child for fear of accusations. Yet in his years in the ministry, Lance Beck had turned many a child from the depth of depravity and raised them up whole—a pleasing sacrifice unto God.

What witchcraft had that Satan worked with those children to animate Rena and cause her to make such accusations? The Champion’s magic wand laid across her hands while she rejected her love. It was preposterous and the people of Rosebud Falls let themselves be bewitched by his spells. He had come to town to sow discord. Even within this church.

Preaching had not been enough. It was time for Lance Beck to take action. If the community refused to recognize the evil of the Forest and the enchantment they were under, then he had to destroy the Forest. Like Elijah, he would call down the fire of God and destroy the priests of Baal and their heathen shrine. He was called. He would begin with the cabins, ready tinder in the Wild Woods. From there he would attack the very bastions of evil in the Forest. The foresters’ office, the lumbermill, and that sick breeding ground of insolent and parentless adolescents, Flor del Día.

Lance Beck rose from the altar, a new and recharged crusader. He needed fuel for his fires.

That was when the preacher recognized the scent of gasoline. He sniffed at himself wondering if he had spilled some when refueling his new car. A noise below him drew his attention and he used the chancel stairs to go to the basement. A single light, left always on so they could find the switches for the lights in the basement, scarcely illuminated the bottom of the stairs. He stepped around the corner to see Deacon Stewart emptying a five-gallon gas can on piles of literature, tables, and the paneled walls. Another can sat nearby.

“You!” Beck cried out, surprising the older man. “What are you doing? It’s true! How can you abide the House of the Lord, murderer!”

“What? Ah! She’s dead then. One less stop I need to make tonight,” Deacon sneered, noting the preacher standing on the gas-soaked wooden stairs. “Your services are no longer required by this church, Pastor.”

Beck charged across the wet floor at Deacon and was met with the can, thrown at him. He slipped to one knee and Deacon snatched up the other can to throw at him as well. Beck fell back to the floor, gasoline soaking his clothes. “This is your resignation!” Deacon yelled. He stepped back to the foyer stairs and flicked a lighter at the thin trail of gas he had left there before escaping up the stairs.

“No!” Beck cried. He scrambled back toward the stairs he had descended, the flash of fire engulfing him before he had made the second step. In agony, Beck climbed toward escape, spreading the fire to drapes and carpet. Overcome by pain and fumes, Beck stumbled to the chancel where he fell across the altar.

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” he whispered as the flames consumed him.

Mead and Johnson were speeding out of the city when the call came through for all emergency vehicles to immediately proceed to Calvary Tabernacle where a fire threatened nearby houses and the surrounding woods.

Johnson looked at his counterpart and shook his head. He turned into a drive about five miles south of town and backed out to return. Four other units copied his move, turning on their emergency lights and sirens.

Family

“The house we lived in was like this,” John said. “Mother and Father were very rich.”

“Mother and Father?” Gee asked.

“That’s what they told us we had to call them. Mother and Father. The only words we were allowed speak were, ‘Yes, Mother,’ and ‘Yes, Father.’ They came to play with us each evening. We ate dinner, cleaned our rooms, played dress-up, or school. Sometimes we were rewarded for doing a job well. Some rewards were pieces of candy. Others were being petted. They liked to pet us all over. Usually, they found something wrong with what we did and punished us. They liked to spank us and then pet us.”

“John, do you know who these people are?”

“Mother and Father. We never saw anyone else. The first time we’d ever been outside was when we ran away. We didn’t know there was so much outdoors or how big the house was until we saw it. We took our clothes and the cups and plates we ate from. This is the only one left. We took a knife, afraid that if we took too much, they would look harder for us. We knew about money and took what was in our play store. We found out later the money wasn’t real,” John said.

“We weren’t dressed like other people,” Jane added. “The clothes we had were like the ones on Esther’s little doll. People stared at us so we hid and ran and hid some more. We found places where people dumped food and ate there. We took clothing we found in houses we snuck into and left our play money in exchange for it. Mostly, we just kept walking until we found the woods.”

“It’s almost too much to comprehend. I’m glad you ran away, but why? Did they hurt you?” Karen asked.

“Jane started to bleed. They were mad. They said they didn’t want teenagers, they wanted children. They were going to get rid of us and get new ones. We knew what it meant when people threw things away. I didn’t want Jane to be thrown away,” John said.

“We were alone in our rooms most of the time and learned how to open the locks on our doors so we could be together after playtime,” Jane said. “And petting each other was much better than having Mother and Father pet us. I understand that is how we got Gen.”

“Why did you come here? I mean to the woods?” Gee asked.

