Chapter 14
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Tricia froze, even as a shocked gasp escaped. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. I’m here.”
She closed her eyes in relief. Then came the welcome surge of anger. “What the hell? You have no idea how much trouble you’re in for leaving me with these guys.”
“I’m here now,” he whispered, trying hard to hold back his amusement, wanting so badly to just reach around, snatch her up in his arms, and give her a big hug. “But I need you to get yourself a little calmer, a little more contained than you are right now.”
“That won’t happen,” she snapped. “You have any idea what those guys are like? They’re just … mean.”
“I get it,” he said. “And we’re taking care of business right now.”
“No, you’re not,” she stated, her tone sharp. “You’re out here with me. I’m the one taking care of business.” This time some definite humor filled her tone.
“We have a vehicle way down the driveway. Getting you there will be the challenge.”
“You mean, running away without taking out these guys?”
“Yeah, that’s what I was considering initially.”
“They do have weapons,” she noted. “I’ve seen them, but it looks to be standard military, maybe cop-issued. I don’t know how good they are, how accurate they are, or how well-trained these guys are.”
“They’re probably pretty-damn good,” he noted in a mild tone. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been hired for this job.”
“Maybe,” she muttered, “but it’s not as if there’ll be any shooting.”
“There could be. The trouble is, if they’re government employees, I don’t want to kill them,” he shared.
“We don’t know if this is something your father set up or somebody else to discredit Mason and our team.
Now here’s my plan. Not yet, but on my call, I want you to quietly open the door, slip out, and sneak around to the back, not letting the door slam, okay?
” he explained. “I’m keeping an eye on them, and I want you to do it when they can’t see you. ”
“Okay.”
He waited and then he whispered, “Go!” With that, she slipped out and around the outhouse. There he grabbed her arm, then, moving quickly, led her deeper into the woods.
“That’s just great. Now we’re out here in the dark again,” she muttered, as she turned, looked up at him, then threw herself into his arms, holding on for dear life.
He wrapped her up and held on for a moment. “I am so sorry. The minute we lost you in Germany, I reached out to Mason, got approval for us to be on your flight, but, by then, they’d already squirreled you away.”
“Yeah, it was not a nice trip. I stayed in an empty room, then was put on an empty plane with two guys looking after me, and they weren’t happy campers about something.”
Hearing something, he pulled her deeper into the shadows and whispered, “We’ll catch up in a minute. Right now, let’s get out of here.”
“I would love to, if that’s even possible.”
He led her the long way around to the dirt road, then hearing an owl call off to the side, he stopped and glanced around, checking his location. Pulling her forward ever-so-slightly, they stepped onto the road.
She gasped, looking around. “Where did this come from?”
“This is the road we took earlier to get here,” he shared, with a smile.
“Good to know. Did you say something about having a vehicle?”
“I did,” he confirmed. Just then a car pulled in front of him, with no lights on.
She scrambled toward the back door, where Rubin let her in and slid in behind her. Hayden was driving, and she gasped in joy. “Hayden!”
He smiled and nodded. “Sit tight. We’re not out of danger yet.”
She shut up but snuggled close to Rubin.
He wrapped his arms around her and whispered against her hair, “Just keep your head down, and hopefully we can get a little farther out of here before they catch on. If not, it’ll be a hell of a rough ride getting you through the next few hours because a full-on chase will begin to get you back. ”
“Great,” she muttered and waited.
He pulled her closer and whispered, “Nice to see you too.”
She snorted, wrapped her arms around him, and gave him a big kiss on his cheek. “That is only because I’m so glad you regained your senses and picked me up. But believe me that I was ready to smack you right in the face.”
“Oh, I know,” he said. “I felt your ire.”
“Yeah, well, … it’s not as if it did me any good.”
Just then they made a turn, and Hayden gunned the engine, as they went from a rough road onto something a hell of a lot better. She wanted to get back up, but Rubin kept her down for a few more minutes before letting her go.
“Hold on. Hold on,” he kept telling her. Minutes later, he added, “Now you can sit up.”
