Chapter Fourteen
Deadly Plan
“GE T up.”
Caleb woke. There was a flashlight shining in his face.
He wants to kill me. I’m sure.
“What do you want?” Caleb asked, a bit of bitterness in his voice.
“Don’t play dumb with me. You know what I want.” Matthew unlocked the cage. Everyone was asleep. It was dark and quiet. Perfect for killing people secretly.
Caleb stood up. “Matthew. You know whatever it is you want, I can’t give you. You need God, not me. Just like my uncle. It’s too late for him, but it’s not too late for you. Please. Once you’re gone—you’re gone. There’s no coming back.”
Matthew stared with piercing eyes. “What has God ever done for me?”
“He gave you a life. A mind to think, a heart to love, and a soul to give back to Him.”
Matthew seemed to understand. But only for a moment. “Follow me. Don’t wake the others.”
Caleb followed him down a ladder into the cellar. It was very big and empty. There were guns there.
“Take a seat.” Matthew motioned his hand toward a chair.
Caleb obeyed.
Matthew stood and eyed him coldly.
Caleb waited patiently for him to begin.
“I knew your uncle.”
Caleb nodded. “You had to. How could you have known such hidden things?”
Matthew straightened. “I’ll be clear to you and get right to the point. I used to work with your uncle secretly. It was a club of some sort. Me, Andrew’s father, and others. It was a ranch business.”
Caleb gasped. His uncle’s ranch.
“We’d bet on certain racing horses, and then win thousands when the others would fail.”
“How did you know?”
“We’d hire ones who would make the horses extra tired. A medicine, I believe.”
“That’s cheating.”
“Aha, but in an excellent way. We sometimes would gamble thousands just for the fun of it to pass it around from each of us. There would always be another round. Everyone always had a second chance. Until that day…” He cleared his throat. “Someone, gone now, took the risk of gambling one million dollars.”
“You’re serious?”
“Dead serious. That someone lost it to your uncle.”
“What did he do with it?”
“He decided to start up a secret ranch company of his own. He moved to Florida and completely left us.”
Caleb wanted to smile but didn’t.
Matthew continued. “We later found out that he had cheated us when he dealt. He plain cheated.”
“Just like you’ve been doing.”
“We lost a million dollars for no reason. We demanded he pay it back, since we later discovered he stole from all of us, not just that man. He refused to, though.”
“Then what?”
“We did the only thing we could do.”
Caleb gasped and stood up. “No. It can’t be true.”
“He tried to kill—”
“You murdered him!”
“He was a liar and a cheat. He deserved what he got. He was hiding for months, hiding at your own home! He could’ve killed you then, but he didn’t. Do you know why?”
“My uncle would never hurt me.”
“He killed all my partners. Andrew’s father, one of them.”
“He needed me.”
“Yes! He needed you! He needed a man to help him sell horses, bet on them, cheat, and then win millions! That’s what he needed you for!”
“That’s a lie!”
“No it isn’t! Think, Caleb, think!”
“Think what?”
“He was drunk, and told me so many things! He was going to hire me, until I fought back and tried to get back what was rightfully mine.”
“Why did you call me down?” Caleb was bitter.
“I need you to help me. I am now in a different business, a company with the Amazon.”
“What?”
“Yes. I need to get everyone out of the village.”
“Why? This is their homes, they’re not going to leave.”
“If they stay here the animals will stay away and slowly die.”
“That’s crazy!”
“I need the animals. I’m selling them. To a lab, they’re paying me richly.”
Caleb was astonished. “You’re what? Are you out of your mind? That’s not right.”
“I need the money. Akin is helping me also. I have men who are stubborn and will not change their conditions.”
“What conditions? What men?”
“They’re going to blow up the village.”
“What?” Caleb breathed heavily. “That’s insane.”
“They’re doing it next week. You have to get out. Once the village is destroyed, poachers will come out and get the animals. I will sell them to various places and finally get back that money.”
Caleb sighed. “How did you get yourself into such a mess? Poachers? Labs? This is ridiculous.”
“Will you help me?”
“I need to stop you.”
“Get the people out, or they die.”
There was a long silence. It looked to Caleb he had no choice. He got up from his chair and back to the cell. He needed to figure a plan.
The night dragged on and the cold winds pierced the floor and made them unbearable to walk upon.
“Caleb, wake up.”
Caleb woke. He stared into the eyes of Theodore.
“Are you alright Theo?”
“I’m fine.” Theodore smiled faintly.
“Hurry!” Matthew stood by the cell. “I haven’t got all day.”
Caleb glared at him. “Stay close to me Theodore. Matthew’s going to do something evil.”
“I know.” Theodore clung to Caleb’s sleeve. “I can sense it, hear it in his voice.”
The others were brought out to a jeep.
Matthew looked at Caleb warningly. “You know what to do.” He mouthed. “Twelve Tuesday night, you have to be out.”
They were down the road now. Everything was quiet.
Andrew finally spoke. “Why would he just let us go?”
“He has a plan, I’m sure.” Erin answered.
Caleb kept silent. If Andrew knew everything, about his father, about the plan, he might want to do something drastic. Something that could ruin his life.
“What now?” Theodore wondered, glancing from the window to where Caleb drove.
“We have to leave. Build the village elsewhere.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
Andrew got angry. “Because why?”
“I’m sure he has a reason for not telling, Andrew.” Erin told him.
“Oh, sure. But I’m positive he’ll go tell you and Theodore before anyone else.”
“That’s not true and you know it.” Caleb objected.
“Well, you seem to be pretty close with Theodore here. Closer than any of us—your friends.”
“He’s my cousin, of course I’m close with him.”
Theodore sighed. “Andrew’s mad at me.”
“You’re what?” Caleb looked back at Andrew through the rear view mirror.
Andrew crossed his arms. “You’re all babying him.”
“Andrew, please don’t. Not now, not here.” Erin scolded. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Of course it is!” Caleb exclaimed. “We come to rescue you, and this is our thank-you?”
“Some rescue.” Andrew muttered. “You were no more free than me and Theodore.”
Caleb sighed. “We tried our best. Now—you owe Theodore an apology.”
“I will not.”
“Andrew!”
“I will not! It’s his fault we got trapped in the first place!”
Theodore sat quiet. “I’m really sorry Andrew.”
“You better be. And you’d better learn, too.”
“Andrew, stop.”
“Oh, look! Andrew again! It’s always Andrew, isn’t it? It’s never Theodore, no, never him! It’s impossible for him to ever get the blame. Why do you baby him? It’s because he’s different, isn’t it? Well, he needs to learn to fend for himself sometime!”
“Andrew stop!” Caleb yelled.
Theodore looked to the floor.
Caleb pulled in and Avery ran out and greeted them happily.
Theodore went outside by himself and Caleb followed him.
“Don’t listen to him. Everyone knows he has anger issues. He’s always—well, he hasn’t always, but he was just angry. He’ll get over it.”
“Maybe he will. But I won’t. I will never get over the accident, I will always remind myself everyday that if I could’ve just held tighter, I would be just like everyone else too. I’ll never get over it. I’ll never forgive myself. Because every morning when I get up and don’t see the sun through my window, I’ll be reminded. And every night when I go to sleep and I don’t see the stars above me, I’ll be reminded. And everyday when I look into the face of my cousin and I can’t even see his eyes before me, I’ll be reminded.” He inhaled a deep breath and let it out. He was speechless.
Caleb was too.
Theodore had tears well up in his eyes and he left.
Caleb didn’t know what to do. “God, you sent me here. Show me what to do next.”
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