The Kidnapping Escapade

by Olivia

Part 1:

“You'd better run faster, Cory! I'm going to win!” 12 year old Andrea Carter shouted as she ran towards her brother Justin's office. She rounded the corner and ran smack into a man.

“Hey! Watch where you're goin'!” he exclaimed angrily. Behind her, her good friend Cory Blake skidded to a stop. “You'd better have a good reason for running so fast in town!” the man said, grabbing Andi's arm.

“Let me go!” Andi said.

“Oh yeah? Why?”

“Because if you don't, Cory is going to make you!”

There was another man standing near the man who had hold of Andi. He and the other man laughed. “That kid? What can he do?”

Andi felt Cory stiffen up next to her. “Listen mister, you had better let go, before I call my brother.”

“I don't see anybody around here, gal. Who is your brother anyway?”

“Justin Carter!”

“Carter, huh,” The man said, suddenly interested. “I've heard of you Carter's. Your brother's pretty rich, huh?”

“What business of it is yours?” Andi asked. “And if you don't let me go, I'm going to scream.”

“Let her go, mister,” Cory said, stepping up. “You act big and brave, boy, but you're all talk.”

The other man grabbed Cory. “Ain't so brave now, eh, kid?” he growled.

“Justin! Justin! Help!” Andi called, as she saw her brother walking out of his office.

He saw Andi and hurried over. At the sight of him, the men dropped Andi and Cory and hurried away.

“Andi, are you okay?” Justin asked. “What happened?”

Andi explained, then said, “I guess it was kind of my fault. It was just some grumpy men. We're all right though, Justin. Really.”

“Are you sure, honey?”

“Yes, Justin. I'm fine.”

“Well, okay, then. Are you ready to go?”

Andi nodded and followed her brother to the buggy. “Bye Cory,” she said. Cory waved as they drove off. When they arrived home, Andi changed quickly from her school clothes into her overalls. Then she ran outside to go riding. As she was walking towards the barn, her older brother Chad saw her. Chad, in Andi's opinion, was mean and bossy some of the time. Most of the time.

“Andi, come here!” he snapped. Reluctantly, Andi obeyed. “Andi, yesterday I told you to muck the stalls,” Chad said. “And you told me you would do it later. And I go in the stalls this morning and find out, of course, that you didn’t do them!”

Andi bit her lip. “Sorry, Chad,” she said, trying not to get upset.

“Well then get to it. Now.”

Andi sighed long and loud, turning to do as her brother asked.

“And no complaining. You don't do near as many chores as you should be doing, so I suggest you straighten up and do as I asked.”

“Chad, stop always bossing me around!” Andi said, whirling around. “You're not in charge of me.”

“Actually, I am in charge while Mother and Melinda are away. So you'd better get quick and muck those stalls.”

“But Justin's here. So he's in charge,” Andi retorted.

“Listen here, little sister,” Chad said, getting impatient. “I am in charge of the ranch, and you know you would have to do it if Mother was here.”

“Chad, seriously, leave me alone!”

“Fine. I will. If you go do the stalls.”

“Chad, why are you always so--”

Just then Justin came outside. “What's going on?” he asked.

“Andi claims you're in charge and she doesn't have to muck the stalls, which she didn’t do yesterday.” Chad said to Justin grumpily.

Justin looked at his sister and raised an eyebrow. “Andi, you should know when it comes to the ranch, Chad is the head of that. Now please go and do as he asks, okay honey?”

Andi sighed. “Okay, Justin.” She walked towards the barn.

“Justin, you need to talk to her,” Chad said, watching her go. “Ever since Mother left, she's begun to ignore her chores again, and she won't listen to me at all.”

Justin frowned. “Well, I will if you want me to, Chad.”

“I do. You know she listens to you. Talk some sense into that thick head of hers.”

“Chad!” Justin said sharply. “Calm down. I said I will talk to her for you.

“Thanks, Justin,” Chad said. He then walked off.

*****

That evening after supper, Justin went upstairs and knocked on Andi's door. He noticed she had barely said two words to Chad since that afternoon's argument. “Andi? Can I come in?” Justin asked.

“Sure!” Andi said from inside.

 Justin opened the door. Andi was sitting on her bed. Justin came over and sat on the edge of the bed. “Honey, I noticed today that you seem to not be doing your chores quite as well since Mother and Melinda left. You're not doing your chores that you know you need to be doing.”

Andi looked at her brother. “Did Chad tell you to come and talk to me?”

Justin gently squeezed Andi's hand. “Whether he did or not doesn't really matter. You need to start doing what you're asked. I know Chad can seem bossy sometimes, but you still need to do your chores.”

