Page 18 of Can She Get Home for Christmas?

The killer lifted his semi. He knew they were trapped, and he was taking his time, enjoying the moment.

“I found this cabin when I was scouting the area,” he called out. “I would have used it for a base of operations, but I saw somebody had taken up residence. I asked myself why. Too bad for you that you had to come back here. You would have gotten away if I hadn’t shot up your car, wouldn’t you?”

His voice was taunting, but he stopped talking and went very still when a low rumbling noise filled the tunnel. It had caught him off guard, and he looked up.

As Jax watched, the end of the tunnel that was under the floor of the cabin began to shudder. Then huge chunks of charred lumber began to rain down. He jumped forward, flung aside the weapon and the flashlight and lifted his arms across his head trying to protect himself. But the whole floor of the cabin was unstable. Jax heard a scream and watched in horrible fascination as more debris clattered down, burying the man in the white suit. When the dust settled, nothing moved, but the flashlight still shone at the edge of the mess.

Beside Jax, Sam stirred. Lifting her head, she peered into the cloud of dust choking the enclosure.

“Stay here,” Jax called out as he started forward, gun still drawn.

“No. You stay back,” Sam countered, grabbing his arm. “More of the cabin could fall.”

They held their positions, both focused on the pile of rubble. Nothing moved.

“I’ve got to make sure he’s not going anywhere,” Jax said.

“And have the rest of the tunnel fall on you? No,” Sam repeated her earlier objection, her voice urgent. “We’re getting out of here.”

“How?”

“Through the door,” a man’s voice answered from outside.

Jax glanced toward Sam. The gun was still in her hand. “Don’t shoot. They’re friends,” he said.

She lowered her weapon, and as he watched, the door was wrenched most of the way open to reveal three Decorah men—Jonah Raider, Cole Marshall, and Steve Outlaw.

Jax stared at them. “How did you get here?”

“Four-wheel drive. We figured when we didn’t hear from you that you might need some help,” Cole answered

“Appreciated,” Jax said.

Jonah turned toward Sam. “That’s your car a few miles back?”

She stood up straighter. “Yes. Thank you for coming.”

“Looks like we missed the good part,” Steve said.

“I’ll give you a full report later,” Jax answered. “Did you find my SUV on that side road a mile from here?”

“Yeah. With a bunch of bullet holes.” Cole pulled the door back on its hinges.

Sam and Jax stepped out into the snowy night.

“This is Samantha Donovan,” Jax said. “The woman I was worried about. But I didn’t know her name until we talked.”

“Glad Jax found you in time,” Jonah said. He, Cole, and Steve all introduced themselves.

“What happened?” Jonah asked.

“The killer tried to snatch her after her car went off the road. I couldn’t shoot at him because he had hold of Sam, so I tried to ram his car. That’s when he started shooting. Then he cut his losses and hightailed it.”

“He had an SUV with a metal ring in the back,” Sam added.

“We saw it,” Cole said, his voice gritty. He looked at Sam. “Where were you going in this storm?”

“Home for Christmas.”

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