Lethal Affair

by Noelle Hart

  The row boat had been towed behind. It was put into service to take them to shore. Kylie's head spun from lack of sleep, food, and water. She could only imagine what this was doing to the fetus in her womb.

  Max clung to Kylie, his body trembling. She pulled him close and tried not to let her mind go to what might happen next.

  The drone of an aircraft sounded in the distance. Spinning around, they all observed the tiny dot of a seaplane as it headed out to sea.

  “Fucking tourists,” mumbled Drew.

  He grasped Max by the arm and stalked off, dragging him along. Kylie scurried after them. At the corner of the beach Drew and Max disappeared through an opening that led into the dark forest beyond.

  Before stepping onto the trail, Kylie dropped pieces of bread at the mouth of the opening. The trail was grown over and she had to plunge through thickets several times to keep up with Drew's grueling pace, and each time she left crumbles of bread.

  About a half kilometer in they came to a crude cabin with a log porch. On any other occasion Kylie would have called it quaint. Instead, it looked like a death trap.

  *

  “There!”

  Will pointed at what looked like a toy boat headed out to sea. “It fits the description. Let's check it out.”

  Cal Sherwood eased the Cessna into a wide turn and they followed the vessel as it plowed through the deep blue Pacific water. From above they'd spotted a pod of Orcas, frolicking sea lions and an eagle with a salmon in its talons. If this had been a guided tour they would have already gotten their money's worth. But the splendor of nature was ignored as everyone had a single-minded purpose.

  Dipping low, Cal buzzed the cabin cruiser.

  It wasn't the right one. The captain waved at them as did his wife and two teenage sons.

  His head pounding with mounting despair, Will dropped his binoculars onto his lap and covered his face with his hands. They'd been flying for hours, had stopped in Tofino to fuel up, then taken to the air again. Crane had checked in saying they'd found an abandoned white van nestled deep inside a stand of trees. The dogs had picked up Kylie's scent and led them up a rise to a cliff, then down a muddy embankment to a cove below. The scent had died there leaving little doubt now that they were out at sea.

  Will felt Lyle's hand on his shoulder from the back seat, squeezing, comforting. Dino gave a little yip and whined.

  Jolene suddenly gripped Lyle's arm. Still looking through her own binoculars, “Over there. A boat in that little cove. Is that a cabin cruiser?”

  Quickly Will trained his binoculars on it. A distance away, it appeared to fit the description just as this boat had.

  In the thick of having caught his group's sense of urgency, Cal turned the plane in the direction of the cove.

  *

  Inside the one room cabin Drew again used a plastic tie on Kylie, attaching her wrist to a heavy, rustic wooden chair.

  “Sit. Get comfortable,” he told her. “It's going to be a great show.”

  She wanted to scream, but who would hear her, and it would only infuriate him. Maybe even incite a rage. His disposition seemed volatile, shifting between highs and lows as he hummed to himself.

  Drew went to a pot belly stove, opened its metal door and lit the kindling inside. He fanned it until it caught, then took a small log from a bin and placed it on top, closing the door.

  Max hovered near Kylie looking heartrendingly small while maintaining a defiant expression. Kylie's heart hammered fiercely. She couldn't let Max be a statistic, a victim! It was why she'd come. How could she stop Drew, so intent upon his depraved agenda? Despite Max's show of bravado, his fear was palpable, starkly real, permeating the air.

  Drew thrived on it. This was his joyride, his big thrill. It was what he now lived for and he intended to savor each and every bit of it. The air crackled with their fear, Kylie's eyes glistening with tears that spilled even as she held her head high. The kid was gripping Kylie's free hand and his eyes stared hugely with audacious hostility that filled Drew with a sense of power. It sang and shimmered along his nerves as he stared at Kylie in fascination, took in her muddied clothing, her scratched limbs, her frazzled blonde hair. Clearly her panic was deepening, her chest rising and falling rapidly. A chaotic rhapsody of ripe emotions.

  The whole thing made him hard.

