Chapter 1: Where's Jake?
Billy wiped the sweat from his forehead and squinted at the fence line stretching out toward the horizon. He'd been working the south pasture since dawn, and the sun was already brutal at 9 AM. He reached for his radio.
"Jake, you copy? Need you to bring the wire cutters down to marker 47."
Static.
Billy frowned and tried again. "Jake? You there, brother?"
Nothing.
That was weird. Jake always answered. The guy was glued to his radio—had to be, when you were managing 50,000 acres with a crew spread across half of Kings County. Billy clicked through to the main channel.
"Celab, you seen Jake this morning?"
"Negative," Celab's voice crackled back. "Thought he was riding fence with you?"
"He was supposed to meet me an hour ago. Never showed."
"Maybe he's still at the house?"
"Maybe." But Billy's gut twisted. Jake didn't just not show up. Especially not without calling it in.
Billy keyed the radio again, this time on the emergency frequency. "Command center, this is Billy. Anyone got eyes on Jake?"
A pause, then Billy Jr's voice came through, crisp and alert despite his sixteen years. "Negative, Uncle Billy. Last ping from his phone was 6:47 AM near the eastern fence line. Want me to check the GPS?"
"Yeah, do that."
Billy turned his horse back toward the ranch house, picking up to a trot. Something felt off. Really off.
By the time he reached the barn, half the consortium was already gathering. Word traveled fast on their network. Sheriff Wade Nelson was there, still in his uniform from the night shift. Josh stood near the paddock with his arms crossed, that business-manager expression on his face—the one that meant he was running calculations.
"GPS shows his truck near the east property line," Billy Jr called out, jogging over with an iPad in hand. His three buddies—Billy Renzo, Ryan Mattern, and Daniel Rodriguez—flanked him, all of them already pulling up data on their own devices. "But his phone hasn't moved in two hours."
"His phone," Billy said slowly. "Not him."
"Right." Billy Jr's face was grim. "Phone's stationary. No movement."
Sheriff Wade stepped forward. "Could be nothing. Could've dropped it. Could've—"
"Jake doesn't drop his phone," Billy interrupted, his voice harder than he intended. "And he doesn't ghost the radio. Not for two hours."
Pops emerged from the house, brandy glass already in hand despite the early hour. At seventy-six, the old man still had the bearing of the Marine he'd been in Vietnam. He took one look at the assembled group and seemed to understand immediately.
"How long?" Pops asked.
"Two hours since last contact," Wade said.
Pops grunted. "That boy's in trouble."
Billy felt his chest tighten. He and Jake had been inseparable since they were toddlers. Shared the same bunk beds, worked the same fence lines, knew each other's thoughts before they were spoken. If something had happened to Jake—
"Billy Jr," Josh said, all business now. "Get your crew to the command center. Pull up the drone footage from this morning. I want every camera angle from the east property line."
"On it." The four teenagers sprinted toward the house.
"Wade, I want your boys out there," Josh continued. "Wilson, Ryan—take the ATVs and search the perimeter."
"Already moving," Wilson "Horse" Nelson said, heading for the equipment shed with his brother.
Billy was already moving toward his truck when Josh caught his arm.
"Billy, wait—"
"Don't." Billy's voice was ice. "That's Jake out there. I'm going."
Josh held his gaze for a moment, then nodded. "Take Celab. And take a radio. We do this smart."
Billy didn't argue. He grabbed Celab, and they were in the truck in thirty seconds flat.
As they tore down the dirt road toward the eastern fence line, Billy's radio crackled to life.
"Uncle Billy?" It was Billy Jr, and something in his voice made Billy's blood run cold. "You need to see this. We found something on the drone footage from 6:45 AM."
"What is it?"
A pause. "Two vehicles. Not ours. They were waiting at the fence line right where Jake's phone stopped moving."
Billy's knuckles went white on the steering wheel.
"Send me the coordinates," he said quietly. "Now."
Chapter 2: The Box
Jake couldn't swallow.
The rag stuffed in his mouth was soaked with his own saliva and blood from his cracked lips, pressed deep by the layers of duct tape sealed across his mouth and jaw. His tongue pushed uselessly against the fabric, desperate for relief that wouldn't come. He tried to work his throat, tried to swallow, but there was nothing—just the taste of dirty cloth and the metallic tang of blood.
The duct tape over his eyes had trapped him in complete darkness. Thick strips, pressed firmly against his skin, sealing out any hint of light. No sense of time. No sense of space. Just heat and pain and the suffocating sensation of standing bound and blind in what he knew was some kind of wooden sweat box.
The hemp rope binding him to the wooden wall dug into every part of his body. They'd lashed him upright—standing—with his arms pinned at his sides against the wall. Coil after coil of thick rope wrapped around his chest, his arms, his waist, his thighs, his ankles. Everything was strapped tight to the wooden planks behind him. He couldn't move his arms forward even an inch. Couldn't lift them. Couldn't do anything but feel the rope cutting deeper with every breath, every slight movement.
He couldn't sit. Couldn't collapse even when his legs screamed for relief.
He had to stand. Had been standing for—
How long?
He'd lost track.
His legs trembled constantly now, muscles quivering with exhaustion. His knees threatened to buckle with every heartbeat, but the rope held him upright, forced him to bear his own weight even as his body begged to give out. His feet were bare against the wooden floor, swollen and aching.
The heat was suffocating.
Jake had grown up in Texas. He knew heat. But this—this was torture by design. The sweat box was tight, cramped, the air thick and still. The wooden walls trapped the heat like an oven. He couldn't see the thermometer anymore—couldn't see anything—but he could feel it. 110 degrees. Maybe higher.
It had to be higher now.
Sweat poured down his face, his neck, his chest. It ran down his arms in rivers, soaking into the rope, making it stick to his skin. His shirt was completely drenched, clinging to his torso like it had been painted on. The salt from his sweat burned his eyes beneath the duct tape. He could feel the moisture running down his forearms, dripping off his fingers, pooling on the floor around his bare feet.
