Chapter 4
Caleb
I was happy to stay in the car as ordered because my anxiety was through the roof.
I could still see Jace through the windshield as he talked to the man in front of a small red house just yards from the water’s edge.
As I watched him nod his head at something the man said, I fought back the emotions that were threatening to bubble to the surface.
The timing couldn’t be worse. I tried slowing my breathing in the hopes that would calm me down, but I knew it wouldn’t.
There was only one thing that would take away the burning need to get out of the car and walk straight into Jace’s arms.
I kept my eyes on Jace as best I could as I dropped my hand to the floor of the car and began searching out what I wanted.
A mix of shame and relief went through me when I closed my fingers around one of the larger pieces of glass from the shattered window.
I didn’t even stop to think about what I was doing as I slipped the sleeve of my shirt up on my right arm.
Fear of discovery had me keeping my eyes on Jace, even as I drew the edge of the glass over my skin.
And just like that, the pain took away everything.
The fear.
The anger .
The hope.
I couldn’t enjoy the moment because I could tell from Jace’s body language that he and the man were saying their goodbyes.
I quickly dropped the glass between my seat and the console of the car, then reached into my pocket for the small scrap of fabric I kept there specifically for moments like these.
I applied pressure to the cuts and was relieved when blood didn’t instantly seep through the cloth – it meant I hadn’t cut deep enough that I couldn’t easily control the bleeding.
I spied the hair tie Jace had removed from his hair and left in the cup holder.
I grabbed it and looped it around my arm so that it held the fabric in place.
It was a little tight, but that was a good thing.
I quickly dropped my sleeve back down, then scanned our surroundings.
I had no clue where we were because I’d fallen asleep after Jace had pulled over long enough to look at my head and to make a phone call from a payphone at a convenience store at the base of the mountains.
My head was throbbing, but he’d been right that the ringing in my ears had stopped shortly after we’d left the cabin.
It was late afternoon by the time we’d reached our destination, but now that the anxiety was gone, I was so tired it felt like we’d been driving for days.
I couldn’t make sense of the fact that despite all the terror I’d lived through in the last thirty-six hours, I could barely keep my eyes open.
Why was my body deciding to catch up on sleep now, after nearly two years of not being able to sleep for more than a few hours a night?
I was still struggling to process the events of the morning.
One minute I’d been trying to figure out how to make it clear to Jace and Mav that nothing they could say would make me return to Seattle, and the next minute Jace’s big body had slammed into mine and I’d felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out of my lungs.
I was terrified for Mav and Memphis, but I had to believe what Jace had said – that they were okay.
I watched as Jace shook the man’s hand, then walked back toward the car.
I hated the sight of the smeared blood on his face.
The flying glass had left several small cuts on his skin.
I’d wanted to stop long enough so I could make sure there wasn’t any glass in any of them, but he’d said there wasn’t time and had merely wiped at the blood with the sleeve of his shirt.
The idea that he’d been hurt protecting me made the tension I’d just gotten rid of start to roll around in my belly again.
Jace didn’t say anything as he started the car up.
It wasn’t lost on me that I was completely reliant on him at that point.
I’d promised myself just that morning when I’d woken up that I wouldn’t lean on him again, but that was exactly what I was doing.
Of course, it wasn’t like I had a lot of choices.
It was one thing to try and just disappear…
to start over. But to do it with killers on your trail?
Nope, I wasn’t down for that. That pesky will to survive was still kicking in.
I wanted to laugh at the sense of betrayal I couldn’t shake as I tried to accept the fact that my father had hired people to kill me.
After all he’d done to me, not to mention that I’d fully accepted that he would kill me himself when he got out of jail, here I was, hurt that he’d decided to not even waste his time getting his hands dirty by killing me himself.
God, I really was a fucked-up mess.
Jace drove the car around the back of the property and pulled it into an old barn.
“You can get out,” he said to me as he climbed out of the car.