She straightened up, glanced around, and realized that they were in complete darkness.
She gasped as they ripped down the highway at a speed she was shocked by.
She stole a glance at the speedometer and saw Hayden was going over 140 kilometers an hour.
“I didn’t even think this vehicle would do that,” she muttered.
“Some do, and some have governors to ensure you can’t,” Hayden clarified, with a voice of amusement. “And, right now, you can bet we need to do all we can to maximize the head start we got.”
She closed her eyes and sank back, nestled up against Rubin, and announced, “I don’t know who those men were. They told me nothing except that we would be there for a few days. I asked if it had something to do with my father, and neither said anything, so I don’t know whose side they were on.”
“Neither do we. I’m not convinced that your father did that, knowing you had already been kidnapped once, and maybe he was just looking to ensure you didn’t get taken again. Or maybe he thought he could do a better job.”
She looked up at him, her gaze landing on his face as she admitted, “That’s not something I even considered.”
“No, and it’s something that we have to discuss because I don’t know what your father’s like or how much of a maverick Senator Forman really is.”
“Not as much as I would have liked,” she muttered, with a snort.
“In a way, he’s very much the kind of person who toes the line, which is also why he might be in trouble over this vote.
He would want to do what would be best for everybody, but not necessarily what everybody would consider to be the best.” She smiled as she watched him try to work his way through that.
“Sorry. I’m not making much sense. I’m tired, and my stress levels are completely maxed out. ”
“Of course they are,” he noted, with a smile. “But that’s okay, we have you back again.”
“I went back and forth, trying to decide whether I was a prisoner or I was free.”
“Which was smart on their part because it stopped you from panicking and allowed them to get you wherever they needed to be.”
“They didn’t do much for me, outside of reluctantly giving me bathroom breaks. Those asshats wouldn’t even feed me, give me water,” she cried out in outrage.
He had to laugh. “I’m sure you’ll make up for the lost meals soon enough.”
“You’re right,” she muttered. “I need to. It seems as if everybody is forcing me to diet, which is not something I need to do,” she snapped, as if he dared say anything differently.
He smiled at her and nodded. “Agreed. I am perfectly aware that you don’t need to lose any weight. How are your feet?”
“They’re okay,” she replied. “I haven’t had to do any running or anything.”
They drove for another twenty minutes or so, and she started to de-stress, even yawning periodically.
Rubin noticed that. “You can sleep now, if you want.”
“I want to,” she replied, “but I’m not sure that it’ll be safe enough.”
“It’s safe enough,” he said. “And, if not, believe me that we’ll all hear the vehicle coming up behind us.”
She winced. “Surely you could have said something else besides that.”
He looked over at her and shrugged. “Probably so, but right now, I’m much more concerned about making sure you get home. You can critique my presentation later.”
“Oh, fine,” she muttered. “You’re always about making sure I understand exactly where we’re at.”
“Is that bad?” he asked curiously.
She shrugged. “No, but you don’t sugarcoat anything either.”
“Do you want me to?”
“No, probably not,” she said in exasperation. “But it would be nice if the circumstances would ever be such that whatever you need to tell me isn’t scaring the crap out of me all the time.”
Hayden burst out laughing, and she glared at him. “What’s so funny?”
“You two,” he replied, with a big approving smile. “You two bicker like an old married couple already.”
“What the heck?” she asked in shock, and then she turned and looked at Rubin. “Did you put him up to that?”
“No, I did not,” he stated, staring at her. “Why the hell would I want him to say that? That was awful,” he added, turning to glare at his friend.
“Yeah, that was absolutely awful, Hayden.” And then she spun back to Rubin and swore. “Wait. Why is it awful? What’s wrong with me?”
Rubin stared at her, flummoxed, unsure how to answer the question. He just looked at her, then rolled his eyes and pounded his head against the window. Meanwhile Hayden burst into fits of hysteria, clearly delighted. “Oh my God,” Rubin grumbled.