  He decided he'd keep her a while. Think some more about the baby. But it was time to get rid of the kid.

  “Come here brat,” he commanded.

  Max didn't budge.

  In two strides Drew was upon him, the hunting knife in his hand. Max cried out as he was lifted into the air and thrown onto the floor with a resounding thump. Knife held aloft, Drew laughed like a hyena...

  ...and Kylie rose, twisted her wrist around and grabbed the chair with both hands. Raising it high, she slammed it down over his head and spine.

  The knife skittered across the floor and went under a table as Drew crumpled. Stunned, he landed on top of Max.

  Still attached to the chair and fueled with adrenaline, Kylie used her free hand to haul Drew off of Max by the seat of his pants. Max squirmed free and got to his feet.

  “Run!” she screamed, and for two seconds Max was frozen. Then he darted for the door and went out, running at top speed down the trail.

  He skidded to a stop.

  His child's mind worked hard to decipher the dilemma that crash landed on his brain. Kylie was alone with that monster now. Should he go back and help her, or should he keep going and try to find help? He realized that by the time he got help it might be too late.

  Hesitantly he took a step back. And then froze again as a black bear lumbered into his path.

  *

  Cal landed the sea plane without a hitch and taxied on the water toward the cabin cruiser anchored in the cove.

  The bold words, Sea Hunt, were blazoned across the hull. How apt, thought Will bitterly. There was no mistake; this was the name Crane had given him.

  “This is it! If there's anyone on board they're down below.” Cal cut the engine and floated them the rest of the way until they were side by side with the thirty foot cruiser. Will opened his door and hopped onto one of the aircraft's pontoons, then jumped aboard the cruiser. Lyle followed, then Kim.

  Below deck they found a bucket with what smelled like urine. The lower bunk was rumpled and covered with dried mud and the remainder of a loaf of bread crushed inside its bag as though someone had sat on it.

  On deck with Dino, Jolene called out, “There's a row boat on the shore.”

  Kim found a khaki colored child-size button with a popular brand name embossed onto it. He showed it to Will. His heart lurched. “From Max's pants,” he declared.

  With renewed vigor Will bounded back onto deck. He removed his jacket and began to take off his shoes, intending to jump in the water and swim to shore.

  “Wait,” boomed Cal's voice. He stood on a pontoon and opened a hatch in the side of the aircraft. Pulling on a cord, he released a rubber dingy that instantly inflated. Producing two plastic oars, he handed them to Will.

  “Standard equipment. Never know when you'll be lost at sea,” he told him. “Water's bone cold even though it's late summer. Especially at this depth.”

  Will wouldn't have cared. He'd do anything to save Max and Kylie. Risking hypothermia was the least of it.

  “Look, if this was my kid I'd be just as anxious as you are, but hold on just one more second,” said Cal. He leaned inside the Cessna and came out with a rifle. “Know how to use this?” he asked Will.

  Lyle took it from him. “I do. My old man's a hunter, showed me the ropes when I was a kid. Is it loaded?”

  “Not yet.” He handed Lyle a box of bullets. “Load her up.”

  The dingy could only handle three people at best so they made it to shore in two trips. The group spread out looking for a trail. The forest loomed, dark and foreboding despite the washed out sunshine of the day, or maybe because of it. No visible trails materialized.


  By the rocks at one end, Will stepped on what looked like sponges on the sand. Lumps of bread! Was this a sign? Seemed to be as he pushed his way through some bushes and found a narrow trail with more lumps of soggy bread.

  He signaled the others with a wave. He didn't have to tell them how imperative it was that they maintain silence. One by one they crept through the opening in the bushes.

  As they moved along the trail, sometimes losing sight of one another, then regrouping, Dino raced ahead helping Will find more crumbs. Suddenly he let out a few high pitched yips.

  Everyone scrambled after him. Coming around a bend they were met by the sight of a black bear standing erect, front paws spread as it bellowed a warning, spittle lining its lips.

  Right in front of the bear stood Max!

