Red Gold Read online

“It’ll be a month or two, I imagine. Once the foundations are set, the carpenter crew will come in. Our design is for six structures, and being miniature, it could go fast. We should be able to start some fun events for the kids by July. We can dress up the front of the mine and still keep people out of it, but make it look Old West. Once the fall season comes, it will be a better time to work on shoring up that entrance better. I’ve put in a request to the Colorado School of Mines offering their senior design students an opportunity to do some studies there if they can shore it up.”

  “That’s a great idea. They’ll probably jump on that offer.”

  “I hope so. We’ll have to—” Loud barking interrupted Jon as Barney ran full speed into the yard.

  “Barney, quit barking.” Mandy went out to him.

  The dog barked, spun in circles, and jumped up, twisting.

  Jon got Barney’s water dish from the porch and put it in front of him.

  The dog lapped at the water, and then started barking again. He ran in the direction that he came from, looking back at them. Then he circled behind them, as if herding, and ran towards the hill again.

  “What is wrong with him?” Mandy asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe he just spotted a cougar and it scared him. His way of telling us about it? I don’t know. I’ve never seen him act like that before.”

  “Weird.”

  ****

  The sounds within the cave were muffled but Jenny thought she heard the machines drive away. What was going on? Why were they doing this to her? Why couldn’t they just let her go? She wished she could remember the one man’s name.

  Looking around, she noticed spots where they had dug into the walls. Some of the niches reflected the light, intermixed with deep red crystals. They were beautiful. Despite the pretty stones, the cave smelled dusty, and it was cold. Her stomach growled.

  A familiar bark echoed.

  “Barney?” She called out.

  The next bark was closer.

  “Barney, here, boy. I’m here. Come here, boy!”

  Barney appeared in the opening. Alone. He went to her and started to lick her face. She could only turn her head from side to side in an attempt to avoid the tongue on her lips and nostrils. “OK, Barney. Good boy. Man, am I glad to see you.”

  He sat and looked at her as if wondering why they didn’t go back out to play.

  “I don’t know what to do, Barney.” She leaned to the side to show her tied hands as if he’d understand what that meant. “I can’t get these ropes off and those guys left, and I don’t know why I’m here, or how I’m going to get out of here. No one even knows where I am. And I’m getting hungry.”

  Barney’s head tipped from side to side.

  Grief filled her throat as the words left her. Tears fell again.

  Barney whined and snuggled closer.

  “At least my buddy came back. You’re my friend aren’t you, Barney?” He rested his chin on her knee. The thought came back to her about Jesus being a friend. With a gulp she whispered, “Is that what they meant?

  “Jesus? Are You maybe…here…right now?” Goose bumps rose on her arms. She dropped her chin and closed her eyes.

  Barney pressed his back against her leg.

  “Jesus, I don’t know what’s happened here, but I’m scared. Jon and Mandy said I could talk to You, that You wanted to be my friend. I know I’ve done a lot of things wrong and I’m sure sorry I stumbled on this today. I’m in another hole and I can’t see any way out. I’m glad Barney’s here, but I think I need Your help more than his. Can You please protect me and get me out of here? Please?” She raised her head and looked to the ceiling.

  Silence.

  More tears fell.

  ****

  “Oh, here come the Carters.” Mandy said, as she picked up their lunch dishes.

  Jon laid the papers he was looking over on the table and stepped off the porch to greet their guests. “Hi, Connie. Hi, Rick.”

  “Hey Jon, Mandy.” Rick walked up. “Have you seen Jenny? She went out for a walk and hasn’t come back yet.”

  “We haven’t seen her all morning.” Mandy replied. “What time did she go out?”

  “Several hours ago. I don’t know why she isn’t here.” Connie’s concern was etched in her expression.

  “I’ll get on the radio and see if anyone has seen her.” Jon headed for the office.

  “Have you looked around yet?” Mandy asked.

