Battle for Stephanie

Rusty Bradshaw

Description

An exciting thriller that will take the reader through a variety of situations with twists and turns throughout.
Stephanie Wallis was living a blissful life, from her perspective. She had two loving parents, was a good student and enjoyed school, and, despite her parents struggling financially, had much of what she needed and wanted. The family had changed locations often, but she was able to adjust well each time.
But just when things seemed to be settling down, everything changed and turned her world upside down, altering her life in ways she could not imagine.
Her mother, Cynthia, suddenly packed her up and left her father, Nathan. Relocating to another state, Stephanie had barely started attendance at a new school when she was abducted and whisked away to yet another state by a man on a misguided mission.
With the help of his wilderness guide brother, Bryan; FBI agent Susan Blastmore; sheriff’s deputy Dawn Barnes; and other law enforcement personnel, Nathan goes on a search in the Idaho mountains to find and retrieve his daughter. Their efforts are complicated by a controlling in-law and a band of mercenaries.

Sujets

• Thrillers
• Armada de los Estados Unidos
• Outfitter
• Custody
• Murder
• Family
• Navy
• Suspense
• Attraction
• Fiction
• Divorce

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 31 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781663250322
• Langue: English

Extrait

What readers are saying about Rusty Bradshaw’s books.
The Rehabilitation of Miss Little
Captivating!!
This story is very well written! Rusty does such a great job describing the scenario, he doesn’t suck you in - he absorbs you! You feel like you are among the characters. And you have to keep reading to find out what drives the people to do what they are doing. I hope Rusty keeps writing! I look forward to reading another book by him!
Awesome book!
This book was highly recommended to me, so I bought it, I’m so glad I did! I’m not much of a reader, but this book was hard to put down, it kept my attention from start to finish. It’s a great story, kind of sad of what she went through, but a good ending. I can hopefully look forward to more books from this author!

Moist on the Mountain
Awesome!
Another good book from the author! Love his writing. I got the book for me, finished it in a couple of days, I was so interested in the story, it was hard to put down.
Fun book to read
Keeps you interested and didn’t want to put the book down until finished

Gorge Justice
Wow! Just wow!
This story was very well written and kept my interest all the way through! Excellent story. I look forward to Rusty’s next work of art!
The Best 1 Yet
As I’ve said before, I’m not a reader, but after reading the first two books from Rusty Bradshaw, I thought I’d read the third. This book is his best yet, I finished it in three days! It made me cry, made me sad, get angry and happy. It’s worth reading!!
Excellent reading...........
I couldn’t put this book down once I started reading it. I was with the character the whole way and hoped that she would finally get justice. Rusty did an excellent job in writing this because you could feel yourself in the surroundings that he described and picture the beautiful scenery. You will not be disappointed in purchasing this book. It is unthinkable what the main character went throgh and it will keep you on the edge of your seat!
See more reviews at www.rustythewriter.org .






BATTLE FOR STEPHANIE




RUSTY BRADSHAW







BATTLEFORSTEPHANIE


Copyright © 2023 Rusty Bradshaw.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.





iUniverse
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.iuniverse.com
844-349-9409

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6632-5031-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-5032-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023901597



iUniverse rev. date: 01/28/2023



Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26



This book is dedicated to the late Bobby Lewis. You are missed, Bobalew!



