Page 90 of The Captive Missing

The group came to a stop at a rocky outcropping. A few of the men knelt down while one crawled on his belly to the edge and held a pair of binoculars to his eyes. While he swept the neighboring mountainside for signs of game, Clay pulled out his phone and checked his messages. Cell service was spotty up here, but Val watched him hold the sleek device to his ear and listen intently. A voicemail had come through at some point during their trek.

Her lungs burned as she stood still, hands braced against her hips. A damp sweat had collected across her brow and down her back. Beneath her heavy jacket, she could feel her thermal shirt cling to her skin. Brushing an errant hair from her face, Val noted the instant everything changed.

Clay’s eyes caught a spark, then darted over to lock with hers, and held.

“We’re going to have to leave you boys to it.” Clay whispered to the man just ahead of him. “Val and I have some business back home.”

“Alright, Clay.” The man nodded, and the others bobbed their heads in acknowledgement.

“Bring home a big one,” Clay added before turning to Val and motioning her on. “Verdict is in. We need to get to a TV.”

All the way down, Val’s stomach flipped inside her body. She felt at times high and others absolutely sick. Clay set a brutal pace, charging down the mountainside like a steamroller. The demands of the hike took all the oxygen from her lungs so there was no room for the million questions that zoomed through her head.

Did Cambric win? Or Jason? Could she contact him? Would the Militia continue to protect her? Or her son?

Where she was winded and panting, Clay was the picture of control. He walked with a purpose, like a man who knew these mountains well. He didn’t pause to catch his breath, he didn’t stop to check his direction.

Val struggled to keep up, even slipping once or twice on a slick patch of leaves and snow. At those times Clay looked over his shoulder but he did not stop. He did not turn back, nor offer to help her up. Clay treated Val like any other member of his Militia. He expected her to take care of herself. He valued strength and self-sufficiency.

Gritting her teeth, Val rose to the occasion. Deep inside, she didn’t want to rely on him, not any more than she already did. Not even for a hand up off the hillside.

By the time they reached the valley floor, Val’s heart was pounding and her legs felt weak. Despite an outside temperature that hovered around freezing, she shed her heavy jacket and carried it slung over her shoulder. Panting a few paces behind Clay, Val almost smiled when she noted his shoulders were heaving now, too. At least she wasn’t the only one winded by their rapid descent.

When they crested the porch to the farmhouse, Connie met them at the front door. Reaching to take Val’s jacket and Clay’s pack, she stepped aside as they swept through the parlor and into the living room. He leaned his rifle against the wall before shrugging out of his own jacket, his attention fixed entirely on the television.

It was already on with the news channel blaring loudly. Val came to a stop next to Clay. She gripped a cramp in her side. He exhaled slowly. Two commentators sat talking at a desk. Behind them was a live feed of the courthouse steps. For now they were empty, save for a group of reporters and cameramen, but a news conference appeared imminent.

Along the bottom of the screen, bold words drifted by in ticker tape fashion. They were on a never-ending repeat. Val’s legs gave out and she dropped to her knees.

Victory for Riggs family. Jace Riggs found to be the child of a free born identity. Conscription clause for former captive Val determined to be null and void.

Chapter 27

“Can I call him?” Val gasped it, looking up at the still towering figure of Clay Montgomery. “Can I call Jason?”

While Val had collapsed at the news, he had remained standing. Tossing her his phone, Clay cracked the tiniest of smiles. It was the first one he’d shown her in a long time. In the background, the television droned on. The court case was over. It had been judged in their favor. Jace was legally and completely free.

Val’s hand trembled only slightly as she grasped the sleek cell phone in her hands. She no longer belonged to Cambric. Her son no longer belonged to Cambric. It was a miracle. A technicality. A long shot in a game that had always, always been determined in favor of the agencies. But even still, here it was.

Swiping her thumb across the screen, Val’s eyes searched the display of tiny icons. She touched the one that had a picture of an old-style telephone on it and a keypad appeared. That’s when she hesitated. She didn’t know Jason’s phone number. She didn’t know anyone’s phone number come to think of it.

Vacantly, the phone slipped from her grasp and clattered against the hardwood flooring. Val rocked back onto her butt, her hands shooting out behind her. All these past months she had tortured herself, thinking about how easy it would be to simply contact her husband. She had held herself back. Talked herself down. And for what?

All those nights filled with guilt and second thoughts were wasted. They were wasted because that entire time Val had been unable to actually call him. Her own refusal all these years to get her own phone had resulted in a complete and utter dependence on other people. How could she have been so blind? How could she have been so naive and stupid?

“I don’t know his number,” Val admitted quietly, head down.

Slowly, Clay crouched down beside her and retrieved his fallen phone. Val didn’t bother to look over at him. She didn’t want to see the expression that crossed his face. Straightening up, he walked a few paces away and placed a call. She couldn’t hear what he said.

But then the news anchors on the television were whispering and Val’s ears pricked at the sound of a familiar name. Lifting her face to the box on the wall, she watched Jason step up to the podium. All murmuring died quickly away.

He did not look happy. His face had drawn lines of stress, his jawline was tight, his teeth clenched. If anything, he looked fierce, as fierce as she’d ever seen him.

“What can you tell us about the case?!”

“How are you feeling about your landmark win?!”

“Where is Val?!”

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