  Heedless of the danger, Will surged forward. He grabbed Max from behind and crushed him to his body, spun them both around and gave his back to the bear, prepared to take the brunt of the attack. Dino went ballistic, barking, snapping at the bear's toes.

  A shot rang out.

  Lyle loaded another round into the chamber of the rifle and prepared to kill. He didn't have to. The bear landed with a thud on all fours and took off into the woods without a backward glance.

  Will knelt and crushed a trembling Max to his chest, tears of relief streaming down his face.

  Max was trying to say something but his words were muffled. Finally he got through. “Hurry! He's got Kylie!”

  Weak in the knees but quickly recharging, Will turned Max over to Jolene. “Take him back to the plane. Don't wait on the shore. Hear me?”

  She nodded, took Max's hand and led him away.

  Dino had taken off again. His yips and barks could be heard a short distance down the trail where the tip of a roof peaked through the trees.

  A blood curdling scream had them all running toward it.

  *

  Desperately Kylie tried to smash the chair to get it off her wrist. It was made from small logs lashed together with leather straps and would not give.

  Drew was dazed but recuperating fast, sitting up, now on his feet and wavering. He came toward her.

  She tried for the door but didn't make it as he gripped her from behind and held tight. He cut through the plastic tie with his pocket knife releasing the chair, then hauled her backward toward a camp cot in the corner by the pot belly stove. His voice rumbled in her ear mockingly, “He won't get far. There's bears in them there woods.”

  Kylie squirmed furiously but he held on tight, then suddenly released her as a rifle shot reverberated through the forest. All business now and looking around wildly, he couldn't locate his knife.

  Getting to her feet, Kylie screeched at full volume. Quickly he covered her mouth with his hand. She bit at his palm and in retaliation he punched her hard in her belly. Doubling over, what voice she had left came out a whimper as she staggered, grasping at anything to gain purchase.

  Falling hard on her rump, her hand landed on the bin containing the small logs for the pot belly stove. At the window, Drew peered out into the forest. Kylie grabbed a log, scrambled to her feet and came at him just as he turned back to her. It hit him square across the face, tearing flesh and breaking teeth. He screeched with pain as she hit him on his skull, but the log had splintered with the first blow and only glanced off.

  Barking sounded outside, familiar and filling Kylie with hope. She dropped to her knees as pain burned through her mid section. The baby! Woozy, her world turned to gray fuzz. Clinging to coherency, another sharp pain seared her belly.

  She passed out cold.

  Just as Will, Lyle and Kim joined a manic Dino outside the cabin, Drew Hammond staggered out the only door and onto the path. Blood seeped through his fingers as he clutched his head.

  He saw them at the same time they saw him. Everyone stopped in their tracks.

  “Easy now,” Lyle cautioned Will, seeing his friend bristle. He pointed the rifle at Hammond. “Stop right there. Don't move a muscle.”

  To their astonishment, Hammond lowered his hands and smiled, his two front teeth seriously chipped. He made a macabre sight as he saluted them with two fingers, then quick as a lizard dove behind a boulder and out of sight.

  Lyle and Kim took chase while Will ran into the cabin. Hammond hadn't wasted a second. Taking off deeper into the woods they heard him crash through underbrush, snapping off branches and sending down small rock slides as he ran uphill into the densely treed forestland.

  “Let the cops or rangers or whoever does this stuff find him,” said Kim. They sprinted into the cabin.

  Will had Kylie on his lap as he ran a hand over her head and body, looking for wounds. She swooned, coming back from the edge of darkness.

  Kylie's eyes opened, tentatively at first, then all the way as Will's face came into focus. A sharp pain cut off her voice as she started to speak. When it passed, “Max...”

  “He's alright. We have him,” Will informed her. “What's going on? Where are you hurt?”

  She clutched her lower abdomen. A red stain had erupted. “The baby,” she managed, holding on to consciousness.

  Will looked up at Lyle and Kim. “We need to get her to the plane. She needs a hospital, and fast.”

  The camp cot in the corner was the logical choice. Lyle and Kim brought it over and Will gently hoisted Kylie onto it.

