Zero Visibility

by Sharon Dunn

  “Nathan,” said a man on the other end of the line.

  Deputy Travis Miller’s voice jerked him out of his musing about Merci. Nathan pressed the phone harder against his ear. “Did you locate the thieves?”

  “No, but we got a hit on two of your thugs almost right away. Lots of small-time stuff, petty thievery and assault. Both of them are from a town not far from the college where Merci goes. Local law enforcement there recognized their pictures when we sent out the alert. Now we got names to go with the faces.”

  “That’s a good start.” A knot of tension formed in his lower back. Though he knew the authorities were stretched thin and doing everything they could, he had hoped for news of a capture.

  Deputy Miller continued. “Your ringleader Hawthorne must have found them there. Both of them had a thousand dollars deposited in their accounts three days ago.”

  The thugs were probably feeling a bit underpaid, considering all that they had gone through. “Nothing on Hawthorne, though?”

  “No, the guy certainly isn’t known to law enforcement like the other two,” Deputy Miller said. “Lorelei Frank is exactly who she said she was. She’s registered as a senior at Montana State. She’s lived there for four years. No priors on her.”

  Nathan pivoted so he could see Merci sitting in the computer chair. “So they are all still at large.”

  “Look, we are going to get these guys. I promise you. And I have a bit of good news you can pass onto your friend Merci.”

  “What’s that?”

  Travis said, “She was worried about that older couple that got stranded in one of your cabins.”

  “Elle and Henry are okay?” Nathan couldn’t hide his elation.

  “They were pretty delighted when the plows made it that far up. They are resting up at a bed-and-breakfast and have some good stories to tell.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” Nathan massaged his chest where it had grown tense. “So those guys are still out running around.”

  “Or they are dead. They didn’t go back to the cabins and harm your friends. That means they are without shelter or food.”

  “Merci and I got out,” Nathan said.

  “There has been no report of stolen vehicles. So that means they are probably still on foot. We’re going to get these guys. I promise you.” The deputy spoke with intensity.

  “I know you will, Travis.” His friend had always had a strong sense of justice.

  “I wish we could provide some protection for you two. All our resources are being consumed by the aftermath of the storm. Highway patrol pulled in this office for extra manpower in dealing with wrecked and stranded motorists. It’s going to be a week before everything gets back to normal.”

  “I understand. Merci and I will be okay.” Nathan said goodbye to his friend and hung up. He returned to the living room.

  Merci’s long strawberry-blond hair cascaded down her back. She lifted her fingers off the keyboard and turned to face him. “Who was that?”

  “Travis. I mean Deputy Miller. Looks like the thieves are still at large.” He ran his hand along the back of the couch as he watched the disappointment spread across her face.

  He didn’t like the idea of putting Merci on a bus by herself. Anything could happen in the six-hour bus ride. “I would feel better if you would let me drive you to your aunt’s house.”

  Merci rose to her feet. “You would do that for me?”

  “’Course I would.” Her green eyes glowed with affection. He could drown in them. He was grateful for the excuse to be with her a little longer. If he told her how he felt about her, would she think he was out of line? A six-hour drive would give him time to decide.

  The kitchen door swung open. A mouthwatering blend of stir-fry spices drifted into the living room when Daniel stuck his head out. “Chow time.”

  The tension between the two brothers seemed to lighten a little with the addition of good food. When Daniel shared funny stories of things they had done at camp, Nathan laughed and offered his own details to the stories, but she could still see the sadness behind his eyes.

  As the final bites of dinner were being consumed, Nathan turned toward his brother. “I’m going to drive Merci to her aunt’s house. Can you give us a ride across town, so we can get my car?”

  Daniel sat his napkin on the table. “Sure, no problem.”

  * * *

  Snow fell softly from the gray sky of early evening as they drove across town. Merci checked her watch. It would be close to ten o’clock by the time they got to her aunt’s house, but she had already missed part of the vacation, and she didn’t want to wait another day. Nathan’s offer to drive her had lifted her spirits. She’d feel safer with him than on the bus. Maybe the ride together would only delay the inevitable, that they would be parting ways, but she intended to enjoy whatever time they had together.

  Daniel brought the car to a stop and got out, along with Merci and Nathan.

  “Are you driving back to Clampett tonight?” Daniel spoke to his brother.

  Merci stepped forward. “My aunt has a little guesthouse. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind putting you up, then you could get a fresh start in the morning.”

  “We’ll just play it by ear,” Nathan said. “I think it is important that we get you out of town. Maybe by the time I get back, they will have these guys in custody.”

  “You mean because if they do get off that mountain, they will come looking for us here. That seems like a pretty good argument for you to stay at my aunt’s house, too.”

  Nathan’s eyes grew wide as though something had occurred to him that he hadn’t thought about before. “Didn’t Lorelei know where you were going?”

  “She knew the town, but not the exact address. I was going to give her directions once we got there.” A knot formed in her stomach. Would there ever come a time when she wasn’t looking over her shoulder for the thieves? “We’ll be okay, don’t you think?”

  “We’ll certainly be safer there than if we stay around here,” Nathan said.

