Drive

by Gioertz, Karina

  “I can’t,” Jordan choked out the words. The tears had won and she didn’t care anymore.

  “You have to.” Sawyer cupped her tear streaked face in his hands and tilted it upward. Using his thumbs, he gently wiped her cheeks before pressing his lips to hers and kissing her deeply. Jordan pulled back.

  “Don’t kiss me like that,” she said under her breath, Sawyer’s mouth barely an inch from her own.

  “Like what?” he murmured back.

  Jordan looked up and their eyes met.

  “Like you’re saying goodbye.”

  Sawyer exhaled loudly. His emotions were getting the better of him. Leaving Jordan was turning out to be a lot harder than he had thought.

  “Then how do you want me to kiss you?” His voice was strained from trying to swallow down the lump in his throat.

  Jordan reached up for his collar and began to draw him back in.

  “Like you’ll come back for me.”

  The kiss that followed was nothing like the first. It was raw and intense, fueled by pain and the burning need to express all that remained unsaid in one single gesture.

  With the ghost of Sawyer’s lips still lingering on hers, Jordan stood in his embrace with closed eyes, warding off reality for as long as she could. She felt him brush against her cheeks and nose with his mouth, leaving traces of his kisses all over her face. When he reached her ear he quietly said, “I will. I’ll come back for you.”

  And Jordan believed him.

  It was the sound of a car door slamming shut that brought them both back to the present.

  “As much as I hate to interrupt a good snogging, perhaps it could wait until a less pressing moment, when we’re not running from a killer?” Fish was staring at the both of them with wide eyes.

  “He’s right. You can’t waste any more time. You need to get on the road and get out of here,” Sawyer said, planting one last kiss on Jordan’s forehead before releasing her from his embrace and taking several steps back. There was a finality about the distance between them now and Jordan knew better than to try to take the steps to close it.

  As she climbed back into the driver’s seat and prepared to close the door she said, “Wait, how are we supposed to find out what happens to you? How are you going to get in touch with us?”

  Sawyer tilted his head toward Fish and gave him a nod.

  “Fish’ll figure something out. In the meantime, get as far away from here as you can. If you don’t hear from me, call Gary again. He’ll tell you what to do next.”

  It wasn’t nearly as solid a plan as Jordan had hoped for, but she accepted it and started the engine.

  With nothing better to do and an uncomfortable tension settling in, Fish slid his laptop from the bag and in a few clicks and plugs set up a mobile office in the passenger side seat. Using his cell for internet, he got to work searching the traffic cameras nearest his house in search of Hathaway.

  Jordan craned her neck to get a glimpse of what Fish was doing beside to her.

  “So, do we know what we’re on the look-out for?” she asked.

  “Hathaway traded in the black Camry for a White Fusion.”

  Jordan pressed her lips together trying to perfect the same stony expression Sawyer’s face took on whenever he didn’t want anyone to know what he was thinking or feeling. Thoughts of Justus Hathaway and Sawyer pointing guns at one another kept flashing through her head in various scenarios, one more unnerving than the next, but the more engaged she became with the road ahead, the more she began to tune them out. Since south was quickly turning into a dead end, she only headed that way long enough to keep from accidentally crossing paths with Justus Hathaway. As soon as she felt it was safe, she would change course and go west. Once they hit the opposite coast, she intended to travel alongside it going north. She hadn’t exactly discussed any of this with Fish, but since Sawyer’s plan seemed to have expired, Jordan figured now was as good a time as any to take over. Clearly, whoever was behind all of this had familiarized themselves with Sawyer well enough to know that he would turn to Fish in his time of need. The question was, how much did they know about her? How much could they know? If they had someone on staff with Fish’s particular skill set, there wouldn’t be many aspects about her life they couldn’t access; except one. Jordan slammed both hands down on the rim of the steering wheel triumphantly.

  “What’s wrong?” Fish asked, startled by the sound.

  “Nothing is wrong! In fact, I think I just figured out where we can go and hide out while Sawyer deals with this Hathaway guy.”

  “Great! Where’s that?” Fish was looking at her with an expectant gaze.