“We didn’t know where we were going. We ran and we hid and one day we recognized where we were. The woods is where we woke up when Mother and Father got us.”

“Again, waking up. Just like Nina said she woke up at the cabin,” Gee said.

“The cabins were scary,” Jane said. “We thought we’d be safe there but then we saw the evil men with the children who were there. We hid in the trees.”

“How did you survive? Eat? Stay warm?” Karen asked. Jane and John looked at each other and were silent as they thought about the question. “It’s okay. You were desperate children. We won’t blame you for anything you did.” Finally, Jane nodded and John continued.

“The women.”

“What women?”

“Women came to the cabins to take care of children, clean, and cook. When we first arrived, we didn’t know what to do and a woman saw us. She looked around and held a finger to her lips. The next morning, there were blankets and some food near the cabin. For a few weeks clothes and food were hidden near the cabins where the evil men couldn’t see them. We tried to live on the ground, hidden in the bushes and thorns but then the children left and the women cleaned the cabins and left,” John said.

“We were going to move into a cabin but we saw the woman in the hospital brought to one of them so we knew they weren’t just abandoned. The evil men came every day. When we saw what happened to her, we moved deeper into the woods and found the big tree. We built our nest.”

“I brought you everything I found in the nest. We’ve washed the other blanket and clothes and gave you the knife and cup. The only thing we didn’t give you were the mushrooms and nuts. We can feed you much better and we are worried they might not be healthy for you,” Gee said. “There were no other clothes or blankets. Did you lose them when you made the nest in the tree?” The children shared a look with each other. Again, a slight nod.

“The Tree said to trust you,” John said warily. “You won’t hurt them, will you?”

“The trees? No. We are trying to save and protect the woods.”

“The other children.”

Gee and Karen paled.

Raid

“Police! Open up!” Sheriff Johnson yelled as he pounded on Deacon Stewart’s door. Silence answered. He pounded again and prepared to have a deputy break down the door. Just before the deputy swung his heavy metal ram, the door cracked open and eyes looked out from below Johnson’s chest level. “Open the door,” the sheriff demanded. “I have a search warrant for these premises and an arrest warrant for Carl Stewart, alias Deacon. Let us in.”

The small person scuttled back from the door, leaving it ajar. Johnson pushed it open and entered. Mead and two deputies followed closely, hands on their sidearms.

The room was immaculate though not ornate. The officers sniffed fresh wood polish. A tiny Asian woman crouched on her knees near the fireplace, a child huddled next to her. Mead called in a woman trooper standing by to assist. She moved immediately to the huddled woman. Officers spread throughout the house.

“Where is Deacon Stewart?” Johnson asked the woman. The trooper hushed his voice and repeated the question softly to the frightened woman.

“He leave. Say come back for Li when house clean. Li work very hard.”

“I’m sure you do, Li,” the trooper said. “Your house is very clean.” She seemed to know how to put the woman at ease as she beamed in pride. “Did Deacon go alone?” The woman shook her head.

“He take boy. Girl stay to help clean.”

“That makes things messy,” Mead grumbled. He thumbed his cell phone. “Put an APB on Deacon Carl Stewart,” he said into the phone. Turning to the woman he asked, “When did he leave?”

“Early. Three o’clock?” the woman answered. Mead returned to the phone.

“Currently presumed to be within four hours of Rosebud Falls, direction unknown. Look up his vehicle registration and add it to the notice. Warning: He is wanted for murder, assault, and kidnapping, and is believed to have a male child with him. Consider him armed and dangerous. Get it out now, Mary,” he barked into the phone.

Johnson nodded.

“Get the woman and girl to the hospital and then a safe house,” he suggested to the trooper. “We need to search this place and it’s going to take a while. We’ve been up all night. Damn fire.”

The trooper agreed and moved the two outside to a waiting ambulance. The woman was afraid because she had not finished cleaning and Deacon would be back for her. It took a few minutes for the trooper to convince her that she would be safe and they would make sure Deacon knew she had done a good job of cleaning.

“You stink,” Mead said, looking at Johnson. He sniffed at himself. “Me, too. If it weren’t for that damned fire, we’d have been here at midnight—before he ran. That church is just more trouble than it’s worth.”

“I bet he didn’t get here to pack until the church was burning.”

“You think?”

“I think you can add arson to the list of crimes he’s wanted for. That fire was definitely deliberate and went up much faster than even a wooden church should. The fire chief was sure an accelerant was used. Any word on the preacher?”

“No. We didn’t find him home during the fire. We put out a missing person notice. He could be traveling with Deacon,” Mead said. “Where do we start?”