  Having Nathan close by made her feel safer, but she knew the cloud of fear would not lift until all four of the fugitives were in custody.

  “Take care,” said Daniel. He pivoted from side to side, a movement that communicated that he didn’t quite know how to handle a goodbye with his brother.

  “I will.” Nathan held out his arms and took his brother into an awkward hug. Both of them were treading so lightly around each other. What would it take for them to find healing, for Nathan to feel he could trust his brother again?

  Nathan led Merci up the walkway as Daniel drove away. “I’ll just grab a few things if you want to come in for a moment.”

  Once inside, everything about Nathan’s house screamed bachelor, from the sports equipment in the foyer to the lack of artwork on the wall.

  “Daniel was right about me not having anything edible in the refrigerator, but could you fill up some water bottles for us? They are in the cupboard under the sink. There might be a box of granola bars in there, too. My car is pretty well outfitted for winter travel otherwise.” He disappeared down a hallway.

  Merci searched the cupboards, found the water bottles and filled them up. When she turned to face the living room, Nathan had just emerged from a back room. He opened a drawer in a living room cabinet and pulled out a gun.

  Merci drew in a breath.

  Her gasp must have been audible because Nathan turned to face her. “It’s just a precaution.” He grabbed his cell phone off the top of the desk. “Just like this is a precaution.”

  Merci placed her hand into the empty pockets of her coat. “I still don’t know what happened to my purple sparkly phone.”

  He turned his head sideways. “Your phone was purple?”

  Merci placed the granola bars and water in a canvas bag she found. “Yeah, why?”

  “Lorelei was trying to dial out on a purple phone when I saw them in the camp dorms.”

  The realization stirred up a mixture of an
ger and sadness. She tapped one of the water bottles on the counter and shook her head. “She must have taken it and been able to pick up enough reception to call the men to come and get her when they escaped on the snowmobile. She probably wanted to be with Hawthorne or felt she couldn’t continue the ruse anymore since things had gone so wrong. She probably wasn’t even going to go back to college.”

  Nathan walked across the room and stood on the opposite side of the counter from her. “It’s hard to say what she was thinking.”

  “She must have met Hawthorne in Bozeman, and recently, or I would have remembered seeing them together.” The knot in her stomach got even tighter. “When I saw that police sketch of him, it made me think I have seen him before somewhere, but only briefly.”

  “Maybe it will come back to you,” Nathan commented as he moved toward the door.

  They walked out to Nathan’s car, got in and drove out of town as a light snow started to fall. “Most of the highway should be plowed by now. Should be a pretty easy drive, not much traffic.”

  The sky darkened as they drove for several hours. Nathan put on the windshield wipers to clear off the falling snow. He glanced in the rearview mirror.

  She jerked in her seat. “Something wrong?”

  Nathan tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “That car has been behind us for a long time. He could have passed us on that last straightaway.”

  Merci craned her neck at the two golden lights. “Maybe he is just being cautious because of the weather.”

  They drove a while longer. The snow had stopped and the roads looked much clearer. When they came to another straightaway, Nathan slowed to way below the speed limit. The car remained behind them.

  “There are cautious drivers in this world, you know.” She sounded more as if she was trying to convince herself than him. The sight of the glowing lights in the rearview mirror sent a shiver up her spine.

  Merci leaned forward and studied the button on Nathan’s CD player. “Maybe we should just listen to some music, huh? Get our minds off everything.”

  Nathan pushed a button and the strains of violins from classical music filled the car.

  “That surprises me,” she said.

  “What’s that?”

  “I had you pegged as a country music fan. You just seem like the type,” she said.

  “I like Handel and Mozart, very big in the country music scene,” Nathan joked.

  “I guess I shouldn’t have assumed. There’s probably a lot I am wrong about with you. Like your favorite color.”

  “What do you think my favorite color is?” Though their banter was light, Nathan continued to check the rearview mirror.

  She thought for a moment. “Blue.”

  “Ding ding ding.” Nathan made a noise that mimicked the bell ringing on a game show when a contestant gets the answer right. “What do you think my favorite kind of food is?”

  “Pizza,” Merci said.

  She didn’t have to glance through the rear window to know they were still being followed. The stiffness of Nathan’s neck and shoulders told her.

  Nathan cleared his throat. “Roasted chicken with red baby potatoes and broccoli.”

  “Your mother must have loved you,” Merci said. “Pizza is my favorite, actually.”

  Nathan drew his attention to the rearview mirror again. “They turned off at that exit.”

  “That’s a relief,” she said. “I think we are both just a little jumpy because of all that has happened.” Merci laced her fingers together in her lap.

  “We would be abnormal if we weren’t a little skittish after all of that.” A few minutes later, Nathan pointed to a sign that indicated a rest stop was up ahead. “We can stop if you want?”

  “That would be great,” she said.

  When they pulled over into the rest stop parking lot, there was one other car and a semi truck parked way off in a corner. No interior lights glowed from inside the semi and no one wandered around it. The driver had probably stopped to get some sleep. Someone was sitting in the passenger seat of the car with his or her back to them.

