Chapter 13
As the van slowed to turn off onto a narrow road, she could feel the wind buffeting the van. The scent of the sea became stronger. Her heart dropped as she feared they were headed for the cliffs overlooking the Pacific.
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Josephine brushed her fingers over Jack’s cheek, but quickly drew back as Ernie glanced back at her. She couldn’t let either Nels or Ernie know that Jack was still alive.
Then again, it might not make any difference, she realized as Nels pulled off the road on one of the lookout points along the cliffs. As they dropped over a rise, the van’s headlights shone out over the dark sea. The road ahead ended abruptly, Nels bringing the van to a stop.
A gust of wind rocked the vehicle as he cut the engine, leaving only the sound of the gale howling outside.
The moment the two opened their doors and climbed out, she pushed her foot against Jack’s side.
He didn’t stir. She couldn’t tell if his temple was still bleeding.
She couldn’t warn him. All she could do was wait for the side door of the van to open because now she knew what Ernie and Nels planned to do with them.
Worse, she had to somehow stop them if they tried to take Jack first. But handcuffed to the side of the van, she had no way to do that.
The moment the side door slid open she began to scream.
Not that she thought it would do any good.
Clearly there was no one out here to save them.
The wind swept away her screams the moment they left her, so she screamed louder.
She was on her own as she’d been most of her life.
All her bad decisions had brought her to this point, she thought as over her screams, she heard Ernie yell, “Take her first so we can shut her up.”
Josephine kept screaming for fear Ernie would change his mind. She also hoped the sound might bring Jack back to consciousness. Ernie didn’t change his mind, instructing Nels to uncuff her and bring her. She put up a fight before being thrown from the van.
She hit the ground hard and was trying to catch her breath when the two men jerked her to her feet and began to drag her toward the edge of the cliff. She fought, desperate to get away, if not to save herself, at least to save Jack.
At one point, she did break free of Ernie’s grasp when she fell to her knees. In the scuffle, he dropped his gun, tried to retrieve it from the ground, but gave up as she managed to scramble a few yards away.
“Let’s get this over with,” he told his son, his grip on her tightening painfully.
Josephine felt the empty space coming up in the darkness, heard the waves crashing on the shore and even in the blackness, caught glimpses of white as the waves crashed on the rocks below.
No longer screaming, Josephine fell silent as they pushed her toward the edge.
This was how it would end. She’d spent her life afraid and now she knew why.
She thought of Ernie’s angry face, the words he flung at her as he was dragged away that day after his sentencing.
Hadn’t she always known he could come after her?
“You ruined my life,” Ernie said, his voice breaking with emotion. “I’ve dreamed of the day I could make you pay for what you did.”
-#-
Jack’s eyes were closed, but he saw the coin land in Josephine’s palm. A dream? That’s all it could be. But he held his breath as if his life depended on it as he waited to see if it was heads or tails.
He opened his eyes and blinked in confusion.
No wedding. No Josephine in a beautiful white wedding dress.
No Josephine at all. Just a pain-filled dream since his head still hurt like hell.
Worse, blood now ran into one eye. He wiped at it as he pushed himself up into a sitting position and blinked again.
Reality rushed in like the cold dampness coming from the cracks in the old van. He felt woozy, his brain eclipsed in a dense fog. He closed his eyes, desperate to return to the wedding as one thought flashed like neon in his aching head.
He had to get to Josephine.
His eyes flew open, the fog clearing enough as he reached the sliding door handle on the van and flung it open. Jack knew even before he climbed out of the van that it was parked near the edge of one of the cliffs not far from town. The wind pummeled him. He grabbed the side of the van for support.
As dark as it was, he could see three ebony figures silhouetted against the vast ocean. He thought of the woman lying dead at the bottom of the cliffs earlier and saw what was about to happen as if the other had been a premonition.
As if in a nightmare, he yelled Josephine’s name into the wind, but knew at once he hadn’t been heard. The wind hampering his every step, the sharp scent of the Pacific making his head throb worse as he pushed his body into a run toward Josephine and the edge of the cliff.
It was a scene out of a nightmare. His legs weak and clumsy under him. He stumbled and almost fell. As he caught himself, he saw the gun lying on the ground. He quickly picked it up.
He wasn’t close enough he realized. His greatest fear was happening. He wouldn’t be able to save this woman he loved more than life. Jack realized he had no choice. Running at them might only make them throw her over the cliff before he could stop them.
Raising the gun, he fired the first shot. He’d learned to fire a weapon as a kid. His father told him he had a natural talent. He didn’t miss. He aimed for the men’s legs, shooting first the bigger man, Ernie, and then Nels, the son.
To his horror, he saw Ernie stagger forward a step, draggingJosphine with him. He fired again, this time aiming for the man’s head.
But before he could fire, Ernie disappeared over the edge of the cliff. His son still a few yards away.
Josephine was nowhere in sight.
-#-
Josephine had tried to keep Ernie talking, apologizing, then asking him about prison, anything to stall for time. Jack, she prayed was alive. If he regained consciousness…
It was such a long shot that she wasn’t betting on it. There would be no talking Ernie out of this, she could see that. But it was just her and Ernie now. Nels was apparently afraid of heights and refused to come any closer to the edge.
Ernie had a tight hold on her upper arm. He was losing patience, urging her closer and closer to the edge. Suddenly his fingers loosened as he let out a cry of pain and rocked forward toward the gaping abyss.
Josephine saw her chance and ripped Ernie’s fingers from her arm. He grabbed for her as he started to fall forward. In that instant, she fell back out of his reach. She watched him flail for a heartbeat before he disappeared from view.
Weak and shaken, she crawled away from the edge and struggled to her feet. Nels blindsided her, throwing himself at her before she could move. He let out a cry as if stung and reached for his thigh. She saw blood, confused as to what had happened as he grabbed for her.
He grabbed a handful of her shirt, looking and sounding hysterical as he tried to pull her toward the cliff’s overhang again. Both taken by surprise, Jack barreled into Nels, who still had a fistful of her shirt and was dragging her with them even closer to the deadly edge of the cliff.
Josephine felt the fabric rip just an instant before her feet reached the point of no return and fell back as Nels disappeared over the rim. Her hand shot out to grab Jack’s before he could follow Nels over the edge and drop to the rocky shore below.
Pulling him back to safety, Jack wrapped his arms around her as the wind shrieked around them. Breathing hard, they held tight to each other as the Pacific Ocean pounded the rocky shore below.
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