He couldn't wipe his face. Couldn't move his arms at all. Couldn't blink. Couldn't see.
The duct tape over his eyes felt like it was melting into his skin.
Somewhere—he couldn't tell where anymore—he could sense something watching. A presence. Maybe a camera. The darkness and disorientation had stolen his ability to place sounds or sensations.
His throat was on fire. The rag in his mouth absorbed what little moisture his body could still produce, leaving his tongue thick and swollen. He tried to breathe through his nose, but even that was getting harder. His sinuses were swollen from dehydration, each breath a whistling struggle.
How long since they'd given him water?
No food. No water.
That's what they'd said. He remembered that much through the haze. Remembered rough voices. Remembered being dragged, bound, sealed in this box.
The sweat continued to pour off him. His arms glistened with it—he couldn't see them, but he could feel the constant trickle, the way the moisture made the rope chafe differently against his skin. Every inch of exposed skin was slick, dripping.
His body was cooking from the inside out.
Billy, he thought desperately. Billy, I can't—
His knees buckled.
The rope caught him, bit deep into his chest and ribs as his full weight dropped against the bindings. Pain exploded across his torso. His arms, pinned to the wall, took some of the weight, the rope cutting into his biceps and forearms. He tried to push himself back up with his legs, tried to take the pressure off, but his muscles wouldn't respond. For a long moment he just hung there, suspended by hemp rope, unable to breathe, unable to move.
Get up. Get up. GET UP.
With a supreme effort, he forced his legs to straighten, pushed himself back into a standing position. The rope loosened fractionally. He could breathe again—shallow, panting breaths through his nose.
How much longer could he do this? How many more times could he force his legs to hold him before they gave out completely?
They're looking for me, he told himself. Billy's looking. Billy Jr and the whiz kids are tracking me down right now. They've got the drones, the thermal imaging, the satellite phones. They're coming.
But what if they weren't fast enough?
The heat seemed to intensify, pressing down on him like a physical weight. His heart hammered irregularly—too fast, then too slow, then racing again. His head swam. The darkness behind the duct tape swirled with colors that shouldn't exist. More sweat poured down his arms, his sides, his legs.
Outside the box, he heard footsteps. Boots on wood. The creak of hinges—just barely, muffled through the walls.
Voices. Too distant to make out words.
Then silence again.
Jake's legs trembled violently. Without water in this heat, how long did he have? A day? Two days? His body was already shutting down. He could feel it—the way his thoughts came slower, the way his heartbeat seemed to skip and stutter, the way the sweat just kept coming even though he had nothing left to give.
In the suffocating darkness, blind and gagged and bound with his arms strapped uselessly at his sides, Jake felt his mind starting to drift. He saw Billy's face behind his taped eyes. Saw Celab. Saw Billy Jr with that determined look he got when he was solving a problem. Saw Pops with his brandy, heard his gravelly voice: Marines don't quit, boy. You hear me? Marines. Don't. Quit.
I'm trying, Pops, Jake thought. I'm trying.
His legs gave out again.
This time it took longer to push himself back up.
And in the darkness, something continued to watch. Waiting. Recording.
But Jake couldn't see it, couldn't know if anyone was coming.
He could only stand. And suffer. And hope.
Chapter 3: The Link
Billy Jr was staring at his iPad when the email came through.
He'd been in the command center for six hours straight, cycling through drone footage, GPS data, cell tower pings—anything that might tell them where Jake had gone. Billy Renzo sat at the second workstation, Daniel Rodriguez at the third, Ryan Mattern at the fourth. Colt—Louisiana, as everyone called him—was sprawled on the floor behind them with his own laptop, running facial recognition software on every vehicle that had passed through the county in the last 48 hours.
"Got something," Billy Renzo said suddenly. "Cell tower pinged Jake's phone at 6:47 AM near—"
Billy Jr's iPad chimed. A new email. Sender: UNKNOWN.
Subject line: Watch him suffer.
Billy Jr's blood went cold. He tapped the email open.
No text. Just a link. And below it, an image file.
He opened the image first.
"Oh my God," he whispered.
Jake. Standing against a wooden wall. Bound with rope—so much rope it looked like they'd used an entire spool. His arms were pinned at his sides, his legs strapped tight. Duct tape over his eyes and mouth. Holding a sign that read: To the Consortium members. We kidnapped Jake Benson. Until you pay the ransom....no food...no water...and stays tied up in a sweat box showing 110 degrees.
"Guys," Billy Jr said, his voice shaking. "GUYS."
All four of his friends looked up. Louisiana scrambled to his feet.
Billy Jr hit the emergency button on his radio. The system triggered automatically, broadcasting across every frequency the consortium used.
"911 EMERGENCY. 911 EMERGENCY. 911 EMERGENCY. BILLY JUNIOR."
His voice cracked on his own name.
Then he clicked the link.
The video player loaded. Live feed. The image was grainy, shot from a fixed camera position, but it was unmistakable.
Jake. Still bound to the wall. Still standing. But now Billy Jr could see him swaying slightly, his legs trembling. The thermometer mounted on the opposite wall read 114 degrees.
"Jesus Christ," Daniel breathed.
Louisiana moved closer to the screen, his Louisiana drawl thick with shock. "That's Jake? That's really Jake?"
"Yeah," Billy Jr said quietly. "That's Jake."
Billy Jr's hands shook as he grabbed his radio. "Uncle Billy, come in. Uncle Billy, NOW."
Static, then: "What is it?" Billy's voice was tight, controlled. He was still out searching the eastern fence line.
"They sent a link. It's—" Billy Jr's voice broke. "It's a live feed. Jake's alive but he's—Uncle Billy, you need to get back here. Now."
"On my way."
Billy Jr was already uploading the link to their shared network, pushing it to every device in the consortium. His fingers flew across the iPad screen even as his eyes stayed locked on the video feed.