  “I’ll make it quick,” Merci said as she pushed open the car door.

  Nathan got out, as well. “I’ll just wait right here for you.”

  Their fear hadn’t subsided; both of them were still on heightened alert, expecting the thieves to jump out at any moment.

  Merci entered the bathroom. Her boots tapped across the linoleum. Tension threaded down her back. The bathroom felt chilled as though a breeze were blowing in from somewhere. She checked all the stalls, half expecting Lorelei to jump out at her with a knife.

  Once she had washed her hands, Merci hurried back outside.

  Nathan was standing by the car unharmed. “You okay?”

  She put an open hand to her racing heart. “I just hope they catch these guys soon.”

  Nathan nodded. “I think we will both be less of a target when we get to your aunt’s house. I think you are right about me staying there. I might hang out until we get word that all four of them are in custody. The police are watching all the roads. I’m sure they will have the thieves in custody within twenty-four hours.”

  Merci couldn’t shake off the fear that made every muscle in her body tight. “I know it’s not realistic, but it feels like we could go to the ends of the earth and they would still find us.”

  Nathan nodded. “I know the feeling.”

  Nathan got behind the wheel. They talked for a while longer until Merci could feel the heaviness of sleep invading her limbs. Turning sideways, she rested her head against the head rest and drifted off.

  * * *

  As he checked his rearview mirror for the fourth time, Nathan was grateful that Merci was resting. She would have picked up on his nervousness. The car that had been behind him since the rest stop was different than the one before. The headlights were higher up.

  The road was so curvy there had been no opportunity to pass.

  Of course, it was entirely possible that the car was just another person who had decided to travel on this road at night. That was the most logical explanation. The sense that he had to remain vigilant while the thieves were at large was driving his paranoia.

  Rationalizing didn’t make the knot of tension at the base of his neck any less tight. He glanced over at Merci. She was kind of cute when she slept.

  He rounded a curve, aware that there might still be ice on the road. The road evened out into a straightaway, and he slowed down. They were within an hour of Grotto Falls and would be out of the mountains and into nicer weather shortly.

  Merci awoke with a start. “I just thought of something.”

  Nathan thought better of alerting her to the car behind them. “What is that?”

  Her voice filled with an icy fear. “If Lorelei has my phone, then she knows Aunt Celeste’s address. It’s in the phone. What if they are waiting for us to show up there?”

  Nathan didn’t have time to answer. The car behind him sped up and switched to the left lane.

  He took in a breath, gripped the steering wheel and waited for the car to pass. Even through the closed window, he could hear the other car accelerate and come up beside him.

  Why wasn’t the other car passing and pulling in front of him? He slowed down even more. The other car slowed, as well. Adrenaline shot through his veins as he sped up, and the car kept pace with him. He glanced over long enough to see the thief’s leering face in the passenger seat.

  Merci tuned in to Nathan’s fear. She sat up straighter. “What’s going on?”

  The other car turned its wheels, slamming into the front end of Nathan’s car. Nathan swerved, struggling to keep the car on the road.

  Merci dug her hands into the seat rest. “They found us,” she said in a panicked whisper.

  Nathan scanned the road up ahead for a turnoff or a possibility of escape. The thieves’ car surged slightly ahead and rammed against them by the wheel well.

  Their car jerked and wobbled. Natha
n gripped the steering wheel struggling to straighten the tire and get back on the road. His car swerved, veering off the road.

  Merci screamed. The car rolled down the hill. The seat belt dug into Nathan’s chest when they were upside down. His body felt beaten and stretched in all directions at once. They were right side up and then upside down again. He hung in space for a moment. An object flew past his face. The crunching of metal surrounded him.

  The car came to rest upside down. Nathan felt woozy and foggy brained. Merci hadn’t made any more noise since he’d heard her scream.

  His hand trembled as he felt around for his seat belt buckle. “Merci, are you okay?”

  She didn’t answer.

  He tried to turn his head so he could see the passenger seat. The car was mangled in such a way that his view was limited. Had she been thrown clear of the car?

  The interior of the car seemed to be spinning around him, and he couldn’t orient himself. His fingers fumbled along the seat belt until he found the clip and pushed down. The belt didn’t release. Black dots formed at the corners of his vision as he summoned all the strength he had left and pushed harder on the seat belt clip. He fell down to the roof of the car and passed out. As consciousness faded, he heard a harsh and familiar voice.

  “Deal with him in a minute. First we need to get her to talk before she says bye-bye to the world.”

  EIGHTEEN

  Nathan struggled to maintain clarity as his hand fumbled around the glove compartment where he had put the gun. The door on the glove compartment was bent. He couldn’t get it open. The voices of the thieves had come from outside the car. Merci must have been thrown clear in the crash. He broke the remainder of the glass out of the driver’s-side window with his elbow and crawled through.

  Freezing night air surrounded him. He stumbled down the hill. He had to find Merci, to save her. The ground leveled out, and he continued to run into the darkness until he heard voices.

  He slowed his pace.

  He heard the sound of skin slapping skin and Orange Coat saying, “Wake up. You need to answer a few questions.”