“Deputies!” Johnson yelled. Two sheriff’s deputies and two policemen moved into the living room, already wearing latex gloves. State troopers were searching the grounds and outbuildings.

“We’re looking for any information that will help us locate and convict Deacon Carl Stewart. That includes drugs, papers, bills, journals, canceled checks, maps, and hidden passages where children might have been concealed. There could be children in hiding the housekeeper didn’t know about. Box and carry everything. Itemize it. Chain of custody. We don’t want any tainted evidence when we put this bastard away for life.” The deputies and officers nodded and went about their work. “Mead, you should call Savage and search Stewart’s office.”

“I have the warrant. I’ll head there now. At least we have a friendly CEO over there,” Mead said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Mobilizing the Search

“There could be how many more out there?” David shouted at Gee. Sunday was not going to be a day of rest for anyone.

“John said there had been eight of them in the Patriarch nest when it started to snow. When the worst weather hit and the temperatures dropped, they moved into one of the cabins but the children don’t like it there. That was probably the cabin Darrell discovered was out of propane. We were out of the woods completely for three weeks and when I got volunteers back in there, we focused on the fencerow,” Gee said. “Jane gave birth in one of the cabins but as soon as she could climb, they moved back to the nest in the Patriarch. The kids divided up the supplies they had and scattered. They’ve seen others in the past month but have not talked to them.

“We’ll need every forester in the Wild Woods,” David said. “Jonathan, start calling them up. We need to search as if lives depended on it. They do.”

“We also need to be calm and non-threatening,” Gee said. “Don’t send them in all at once and send them from different directions. These children have been abused and fled. They are very good at hiding.”

“How long have they been out there?” David asked. “How long have we had frightened children living in the wild within a mile of our Forest?”

“Jane says they got here before the nuts started falling off the trees. That was about September, I’d guess. Just before Harvest,” Gee said.

“Six months! And traffickers moving kids through before that. How could we have missed this for so long?” David moaned.

“David, these children are different than the first three little ones we found. They’re more like Nina. Older adolescents whose training or brainwashing failed at some point and they ran away from their owners. They will hide,” Gee said. “Our best bet is to spread out, find likely places where they might travel—like to water—but don’t try to invade them. The same things Jessie and Jonathan have been doing the past couple of weeks. Let’s set out more survival kits and increase the amount of food in them.” David nodded agreement.

“I see what you’re saying. If we try to ferret them out, they’ll dig deeper. We need to lure them. Tame them,” he said. “Let’s start getting survival kits together. Do you want to call in your volunteers?”

“I’m torn,” Gee said. “They have a lot of enthusiasm but sometimes lack restraint. I’ll figure out who to talk to.”

DNA

A week after the three children had been released to the custody of Gee and Karen, Judge Warren sat in the conference room he often used for less formal meetings. Nothing in this room went on anyone’s official record.

“The good news is that we located a list of contacts,” Mead said. “We don’t yet know the relationships, so we’re proceeding slowly.”

“What kind of contacts?” Judge Warren asked.

“We have his cellphone log and have identified most of the parties he called. There were the expected contacts that could be part of the trafficking or might just be from church and office. Jones, Alexander, Daniels, Darren Cole, Beck, and the attorney, Matt Hogue. But the other numbers look like he was running for national office or something. Reclusive, rich, foreign, in government. Our suspicion is they may have been customers. We also found a map with locations of various warehouses and dates next to them. We suspect these may have been the drop points for loads of stone that concealed children. Larry Syre has become very cooperative in identifying places he dropped and picked up loads.”

“So, what’s the bad news?”

“It’s no longer our case. Or maybe that is good news—I don’t know. We were definitely in over our heads.”

“It’s gone federal?”

“Yes, sir. The longer Deacon is on the loose, the more likely he is to have crossed state lines. His Asian housekeeper has been cooperative with the state patrol and spoke through a Chinese interpreter. She first begged not to be sent back to China. She’s illegal, smuggled into the US in the trunk of a car shipped by container. Her contact on this end got her the job with Deacon two years ago. She has not been allowed out of his house in that time. And no, the two children are not hers. They were brought to the house in November—about the same time we found the kids in the truckload of stone. The boy Deacon took with him is about seven, she thinks. The sum is, FBI involvement. They thanked us for the evidence and took over the case. What they haven’t done yet is ask for access to any of the recovered children. We gave them a full report and they said that part was up to us. They were interested in criminals.”

“Just as well. If they recovered a kidnapped child, they’d turn him over to CPS and the kid would be in worse shape than before. Good news?” Judge Warren asked.