Free Tracie Peterson by Hearts Calling

book.
    Several men burst through the door, two of them carrying wooden crates.
    “Take those to my room,” Esther instructed and got up to follow the men from the room. “The rest of you men finish your eating and get back to work. We’ve got a big job to pull tomorrow, and I don’t want anything to go wrong,” she called over her shoulder.
    Silence fell across the table. Although she was just a woman, these men knew her mind to be the keenest they’d encountered. There wasn’t a man, young or old, sitting there who didn’t know just how much they needed Esther Owens.
    Esther directed the men to place the crates on her bed. “Now get yourselves some food. I’ll need to talk to you when you’re finished.” The men nodded and left the room, closing the door behind them.
    Esther began sorting through the boxes. She smiled broadly as her hand came to the newspaper that lined the bottom of one of the crates. Pulling it out, she took herself over to her rocking chair and began to read.
    The price of silver was climbing, as were railroad stocks. The Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad was advertising tracts of land to entice immigrants to come west and settle along the train routes. There was some speculation that the Santa Fe desired to place a route across the southern U.S. territories, all the way to the coast, but no one was taking that venture very seriously.
    Esther read on, drinking in the news and realizing, as she did every time a newspaper came her way, that she missed big-city life and knowing what was happening as it happened. She was about to put the paper aside when a photograph caught her eye. Staring at it hard, Esther began to smile.
    The story below the photograph told of a young woman who’d disappeared from Dawson, Colorado. The picture was unmistakably that of the woman who was now captive in her shed out back. Esther wanted to shout when she read that Pamela Charbonneau was a wealthy socialite from Kansas City. There was good money to be made in this, and Esther was already putting together the ransom note in her mind. Tossing the paper onto the bed, Esther made her way back to the shed. She would confront Pamela with her news and decide from there how they would address the issue of a ransom.
    ❧
    Pamela had tried every way possible to escape her prison. She’d pulled and pushed at the door, only to realize that it was a hopeless case. She’d checked the walls for any hint of weakness but, finding none, could only pace out her frustrations.
    She remembered something Zandy had once told her about God. She’d said that God would never leave her and that, no matter what happened in her life, He would always hear her when she prayed. Glancing up at the sagging ceiling, Pamela wondered if it were true. Would God really hear her if she prayed?
    “I guess it’s worth trying,” Pamela muttered, seeking to convince herself. She tried to remember just how Zandy started her prayers. “Father,” she whispered, “Zandy told me I could pray and You would hear me. Well, I’m in quite a fix right now, and I could certainly stand to be heard. Fact is, I need a great deal of help, and I don’t know where it might come from. God, nobody but You and these outlaws even know I’m here. Please help me to get away from these people. Help me to escape to safety. I promise I’ll never be difficult again, if You will just answer this prayer. Amen.
    “There,” Pamela stated in complete resolve, “that’s done.” She waited a few minutes, not moving a muscle, as if to see how God would answer her request. The silence washed over her in waves, but nothing seemed changed or the slightest bit different.
    “I wish I knew more about this Christian stuff,” Pamela sighed aloud. “Does it happen right away? How do you know if God hears you?” Just then the sound of someone outside the door startled Pamela.
    Esther Owens opened the door and with her came a flood of daylight. Pamela squinted her eyes and