Andi looked away. “I know, Justin. I'll try.”

Justin smiled. “I know you will. Good night, honey.” He squeezed her hand again and then left.

“I know I need to do what Justin told me,” she said to herself, “But Chad just makes me so mad sometimes!” She rolled over in bed and quickly fell asleep.

A few hours later she woke with a start. She sat up and looked around. She heard another noise. Then she got out of bed and went to her door, opening it. She saw nothing as she looked down the hallway. All was quiet now. She shrugged and climbed back into her own bed. Then, from outside, she heard the noise again.

Peeking out of her window, Andi saw several dark forms moving towards the barn. Andi dressed quickly, then snuck downstairs to check it out. When she reached the barn, she began slowing down, trying to be quiet.

“Okay, so here's the plan, boys,” Andi heard a gruff voice say. “We need to get her to--” his voice trailed off. “Shh, I hear something outside,” he whispered to his men.

The three men walked slowly to the barn door. When the man saw Andi walking towards the barn, he had an idea. A second later, his two men ran out, past Andi, mounted their horses and rode away.

Startled, Andi ran into the barn. “Taffy?” She said. “You okay, girl?” As she rounded the corner of the stalls, she saw a dark shape loom before her. The figure swung something at her. Next thing she knew, Andi was knocked out on the floor. 

 

Part 2

 

Andi woke up with a throbbing pain in her head. She felt herself bouncing up and down, but she couldn't see anything. She reached up to find out why, and realized she couldn't move her hands, either. A minute later, the horses stopped and Andi felt herself being pulled off the horse. She was carried inside, and the blindfold fell off as she was tossed down onto the floor.

She looked around and saw that she was in a small shack, but she didn't know where it was. She also saw her captors, three big, muscular men. “Let me go!” She cried, attempting to free herself.

The men laughed. “We'll girl, you ain't so brave now. Without your big brother nearby to save you,” one man said.

“Wait a second,” Andi said. “I'd recognize you anywhere! Troy!”

He tipped his hat at her. “Yep, that's me. Good to see you again, little sister.”

One of the other men smiled. “Can you even guess how much we'll get for her?” he asked Troy. “Good thing I saw her yesterday and thought up this idea!”

“Let's just get started on that note right away,” Troy said.

“You had better let me go!” Andi said. “My brothers will never pay you anything!”

“I think they will, if they realize that if they don't, they'll never see you again,” Troy said, grinning wickedly.

“Why you little--my brothers will so get you for this!”

“Sure they will,” Troy said sarcastically. “Roger, can't you shut her up? I can't think straight with her talking.”

The man named Roger pulled Andi to her feet and dragged her across the main room into a small, room in the back of the cabin. Although it had just been getting light when they arrived, the room was dark with no windows in it. “Now stay quiet, girl,” he said. “Or I'll have to make you.”

Andi fumed, but she stayed quiet. The door shut behind her. She was left alone in the dark.

***

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the brothers had discovered Andi was not in the house. They went outside to look for her. “Where could she have gone” Justin wondered aloud. “I’ll bet she ran off again,” Chad said in disgust. “She was mad at me yesterday.”

Justin shook his head. “She wouldn’t do that. I’m sure she remembers what happened last time.”

“Let’s check in the barn,” Mitch said. “And see if Taffy’s there. I sent Sid and few of the men out looking for her.”

As they neared the barn, they saw fresh footprints and hoof prints in the dirt.

“What’s this?” Justin asked. “It could’ve just been the men getting their horses,” Chad said.

“Look, here’s some smaller prints. These look like Andi’s boot prints,” Mitch said.

“And these hoof prints lead down the road, off the ranch,” Justin said.

“I suppose we should follow them,” Chad said.

“You and Mitch go,” Justin said. “I’ll stay here and see if she comes back.”

Chad shrugged. “Okay.” He and Mitch traipsed off to get their horses saddled. They then mounted up and rode off in the direction of the prints.

The tracks soon led off into the grass and ended. Chad and Mitch were stuck, so they went back home, hoping Andi had returned. Bad news awaited them. Andi had not come back. None of the men had seen Andi since the night before, and couldn’t find her.

“If we can’t find her soon, we’ll have to send a wire and tell Mother,” Mitch said. “Come on, Chad, we’d better keep searching.”

“Taffy’s still in her stall, though,” Justin said. “She wouldn’t have left on her own without her.”

“Yeah,” Mitch agreed. “Well, we’ll keep looking.” He and Chad left once again, determined to find their sister. But by the time night had fallen, they had still not found her.

