Runaway

by Anne Laughlin

  The colonel held her gaze as he spoke. “Lieutenant, give her an adjustment.”

  The lieutenant named Martin marched quickly up to Maddy. She thought she saw the other men wince. Without hesitation, Martin slugged her across the face. Kristi screamed. Maddy’s body slumped as she tried to keep from throwing up. She fought hard to come up through the pain that seemed to drown all five of her senses. When she saw the blood dripping from her nose and mouth, pooling in the dirt beneath her, she started crying too.

  *

  Jan estimated they had entered the land about midway between the two perimeter guard posts and were now fifty yards or so from the center of the camp. She led the way as quietly as she could. She could barely hear Catherine moving behind her. She turned to her to make sure she was still there, to remind herself that she wasn’t alone. Seeing her there felt almost as surreal as being back in these woods. How had this woman come so fully into her life so quickly? And how the hell did she end up back in the place she risked her life to escape?

  Just as she started to speak, Catherine put her finger to her lips and pointed to the north, easing slowly to the ground and pulling Jan down with her.

  “Man at nine o’clock, armed.”

  Jan looked over and saw a young man about twenty yards away, sitting with his back to a tree and tossing acorns. There were a lot of trees and undergrowth between them. Jan was surprised that Catherine had spotted him. Jan knew the risk was too great to try to ambush him. He’d hear them before they got close enough to jump him and any gunfire would be heard in the camp. They couldn’t move forward for the same reason. They’d have to wait him out and hope he didn’t move their way and spot them.

  Jan made a hand gesture that she thought indicated they should stay put. Her PI work had never required this kind of teamwork, this kind of stealth maneuvering. She thought of Catherine in the Middle East, outfoxing opponents more daunting than these and it made her feel both more and less confidant. Catherine, no doubt, knew all kinds of hand signals.

  A radio crackled in the silence and they saw the man stand up quickly as he grabbed his radio to respond. The message was unintelligible, but as soon as the transmission ended the guard headed east and was soon out of sight.

  “I hope that doesn’t mean they’ve found Maddy,” Catherine whispered.

  “That was my thought. If they’ve called everyone back into camp, that will give us a clear passage there. Let’s wait a few minutes in case any more pass this way.”

  They lay on their bellies, face-to-face, for another five minutes. Jan kept looking at her watch, and each time she glanced back, Catherine was searching her face.

  “What?” Jan said. “Why are you looking at me like that?” She found it annoying.

  “I can’t believe you’re so calm,” she said. “What if you actually see your father?”

  “I think it’s certain I will. We will. I don’t think this camp would still be here if the old man was dead.”

  “Actually, we’re not certain the camp is still there, are we?”

  “That guard tells me it is. Normal people don’t have armed guards patrolling their property in the middle of nowhere. Not even here in Idaho.”

  “I’m here for you. Just remember that.”

  Jan looked at her watch again. “We should go.”

  Now individual trees seemed recognizable to Jan, huge fallen trunks that she remembered running and jumping over as a kid, sometimes hiding in. She spotted a tree that had been a favorite for reading her stolen magazines, its massive low-slung branch perfect for nestling in. It looked exactly the same, as if time had indeed stopped here.

  They saw one more guard, a man so heavy footed that they heard him stomping through the woods in plenty of time to make themselves invisible. When he was out of sight they covered the final thirty yards and came up behind the camp’s armory.

  “This is an armory?” Catherine whispered.

  Jan pointed to the cabin next to it. “That’s the Colonel’s cabin.”

  They stepped around the armory, keeping low, trying to get a look at the clearing. Jan was the first to see the stocks in the middle of the large circle. She recognized Maddy locked into one side of it with another girl in the other side. Three men stood facing them and Jan knew instantly that the man in front was her father. Not stooped with age, though he was in his eighties. Not dead, either. She felt Catherine’s hand wrap around her forearm, reassuring her, questioning her.

  Jan scanned the rest of the clearing. She could see that the door to the cookhouse was closed and she guessed the Colonel had sent the women and children inside, the way he always did when he was going to do something nasty to someone. Jan had been in the cookhouse plenty of times when she heard someone scream outside. Never for long, never too agonizingly. Just loud and anguished enough to make the little kids cry and the women pull them to their skirts. Then they’d all be let out again and everyone acted like nothing had happened. Jan didn’t believe that the two strangers in the stocks were going to be met with the same leniency from the Colonel. She had to get them out of there.

