With All Your Heart

26~God is close to the brokenhearted

"Come out, come out wherever you are," sang the man's chilling voice.

Ty and Caleb were lying still as death behind the fallen tree, but their discovery loomed inevitable. No way could the man miss them. Caleb glanced down at the phone and then at Ty. They were still on the line with 911. Ty prayed they could survive long enough to be found.

He knew the moment Caleb spotted the blood. Caleb's brow lifted, and his gaze sharpened.

Ty gave a curt nod, letting him know without words that he was alright. It wasn't the whole truth. He was bleeding a lot and in pain, but no good would come from revealing how serious he was hurt. He saw Caleb's expression as his friend evaluated the situation and tried to come up with a way to save them both.

He gestured a thumbs-up. Caleb's brow lifted skeptically before his eyes dropped to the phone. The call was now over twenty-minutes long. Surely, they'd been able to trace the call by now.

Heavy footsteps warned Ty the man was closer. "I'll find you eventually. You can't hide forever."

His body tensed and he fought to keep his breathing even. Crunch. Another footstep. They were about to be discovered!

The music cut through the forest. It was the guy's phone.

"Yeah?"

A beat of silence.

"What? No! Two girls? Nah, not possible. Only the one is missing."

Ty's gut clenched at the comment. Annie and Rachel? Please God keep them safe.

"I'll be right there. Looks like you boys got lucky. For now. Seems we found some new girls." An evil cackling laugh followed.

Rage burned in Ty. Fighting for control, he somehow managed to keep his temper in check. Losing control wouldn't help Annie and Rachel. He put a hand to Caleb's shoulder, stopping Caleb from attacking the guy.

The man took another step toward them. "I wonder if those girls belong to you boys."

Caleb's hot gaze flew to Ty's, and Ty mouthed 'wait'. With his jaw clenched tightly shut, Caleb gave a curt nod of understanding.

"I hear they're pretty." Another bout of laughter followed the taunting statement. "Course I also hear they're fighters, but don't you boys worry they weren't roughed up too bad."

Every muscle in Ty's body went taut with fury, and a growl of wrath erupted from Caleb as he launched himself at their tormenter.

Ty climbed to his feet in time to see Caleb tackle the man, who'd gone down struggling but still managed to reach for his gun. Brushing off the wave of dizziness, Ty stepped on the man's wrist and shouted to Caleb, "Get the gun!"

With a solid punch to the man's jaw, Caleb grabbed the gun, cocked it, and pointed it at their attacker. "Where are they?"

"I-I don't..."

"If you don't know, you're no use to us." Caleb's softly spoken statement and what it implied was terrifying, and Ty saw that man was truly afraid. He began to whimper.

"Your phone," Ty demanded. "We need to see it."

"Nice and slow," Caleb warned when the guy's hand reached into his shirt pocket. Slowly, with shaking hands he withdrew his phone and handed it to Ty.

"Anything?"

"No." Ty's heart sank as he searched the messages and found nothing about where they'd taken Annie and Rachel. "Tell us where they are."