The three brothers sat inside, talking about what they should do next, when they heard the sound of hoof beats outside. Suddenly, something was thrown at a window, shattering it. Chad ran to the door and flung it open, but the rider was already gone. He went back inside where Justin had picked up a rock with a piece of paper tied around it.

“What is it, Justin?” Mitch asked.

Justin unfolded the note and read it. His face turned white. “It says they have Andi, and they’re keeping her until we pay them.”

“What?” Chad demanded, “Who’s ‘they’?”

“I don’t know,” Justin replied. “It gives directions on how much money and where to leave it. It also says they’ll be watching us when we go give the money, and if we try to play any tricks on them, we’ll never see her again.”

“Great. Just great,” said Chad.

“So what do we do?” Mitch asked.

“I guess we’ll just have to do as they ask,” Justin replied. “But they asked for quite a bit.”

“Justin!” Chad stared at his brother. “You’re not serious! We are not giving those dirty, low-down men anything. We’ll get Andi back some other way.”

“I don’t know that we should risk it,” Mitch said.

“Like we’d pay that much!” Chad said. “This is ridiculous. And, Mitch, we can easily outsmart them. I say we get word to the sheriff, get a posse together, and we can follow whoever brings the bag of ‘money.’ Afterwards we can nab the guy who takes it and make him tell us where she is.”

“It won’t be as simple as that, Chad,” Justin said. “For one, I’m sure they will have someone watching whoever leaves the money, or the sheriff’s office to make sure nobody goes in to tell him. Second of all, there will probably more than one person watching the other collect the money, just in case something like that does happen.”

“A few men won’t stop us, Justin,” Chad said.

Mitch shrugged. “I suppose it’s worth a shot. We can send somebody with a note for Sheriff Tate.”

Justin sighed. “Well, I don’t know. I guess we could, but you know, if it doesn’t work, Andi could end up...” His voice trailed off.

“Alright,” Chad said. “I'll send one of the men into town to tell the sheriff. Which one of us should take the money?”

“I suppose I will,” Justin volunteered.

“Okay. Mitch and I can follow close behind you and the sheriff a little ways behind. We’ll hide after you set the bag down and watch closely.”

With a nod of his head, Chad was out the door.

“Well, wherever Andi is, I sure hope she's doing okay,” Mitch said.

****

Andi was still locked in the back room. To her relief, she had been untied. She wanted to get back to the ranch so badly. She wanted to throw her arms around Chad and tell him she was sorry. But she couldn't. Not until her family gave their good money to buy her back. She heard the men say they wanted the money quick, and if it wasn't delivered by tonight, she would never see her family again.

She choked back a sob. She wanted so much to see her brothers again. Why did trouble always seem to follow her around? She heard a door open.

“You and Roger go on to the spot. Stay there ‘til tonight, when they’re supposed to bring the money. Make sure those sneaky Carters don't play any tricks on us,” Andi heard Troy say.

There was a mumbled reply, and the door was shut.

 For the rest of the day Andi worried about what would happen. Would her brothers bring the money? Would they try and trick the men? Would her brother in-law let her go? Finally, exhausted, Andi fell into a fitful sleep.

She was woken a bit later by Troy. “C'mon, girl. Let's get going.”

“What?” Andi asked.

“I'm taking you with us. We'll see if your brothers were smart enough to give us the money,” Troy said. He yanked Andi up and tied her hands and blindfolded her again. He then threw her over the horse and climbed on behind her.

They rode a ways and stopped behind a few large bushes. “You see that tree over there?” Troy said, yanking the blindfold off.

Andi didn’t answer.

“Well, that's where your brother is supposed to leave the money.” He then fell silent. They waited as night fell. Then, they heard hoof beats approaching. Andi gasped when she saw Justin ride up with a large bag.

Troy clapped a hand over her mouth. 

 

Part 3

 

“Hush up!” he instructed in a whisper. Justin left the bag under the tree, remounted his horse, and rode off.

“Well now, let's wait a few minutes, to make sure he's gone, and see if he did as we asked.” Andi's outlaw brother in-law got up, and grasping Andi firmly by the arm, made his way over to the tree.

Then they heard a thud from nearby. One of his men rode up a minute later. “Boss! Back here! This guy was hiding back here, watching. Jim hit him over the head and knocked him out.”

 “You two take him then, and bring him back to the hideout. I’ll be along in a bit.”

The two men dragged a still form out from behind the bushes. Andi opened her mouth to cry out, “Justin!” but Troy quickly shut her up.

After the men dragged Justin off, Troy called to another man. “You know what,” he said. “Take her and bring her back, too. She's been enough trouble already. I can't risk her blowing our cover.”