  Catherine slipped away from Jan and went to the door of the armory just as one of the men behind the Colonel strode up to Maddy and punched her square in the face. As Kristi screamed, Jan ran straight into the clearing, put her shoulder down and tackled the man who had hit Maddy. They sprawled onto the hard dirt. As Jan scrambled to her feet she saw the rifles aimed at her, ready to shoot.

  The man on the ground was up on his feet and grabbed Jan from behind, locking her in a half nelson, pointing her head at the Colonel, who raised his hand to keep his men from shooting. He slowly walked toward Jan and stopped a couple of paces in front of her to study her face.

  “Release her,” he said to Martin.

  Martin let go of her and backed a couple paces behind her. Jan looked at the two girls and saw that Maddy was bleeding onto the ground. Kristi looked okay, but scared to death. Then she slowly looked back at the Colonel.

  He was staring at her and she knew he saw who she was. His face was still as marble, but she could see it in his eyes, the way they wandered around her face, disbelieving even as he registered the truth.

  “Long time no see,” Jan said. Martin came around from behind her and looked at her closely.

  “Jesus, it’s Grace. It’s your daughter, Colonel.”

  “I know who it is. Resume your position.”

  Jan looked at the man and recognized Trevor Martin, her erstwhile suitor and all-around brown nose. She looked back at the Colonel without acknowledging him.

  “Colonel, I can see that not much has changed around here, except that you look about a hundred years older. Where’ve all your men gone? Have they run away like I did?”

  The Colonel spat on the ground at her feet. His reaction was the last one she expected. It hurt, as if she had some kind of expectation that her father was going to welcome her with open arms, the long-lost daughter who shot him on her way out of his life. She hated him. At the moment, she hated herself for caring that he despised her in turn.

  “I knew these girls weren’t here on their own, but I admit the thought didn’t even occur to me that it was you trying to invade our land.”

  “I see the paranoia is about the same as ever. Your notion of other people’s interest in you and your land has always been grandiose. I think that’s the right word for it.”

  “You should have killed me when you had a chance, daughter. Because you are about to regret that you didn’t.”

  Jan looked at the two girls again. Maddy kept her head hanging, still dripping blood. Kristi stared at them.

  She turned back to the Colonel. “I’m asking you, for your own sake, to let these girls go. I’ll stay and you can deal with me as you will. But there are people looking for these girls, and those people will be on your land before you know it. They’ll be a lot more prepared than I am to overwhelm your tiny army. If you let the girls go, they won’t have any reason to track them here.” />
  The Colonel turned to the men behind him and motioned for them to lower their rifles. They stood at the ready. A little boy burst from the cookhouse and raced across the clearing. A young woman ran out after him.

  “Martin, get those two back in there and tell them to control those kids. If I see one more of them there’s going to be hell to pay.”

  Martin ran off and herded the two back to the cookhouse. Everyone remained quiet except the boy, who complained the whole way. Martin returned to stand behind Jan, his rifle at his side.

  “You’ll stay here whether the girls are let go or not, and I’d just as soon keep them around. They’re serving their sentence, and I believe we have now gotten a little more information regarding the espionage charge against them.”

  “Espionage charge?” Jan could feel herself losing it, losing the battle to speak rationally to an irrational man. “You are fucking crazy. Do you know that?” She looked at the men behind the Colonel. “Do you know he’s crazy? Or you, Trevor? I knew he was mean. That’s why I ran away. That’s why I didn’t give a shit when I shot him. I didn’t care whether I killed him or not, and until today I didn’t know which way it had gone. And you know what? I’m sorry that my aim was a little off.”

  She looked straight at the Colonel, took a step toward him. “You’re a mean, crazy, hateful son of a bitch.”

  Jan spat at his feet. The Colonel looked at her with coal black eyes.

  “Lieutenant, take her into custody.”

  Martin moved forward, but before he’d taken a full step, Jan had her pistol out of her pocket and aimed at the Colonel’s head.

  “Stand back, or the Colonel’s a dead man,” Jan said. She looked at the men behind the Colonel. They looked startled, their guns still at their sides. “If any of you make a move, I’m putting a bullet in his head, and I won’t miss this time.”

