He hoped things didn’t go wrong, but at least she could make contact and get help. That was, if Ben failed her.
“You’re scaring me.” Chasey visibly shivered as the wind buffeted both of them. “Just come with me.”
He struggled to resist the plea in her voice.
“This guy isn’t going to stop. I need to give us the advantage. Now hurry. Time is running out.” Without another word, Ben took off around the sedan Danielle had rented for them, heading toward the vehicle and driver threatening them.
The large SUV angled toward him as he stood ten yards from their sedan. The timing was right. No vehicles traveled on the highways in either direction at the moment. Ben aimed his Glock 9 mm and fired three shots. Windshield. Grill. Tires. The Suburban jerked to the side then, with the slippery conditions, rolled. Rocked a few seconds then rolled again, landing upside down. At least it remained in the wide median and hadn’t ended up on the freeway.
Ben noticed that, up ahead, the eighteen-wheeler they’d passed had pulled to the side of the road. Clearly, the trucker had noticed what was going on. Was he calling the police? While police presence would give them a little protection, it would once again reveal their identities and locations. Why did everything always have to be a trade-off?
The man inside the Suburban was moving. He was trying to get out.
Ben hadn’t shot him, had only meant to stop the vehicle. He wanted to get his hands on the driver so he could find some answers. Flipping on a flashlight he’d retrieved from the car to illuminate the area behind the Suburban’s headlights, he pushed through the snow piling up and hiked over to the SUV. He would pull the guy out and question him while they waited for the police and possibly an ambulance to arrive.
“Ben!” Chasey called from behind. “Your cell phone is ringing. Should I answer?”
“No. Stay back. Go back to the sedan and get inside.” He glanced over his shoulder then back to the Suburban.
The driver had successfully climbed out. Ben braced himself for the man to shoot, but instead he took one long look at Ben then suddenly turned and ran.
Are you kidding me?
Given his aggressive behavior on the road, Ben hadn’t expected the guy to run. The most likely reason: he hadn’t been able to reach or to find his weapon after the vehicle had flipped. Without it to defend himself, he hadn’t wanted to fall into Ben’s hands.
“Hey! Stop right there!” Ben aimed his Glock, hoping it would be enough of a deterrent. But he wouldn’t shoot the man in the back—which the man must have guessed, because he kept running without even looking back. Ben started off after him.
A car honked and swerved, nearly landing in the ditch as the man jogged across the highway.
Just where did the guy think he was going?
A look over his shoulder confirmed that Chasey had gotten into the sedan to keep warm. Ben waited for a few cars to pass—and fortunately with the weather turning bad and the lateness, it wasn’t too bad. He jogged across the two-lane highway and shone his flashlight in search of the man. There. About fifteen yards ahead. The guy was limping but still trying to run.
Almost got him. Almost there.
The man glanced over his shoulder as Ben shoved into him, knocking him to the snowy ground.
Ben grabbed his collar and took a good look at his face. It was the guy from Salt Lake City. Why hadn’t the police held on to him to find out more?
“Who are you working for?” Ben demanded. “Who’s behind this?”
The guy took a swing and Ben dodged the gloved fist but lost his hold on the man’s collar. He reached for him again and they tussled and rolled. Ben had tucked his gun away in his holster. He needed the man alive.
But the guy produced a knife and slashed at Ben, cutting through his jacket. The man pressed the knife against Ben’s throat. “I just want the woman. Tell me, is she worth your life?”
Was he about to die? Was this guy about to slice into his throat? Even if he was, Ben knew his answer.
“Absolutely.” He then grabbed the attacker’s wrist, disarming him, and reversed their positions to press him down into the snow. “Now it’s your turn to talk. Just tell me who’s behind this.”
“I can’t.” The man slung a fisted arm around.
Ben blocked it, but the fist held a rock, which the man released. It slammed into Ben’s head and he stumbled.
Blackness edged his vision, and he dropped to his hands and knees.
Must. Get. Up.
He remained on all fours, snow up to his thighs and growing. Unconsciousness beckoned, but he forced himself to push it away. If he didn’t get up, Chasey could be in danger.
“Ben.” Her soft voice spoke in his head. In his mind. She couldn’t be here. She was in the car. He had to make it back to the sedan.
Where were the police?
“Ben.” He felt her arms around his torso, trying to pull him upright.
He wasn’t seeing or hearing things. She was really there. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said.
“Let’s get you back to the car. He’s gone. The guy is gone. Come on, Ben. You’re going to freeze out here.”
He was supposed to be protecting her and here she’d come to find and save him. He scrambled to his feet. She shone a flashlight in his face and the bright light sent pain through his head.
“You’re bleeding! Oh, Ben, did he stab you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”
He spotted the eighteen-wheeler still sitting there. The trucker got out as they started to cross the road. “Hey, man. I called the cops, but they said that with the roads like this, it might take a while before they can get here. Are you okay? You need the hospital or something?”