  “No. We thought she must have gone for lunch at the cafeteria, but she wasn’t there. I’ve called for her, but nothing.”

  “Do you know which way she went?’

  “No, I don’t. Oh, Mandy. She got a bit upset this morning when I had her clean her room again. She went out on her own, but she wasn’t mad when she left. I don’t know where she could have gone.”

  “Don’t panic, Connie. You know, Barney ran back here all excited a little while ago. I bet he knows where she is.”

  Rick looked around the property. “Where did he go, then?”

  “Well, he ran off in that direction. Tell you what. I’ll go get my horse and ride out that way. She’s probably enjoying the woods. Why don’t you check around here and just wait in case she comes back. Don’t worry, everything will be fine.” Mandy said the words with more confidence than she felt. A few minutes later she mounted her horse and headed off to the west of the ranch. She now regretted that they ignored the agitated dog.

  She called out for either one of them. There was no answer and no sign. “Lord, where are they?” she prayed out loud. “Father, whatever is going on—once again, Lord—please protect Jenny. Lead me to her. And I also ask, Lord, that Barney is all right, as well. In Jesus name…”

  She followed the deer trail, winding around the edge of the hillsides. She continued to call out Jenny’s name. The forest seemed even quieter now. It felt eerie. She kept on riding, looking, calling, until she heard a very cranky voice.

  “What’s all the darn noise over there about, now?” Mr. Shonee hobbled towards the fence line.

  Mandy pulled back on the reins and groaned. She turned the horse towards the man. “Hello, Mr. Shonee. I’m sorry to disturb you. We’re just looking for a young guest. She hasn’t returned from her walk this morning and we are getting a little worried. You haven’t seen her, have you?”

  “You lost someone again? I haven’t seen anybody, but I’m darn tired of listening to all that racket over there. You people are just trouble. Noise, losing people, I don’t know how you stay in business. They ought to just shut you down. Quit making so much noise and leave me alone.” The old man turned and stomped off as best he could with the cane.

  “Mr. Shonee!” Mandy jumped down off her horse and marched over to the fence. “Why do you have to be so cantankerous all the time? I just asked for your help. You don’t need to be so mean. We have tried to be good neighbors, but you make it so hard.”

  Mr. Shonee turned around, his craggy old face reddening. “I’ve had enough of your lip lately. You’d be a good neighbor if you’d just move away.” With that, he turned and headed for his house.

  Mandy felt the heat rise up, her fists tightened at her side, and words were about to spill from her lips, when an overwhelming thought pushed to the forefront of her mind, Be slow to anger. For man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. The verse from James slammed into her thoughts. “Sorry Father. I should not get so angry with such a lost man.” She took a deep breath and quietly got back on her horse. She reined the horse away from the fence and prayed for the man’s heart to soften.

  “Well, Maggie,” she patted the horse’s neck. “Let’s head back. I doubt Jenny could have gone by here without Mr. Shonee seeing her. Let’s head over to the old mine and see if she went up that way again.”

  14

  Jenny jerked awake. “Huh, how long have I been asleep?”

  Barney raised his head and looked at her.

  “Oh my gosh. It wasn’t a dream, was
it Barney?” Fear gripped her heart as she looked around. There was another small passageway off to her right. There were mountain lions and who knows what else in these parts. Were there bears here, too? Bats? A shiver went through her body. The thought of spiders totally wigged her out, and she shook her head to get the suspected creatures out of her hair.

  Jenny stretched her neck in every direction trying to loosen the tightness. Pondering her situation, she leaned over on her side and attempted to work her rear end through her arms to bring them to the front of her body. It took a lot of effort before she could finally work her body through, her long legs proving to be the biggest challenge. Her hands were now clasped in front of her, still tied, but now she could move better.

  She pushed upright, unclipped the water bottle from the belt loop and got a drink. She offered one to Barney, and then began working the knot at her ankles.

  A loud roar sounded. The machines were coming back.