Jake's knees buckled. The rope caught him. He hung there for a moment, then slowly—agonizingly slowly—pushed himself back upright.
"He can't keep standing like that," Ryan Mattern said, his voice hollow. "Not in that heat. Not without water."
"Louisiana, can you trace the video feed?" Billy Jr asked.
"Already on it." Louisiana was back at his laptop, his fingers flying. "Routing through—damn, three VPN servers already. These guys know what they're doing."
The radios exploded.
"—got the link—"
"—Jesus, is that Jake?—"
"—how long has he been like that?—"
"—need to trace the IP address—"
"—get Wade, get the Sheriff—"
"—someone get Pops—"
"—Sarah needs to see—no, wait, should Sarah see this?—"
Voices overlapped, consortium members from all six families talking over each other, the emergency frequency turning into chaos. Billy Jr recognized his dad's voice, Ray's, Celab's, Wilson Nelson's, dozens of others.
"EVERYONE SHUT UP." That was Pops, his Marine command voice cutting through the noise like a blade. "Billy Jr, report."
Billy Jr took a breath. "Received an anonymous email three minutes ago with a link to a live video feed. Jake's alive. He's bound in what they're calling a sweat box, temperature reads 114 degrees. He's been standing—looks like for hours. No food, no water. They're torturing him."
Silence on the radio. Then:
"I'm two minutes out," Billy said.
"We're coming in from the south pasture," Josh added.
"Sarah's at the house," Rebecca's voice came through, tight with controlled panic. "I'm with her. We're heading to the command center."
"Rebecca, maybe you shouldn't—" Josh started.
"Don't." Rebecca's voice was ice. "That's my brother-in-law. We're coming."
Billy Jr heard boots pounding up the stairs. His dad burst through the command center door first, still covered in dust from riding fence. Ray was right behind him. Then Celab, his face pale. Then Billy, moving faster than Billy Jr had ever seen him move.
Billy stopped dead when he saw the screen.
"Jake," he breathed.
On the monitor, Jake's legs were shaking violently. His head lolled forward against his chest. Even through the duct tape, even through the pixelated feed, they could see the absolute exhaustion in every line of his body.
"How long?" Billy asked quietly.
"Based on the timestamp in the email and when he went missing—" Billy Jr checked his notes. "At least eight hours. Maybe more."
"Eight hours standing in 114-degree heat with no water." That was Ray, his business-manager brain already calculating. "That's—"
"That's life-threatening dehydration," Rebecca said from the doorway. She'd arrived with Sarah, who stood frozen, one hand over her mouth, staring at the screen.
Sarah Benson had raised four boys. She'd handled broken bones, ranch accidents, near-drownings in the irrigation pond. But seeing her son like this—
"My baby," she whispered.
"We're gonna get him, Mom," Josh said, moving to her side. "We're gonna find him and bring him home."
"When?" Sarah's voice cracked. "When, Josh? Before he—before he—"
She couldn't finish.
Rebecca wrapped an arm around her mother-in-law. "He's strong, Sarah. He's a Benson. He'll hold on."
More boots on the stairs. Sheriff Wade Nelson appeared, still buckling his duty belt. Wilson and Ryan flanked him. Then Robert and Caroline Beaumont. Then members of the Renzo, Mattern, and Rodriguez families. Within minutes, the command center was packed with consortium members, all of them staring at the screen in horror.
On the feed, Jake's knees buckled again. This time it took him almost a full minute to push himself back upright.
"We need to trace that IP address," Wade said, shifting into Sheriff mode. "Can you—"
"Louisiana and I are on it," Billy Jr said. "It's routing through multiple VPN servers. Give us time."
"How much time?"
Louisiana looked up from his laptop, his face grim. "Could be an hour. Could be six. These guys are good."
Billy's fist slammed into the wall. "We don't HAVE six hours. Look at him!"
Everyone looked. Jake was swaying now, his body moving in small circles, held upright only by the rope binding him to the wall.
"Billy," Pops said quietly from the doorway. No one had seen him arrive, but there he was, brandy glass in hand, his weathered face grim. "You need to think, boy. Not react. That's what they want—they want us panicked. Want us making mistakes."
"Pops, that's Jake—"
"I KNOW who it is." Pops' voice cracked like a whip. "And we're gonna get him back. But we do it smart. We do it right. Billy Jr, Louisiana—keep tracing. Wade—get your boys searching every abandoned building, every warehouse, every place within a hundred-mile radius that could hide a sweat box. Josh, Ray—someone's gonna ask for ransom. When they do, you negotiate. Buy us time."
"And me?" Billy asked.
Pops looked at him. "You stay here. You watch that screen. The second we know where he is, you're the first one through the door. Understood?"
Billy's jaw clenched, but he nodded.
On the screen, Jake's legs gave out again.
This time, he didn't get back up right away.
The rope held him suspended, his full weight hanging against the bindings, his head lolling forward.
"Come on, Jake," Billy whispered. "Come on, brother. Stand up. Stand up."
Seconds ticked by. Ten. Twenty. Thirty.
Then—slowly, shakily—Jake's legs straightened. He pushed himself back upright.
Sarah let out a sob.
And in the crowded command center, surrounded by family and friends and consortium members, they all watched helplessly as Jake Benson suffered.
The radios had gone quiet. No one knew what to say.
Louisiana's fingers never stopped moving across his keyboard, lines of code scrolling across his screen as he tried to break through the VPN layers.
On the screen, the thermometer climbed to 115 degrees.
And Jake kept standing.
Chapter 4: Breaking Point
Jake didn't know if his eyes were open or closed anymore.
The duct tape over them had been there so long—hours? days?—that the darkness felt permanent, like he'd been born into it. Sometimes he saw things in that darkness. Flashes of light that couldn't exist. Colors swirling behind his sealed eyelids. Billy's face, but wrong somehow, distorted and melting like wax.
Not real, he told himself. Not real not real not real.
But the words were getting harder to hold onto. They slipped through his mind like water through his fingers—
Water.