Ben eyed the sedan stuck in the snow. He’d need to call for a tow probably. And once the cops got here, that vehicle would be on someone’s radar. But then, it was already on the bad guy’s radar, wasn’t it? After all, they’d clearly been found yet again. That meant they couldn’t stay with the car, even if it was still drivable.
Ben glanced up at the trucker. “How far are you going?”
* * *
Chasey waited alone in the cab of the semi as Ben and Rolf, the trucker, spoke with the Wyoming Highway Patrol—outside in the wind and the cold. She assumed Ben had refused delaying them further by moving the conversation to the highway patrol’s offices where it was warm and dry.
Glancing at her watch, she thought about this new delay. They would be in Denver already had they not been sidetracked by this latest attack—a man who was still on the loose, fleeing into this cold night. She assumed the local sheriff’s department would be out there searching, maybe knocking on doors at rural houses to warn people and to find the man.
A tow truck was loading Danielle’s rental car. She wondered how Ben had pulled that off without leaving a paper or digital trail. But maybe his chief was taking care of it all—Ben’s boss had his back.
He also seemed to be the only one at the marshals’ office who Ben was willing to trust. Given the fact that their attackers kept finding them, she might have questioned that trust, wondering if the man was the one exposing Ben’s witnesses, but she trusted Ben’s instincts. And anyway, if his chief were behind this, Chasey would likely already be dead or in the hands of her pursuers.
Shaking off her circling thoughts, Chasey decided to use the time to search for a way to make this seat more comfortable. She had their bags of clothes in her lap. The cab extended to create a tiny apartment with a table and seating that converted to a bed. It was like a small camper attached to the driver’s cab, really. Since the front seats were captain’s chairs instead of a bench seat for three, either she or Ben would have to sit in the back. She would have felt somewhat uncomfortable about that, but noticed a Bible on the table and a small cross dangling from a knob on the dashboard.
In the rearview mirror, she spotted Ben and Rolf heading back to the truck. Chasey slid out of the front seat and moved into the camper part of the cab with their meager belongings. Rolf opened the door, letting cold wind and snow rush in, as he climbed up into the driver’s seat, his expression serious. That worried her.
He shifted around to spot her in the back and offered her a smile. “Please make yourself comfortable—I don’t mind if you move things around.”
Ben opened the passenger’s-side door and climbed up into the cab. “You want to sit up here, Chasey? It’s up to you.”
“No, I’m fine. There’s a table with a Bible.” And with that, she slid into the seat and got herself settled. She wanted to talk to Ben and find out more about what had been said to the cops, what was going on, but she didn’t feel free talking in front of Rolf.
Still... “Thank you for this, Rolf. For helping us get to our destination.”
“Always happy to help.” He started up the big rig and it rumbled to life. He slowly steered back onto the highway. “My sister was killed in a terrible accident.”
Chasey wasn’t sure why he had brought that up, but she would wait to see what more he said.
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Ben said.
“She would have survived if someone had been around to help her. She lost control of her car on a cold winter night, just like this, and ran off the road. She must have been knocked unconscious, because she was found behind the wheel, exactly where she would have been after the crash. She froze to death. If someone had just been there to check on her and called for help, she could have lived.”
Tears surged in Chasey’s eyes. This poor, dear man. “Oh, Rolf, I’m sorry for your loss. How long ago did it happen?”
“It’s been five years. After that, I told the Lord I would always be available to help if I saw someone in need.”
Okay. Now she got it. “That’s why you waited on the shoulder to see how things unfolded when you saw that we’d been attacked.”
He nodded. “It was pretty obvious there was some bad business going on when that car chased you down and ran you off the road. I wish I could have done more to stop it from happening at all.”
“Believe me, Rolf,” Ben said, “your assistance has been invaluable.”
“I couldn’t help but overhear you telling the highway patrol you’re a US marshal. I won’t ask questions. Don’t need to know. All I know is that you’re traveling with precious cargo.”
Chasey. The man was referring to Chasey.
“More precious than you know,” Ben said.
The way he said the words seemed to carry a deeper meaning behind them.
More precious than you know...
Chasey let those words curl around her heart. She puffed up a pillow, grabbed a folded fleece blanket and made herself comfortable on the small sofa.
“I’ll take you all the way to where you need to go. I’ll help in any way that I can,” Rolf said.
After that, the conversation shifted to hot rods, and it sounded like both Ben and Rolf were motor heads. Chasey’s lids grew heavy. She couldn’t imagine a safer place at the moment as she felt the peace that exuded from Rolf and his mission in life—to help those in need—wrap around her.
Rolf and Ben also had that in common...
“Chasey?” Hands gently shook her shoulders. “Chasey, wake up.”
She blinked her lids open to see Ben staring down at her. His green eyes were filled with concern, along with another emotion she couldn’t pin down. “Ben... Where?” She sat up, suddenly remembering. “I can’t believe I fell asleep.”
His cheeks hitched up and those dimples emerged. “We’re here.”
Chasey stood in the small cab space and realized that put her much too close to Ben. Stepping back, she folded the blanket and set it on the sofa. “In Denver?”
