Page 87 of Avenging Angel

Owen shines his light around the area where two tunnels branch off. “Bennett was injured in the explosion in Colorado. Makes sense that carrying or dragging a 100-pound girl would take its toll.”

I agree, but there are still questions burning in the back of my mind. “How was Bennett here at the same time he was in the hospital? Then there’s the rental outside with Colorado plates that corroborate his story of driving here. Both of those give him an alibi for Genevieve’s kidnapping.”

Brad holds up his hands in surrender. “I swear it wasn’t me!”

Owen snorts. “Man, we already know that. Let us work through the problem without you constantly proclaiming your innocence.”

“He has a team just like us,” Faith says. “Someone could have driven the rental back while he flew into Medford, Eugene, or any number of other small airports. I bet if the FBI gets a warrant for the GPS information of the vehicle, it will show that Bennett was nowhere near Stillwaters Campground.”

“And the number to the hospital is easily spoofed,” Owen says. “I could do it in my sleep.”

“Great,” Brad mumbles. “Even if you catch him, I’m still going to be blamed.”

I feel a pang of sympathy for the guy who was just so in love with a woman that he couldn’t let her go. It was a love that was used against him for a vendetta he doesn’t deserve. “The public will want answers, and if we don’t get a confession, then you might very well end up being the scapegoat. We’ll do everything we can to protect you, Brad, but that means we can’t let you go until this is all over.”

Owen slaps Brad’s back as he takes the lead, continuing to follow the set of footprints and drag marks down the tunnel.

“The good news is that Bennett’s not going to get away with it. We let him believe that we trusted him, and we came in here knowing this was a trap.”

Scott walks a few paces behind them, showing Brad a tracking device he had in his pocket. “I gave my wife a similar GPS tracker to put on Bennett’s vehicle, and we each have one in the event we found his ATV. If Daisy did her job, then she planted one and we’ll know where he went.”

It’s at that moment Brad realizes that we’re a member short. “Where is Daisy?”

Owen looks at me, and there’s a shared grief between us when I say, “She’s in the hands of the enemy.”

When we devised our plan to trap Bennett into a false sense of security so he believed he had the upper hand, we knew that a sacrifice had to be made to save Genevieve. Daisy was that sacrifice. Even now, I’m still unsure if that’s what Uri meant in his warning, or if the true sacrifice is yet to come. But I’m trusting in the Lord to protect the woman I love. It was tough for Owen to allow his sister to do it, but like the rest of us, he knew it was the only way.

As we come upon the cavern, I stop and hold up my hand in a fist in a signal to stop when I hear something off in the distance. Everyone, including Brad, remains silent as we listen intently.

Muffled shouts and yells echo off the walls. “Mmmmm!”

At the call for help, I take off running. “We’re coming!”

I’m the first to reach the small cavern where I find Genevieve squirming on the ground, her hair matted, and streaks down her cheeks where tears had run freely. With no food or water for almost a full day, she doesn’t have enough moisture left in her body to cry anymore. More importantly, Uri is sitting right next to her, whispering in her ear.

“My job is done here,” he says to me, and me alone. “Now it’s your turn to take over.”

Keeping my voice low and eyes on Genevieve, I ask him, “And Daisy?”

Uri touches my shoulder, and peace flows through me, even before he says, “She’s in good hands and everything is going accordingly.” Then he chuckles. “The Father hasn’t stopped your plan, so He must agree with it. That’s very rare.”

As he walks down the tunnel and disappears from sight, he laughs. “Very rare indeed!”

I shake my head and focus on the situation at hand. When I approach, Genevieve wriggles further away. I put my hands up to show her that I’m no threat, then tell my sister that she’s needed. I watch as Faith approaches the scared girl with caution.

“We’re not going to hurt you. Daisy sent us,” Faith says gently. Then she fingers the edge of the duct tape and amends her statement. “Okay, I lied. Removing the tape is going to hurt, but only for a few seconds.”

Genevieve nods and braces for the sting, eyes shut tight and body rigid as my sister rips the tape off. The scream that follows is almost deafening.

I hand Faith one of the canteens that Brad had brought with him. “She needs this.”

Faith takes it, sets it down while she cuts away the bindings around Genevieve’s wrists and ankles, helping her to sit up.

Before taking a sip of the water she desperately needs, Genevieve asks, “Is Daisy okay? Is she alive?”

I squat down next to the girl and look her in the eye so she knows I’m not lying. “As far as we know, she’s still alive.”

Genevieve doesn’t miss the worry in my eyes or my voice. With a dry mouth and parched throat, she croaks out, “But you don’t know for how long.”