  She frantically pulled at the rope. She couldn’t budge the knot.

  Then the voices drew nearer.

  The taller man came into view first. “Still here, eh? And that stupid dog came back.” Then he noticed her hands. “Tryin’ to leave us?” He bent down and checked the knots as Barney growled at him.

  She cringed. “Why are you doing this? Just let me go.” Jenny had to turn her face away from the smell of his breath.

  “I’m afraid we can’t do that,” he said with a sneer.

  The ranch hand came through the passageway and walked to them. He held a brown paper bag out to Jenny. “Here,” he said. “Something to eat.”

  Tears welled up. She reached out and took the bag with her tied hands. She removed a sandwich from its wrapper and eagerly began to eat.

  The men moved away, talking in hushed whispers.

  “What are you going to do if you aren’t going to let me go?” Jenny asked when she’d finished the sandwich.

  “Shut up! You’ll find out later. Maybe we’ll just put ya to work in here.”

  “Work? Doing what?” Fear and dread took over.

  “Finding me some perty rocks.” The tall man leered.

  “Let’s just let her go,” the ranch hand whispered. “This was not part of the deal.”

  “Shut up, Mark.”

  She strained to hear more.

  “We’ve gotten a lot of crystals already. Let’s just get out of here. We’re going to really have trouble now that we have her. There’re gonna find us.”

  “Quit yer whining. I’m not giving up until I’ve got everything entitled to me out of here. Get to work. Get her over here and show her what to do. Don’t untie her. She can work with the ropes on.”

  “How’s she gonna do that?”

  “I don’t care. Just make her work.”

  Mark helped Jenny to her feet.

  Barney kept a low growl and never took his eyes off the man.

  Mark pulled her up and half dragged her to the area they had been excavating.

  “The rope’s cutting into my ankles,” she said.

  “Sorry,” he whispered and slowed down.

  “Sit her down over here. She can sort through the bucket. Ya better be dang careful too.” The tall man glared at her. “Don’t be bustin’ the pieces up. They break easy, and if you want out of here, ya better do it right. Got it?”

  She managed to sit, her feet to the side.

  Barney sat down between the men and Jenny. She reached over with her bound hands and scratched his side.

  Mark instructed her how to sort the best pieces and put them in a single layer in the tray beside her. The pinkish ones were to go to another tray. None of the stones were very large, but they were all beautiful, ranging from pink to red.

  “What’s so great about this stuff anyway, that you have to sneak around and kidnap me?”

  Mark turned to her. “Rhodochrosite is worth a lot. It’s as good as gold. Red gold.”

  “Never mind,” bellowed the other man. “Just keep working. We’re gonna have to finish up soon now that she found us. Then we got to decide what to do with her.”

  Jenny got back to sorting, terrified about what was going to happen next. Her hands were shaking, as she placed the crystals in the trays. Were they going to let her go when they were all done? She tried to pray, but it was hard when she was so afraid, and she wasn’t sure how to do it right.

  ****

  The Carter family, Jon, Mandy and the sheriff were in the Phillips’ living room.

  Connie paced.

  Rick’s frustration had turned to anger. “I don’t understand why she hasn’t been found. What are you all doing? What if she’s hurt in another blasted hole on this property?”

  Connie gasped, and then sobbed into her hands.

  Mandy put her arm around the woman’s shoulders. “We’ve had every available staff member going over the property and no other ventilation holes have been found. The one she fell into has been sealed.”

  The sheriff spoke up, “Are you sure she wouldn’t have run away?”

  “No. She was fine when she left. She didn’t like having to clean her room, but she wasn’t that upset. She said she was just going for a walk.”

  “And you say Barney is missing, too?” the sheriff asked Jon.

  “Yes. He showed up visibly agitated, and then took off again. We just didn’t think that much about it at the time.”

  Rick’s face turned a deep red. “Well, maybe you should have!”