Chapter 1
Very little sun peeked through the curtains in the master bedroom window of the apartment tucked into the dead-end portion of Harrison Street as the early spring day got its start for Nathan Wallis.
It was like most mornings since Nathan and his family – wife, Cynthia, and their only child, Stephanie – moved into the apartment three-and-a-half months earlier. Cynthia was up before everyone and was getting the family started. After doing a little work on the home computer, she began to awaken eleven-year-old Stephanie. Once she was up and going, she went into the master bedroom to wake up her husband.
It had been a hectic time for the family in the last few weeks. Things were just beginning to turn around for them after nearly eighteen months of hard times. They had just returned from a trip to their former hometown to sign papers to sell their house there. It was only the second offer on the house after the first drug on for two months before finally falling through.
The proceeds from the house sale would allow the Wallises to pay off a number of past due bills, and give them enough left over to help them get back on their feet financially.
The couple had also been having their own difficulties with each other. Neither really knew what had started the problems, nor did they really know for sure what the problems were. But they had not talked much in previous months. Cynthia had been distant with her husband and had pushed him away repeatedly when he tried to get close, both emotionally and physically.
Because of her distance and the disdain she showed for him, Nathan was reluctant to try and talk to her about what was wrong. A man who tried to avoid confrontation whenever possible, he rather would let sleeping dogs lie and hope for the best.
But in the past week, the tension between the husband and wife seemed to be changing. They began to talk more, and when he hugged her, she did not push him away.
It was not, however, all good news.
The previous Saturday, on the return from signing the house sale paperwork, there had been an accident. Driving west on the freeway just as the sun was dipping below the horizon, Nathan was concentrating hard on the roadway. The setting sun was almost directly in front of his eyes and despite the sunglasses he wore, he had to squint to see details.
Suddenly, Nathan saw something out of the corner of his eye to the left that appeared to be entering his lane within only a few car lengths ahead of their SUV. Instinctively he started to swerve to the right to avoid hitting whatever it was and at the same time taking his foot off the gas pedal.
“Watch out,” Cynthia shouted, almost simultaneously with the grating sound of metal crashing against metal. Nathan wasn’t sure if she was warning him of the pickup truck in the adjacent lane or whatever he had seen coming into his lane. Whichever was not important now because a second after hitting the pickup with a glancing blow, they slammed into an object straight ahead.
The side impact damaged the front fender, but the head-on impact folded the hood and pushed the grill into the engine compartment, immediately killing the engine and bringing the vehicle to a screeching halt. That was followed by a lesser impact from directly behind.
The husband and wife looked behind them. In the seat behind the driver was Stephanie, still buckled in her seat belt swiveling her head back and forth. In the first instant her parents saw her, there was a look of fright on her face. But that was quickly replaced with curiosity.
Stephanie first wanted to know if her parents were safe. When they both stared at her with the look of concern on their faces, she knew they were okay. She then began looking around to see if she could determine what happened.
Stephanie’s curiosity seemed head and shoulders above other children her age.
“What happened?” Cynthia asked.
Nathan took a moment before answering. He studied the surroundings of their vehicle. Just ahead on the left shoulder of the two-lane westbound portion of the freeway he saw a blue Dodge Ram pickup truck parked with its emergency flashers on. A man, presumably the driver, was walking toward the SUV.
Nathan reached to the dashboard and clicked on his vehicle’s emergency flashers. When he looked into the rearview mirror, he saw white lights blinking, not red. That meant the rear collision had broken the plastic coverings on the flasher lights. But his flashers were mixed with amber flashes from the vehicle that rear-ended them.
Nathan heard knuckles lightly tapping on glass. He turned to face a large man wearing a ball cap and flannel shirt. He had a rough-skinned face, a man who clearly worked hard and most of it outdoors in the state’s harsh weather, both winter and summer.
Instead of powering down his window, Nathan opened the door and got out. The man was about three inches taller than him and had the build of a man who did heavy lifting, either through his work or in a workout routine.
“Are you alright?” the man asked with concern. “How about your wife?”
Nathan looked back inside his SUV then back at the stranger.
“We’re all okay,” he answered. “So is our daughter.”
The man looked again at the SUV and for the first time noticed Stephanie looking out the side window.
“Okay,” the man said. “Let me go check on these people behind you and I’ll be right back.”
Nathan moved to the front of the SUV to inspect the damage. The crumpled grill of the Ford Explorer was pushed backward and the hood was folded in half. Peering through the opening caused by the fold, he could see the grill mashed up against the engine block, which drooped on the right side, i