The man nodded and grabbed Andi. He tossed her onto the back of a horse, and they rode off, arriving soon at the hideout. Andi saw a wagon driving up to the cabin also, but she was quickly pushed inside and untied, then thrown into the back room once again.

A minute later the door opened again, and Justin was pushed into the room. He was still unconscious. Andi crawled over to him. “Justin!” she cried. “Justin, please wake up.” she begged her brother, gently shaking him.

Justin's eyes slowly opened. He groaned and looked up. “Andi! he exclaimed, sitting up.

Andi threw her arms around her brother. “Justin! Are you okay?”

“I think so,” he said, rubbing his head. “What happened?”

Andi explained everything. “I'm sorry, Justin,” she finished.

“It's not your fault, honey,” Justin said, pulling her close and hugging her again.

“But now what will we do?” Andi asked, looking worriedly into her brother’s eyes.

“I'm sure Chad and Mitch and the sheriff will find us. Don't worry about it. We'll be okay, honey,” Justin said. “For now, you just try and get some sleep. I still feel a bit dizzy.”

Andi sighed and leaned her head against Justin's chest. With her big brother there with her, she quickly fell asleep. Only a couple of hours later, Andi was jolted awake as she heard yelling coming from outside. Andi slid off Justin's lap. “What’s happening?” she asked.

Then they heard a yell. “Get your hands up! We’re coming in!?”

Andi gasped. It was Chad’s voice she heard.

The door to the room burst open, and Troy came in, shutting the door behind him. “Great. Figures your nosy brother would come and butt in,” he muttered to himself. He whirled on Andi and Justin. “And you two stay quiet! You give away my hiding spot and, well . . .” He pulled his gun out of the holster.

Andi shrank back behind Justin. She heard the door to the cabin burst open, and someone came up to the door. The handle rattled, and Andi heard a thud as the door was kicked by someone.

“I know you’re in there!” a voice said. “Come out before I have to make you!”

Troy remained silent.

The door rattled again, and it suddenly came open. Troy stuck the barrel of his gun out of the door. “Drop your guns!” he yelled at Chad. “And you, stop what you’re doing,” he said to Mitch, who was busy trying to tie the other men up. “I’ve got your brother and sister in here, and they’ll pay if you don’t.”

With no choice, Chad and Mitch did as they were told. “Now get over there,” Troy said, jerking his head towards the wall. He was still standing in the doorway.

Andi suddenly had an idea. A risky idea. She got up, ignoring Justin’s shaking of the head. She snuck up behind Troy and dived at him. She hit him in the back of the legs, causing his knees to buckle, and he fell over, pinning Andi to the ground.

After that, several things happened at once. Troy shouted. His companions jumped forward. Chad reached for his gun. The sheriff and several deputies busted into the room.

“Nobody move!” the sheriff roared.

Everyone froze. The deputies quickly started handcuffing all the bad guys, and Chad and Mitch rushed over to Andi. Chad yanked Troy off of his sister and pulled Andi to her feet. “You okay, little sister?” he asked.

Andi flung herself at Chad. “Chad! I’m so glad you’re here! I’m so sorry about the other day. It was wrong of me.”

Chad laughed as he untangled Andi’s arms from around his neck. “I forgive you,” he said. “I’m just glad you’re okay. Let’s go check on Justin, now.”

They walked over to where Mitch was helping Justin stand. “Are you okay?” Mitch asked Justin.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Justin replied. “Just a little dizzy from getting hit in the head earlier.”

The four siblings went outside and saw Troy and his companions being loaded into a wagon. The sheriff motioned to the horses that stood nearby. “You guys can ride on back home. I’ll check in with y’all tomorrow.”

As they climbed on the horses, Andi asked, “How did you find us, anyway?”

“Well, the sheriff was delayed a bit, and so were we. We started off a bit later than Justin, and by the time we got there, he had already been discovered. We saw a man riding off and figured he had something to do with it. We followed them and made it to the cabin. We didn’t know there were more men than we could handle, but the sheriff showed up just in time. And now he can put them where they properly belong--in jail.”

The next day as Andi led Taffy out of the stables to go riding, Justin rode in from town.

“Well?” Mitch asked.

“They're in jail,” Justin said. “Troy was finally captured, thanks to Andi.”

“But I didn't much to help,” Andi said.

“Andi, if it hadn’t been for you knocking Troy over, it most likely wouldn’t have ended well,” Chad said.

Andi grinned. “I'm just so glad to be back, I would do anything for y'all.”

“Good! Then how about starting on mucking the stalls?” Chad said with a smile playing on his lips.

Andi groaned, and they all laughed.

THE END