  “You’re right. We should have, but in all fairness, Barney gets excited when he sees a chipmunk. He acts exactly the same way when he wants us to walk in the woods.”

  “We’ll find her.” The sheriff put on his hat and went out the door.

  Rick stomped off to their cabin muttering about finding her himself.

  Connie barely acknowledged the departing sheriff. Shoulders quivering as tears ran down her face, she followed her husband back to the cabin.

  A car pulled up. Dean, from the church youth group, got out of the passenger seat as his dad hopped out of the driver’s side.

  “We heard in town that Jenny was missing. We came out to see if there was anything we could do to help.”

  “Oh, Carl, Dean. Thanks for coming out. You didn’t see her in town by any chance, did you?” Mandy stepped off the porch to give them each a hug.

  “We checked at the church and even the park. She’s not there. More of the church families are heading out to help search. Do you know which direction she went?”

  “Not really. We’ve got staff going up into the forest service land to search. The sheriff called the rangers. The sheriff has people out driving, too. I rode off to the west, but there’s just no sign of her anywhere, or Barney, for that matter.”

  Another car pulled up that they didn’t recognize. A young man got out with a notepad in hand. He stepped up to the group and introduced himself as a reporter from the local newspaper.

  “We heard talk in town that one of your guests is missing. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

  The sheriff, in the process of getting into his vehicle, stopped the reporter. “This isn’t a good time for you to be here. Why don’t you just head back into town?”

  Rick had walked over. “Wait a minute. If this got in the paper, it could help. More people could look for her.” Jon took the reporter aside and explained the situation to him.

  Mandy prayed. Keep her safe, Lord, protect her, and help us find her…

  15

  Jenny shifted as much as the ropes allowed. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

  Mark came over to her. “I’ll help you get up. You’ll have to go down that passageway.”

  She grimaced as she looked in the direction he pointed. “But it’s dark…”

  He lifted her by the arm, and she struggled to gain her footing with her bound ankles. “I can’t…go with my feet tied.”

  Mark looked to the other man.

  “Fine. Untie her.” The tall man stepped over to her, way
too close for her comfort. “But if you think you can try to get away, you better think twice about it. I will come after you.”

  Mark led her towards a low passageway in the far wall. He handed her a flashlight. “You’ll have to make your way down there. It goes nowhere, so you can’t get away down there. Watch your head. Do your business, and come back out here.”

  Jenny shone the light down the low passageway. She would have to double over to fit. I hope there aren’t any spiders… She found an area far enough so the men wouldn’t see her. She looked around one more time and turned off the light to take care of things.

  Barney stayed a few steps away.

  Mark was waiting when she came out.

  She felt a new wave of discouragement.

  He tied her up again, a little looser this time, and helped her sit down in her work area.

  Jenny continued sorting the specimens, admiring the beautiful crystals. Most clung to other dark gray or black rocks. Even more had clear quartz mixed in. The pink ones were the prettiest and she held them a little longer, admiring the color. She wiped tears away on her sleeve.

  A fragile red piece fell off a host rock. Jenny’s heart pounded, but Mark and the tall man didn’t notice. Her cramped position and the coolness of the cave added to her discomfort.

  There had to be a way she could escape. Are they even looking for me? If only Barney would get help, but he was glued to her side. She didn’t want him to leave, anyway. The warmth he radiated against her leg was a lifeline, holding her together. Tears filled her eyes again. She’d never been this scared. Never.

  ****

  Evening approached.

  Volunteers had combed the hills in every direction, even members of the Alpine Rescue Team had been called in, but soon darkness would put a stop to their efforts.

  Mr. Shonee was in his yard shaking his cane at the vehicles going past his house. He’d even called into the dispatch office of the sheriff’s department to complain. He called over to the ranch to complain as well.

  Mandy listened as Sue tried to explain there was a search going on for the missing girl, but his attitude got so belligerent that she hung up on him. Why did that man have to continually cause grief?