God, water.
His tongue had swollen to twice its normal size, a fat useless thing filling his mouth. The rag pressed against it tasted like blood and dirt and something else, something chemical that made his stomach heave. But there was nothing in his stomach to bring up. Nothing but acid and the phantom memory of the last meal he'd eaten.
When was that? Yesterday? A week ago?
Time had stopped making sense.
The rope around his chest had become part of his body. He couldn't remember what it felt like to breathe without the crushing pressure, to move his arms, to do anything but stand and suffer and try not to collapse. The hemp fibers had embedded themselves in his skin—he could feel them, individual strands cutting deeper with every labored breath.
His legs trembled constantly now. Not just when they were about to give out, but always, a continuous quiver like a guitar string pulled too tight. The muscles had started to spasm hours ago—or was it days?—firing randomly, jerking his knees and calves in directions he couldn't control.
Stand up, he told himself. You're already standing. You have to keep standing.
But was he? He couldn't tell anymore. Maybe he'd fallen and didn't know it. Maybe he was lying on the floor of the sweat box and this was all a dream. Maybe—
No. The rope. He could feel the rope holding him upright. That was real. The rope was always real.
Billy's face appeared in the darkness again, clearer this time.
"Jake, you gotta hang on, brother."
"Billy?" Jake tried to say, but the rag absorbed the sound, turned it into a muffled groan. "Billy, I can't—"
"Yes you can. Marines don't quit."
That wasn't Billy's voice anymore. That was Pops. When had Billy turned into Pops?
"Pops, I'm trying—"
"Try harder, boy." Pops took a sip of brandy that turned into blood, red liquid dripping down his chin. "You think Vietnam was easy? You think sitting in a bamboo cage for three weeks was a goddamn vacation?"
"No, sir, I—"
"Then STAND UP."
I am standing, Jake tried to say. I've been standing forever.
But Pops was gone. The darkness had swallowed him.
Jake's knees buckled.
The rope caught him—it always caught him—and for a moment he just hung there, his full weight suspended by the coils around his chest. The pressure was immense, crushing, squeezing the air from his lungs. Black spots exploded across his vision even though his eyes were sealed shut. His heart stuttered, skipped a beat, then raced to catch up with itself.
Get up get up GET UP—
His legs pushed. Slowly, shakily, they straightened. The rope loosened fractionally. Air rushed back into his lungs in a desperate gasp through his swollen nose.
How many times had he done that now? A hundred? A thousand?
He'd lost count.
The heat pressed down on him like a living thing. It had weight, had texture, had teeth. It bit into his skin, his muscles, his bones. Every breath was like inhaling fire. The sweat that had poured off him for hours had finally started to slow, his body running out of moisture to give. That should have been a relief, but instead it terrified him.
When you stop sweating in extreme heat, that's when you're dying, Rebecca had told him once. She was a nurse. She knew these things.
Was he dying?
Maybe. Probably.
The thermometer swam in his vision—no, wait, his eyes were taped shut. He couldn't see the thermometer. But he could feel it. 115 degrees. 120. Higher. The numbers climbed in his mind, ticking upward like a countdown to oblivion.
Billy appeared again, but this time he was wrong. His face was too long, stretched like taffy. His eyes were black holes.
"Why didn't you answer your radio, Jake?"
"I tried—they took it—"
"You should have fought harder."
"I did fight, I—"
"Not hard enough." Billy's voice turned cruel, mocking. "Now look at you. Pathetic. Can't even stand on your own."
"That's not fair—"
"Life's not fair, brother." Billy grinned, and his teeth were red. "You're gonna die in this box. You know that, right? You're never getting out. They're never gonna find you. You're gonna die alone, tied to a wall, blind and gagged and forgotten—"
"NO." Jake's whole body jerked against the ropes. "No no no that's not—you're not Billy—"
The fake Billy dissolved into smoke.
Celab took his place, but Celab was on fire. Flames licked up his arms, consumed his face, and he was screaming, screaming, screaming—
"Make it stop," Jake whimpered. "Please make it stop—"
But it didn't stop.
His mind fractured, splintered into a thousand pieces. One piece was standing in the sweat box, dying by inches. Another piece was five years old, playing in the irrigation pond with Billy, both of them laughing. Another piece was at his high school graduation, tossing his cap in the air. Another piece was working cattle, the sun on his face, the smell of dust and grass and freedom.
Which piece was real? Were any of them real?
The darkness spun. His body swayed—or did it? Was he moving or was the whole world tilting?
His mother's voice, soft and distant: My baby boy. My sweet baby boy.
Mom?
I'm so sorry, Jake. I'm so sorry we couldn't save you.
No, Mom, I'm right here, I'm—
But she was crying, and then she was at his funeral, and there was a coffin, and Billy was standing next to it with his head bowed, and Pops was saluting, and—
Not real. NOT REAL.
Jake's legs gave out again.
This time, he couldn't remember how to make them work. The rope held him suspended, a puppet with cut strings. His head lolled forward. Saliva mixed with blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, absorbed immediately by the duct tape.
His heartbeat was wrong. Too slow. Each beat felt like it might be the last one.
This is it, he thought distantly. This is how I die.
But then—somewhere in the fractured mess of his mind—a small, stubborn piece refused to break.
No.
It was barely a thought. More of a feeling. A tiny ember of defiance in the darkness.
No. Marines don't quit.
His legs twitched. Muscles that had nothing left to give somehow found something. Slowly—agonizingly slowly—his knees began to straighten.
That's it. Come on. You can do this.
Inch by inch, he pushed himself back upright. The rope loosened. His lungs expanded. He could breathe.
He was still standing.
Still alive.
Still fighting.
In the darkness, the hallucinations continued to swirl. Billy's face. Pops' voice. His mother crying. Celab burning. The funeral that hadn't happened yet. The coffin waiting for him.
But beneath it all, that stubborn ember kept glowing.
