There were five bedrooms in the large home, and the windows had green shades on them as the ordnung required. There were no closets—clothes were hung on pegs—so Jed didn’t have to go around peering behind closed doors looking to see where Dawn might be hidden.
After the tour of the dwelling, Marcus took them on a walk around the property. Jed was curious why Marcus didn’t take them directly to the large banked barn, and he wondered if maybe Dawn might be in there.
Yoder spent a long time showing his guests his plowing and farming implements, particularly (and maybe a little too pridefully) his new threshing machine—one that was operated using a large belt that, when it was in use, stretched to the barn where Jed assumed there would be either a tractor or a large generator.
“May we look in the barn?” Jed asked. He was getting anxious and a little impatient with the length and detail of the tour.
Yoder hesitated, but only for a moment. “Yes. Jedediah Troyer, if you’d like to see the barn, we can go take a look at it.”
Matthias looked at Jed and showed by the slightest furrowing of his brow that he wasn’t too pleased with Jed rushing the search.
“I have always loved barns,” Jed said, smiling, “and with Matthias having his barn-raising in a week, I’d really just like to take a look at yours, Marcus.”
The men walked to the barn in silence and the tension between the three was palpable. The things that were unsaid seemed to multiply as they walked, and Jed began to wonder what he would do even if he were to find Dawn in the barn.
When Marcus slid open the huge door, the darkness inside was a little disappointing to Jed. Part of him wished that the light would flood in and he’d see Dawn there, waiting for him to save her. Another part of him hoped that he’d been mistaken all along, and that Dawn wouldn’t be there at all. He did wonder why, if Dawn was being held in the barn, Marcus Yoder would freely allow Jed and Matthias to look there. Maybe he plans to capture us, too? Jed thought.
The three men walked tentatively into the barn because of the darkness.
“Let me go slide open the far door,” Marcus said. “Then we’ll have more light.”
When he walked away, Matthias leaned in and spoke into Jed’s ear. “What will you do if you find her here?”
Jed shrugged. “I don’t know.”
As the far door slid open and the light began to flood the large structure, Jed and Matthias held their breath. But Dawn was nowhere in sight. From all appearances, it was just an Amish barn.
“Do you mind if I look around?” Jed asked.
Marcus just nodded his head. While Jed poked around, Marcus and Matthias chatted. From what Jed could hear of their conversation, Marcus was asking Matthias about the details of his new barn that was scheduled to be built in just a week.
After a full inspection of the place, even the upper portions that included the hayloft and the cubbies for tack storage, Jed was unable to locate Dawn… or any place where she might be hidden.
“Satisfied?” Marcus asked.
It seemed to Jed that there was more to the question than an inquiry about a barn tour.
“I suppose I’ve seen everything I came to see,” Jed replied, and smiled.
They were back in the Yoders’ great room, which included the kitchen, and as Elizabeth Yoder was pouring lemonade for the four men Jed noticed the area rug again. It was out of place. It didn’t fit. It was like the AT10S floating in the sky in its incongruity. He spoke before he really had time to think about it, or gauge how his words might be received.
“I’d like to look under that rug,” Jed said, pointing at the floor
Yoder actually flinched. Jed saw it on his face and in his manner as the question rang through the silence in the kitchen. “Excuse me?”
“I’d like to look at the flooring under that rug,” Jed repeated. “Our district ordnung in the old world didn’t allow for such things, so I am interested in why it’s there.”
Yoder stared at Jed for a moment with a look that bordered on hostility. “The floor is damaged. That’s why the rug is there.”
“I’d like to look at it,” Jed insisted.
“This is not possible,” Elizabeth Yoder interrupted. She was tense, and somewhere in her look Jed could see that she was afraid, too. That’s when he became certain that Dawn was down there—somewhere.
He moved without premeditation. His body took over even while his mind was reeling. He was all emotion and intensity. He leapt forward and reached for the rug. Marcus Yoder moved forward too, as if to stop him, but Jed pointed a finger directly at Yoder’s face, stopping the man in his tracks. “Stand back,” Jed said firmly.
He pulled the rug and then flipped it back on itself, exposing the cellar door that was built into the floor.
“Stop!” Elizabeth yelled. “It’s not what you are thinking!”
Jed reached for the cellar door and pulled it open. “What am I thinking?” Jed said. There was fire in his eyes.
“I see that you are violent, like your brother,” Marcus said, but he didn’t move to stop Jed from going down the steps.
“I’m nothing like my brother,” Jed snapped.
The space under the kitchen was dark, and when Jed reached the bottom of the stairs he could only see faintly into the room. What he could see, however, made him catch his breath.
His heart pounded in his chest. Dawn was there. Tied to a chair. Her eyes met his and he could see by the expressive movement around the eyes that she was excited to see him. He pulled out his knife, and in seconds he had the ropes cut. Dawn fell into his arms, and he pulled the gag off. She spit out another rag that had been stuffed into her mouth, and her hand came up to massage her jaw.
“Jed!” she said, as soon as she could speak.
Jed steadied her and lifted her to her feet. “I have you.”
“I knew you’d come.”
“Let’s get you out of here.” He looked up, and Yoder was standing at the top of the steps.
“Jedediah,” Yoder said. “Don’t jump to conclusions. We work for the SOMA. For your brother.”
“That’s impossible,” Jed said.
Yoder leaned into the darkness, and only then could Jed see the Amish man’s face. “It’s true,” Yoder said.
Just then, Jed heard a commotion above him. Shots rang out, and he heard loud thumps, as if bodies were landing hard on the floor over his head.
“What—” he started, but Dawn grabbed him and pulled him away from the stairs and into the shadows just as something struck Yoder from behind and he tumbled down the stairs. Blood poured from wounds to his neck and the back of his head.
The figure of a man appeared where Marcus had stood, the light from behind him causing him to appear as just a menacing silhouette. Dawn and Jed tried to push themselves farther back into the shadows.
“Just come on up here, Jed Troyer and Dawn Beachy,” the man said. “Let’s get this over with.”
Jed knew the voice, but he couldn’t quite place it. Who could it be?
“Get up here,” the voice said, “now!”
Dawn leaned forward even though Jed tried to pull her back. “I know that voice,” she said.
“Then get moving,” the voice said.
Dawn stepped out and, avoiding the body of Marcus Yoder, held tightly to Jed’s hand and pulled him forward too. “Teddy Clarion,” she said.