  “You’ll see.” Jordan grinned. It felt good to be in control of something again.

  “Hold on, I think I’ve got ‘im!” Fish suddenly changed the subject. He turned the screen so that Jordan could see while she was driving. “Look, right there. White car, second at the light. That bloke wearing the dark glasses and baseball cap – that’s gotta be Hathaway.”

  “Where was this taken?” Jordan asked anxiously, examining the image while repeatedly glancing back at the road.

  “Few blocks down from my place…three minutes ago.”

  Jordan inhaled sharply and held it, trying not to show how unnerved she felt by that bit of information.

  “Think Sawyer knows yet?” she asked without turning her head to face Fish this time, afraid that he would see the fear in her eyes.

  Fish just nodded solemnly. Then, when he realized she hadn’t seen he added, “Yeah, I think so.”

  From then on, they drove in silence.

  Chapter 12: Welcome To Franklin

  It was evening already when Fish’s Jeep passed the Welcome To Franklin sign in Alabama. It hadn’t been easy for her, but Jordan had managed to make the bulk of the drive while keeping within reasonable speed limits, although it hadn’t kept her from shaving nearly an hour off of the normally seven hour trip just by being alert and staying on the offensive. Of course, she hadn’t given up on speeding entirely. She had simply taken it down to a less detectable level where she could still blend in with the flow of traffic.

  “What’s this place then?” asked Fish, pulling himself up in his seat to try and get a better look at their location.

  “Franklin, Alabama,” Jordan replied.

  “And we’re here because?”

  “Because I know someone here who can help us,” said Jordan.

  Fish sunk back into his seat and grumbled, “Well I hope it works out better for them than it did for me.”

  “It will. There is no way anyone could trace back a connection between myself and the person we’re going to go see,” said Jordan. She was wearing a smug expression as she went over it all again in her mind.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because the only person who knows the connection exists, is dead.” Jordan paused for effect. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Fish’s expression. Pleased with the result, she continued, “My dad’s the one who taught me how to drive. He was a trucker all of his adult life, so the summer I turned sixteen he took me on the road with him. My mother thought it was just about the experience…she never would have gone for it if she had known that I would wind up driving the rig. Anyway, it was just after the Fourth of July and we were taking the southern route cross-country when we made an unexpected stop here in Franklin to see his brother, Robert. It was the first time my father had ever even mentioned his name to me. See, the thing about Robert, is that for a long time my father and he had no idea they were even brothers. My Grandfather had had an affair with Robert’s mother and being that they were both married at the time he was conceived, his mother had decided to pass the baby off as her husband’s. It wasn’t until my grandfather was dying that he finally told my father the truth. Not wanting to hurt anyone, my father took it upon himself to find Robert without telling anyone else about his long lost brother. I think he was terrified my grandmother would find out. After losing her hu
sband, I just don’t think she would have been able to handle the news that he had cheated on her and had a lovechild to boot. My father and Robert had an instant connection, neither of them doubting the fact that they were brothers, but both agreed that for the sake of their families, they would keep that knowledge to themselves. It didn’t stop them from being brothers. I have no idea how often my father would stop here to see him, but I’m sure it was quite a bit…I mean, it was really the only explanation for why he drove this route, considering how far north we lived.” Jordan stopped to take a long breath and to collect her final thoughts. “Before that trip, Robert hadn’t even existed as far as I knew, and after the trip he pretty much ceased to do so again. My mother never knew about Robert. No one did. I think my father had had plans to take my brother on the same trip, only he died before my brother was ever old enough. So, my brother never knew either.”

  For a long while, Fish just stared at her from the passenger side in stunned silence.

  “Bloody hell. I don’t know what I think is crazier. The fact that you have a secret bastard uncle or the part where your father’s idea of driver’s ed involved a semi! Although, you know, it does explain a lot about the way you drive, doesn’t it?!”

  Jordan laughed. The sound of her own chuckle took her by surprise. She felt like she hadn’t heard it in an eternity.

  “Yeah, well wait until you meet Robbie. You’ll think he’s the craziest part of all.”