  No time was wasted as they literally ran along the narrow trail, Will holding onto the cot in front, Lyle and Kim in the back. Straining his arms and legs to their maximum limit, Will called upon his own supercharged adrenaline to maintain a grueling pace until they reached the little beach.

  Panting hard, the three men placed Kylie, cot and all, into the row boat. Jolene, Max, Dino and Cal all watched anxiously as they approached.

  “I called the Coast Guard,” Cal yelled out to them. “They're on their way. Does she need a doctor?”

  “Yes!” all three men chimed.

  Cal climbed back into the Cessna and got on his radio.

  * * * *

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  With Max safe, Will sat at Kylie's bedside clutching her hand and watching her come awake. He'd told the admissions clerk he was her husband and no one had questioned it.

  An army of people wanted to see Kylie with Ethan Crane at the top of the list. With exception to Rita and Joe they'd all been relegated to the waiting room. They'd stepped out for a bite to eat but would soon return.

  Kylie's eyes fluttered open.

  Will squeezed her hand. “Hey.”

  The faintest of a smile. Her eyelids closed and he settled in for another wait. Seconds later her eyes snapped open as memory flooded in. She tried to sit up.

  “Where's Max?” she demanded in a hoarse voice.

  “He's fine.” He eased her back onto the pillow. “Surprisingly strong for a kid who just went through his worst nightmare.”

  She leaned back with troubled eyes. A dull ache throbbed. “I lost it, didn't I?”

  Dread infused him. He'd been wondering how he would say it. Now it seemed best to be straightforward.

  “Yes, I'm sorry to say that you did.”

  He meant it. He was sorry. No matter how the child had been conceived, it hadn't deserved to have its short, undeveloped life ended so abruptly. Especially by its own father's hand.

  Kylie said nothing. Placing a hand over her now childless womb, she absorbed the fact of the baby's loss quietly. Will knew there was nothing he could say to console her, but he wanted to try.

  He stroked stray hairs back from her face. “You risked so much by going after Max. I'm so indebted to you, I'll never be able to make it up in a million lifetimes. Thanks to you Max is here, alive. I only wish I could say the same for your baby.”

  She lifted a hand to his cheek. “You could spout off all the clichés, but I made my choice when Drew called me. I knew what I was getting into. Things could have turned out a lot worse. I'm so very relieved that Max is alright. I'm going to be alright too. You'll se
e.”

  She wasn't sure how she felt about it yet. While her heart mourned the loss, her mind wrestled with reason. The child had been yanked back from the precipice of life, a life that may have held a deep, dark chasm of genetically inherited mental illness. Since she'd learned of her pregnancy she'd given that a lot of thought, had wanted to believe that such things could be overcome. She realized that life held no guarantees right from the moment of conception.

  It suddenly occurred to her, “What happened to Drew?”

  “He ran off. Crane has a manhunt going on as we speak. You really did a number on him. Looked like he'd been clawed by a wild animal.”

  “I hit him with a piece of firewood.”

  “Whatever you used, it rearranged his face. He might not be such a pretty boy when they find him.”

  She smiled sadly. “Will, I've got a news flash. You're not such a pretty boy yourself right now. Have you been home any time recently? You look like you could use an hour long shower in that massage unit of yours and about twenty hours of sleep.”

  His own smile was wistful. “I wanted to be here when you woke up. Your parents will be back any moment. They're a couple of rocks, those two. They kept me from wearing a hole in the carpet while you were in surgery by telling me anecdotes about your childhood. Oh the things I know about you!”

  Kylie's spirit lightened a small degree. With Max alive a tragedy had been diverted. Her own child had been taken but she would bounce back, move forward with the life she'd been given back by the fates.

  “Will,” she uttered as she pulled his lips to hers for a brief but sweet kiss. “I want to thank you. It was because of me that Max was abducted and you could be the kind of guy who would hold all of this against me. Instead you're my rock. I'm planning on clinging to you for a while. Is that alright?”