Searching For Jenna novel Chapter 42

Cara didn't know what to say and just stared at the phone for several seconds.

"Cara?" a man's voice said.

"Yes," Cara answered.

"Hi, Cara. I'm Mark. We're on our way to meet you," Mark said in a soothing tone.

"Why did Jenna's father try to kidnap me?" Cara asked.

"Because he thinks you know where Jenna is?" Mark explained.

"But I don't," Cara cried.

"He's in big trouble, and Jenna is the key. That's why he's so desperate to find her," Mark said. "Once we get together, my team will deal with Matthews, and you will be safe."

"But what about Jenna?" Cara asked then dropped the phone when Elliot hit a large pothole that made the truck jump into the air. When they came down, there was a loud pop, and the truck started sliding sideways. "Oh my God!" Cara screamed.

Suddenly, the truck was going off the road and onto what looked like a footpath. Cara looked at Elliot, who was fighting to keep the truck under control. He guided the truck up the path and behind a bunch of pine trees. Opening the driver's side door and holding out his hand to Cara, Elliot said, "Come on."

The passenger side door was pressed against a tree, and the two of them started running to the west toward Olympia. They ran for close to a half a mile before Cara stopped and bent at the waist.

"I can't run anymore," Cara said.

"We have to keep going," Elliot said, looking behind them. He'd heard the other vehicle stop a little while back. He knew that Steven and his father were hunting them.

After another hundred feet, they reached a group of large boulders. It was a good hiding place for them. Cara was not in shape to keep going even though they were probably less than a half a mile from Olympia. He could only pray that Mark and his team found them before Steven and his father did.

If Mark was watching the signal coming from Elliot's smartphone, he'd see they were on the move off the road. The flip phone was still in the truck, which was stationary.

Elliot sat next to Cara with his back against the fifteen-foot-high rock. They were protected for a few minutes.

Cara was taking deep breaths trying to calm herself. She looked at him angrily. "Are you FBI?"

"No, not really," Elliot said, also taking deep breaths.

"What do you mean, not really?" Cara wanted to know.

"It's complicated," Elliot said.

There was a loud pop and rock shards splintered from the side of the rock.

"I know you're behind that rock. I've got a tracker on the girl's phone," Matthew's yelled.

"What?" Cara and Michael Matthews cried at the same time.

"That's right," Elliot said and ripped the front of his t-shirt open revealing a binding vest that zipped up the front. He rarely wore this binder because it was uncomfortable, but now he was glad he had been inclined to wear it today. He unzipped the binder revealing two small, female breasts. "Jenna is right here. I am who you are looking for."

Michael Matthews, Steven, and Cara were stunned. Steven was so shocked that he relaxed his grip on Cara. Cara took the opportunity and ran her elbow into Steven's ribs as hard as she could.

Steven's wind was knocked out of him, and Cara was able to get away. Regaining his control, Steven raised his gun to shoot Cara, but Elliot put a bullet in his temple and two in his chest before he could pull the trigger.

The sound of cars skidding to a stop and dust coming through the trees was a welcome sight to Elliot. Several car doors slammed and then there were sounds of people running through the brush.

Mark and Dana were the first to burst into the scene where Elliot, Cara, and Michael Matthews stood staring at each other.

Matthews looked at the FBI agents entering the area and then turned back to Elliot. "So you are telling me, that my daughter, Jenna is now a man. Or pretending to be a man."

"I am a man," Elliot said and raised his chin.

"You are a fucking liar. You are not my daughter," Matthews yelled.

"Oh yeah?" Elliot challenged. He took his shirt and vest off. Standing there completely nude from the waist up, Elliot turned so that a long scar running from his right shoulder to his buttocks was visible. "You remember this, Daddy. You did this to me when you whipped me with the leather strap you use to sharpen your hunting knives." At Matthew's pale, shocked expression, Elliot continued, "You remember. You told the doctor that I fell out of a tree and a branch had caused the deep gash. The doctor hadn't believed you, but you pulled that big bad police officer routine, and the man had backed down."