They're coming, Jake told himself. Billy's coming. The whiz kids are tracking me down. They're coming they're coming they're coming—
His legs began to tremble again.
Outside, he heard voices. Real voices, not hallucinations. Two men talking.
"How long's he been in there?"
"Thirty-six hours."
"Christ. He's still standing?"
"Barely. Give him another twelve hours. He'll be dead by morning."
Laughter. Footsteps fading.
Thirty-six hours.
Jake's mind tried to process that. A day and a half. Standing. No food. No water. 115 degrees.
Twelve more hours, the man had said.
Could he last twelve more hours?
His legs gave their answer by buckling again.
And in the darkness, as Jake fought to push himself back upright one more time, the last coherent thought he had was:
Please, Billy. Please hurry.
Then the hallucinations dragged him back under, and he knew nothing but heat and pain and the endless, impossible task of staying on his feet.
Chapter 5: The Rescue
"Wait. Wait wait wait." Louisiana's voice cut through the tense silence of the command center. He'd been staring at his screen for the last three hours, lines of code scrolling past as he tried to trace the video feed's IP address.
Billy Jr looked up from his own workstation. "What?"
"Jake's iPhone." Louisiana's Louisiana drawl was thick with excitement. "Y'all said the kidnappers took his phone, right? Found it at the abduction site?"
"Yeah," Billy said from where he stood behind Billy Jr, his eyes never leaving the monitor showing Jake's suffering. "Wilson found it on the ground near his truck. Why?"
"Because that was his work phone." Louisiana spun his chair around, his laptop balanced on his knees. "The one clipped to his belt. But Jake's got two phones, doesn't he? Personal iPhone in his back pocket?"
The room went dead silent.
"Oh my God," Billy Jr breathed. "Find My iPhone."
His fingers were already flying across his iPad before he finished the sentence. Billy Renzo, Ryan Mattern, and Daniel Rodriguez all grabbed their devices simultaneously, pulling up tracking apps, iCloud accounts, the consortium's shared location network.
"I've got access to the family iCloud," Billy Jr said, his voice shaking. "Jake's personal phone is—"
The map loaded.
A blue dot pulsed on the screen. Not at the abduction site. Not anywhere near the eastern fence line.
Forty-seven miles northeast. An abandoned industrial complex outside of Millerton.
"Got him," Billy Jr whispered. "We got him."
Billy grabbed his radio. "All units, all units. We have Jake's location. Repeat, we have Jake's location. Forty-seven miles northeast, old Millerton Industrial Park off Route 18. All consortium members converge on the ranch house NOW. We move in twenty minutes."
The radios exploded with confirmations.
Sheriff Wade was already on his feet, his hand on his duty weapon. "I'm calling in my deputies. Wilson, Ryan—gear up. We're going in hot."
"The hell you are." That was Pops, moving faster than anyone had seen him move in years. "This is consortium business, Wade. We handle this."
"Pops, this is a kidnapping—"
"This is MY grandson tied up in that box." Pops' voice was pure steel. "We're getting him out. Your way's gonna take too long—warrants, backup, jurisdictional bullshit. By the time you get clearance, Jake's dead. We move now."
Wade's jaw clenched, but he nodded. "Then I'm coming with you. Unofficial."
"Same," Wilson said.
"And me," Ryan added.
Within fifteen minutes, the ranch yard had transformed into a staging area. Trucks pulled in from every direction—Bensons, Nelsons, Beaumonts, Renzos, Matterns, Rodriguezes. Men emerged carrying rifles, shotguns, handguns. Body armor appeared from truck beds. Radios crackled with final equipment checks.
Twenty-three men. Armed and ready.
Billy Jr and his three friends were loading equipment into the bed of Josh's truck—four iPads, Louisiana's laptop, the portable power inverter, drone controllers. Josh had already set up the mobile command center in the truck bed with a weather-proof canopy.
"You boys armed?" Pops asked, walking over with his rifle slung across his back.
Billy Jr patted the Glock 19 holstered at his hip. Billy Renzo, Ryan Mattern, and Daniel Rodriguez did the same. Louisiana lifted his shirt to show his own sidearm tucked into his waistband.
"Good." Pops nodded approvingly. "You stay with the truck, provide tactical support. But if things go sideways, you defend yourselves. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," all five of them said in unison.
"Two drones ready for deployment," Billy Jr reported, securing the cases in the truck bed. "Thermal imaging, night vision, full comm integration."
Pops stood in the center of the assembled men, his Marine commander voice carrying across the group. "Listen up. We go in quiet. Three teams. Team One—Billy, Celab, Wade, Wilson—you take the east entrance, secure the ground floor. Team Two—Josh, Ray, Robert, Ryan Nelson—you take the west entrance, cut off escape routes. Team Three—me, Horse, Tom, and the Renzo boys—we go up the exterior stairs to the second floor. That's where Jake is. We get him out."
He pointed at Josh's truck where the five teenagers were doing final equipment checks. "The whiz kids stay with the mobile command center. They're our eyes in the sky. You see anything on those drones, you call it in immediately. Understood?"
"Understood," Billy Jr called back.
The convoy moved out. Eight trucks now, including Josh's with the mobile command center. Lights off, engines rumbling through the night. Billy Jr sat in the truck bed with his four friends, iPads glowing in the darkness, monitoring GPS coordinates as they drove.
They stopped half a mile from the industrial complex. Josh's truck positioned itself on a small rise with clear line of sight to the warehouse.
"Drones deploying," Billy Jr said into his radio as he and Ryan Mattern launched both UAVs into the night sky. Within seconds, the iPads lit up with aerial feeds.
"Thermal's picking up five heat signatures in the main warehouse building," Billy Jr reported, his voice steady. "Three on the ground floor, two on the second level."
"That's where Jake is," Billy's voice came back. "Second floor."
"Drone Two's got eyes on two vehicles," Daniel Rodriguez added. "Black SUVs, matches the description. Parked on the east side."