  That time Fish just made a face and dove back into his work. He had been typing away on his laptop the entire trip. Now that they were drifting further and further away from civilization, he seemed to be struggling to maintain his cellphone connection to the internet. Jordan tried to suppress a grin, knowing that it wasn’t about to get any better any time soon.

  It was pitch black out as Jordan pulled down the long dirt driveway leading up to Robert Pierson’s house. Fish had stopped talking to her a while back when the lights of the town had begun to fade in the distance, along with his signal.

  Jordan had barely killed the engine when a man yielding a rifle appeared on the dimly lit front porch. He was wearing an expression that frightened Fish more than the gun in his hands.

  “When you said we could hide out here, how did you mean that exactly?” Fish muttered as Jordan began to get out of the car. “Because if you meant he’d keep us stashed in some hole in his basement all ‘Silence of the Lambs’ style, I should tell you, that’s not really what I had in mind.”

  Jordan shook her head laughing. Apparently, Robbie gave the same first impression to everyone he met.

  “You’re trespassing. You have three seconds to give me a reason not to shoot you!” His deep gruff voice matched his exterior to a T.

  “It’s Jordan.”

  Her uncle lowered his rifle instantly, dropping it to his side as he hurried down the steps to greet her.

  “Good God, girl! What do you think you’re doing rolling up here in the dead of night? You trying to get yourself shot?”

  “Quite the opposite actually,” said Jordan, smirking at the irony. She motioned for Fish to join her outside of the car and he did so begrudgingly.

  Pointing at her friend, she said, “This is Fish. We’re in a bit of trouble and we need a place to stay. I’m sorry to just spring this on you after all this time… I wouldn’t have come if we had anywhere else to go.”

  Robbie frowned. “What kind of trouble? What kind of mess did you get my niece into, boy?” His rifle was raised and pointed at Fish who threw his hands up in the air instinctively. Jordan reached for the barrel, lowering it toward the ground again.

  “No, Uncle Robbie. Not that kind of trouble! Someone’s after us…they’re trying to kill us. It’s a mess,” she sighed. “I’ll explain everything once we get inside.”

  Shooting Fish one more dirty look for good measure, Robbie reached into the backseat of the Jeep to retrieve Jordan’s bag and then ushered his two new house guests up the brick walk way and into his humble home.

  Robbie Pierson lived in a small log cabin he had built with his own two hands. He had spent his entire life in Franklin without ever having any desire to leave. After inheriting a decent chunk of land from his mother’s great uncle, he’d done the one thing that made sense to him in life and turned it into an animal sanctuary. Robbie hadn’t ever had much use for people. He had learned early on the ugly side of betrayal, something only solidified upon learning about his true paternity. Not that he had been especially surprised by the revelation. He had spent his youth feeling awkwardly out of place in a family that could only be described as southern royalty. He had grown up on the family plantation, and while it had long been retired, its charm and luxury had remained. The man he called his father had been a man of means his entire life, never having to lift a finger for it and never really having the desire to do so either. He was content to spend his days at social events or the nearby country clubs and Robbie’s mother had been happy to stay in the background to raise their three children. Although, perhaps not as happy as everyone had thought given her middle child, compliments of the affair she had with a traveling cowboy named Jasper Hall.

  Had Robbie ever had a chance to spend any time with his real father, it wouldn’t have taken him too long to figure out why he was the way that he was. Much like Jasper Hall, Robbie preferred the outdoors over the in, believed in working with his hands and had an immediate distrust for anyone who was unkind to animals. It wasn’t until he had met Jordan’s father - his brother - that he found out what it meant to have a family member with whom he actually had very much in common.

  Jordan stood there in the small living room at the center of Robbie’s cabin taking in the intricate details of his home. It had been over a decade since she had last seen it and yet it seemed to her that nothing had changed. From the array of boots beside the door and the collection of horse shoes nailed to the beam overhead, right down to the cracked blue coffee cup sitting on the counter beside the coffee maker, just waiting for sunrise to be filled. It was both eerie and strangely comforting at the same time.