I did as he said and then watched as he worked to disassemble the rifle he’d used earlier after we’d driven away from the cabin.
He placed the gun in a case, then grabbed it and a small bag from the trunk.
“Can you help me?” he asked as he put the things on the ground and then reached for a tarp. I helped him spread it over the car. Just before he covered it completely, he removed the license plates from the car and tucked them in the bag.
I followed him from the barn and back toward the front of the house. I thought we were just switching cars, but realized I was wrong when we began heading toward the large dock.
“Where are we?” I finally asked.
“Elkton, Maryland.”
It was an answer, but not really the one I wanted. “I thought we were headed west,” I said .
“We need to get more lost than originally planned,” Jace responded. “Water’s as good a place as any.” He pointed at a large boat bobbing gently on the water at the end of the dock.
“Is that your boat?”
Jace shook his head. “My friend’s,” he said as he motioned to the man watching us from the front of the house.
“How do you know him?”
“He was my spotter.”
“Spotter? What’s that?”
“He monitored things like wind, trajectory, and temperature and helped identify targets for me.”
It took me a moment to understand what he was saying. “What, you mean like for a sniper? Is that what you were?” I remembered the big gun and the scope on the top of it.
“Yeah,” was all Jace said. From his tone, I gathered it wasn’t his favorite thing to talk about. “Dalton,” – he motioned to the guy – “got out about a year after I did. He bought this place a few years back. I come out here sometimes when I need to decompress.”
I glanced back at Dalton. He was about the same age as Jace and had black hair that was a little longer on top and shorter on the sides.
His stance was rigid while his eyes stayed on Jace as we made our way toward the dock, and I couldn’t help but wonder why.
Did the two men have a history that went beyond their time in the military?
I hated the burn of jealousy that went through me.
“So, what, he’s agreed to let you use his boat? Just like that?”
Jace glanced at me, then at Dalton. “Just like that,” he agreed.
I fell silent as I followed Jace onto the dock.
The boat was big, but not like the fancy yachts I’d seen at the marina my father had kept his own fishing boat in.
Jace helped me climb aboard and while he got the engine started, I explored the boat.
It was surprisingly well appointed with a small kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom.
The bedroom had a full-sized bed in it, as well as a television and a DVD player.
Several plastic bags sat on top of the bed.
Curiosity got the best of me and I looked through a couple.
There was an assortment of new clothes in the bags, in two different sizes.
There were toiletries too. A glance in the kitchen showed the fridge was full, as were the few cabinets.
I went above deck in time to see Jace throwing off the lines securing the boat to the dock.
Jace gave Dalton a final wave before maneuvering the boat out into open water.
I knew we were likely on Chesapeake Bay.
My father, Nick, and I had spent a lot of time fishing in Chesapeake Bay.
It was only later that the fishing trips had stopped being about fishing.
I felt a wave of cold go through me and I automatically wrapped my arms around myself as I made my way to the front of the boat. It was late spring so the weather wasn’t particularly cold, but as the boat picked up speed, the wind bit at my skin.
I wasn’t sure where on the bay we were at, but I felt some of the anxiety start to ease as we got farther out onto the water.
There were other boats around, but it wasn’t particularly busy, and seeing regular people just going about their day as they fished or just explored all the little inlets made things feel a little bit more normal.
It was easier to pretend that the events of the morning had just been some hellish nightmare.
We traveled for a good twenty minutes before the boat slowed enough so that there was barely any wake as we cut through the water.
I lost myself in the sensation of the sun trying to warm my body as the sounds of seagulls and passing boats filled the air around us.
I nearly jumped out of my skin a moment later when I felt something at my back. A hand came out to grab my arm.
“It’s just me,” Jace murmured softly from behind me.
I felt like a fool. We were alone on the boat, for God’s sake.
Something warm was placed over my shoulders. Jace’s hands appeared in my vision as he wrapped the small blanket around me from behind. Since the boat was still moving, I had to assume he’d made use of the autopilot feature, which would keep us traveling in a straight line.