Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Joseph climbed out of the rented SUV and heaved a huge sigh of relief. He was surprised to see Jordan's truck missing, his brother wasn't the type to be out so late, especially not now that his wife was pregnant.
Wife, Joseph smiled a tapped his pocket. He pulled his cell phone out and checked his messages. Two missed calls and a voicemail from his brother.
He checked the message and his mood lifted, seems he was a new uncle. His niece had been born tonight while he was away.
He was surprised to find the door opened and figured Miranda must have fallen asleep with it open or she was still awake. He hoped she was, he desperately needed to just see her face.
When he walked in he saw no sign of her, feeling disappointed he closed the door behind him and walked up the stairs. He stopped by her room door but decided not to knock, it was almost midnight.
Joseph walked into his room and changes out of his clothes and claimed into the shower. A shower was probably what he needed to help him fall asleep.
Twenty minutes later and still here he was wide awake staring up at the ceiling. He sighed and climbed out of bed, he opened his door and wasn't at all surprised when he ended up at Miranda's room. He knocked softly then waited, when no response came he tried the door. This had been his nightly routine. This time however he was surprised to find that the handle twisted I'm his grasp and the door opened. He walked in and paused. The moonlight from outside directly illuminated the bed, the bed that was undisturbed. Miranda wasn't there. A nervous feeling twisted his stomach but he told himself not to panic. He checked on Zeke and then decided to head out to the barn, there was no way she would leave their son unattended and go very far.
"Miranda?" he called as soon as he opened the barn door which was usually left open. His call was greeted with answers from the farm animals that were still awake.
"Miranda?" he called again. Still, he got no response.
"Baby I'm going to need to hear your voice now, I'm getting a little freaked out," he said as he ran up the stairs two at a time.
He flicked the light and looked around, she want there. Now he started to panic.
He reached for his cell phone and then cursed when he realized he had left it in his room at the house. He raced to the ranch office downstairs and called Jordan.
"Hello?" his brother's groggy voice greeted him, obviously he had been sleeping. "hold on let me leave the room so I don't wake my girls."
Another time Joseph would have teased his brother but right now his hands were shaking and his mind was racing. Panic had set in.
"Jordan!" he said anxiously into the phone.
"Joseph?" came the confused response. "do you have any idea what time it is? What's going on?"
"Please tell me Miranda is there," Joseph begged. "I know she wouldn't leave Zeke by himself here but where else would she be? She wouldn't just leave Jordan something is wrong," he said in full panic mode.
"Did you check everywhere?? Jordan asked.
"She's not here! Something's wrong, I feel it," he said pulling at his hair.
"Go to your son, make sure he's safe, I'll call some of the guys and round up a search party. We'll find her bro, Just hang on." Jordan told him.
"Thank you," Joseph replied but was greeted with a quiet line.
He hurried back to the house and up to Zeke's room. His son was sleeping, his innocent face with a tiny smile. He looked so much like his father. Joseph reached out with trembling hands to brush the hair from his son's face.
"We'll find her buddy," Joseph whispered.
"Dad?" Zeke turned and looked up at his father. A sleepy grin splits his face.
Joseph kissed his forehead. "I'm home, I missed you," Joseph told him.
"I missed you too." Zeke responded with a sleepy yawn.
"Go back to sleep. I'll talk to you in the morning alright?" Joseph told him then quietly left the room when his son went right back to sleep.
By the time he hit the bottom stairs, Jordan rushed I'm with Jessica and Javier behind him.
"What's happening?" Jessica asked wrapping Joseph in a hug.
"I don't know sis. I came home and I went to her room and she wasn't there. I checked the house, the barn, and she wasn't there either." he said feeling so lost.
"Did you guys have an argument?" Jessica asked
"What?" Joseph asked shaking his head at his sister. "Of course not."
"Well, why would she..."
"Look, she's not here and if she's not here something is wrong alright?! Standing around isn't going to help." Joseph snapped silencing his sister's next question.
"We have seven more men in the front yard waiting. Let's get this search started." Jordan said squeezing Joseph's shoulder in comfort.
"Zeke is asleep in his room, please stay with him," Joseph said to Jessica before following the men outside.
They all walked back to the barn to collect lanterns and guns. They decided to go on foot because the houses wouldn't be quiet enough.
As they were walking back out Joseph stopped to look at a piece of log that was next to some hay. He picked it up and touched the red spot, it was blood. His hands started teeming again.
"Is that blood?" Jordan asked, "And why are you touching it, that's evidence."
Joseph dropped it and dialed 911. He told them what was going in and then went back to let Jessica know to expect the cops. The men set out on their hunt to find Miranda. There was no more doubt about something being wrong.
They spread out in every which way and Joseph found some tracks that looked fresh. A surge of hope had him picking up his pace.
"We should kill the light. We don't want whoever has her to know we're on to them." Joseph told Jordan and another ranch hand that was with them.
They got further into the woods and saw a glow of light up ahead. The closer they got they heard voices, like men arguing.
Joseph spotted Miranda laying on the ground, he could tell her ankle was broken, it had to be at the angle it was set right now. She was covered know blood and he'd face looked badly beaten. The men had obviously stopped for the night, the idiots had made camp at a good distance away from the ranch. No place on this earth would ever be too far for Joseph to search for his girl though.
Rage had him setting off then two pairs of hands dragged him back to the ground.
"Don't," Jordan said quietly. "If you run in there you could out here in more danger. Let me send a quick text to the return of guys to meet us here and we can go in and outnumber them."
"She's hurt." Joseph hissed
"And you could make it worse by storming in there! They have guns!" said Jordan pointing to the men.
"An so do we," Joseph argued.
"Hey, I'm with Joseph here boss. I say we pick them off one at a time. A bullet to the foot should slow them down. Hey, it's self-defense." the ranch hand said with a shrug.
"Fine, let's do this." Jordan finally agreed.
"The one standing by the fire is mine," Joseph said raising his gun.