  “How about you start tellin’ me ‘bout this trouble you found,” her uncle said as he walked past her on his way into the kitchen. He pulled three bottles of beer from his fridge and popped the tops off before coming back into the living room and handing one each to Fish and Jordan.

  “To be fair, trouble kind of found us.” Jordan slid down into the sofa and took a long swig from her bottle.

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Fish muttered, landing beside her with a plop and nearly spilling his beer in the process.

  Robbie studied them both carefully, but kept his thoughts to himself as he took his usual seat in the recliner. He sipped his beer silently and waited for Jordan to continue.

  It took over an hour, but Jordan finally managed to fill her uncle in on all the bizarre details of the last few days, starting with her first and last call of the night that wound up costing her her partner as well as a suspension and ending with Hathaway showing up on Fish’s doorstep. When she was done, Robbie leaned back into his recliner, thoughtfully scratching the slate colored scruff on his chin.

  “I don’t know much about dealin’ with no damn mobsters, but I sure as hell know how to protect my property. You did the right thing comin’ here.” He stood up from his seat with a quiet groan, showing his age. “For now we better get you two settled in. We’ll decide what to do next come mornin’.”

  Jordan and Fish followed his lead and got to their feet, then waited for his next move.

  “There’s some chili left on the stove. I was just gettin’ ready to put it up when you two showed up. Should still be warm,” said Robbie nodding toward the kitchen. While Fish and Jordan headed that way, he went for their bags and took them down the small hall, directly off of the living room. There were only two bedrooms and one bath in the cabin, but the spare room had been furnished with a set of twin bunks that Robbie had taken over after his sister’s kids had outgrown them. Up unt
il this very evening, he had never actually had a need for them.

  With two warm bowls of chili in their hands, Jordan and Fish caught up to Robbie just as he was opening the door to the spare room.

  “You two can stay in here,” he said as the door swung open. It was pitch black inside and the only light stemmed from two yellow eyes glowing like embers in the darkness.

  “What the -?!” Before Fish had a chance to finish his statement, Robbie flicked on the lights, revealing a stunning black leopard sprawled out on the top bunk. Fish fell two steps back in shock.

  “That’s a bloody panther!”

  Robbie was walking straight for the wild cat. “Oh, she won’t hurt ya. And she’s a leopard, not a panther. Common misconception though.”

  “Are you mad? That isn’t a pet! It’s a bloody zoo spectacle!”

  Meanwhile, Jordan took a few steps into the room, curiously eyeing the black beauty up close. “Didn’t you see the sign on the gate when we drove up? This is an animal sanctuary. Uncle Robbie takes in all kinds of animals that have been abused or neglected. Many of them started out as illegally obtained exotic pets before they wound up here after their owners got busted or simply couldn’t handle them anymore,” Jordan explained. She watched in awe as her uncle coaxed the wild animal down using only the gentle tone of his quiet murmurs.

  Still clutching the door frame in fear, Fish went on, “You don’t suppose it would be more prudent to build a pen of sorts for these animals? And while we’re on that, should I be afraid to open any other doors around here?”

  With the cat now sitting calmly beside him, Robbie chuckled. “Generally speaking I’d prefer you didn’t go pokin’ your nose around my bedroom, but no, you won’t find any wild beasts lurking around my house if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “You mean other than that one,” said Fish dryly, pointing at the obvious ‘beast’ in the room.

  “Yes, well, Jet here is the exception,” said Robbie. “Trust me, I’d prefer to keep her in a more suitable environment as well. I certainly didn’t spend all my time and money buildin’ proper shelters and enclosures just to offer my spare room to every animal that finds its way here. Thing is, Jet’s had a hard time adjustin’. She came from a hoarder where she was kept in the woman’s bedroom. She isn’t used to bein’ able to roam and wide open spaces seem to frighten her. The other cats haven’t accepted her yet and her condition was quickly goin’ from bad to worse because she wasn’t eatin’. All I could think to do was bring her back into an environment she felt comfortable in. It’s not her fault people corrupted her instincts to where she no longer understands who she is and what she needs.”