“No, there is no your God versus my God,” she snapped. “Why do people always say that? It’s just so rude to think that it’s your God.” When he just stared at her in silent amusement, she groaned. “I’m shutting up now.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” he suggested. “It might be the best idea I’ve heard out of you in a while.”
She turned and started to open her mouth, but he put a finger against her lips.
“Just shut it down for a bit. Calm down, relax, chill out a bit, and then we’ll have a discussion when you’re a little bit less stressed.”
“Do you think that’s even possible?” she asked, looking at him. “It seems as if we’ve had nothing but stress.”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get rid of some of this. Just try to rest for now.”
“Sure,” she muttered. “Just rest, you say.”
He shook his head. “It’s all good.”
Just then, some headlights appeared behind them. He leaned forward to Hayden.
“I see it,” Hayden confirmed. “I’m not sure how we’re doing for time right now.”
“I was in the same black vehicle. Well, I don’t know that it is exactly the same,” she corrected, “but good enough to fool most people.”
*
Rubin watched as the road started to twist and turn, and Hayden was forced to slow down, even as the other vehicle raced up behind them.
As soon as it got close enough to press in, way too close for comfort, the road would straighten for a little bit, and Hayden would pull ahead ever-so-slightly, then throttle back again as the road curved really sharply.
He was going as fast as he could, obviously hell-bent on making sure they got out of here safely.
Hayden swore a couple times as he took the corners fast.
Instead of saying a word, Tricia just tucked up close to Rubin and hung on for dear life.
He held her even as he kept watch and maintained commentary for Hayden.
Hayden called back, “Is there any change in the road up ahead where we’ll get out of here, maybe a straight shot back into civilization? We’re heading into the nearest city, so this needs to stop and soon.”
“It sure needs to happen before we run into traffic,” Rubin noted. “You and I both know that we won’t maintain this speed all the way. We’ll have to throw them off somehow.”
“I know how to do it,” Hayden declared. “I just need the opportunity.”
With that, Rubin settled back and watched as Hayden went around the corner—at a speed he never would have imagined. Behind him, knowing the other vehicle was close enough to hit their rear bumper, he felt Tricia tense up in his arms.
Her hand gripped his arm, her nails digging in as she struggled not to scream, her body locked in fear. Then, just as the bad guys were about to make a move, Hayden abruptly switched lanes and hit the brakes. The other vehicle shot past, unable to react in time.
It was a classic pro move, and Rubin laughed. “Nicely done, Hayden.” Hayden grinned, ear to ear. “Now the question is, what will they do?”
Only to have a huge explosion blow up on the highway ahead, just around a bend and out of sight.
She lifted her head from Rubin’s chest and asked, “What the hell—”
“It’s okay, calm down,” he murmured. “It’s all good.”
Hayden noted, “Sounds like our tail lost control. We’ll go see if there are any survivors.
” As they approached the burning fireball, it was obvious the vehicle had slammed into a series of large boulders and then exploded.
They saw no signs of the driver or any passengers, and the possibility of a rescue here was not possible.
Silence filled the car.
“Jesus,” Rubin whispered.
Tricia shook her head. “Yeah, that’s …”
Hayden made a phone call to Mason to notify the authorities, then he drove on down the highway. A somber atmosphere filled the interior.
Finally Tricia said, “I know it’s wrong to be relieved that these bad guys can’t keep coming after me, but at least this kidnapping nightmare is over. I’m sorry they died. I feel for them, for their families. … Jesus. How do people get into these messes?”
“A lifetime of bad choices. However, this isn’t over.
Not yet. We still need the bad guys behind this kidnapping attempt, the ones so intent on influencing your father’s vote.
If not Arlene and her sleazy boyfriend, then they are the next step up to whoever planned all this. Mason has people searching for them.”
Tricia frowned. “Not what I wanted to hear, yet I understand. Now what?”
“Now we are heading home to my place. Still a trip but, at the end of it, my home. A safe place to stay while the rest of this is sorted out. There are still ends to tie up, but we’re over the worst of it. So time to go home.”
“Perfect.”