The assault teams moved forward on foot, weapons ready. Billy Jr watched it all on the thermal imaging feed. Twenty-three white heat signatures moving through the darkness like ghosts, converging on the warehouse.
"Team One in position," Billy's voice crackled over the radio.
"Team Two in position," Josh confirmed.
"Team Three ready," Pops said. "On my mark. Three... two... one... GO."
The assault was brutal and efficient.
Team One breached the east entrance with a battering ram. The sound echoed even from half a mile away. On the thermal feed, three heat signatures on the ground floor scrambled for weapons. Gunfire erupted—short, controlled bursts visible as muzzle flashes on the night vision feed.
"Two down on ground floor," Billy Jr reported, watching the signatures drop. "Third hostile moving toward west exit—"
"Got him," Wilson's voice confirmed. Another burst of gunfire.
Team Two secured the west side, blocking escape routes.
Team Three hit the exterior stairs at a dead run. Billy Jr zoomed the drone in, watching as Horse kicked in the second-floor door. The two heat signatures inside—
More gunfire. Quick, precise. Both signatures dropped.
"Ground floor secure," Wade reported. "Three hostiles down."
"Second floor secure," Pops said, breathing hard. "Two hostiles down."
In the truck bed, all five teenagers stared at their screens, barely breathing.
A pause on the radio. Then:
"Fuck."
Billy's voice came through, barely above a whisper.
"There's the sweat box."
Chapter 6: Breaking Free
Billy Jr was the first one through the second-floor door.
He'd heard the gunfire stop, heard Pops report the hostiles down, and he'd been moving before his brain could catch up. Billy Renzo was right behind him, then Ryan Mattern, then Daniel Rodriguez, then Louisiana—all five of them taking the exterior stairs two at a time, Glocks drawn, hearts pounding.
They burst into the room and stopped dead.
The sweat box stood against the far wall like an upright coffin. Rough wooden planks, maybe six and a half feet tall, three feet wide. Gaps between the boards for ventilation—minimal, cruel ventilation. A heavy padlock on the front. Two hinges on the side, rusted and ancient.
And through one of the ventilation slits, the glowing red numbers of a digital thermometer: 118°F.
Billy Jr heard breathing from inside. Wet, labored, rattling breaths that made his chest tighten.
"Jake?" he called out. "Jake, we're here. We're getting you out."
No response. Just that horrible breathing.
Pops appeared in the doorway, took one look at the box, and his face went hard. "Horse, get me an ax. Now."
"Already on it." Horse was back in thirty seconds with a fire ax from the building's emergency equipment.
Billy Jr stepped back as Pops positioned himself in front of the sweat box. The old Marine raised the ax—
"Wait," Louisiana said suddenly. "There's a hose. Side of the building outside. We get that running NOW. Soon as we crack this thing open, we gotta cool him down or he's gonna die."
"Go," Pops ordered. "Billy Renzo, help him. Move!"
The two teenagers sprinted out. Billy Jr could hear them clattering down the stairs, their voices echoing as they found the hose connection.
Pops didn't wait. He swung the ax.
The first blow hit the padlock dead center. It held. The second blow bent it. The third shattered it completely, sending pieces of metal clattering across the floor.
"Hinges," Pops said, moving to the side of the box.
Two more swings. The rusted hinges screamed and gave way.
"Ready?" Pops looked at Billy. "On three. One... two... THREE."
Pops and Horse pulled the front panel away.
The smell hit them first. Sweat, blood, urine, fear—concentrated by twelve hours in a box barely bigger than a coffin. Billy Jr gagged but didn't look away.
Jake stood bound to the back wall, held upright only by the coils of hemp rope wrapped around every inch of his body. His arms were pinned at his sides, his legs strapped tight. Duct tape covered his eyes and mouth. His shirt was soaked through, clinging to his skin. His head lolled forward, unconscious.
"Jesus Christ," Billy breathed.
"Hose! NOW!" Pops yelled.
"Coming!" Louisiana's voice echoed up the stairs. He and Billy Renzo burst through the doorway, dragging the fire hose between them, water already gushing from the nozzle. "Got pressure!"
"Hit him!" Pops commanded. "Don't wait—cool him down NOW!"
Louisiana aimed the hose. The cold water hit Jake full force—frigid well water, probably fifty degrees. It soaked him instantly, drenching his hair, his face, his chest, running in rivers down his body and pooling on the floor.
Jake's body jerked violently. His head snapped up. A muffled scream came from behind the duct tape.
"He's alive!" Billy Jr shouted. "Keep going!"
Louisiana kept the water flowing, soaking every inch of Jake while Billy, Celab, and Wade moved in with knives, starting to cut through the layers of rope.
"Jesus, there's so much of it," Celab muttered, sawing frantically at a coil around Jake's chest.
The cold water kept coming. Jake's muffled screams turned to groans, then to ragged breathing. His body was shaking now—violent tremors from the temperature shock, but that was good. That meant he was responding.
"Tape off his mouth," Rebecca's voice came from the doorway. She'd arrived with her medical bag. "He needs to breathe properly."
Billy Jr moved in, his fingers finding the edge of the duct tape at Jake's jaw while Louisiana kept the hose trained on him. "This is gonna hurt," he warned, then pulled.
The tape came away, taking skin with it. Jake cried out—the first real sound they'd heard from him. Billy Jr reached into his mouth and pulled out the soaked rag.
Jake gasped, sucking in air desperately. Water from the hose was still hitting him, and he choked, coughed, gasped again.
"Keep cutting!" Pops ordered. "Get him out of that rope!"
They worked frantically. Every coil they removed revealed new damage—rope burns, deep cuts where Jake's weight had pressed the hemp into his flesh. But they kept going, kept cutting, while Louisiana kept the cold water flowing.
"Almost there," Wade said, sawing through the last of the rope around Jake's legs.
"Eyes," Jake rasped, water streaming down his face. "Can't... see..."
"Hold on, brother," Billy said. "Almost got you."