“We’re across the street from a hotel near Holly House. Rolf parked his rig at a gas station. We’ll need to walk the rest of the way, but it’s not far.”
Chasey and Ben grabbed their sacks.
“I feel like a hobo,” she said. “Carrying my stuff in plastic sacks and hitching rides from truckers.”
Ben assisted her down the semi’s steps onto the snow-covered, slippery pavement. Chasey pulled on her coat, which felt much too thin at the moment. Her teeth chattered, though she thought it stemmed from nerves, excitement and a measure of fear to be so close to Brighton rather than being because of the cold.
“I’ll carry our things.” Ben reached for the bags and she let him. He gestured across the street. “I called in a reservation. Or rather, Rolf did.”
“He did?”
“Yes. He got us a room.”
Chasey thrust her hands in her pockets. “Where’s Rolf? I want to thank him before we go to the hotel.”
“He’s getting the room key and will be right back.”
She studied Ben and searched his intense gaze. “You told him?”
He slowly nodded. “Sometimes you have to trust others. You have to recognize when God has sent you help you didn’t even know you needed.”
She smiled at that. “Rolf is definitely a Godsend.”
“We did the best we could to get here, despite the obstacles. As far as I know, no one has tracked us this far.”
Unless someone already knows where Brighton is and is waiting for us here. But she feared saying those words out loud, as if putting them out there would give them weight and make them true. Instead, she changed the subject. “I take it Rolf will only be getting one room, because that would look suspicious otherwise.”
Ben shrugged. “I didn’t ask, but if he only gets one room, you don’t have to worry. I’ll sleep on the floor, if I sleep at all. My plan is to make a few calls and to work with you to get Brighton out.”
“And then what?” They had struggled to even get here. What would it be like to attempt to stay incognito while traveling with her severely autistic brother?
Oh, Lord, help us.
“I’m working on it. I’ll figure it out before we spring Brighton, don’t worry.”
Ben had meant for his words to reassure her, but she hadn’t missed the uncertainty in his tone. The look in his eyes told her that he was carrying a heavy burden.
Ben was worried and that terrified her.
TEN
Spring Brighton?
What was he saying? While he knew Chasey wanted her brother to be with them, he still wasn’t convinced that it was a good idea.
God, help me find the right way forward.
He spotted Rolf crossing the street. He was putting a lot of trust in Rolf, who was more or less a stranger, but Ben didn’t doubt the guy had a good heart. Ben still believed that God had sent help right when he and Chasey had needed it.
The wind kicked up and an arctic gust blasted the both of them.
“Come on.” He urged Chasey away from the semi and closer to the gas station/convenience store where the building could provide a little shelter from the wind and blowing snow.
Rolf jogged the rest of the way and joined them, puffing out white clouds into the night. “Sorry it took me so long.” He handed them a couple of key cards. “You’re in room number 212.”
“Thanks, man,” Ben said. “This isn’t the usual way I do things. I’m not even sure I should—”
Rolf held up his hand. “You don’t need to explain. Besides, I offered to help. You think you’re compromised, and I have no doubt God put me in the right place at the right time to help you.”
Chasey reached over and placed her hand on Rolf’s coat sleeve. “I can’t thank you enough. Is there anything I can do to repay you for your kindness?”
“Sure.” Rolf grinned. “Get somewhere safe and live a good life. I’ll be praying for you. Now, you’d better get out of the cold.” His
smile faltered.
Ben figured he was probably thinking back to his sister’s untimely death. Rolf’s comment was Ben’s cue to usher Chasey into the hotel to a safe, warm room, complements of Rolf.
Ben nodded. “Thanks. We’ll be in touch.”
He wrapped his free hand around Chasey’s waist and ushered her forward.
A glance at the west and the sky looked to be clearing, but he couldn’t know how long it would stay that way. At the hotel parking lot, they hurried between the parked cars to a door at the back. Using the key card, he ushered her through the door so they wouldn’t be spotted at the front desk. The fewer people who saw them, the fewer people who could identify them if anyone came around asking questions. No need to create more witnesses on this journey to a safe place.
Together they headed up the stairwell instead of using the elevator, and on the second floor moved quietly down the hallway. He noted the exits and counted the doors as they searched for their room. He was grateful for Rolf’s generosity. He wasn’t certain what his chief would think about him relying so much on a civilian but, considering the mastermind behind this had proved to be someone with deep pockets and a partner on the inside who was willing to go to extensive lengths to find them, Ben felt he needed all the help he could get. If they could only figure out who was helping the criminal from within the US marshals’ offices, that would quickly change how Ben operated.
They reached their room. Ben handed off his sacks and opened the door and cleared the room before allowing Chasey all the way in. It was small, so a quick clear was enough to ensure that the room, closet, bathroom and shower were free of intruders or threats.
Once inside, he closed, locked and bolted the door while Chasey tossed their bags on one of the two queen-size beds.
“Why don’t you get some rest until the next step?” he said.
“I slept in the truck. You’re the one who should sleep. There are two beds, so you don’t need to sleep on the floor.”
High Stakes Escape Page 9