The final strand of rope parted.
Jake's legs buckled immediately. Billy caught him, wrapped his arms around his brother's torso as Jake's full weight collapsed against him.
"I got you," Billy whispered. "I got you, brother."
Louisiana shut off the hose. Jake hung in Billy's arms, soaking wet, shivering violently, but breathing. Alive.
"Tape," Jake rasped again. "Eyes."
Billy Jr carefully worked at the duct tape covering Jake's eyes, peeling it away millimeter by millimeter. When it finally came free, Jake's eyes opened—bloodshot, unfocused, but open.
He blinked at the light. Blinked at Billy's face. Blinked at the water pooling around their feet.
"You came," he whispered.
"Of course we came, you idiot." Billy's voice cracked. "We always come."
"Water," Jake croaked. "Need... water..."
Wade had a canteen ready. He held it to Jake's cracked, bleeding lips. Jake drank desperately, water spilling down his chin.
"Easy, easy," Wade said. "Not too fast."
Pops stepped forward, his flask in hand. "Boy needs something stronger." He held the flask to Jake's lips. "Whiskey. Just a sip."
Jake drank. Coughed. Drank again.
Color was starting to return to his face. The violent shivering was slowing. His eyes were focusing.
Rebecca moved in with her medical bag. "Jake, I need to get fluids into you. You're severely dehydrated. We need to get you to a hospital—"
"No." Jake's voice was stronger now, rough but determined. "No hospital."
"Jake, you've been standing in 118-degree heat for twelve hours with no food or water—"
"I said no hospital." Jake tried to stand on his own, his legs shaking violently. Billy and Billy Jr immediately moved to support him, one on each side. "Where are they? The ones who did this?"
"Dead," Pops said flatly. "All five of them."
"Show me."
"Jake, you can barely stand—"
"SHOW ME."
Billy and Billy Jr exchanged glances, then slowly walked Jake across the room, water dripping from all three of them. His legs could barely hold him, but he forced them to move, forced himself to stay upright.
The two bodies lay where they'd fallen. Jake stared at them for a long moment, his face unreadable.
"Good," he said finally. Then to Billy Jr: "Your iPad. Give it to me."
Billy Jr handed it over, confused. Jake's hands shook as he pulled up FaceTime, selected his mother's contact.
Sarah answered on the first ring. Her face filled the screen—tear-streaked, exhausted, terrified.
"Jake?" Her voice broke on his name. "Baby, are you—"
"I'm okay, Mom." Jake's voice cracked. His eyes welled up. "I'm okay. They got me out. I'm okay."
Sarah sobbed. "Oh thank God. Thank God. Are you hurt? Where are you? When are you coming home?"
"Soon, Mom. Soon. I promise." A tear rolled down Jake's face, mixing with the water still dripping from his hair. "I love you."
"I love you too, baby. So much."
Jake ended the call and handed the iPad back to Billy Jr. He took a shaky breath, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
Then his stomach growled. Loud enough that everyone heard it.
"I'm fucking starving," Jake announced.
Despite everything—the trauma, the fear, the horror of the last twelve hours—everyone laughed. Even Jake managed a weak grin.
"That's my boy," Pops said, clapping Jake on the shoulder. "Marines don't quit. And they sure as hell don't skip meals."
Rebecca shook her head but was smiling. "Fine. No hospital. But you're getting these IVs, and you're eating slowly, and if you pass out I'm dragging you to the ER myself. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am," Jake said.
He was still standing. Barely, held up by Billy and Billy Jr, soaking wet and shivering, but standing.
Tough as nails. Just like Pops always said.
Chapter 7: Home
The convoy rolled back into the Benson Ranch just after midnight. Every light in the main house was blazing. Cars and trucks packed the yard—seemed like half of Kings County had showed up.
Jake was in the lead truck with Billy, Billy Jr, and Pops. Rebecca had insisted on keeping the IV in his arm for the drive back, the bag hanging from a hook Billy Jr had rigged up. Jake had protested—"I'm fine, I'm not some invalid"—but one look from Rebecca had shut him up.
The second the truck stopped, Sarah Benson was there. She yanked open the door and pulled Jake into her arms before he could even get his feet on the ground.
"My baby," she sobbed into his shoulder. "My baby boy."
"Mom, I'm okay," Jake said, but his voice was thick. "I'm okay."
Tom was right behind her, then Ray, then Josh. The whole family converged, everyone trying to hug Jake at once. Billy Jr stepped back to give them space, watching his uncles and grandfather surround Jake like they were afraid he'd disappear again if they let go.
"Alright, alright," Pops finally said, his Marine voice cutting through the emotion. "Give the boy some air. He needs food, not smothering."
"Food's ready," Mary Nelson called from the porch. "Been cooking for five hours straight. Got enough to feed an army."
"Didn't do it alone," Caroline Beaumont added, appearing with a massive tray of barbecue. "Martinez's Restaurant sent over half their kitchen. Wouldn't take a dime for it either. Said it was on the house for Jake."
Jake's eyes widened as he climbed the porch steps and saw the spread. The dining room table had been extended with two additional folding tables, all of them groaning under the weight of food. Brisket, ribs, chicken, pulled pork. Potato salad, coleslaw, beans, cornbread. Pies, cakes, cookies. Cases of beer and soda stacked against the wall.
"Holy shit," Jake breathed.
"Language," Sarah said automatically, but she was smiling through her tears.
"Boy's been through hell, Sarah," Pops said, setting up his portable bar in the corner—a wheeled cart with his brandy, whiskey, bourbon, and an assortment of glasses. "He can cuss if he wants to."
Jake didn't need to be told twice. He loaded up a plate—then a second plate—and sat down at the head of the table. For the next hour, he ate like he'd never seen food before. Brisket disappeared in massive bites. Ribs were stripped clean. He went through three helpings of potato salad and half a pan of cornbread.
"Slow down, Jake," Rebecca warned. "Your stomach's been empty for twelve hours. You're gonna make yourself sick."
"Don't care," Jake said around a mouthful of pulled pork. "Worth it."
Pops poured himself a generous glass of brandy and raised it. "To Jake. Tough as nails. Marines don't quit."
"Marines don't quit!" everyone echoed, raising their glasses and cans.
Jake grinned, grabbed a beer from the case at his feet, and chugged half of it in one go.
The party went on for hours. Consortium members filtered in and out, everyone wanting to see Jake, to hear the story, to confirm with their own eyes that he was really okay. Sheriff Wade stayed for exactly one beer—"I'm still on duty, technically"—before heading out with Wilson and Ryan. The Beaumonts left around 2 AM. The Renzo, Mattern, and Rodriguez families followed shortly after.
By 3 AM, it was down to family. And the whiz kids.
"You boys staying over?" Sarah asked Billy Renzo, Ryan Mattern, and Daniel Rodriguez. The three of them had been hovering near Billy Jr all night, alternating between eating and reviewing drone footage on their iPads.
"If that's okay, Mrs. Benson," Billy Renzo said.
"Of course it's okay. Frat house has room, doesn't it?"
Billy Jr laughed. "Barely. We've got five people living in there now. Add three more and we're gonna be sleeping on top of each other."
"We've slept in worse," Ryan Mattern said with a shrug.
They migrated to the frat house around 3:30 AM—all eight of them. Billy, Jake, Celab, Billy Jr, Louisiana, Billy Renzo, Ryan Mattern, and Daniel Rodriguez. The room was cramped with two bunk beds and Louisiana's mattress on the floor between them, but somehow they made it work.
"Wait," Jake said, stopping in the doorway. "Before we crash—"
He walked to the corner of the room, knelt down, and pried up two floorboards. The secret beer stash. Twenty-four cans of Coors Light, hidden from the adults for the last six months.
"Jake, you've already had like four beers," Billy Jr said.
"And?" Jake grabbed two cans, tossed one to Billy. "I just spent twelve hours tied to a wall in a sweat box. I think I've earned it."
No one argued with that logic.
They sat in a rough circle—Billy and Jake on the lower bunks, Celab and Billy Jr on the upper bunks, the other four sprawled on the floor with Louisiana's mattress. Beer cans cracked open. The overhead light was off, just the glow from Billy Jr's iPad casting shadows across their faces.
"So," Louisiana said quietly. "What was it like?"
Jake was silent for a long moment. He took a sip of beer, stared at the can.
"It was..." He stopped. Started again. "The heat was the worst part. Not being able to move, not being able to see or talk. Just standing there, feeling like I was cooking from the inside out. My legs gave out so many times, but the rope held me up. I had to keep forcing myself to stand. Over and over."
"For twelve hours," Celab said, his voice hollow.
"Yeah." Jake's voice was quiet. "I started hallucinating around hour eight, I think. Saw things that weren't there. Heard Pops talking to me. Saw Billy, but wrong—like his face was melting." He looked at Billy. "Sorry, that's probably weird to hear."
"It's okay," Billy said. His voice was rough. "What matters is you held on. You didn't quit."
"Marines don't quit," Jake said with a faint smile. Then his face turned serious. "But honestly? I don't know how much longer I could've lasted. When I heard y'all breaking open that box, when I felt that cold water hit me—" His voice cracked. "I thought I was hallucinating again. Thought it wasn't real."
"It was real," Billy Jr said. "We found you. Louisiana figured out about your iPhone, and we found you."
Jake looked at Louisiana. "You did that?"
Louisiana shrugged, suddenly embarrassed. "Just remembered you had two phones. Anyone could've figured it out."
"But you did figure it out." Jake raised his beer can. "Thank you. Seriously. All of you. You saved my life."
They all raised their cans in silent acknowledgment.
"Those kidnappers," Daniel Rodriguez said. "They're really all dead?"
"Yeah," Jake said, his voice hard. "All five of them. Good riddance."
"Uncle Billy shot three of them himself," Billy Jr said. "It was... intense."
"Your uncle didn't hesitate," Jake said. "None of them did. They came in like a tactical team. It was over in minutes."
"Drones gave us perfect intel," Ryan Mattern said. "We could see everything—where the hostiles were, what weapons they had, the layout. Made the whole thing smoother."
"You boys did good work," Jake said. "All that tech you and Billy Jr set up—the encrypted radios, the drones, the satellite phones. That's what saved me. That and Billy refusing to give up."
Billy looked at his brother. "I wasn't gonna stop looking. Not ever."
Jake nodded, his eyes getting wet. "I know. I kept telling myself that. Kept thinking, 'Billy's coming. Billy Jr's tracking me down. They're not gonna quit.' That's what kept me going when my mind started going."
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, drinking their contraband beer, processing everything that had happened.
"Alright," Celab finally said. "We should probably sleep. Sun's gonna be up in three hours."
"Sleep sounds amazing," Jake said. He climbed into his bunk—the lower one he'd had since he was five years old—and Billy climbed into the upper bunk above him.
Billy Jr took his usual bunk with Louisiana on the mattress below. Billy Renzo, Ryan Mattern, and Daniel Rodriguez arranged themselves on the floor with pillows and spare blankets, not caring that they were essentially sleeping on hardwood.
The room went dark. Eight teenagers crammed into a space meant for four.
"Hey Jake?" Billy's voice came from above.
"Yeah?"
"Don't ever scare me like that again."
Jake smiled in the darkness. "Deal."
Within minutes, exhaustion took over. One by one, they drifted off—Billy and Jake in their bunk beds, Celab and Billy Jr in theirs, Louisiana on his mattress, and the three whiz kids sprawled across the floor.
The frat house was silent except for the sound of breathing. Eight boys sleeping peacefully, safe and together.
Outside, the first hint of dawn touched the Texas horizon.
And Jake Benson—tough as nails, stubborn as hell, rescued by his family and friends—finally slept without nightmares.