  Jan could hear the rush of her own breathing, but beyond that was silence. Trevor seemed to be motionless behind her; the other two men also stood still. The Colonel, however, seemed annoyed and not the least bit concerned.

  “Girl, you are making a fatal mistake. There are three guns to your one. The second you shoot me, you’re dead. Is that what you want?”

  “I’d prefer that to being tied up in this hellhole again.”

  He looked at her for a moment and then turned his head to Martin.

  “Shoot her,” he said

  Jan heard Martin raise his rifle as she locked her hands in place to fire. A shot cracked out of the woods from the direction of the armory, and Martin went down. The other two soldiers swung their rifles toward the armory and opened fire and they quickly went down with two more shots from the woods. Jan kept her pistol trained on the Colonel and looked to see if the soldiers were moving. The Colonel drew his own pistol as she looked away.

  “Don’t do it, Colonel. There are two guns to your one. Now it’s you who’ll be making a fatal mistake.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” he said as he cocked his old revolver.

  Another shot rang out from the woods and the Colonel fell to the ground, giving Jan a clear view of the bullet hole in the back of his head. Jan swept the area with her gun in both hands as Catherine raced into the clearing and pulled the rifles away from the two soldiers on the ground.

  “They’re alive,” she said, moving over to Martin to take his weapon as well. “He’s dead.”

  Jan heard Maddy crying behind her and looked to see them both staring wild-eyed at them. She moved quickly toward them.

  “We’ve got to get out of here quickly,” she said. “The other men will be on their way.”

  She and Catherine tried to open the stocks and found it shackled shut. Catherine reached into first the Colonel’s and then Martin’s pants pockets to find the key.

  “Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ,” Kristi was saying. She seemed catatonic.

  Catherine came up with the key and as she unlocked the stocks, Jan went to the cook tent and called in through the closed door.

  “Do not come out,” she said as forcefully as she could. “Your children are not safe. Wait until your men return and let you out. Do you understand?”

  She heard some children crying in there and then a woman’s voice saying they understood. It would have to do. She raced back to the stocks and helped Catherine with Maddy and Kristi, each holding them up by an arm. Maddy was especially wobbly.

  “Where to?” Catherine said.

  “There’s only one way. Let’s head east. There should be a car about half a mile that way. They used to leave the key in the front seat. I don’t know if they still do that.”

  “They probably do. The armory was unlocked. Nice selection of rifles in there,” Catherine said. “Anyway, if the key’s not there, I can start the car. It’s not a problem.”

  “Nice shooting, by the way. I guess I owe you one.”

  “Believe me, I’ll be happy to collect. Perhaps a bit later though?”

  They hustled back into the woods. Jan didn’t look back at her father.

  Chapter Twelve

  Vivian brought a thermos of coffee into the conference room and poured them each a cup. This was almost unheard of behavior for her, but even Vivian had been a little in awe of Jan and Catherine since their return the day before from Idaho. They were cautious, solicitous. Everyone acted like they were strangers. Jan hated it. She watched as Vivian slipped out the door and closed it behind her.

  “It’s a bit like they think we’ll pull a gun on them,” Catherine said.

  “No one’s had to so much as draw a weapon in all the years I’ve been here. I suppose they’re a little freaked out.”

  “Not the ex-police, surely.”

  “No, not them. Though Peet was shocked. It’s not like the police are in that many shootouts themselves.”

  Catherine scrolled through e-mails on her laptop and stopped to read one. Jan watched as her normally relaxed expression turned to alarm.

  “What is it?” Jan asked.

  “The home office. They’re ordering me back to London.”

  Jan sat up straight. “But why? You still have at least a week here.”

  “Apparently, they’re not happy that I’ve killed two people during a field assignment when I was supposed to be here in the office.” She shrugged.

  “Fuck.” Jan sprang from her chair and began pacing. “Is there anything you can do?”

  “I don’t think so. They already have someone on their way here to replace me.”

  Catherine was leaning back in her chair, her face relaxed again, but her eyes looking far away. She didn’t seem to notice Jan’s agitation.

  There was a quick knock on the door before LJ came in, looking unusually somber.

  “Jan, would you give us a moment?” he said.

  Jan met Catherine’s eyes and waited for her to nod before walking out of the room. She moved quickly past Vivian, anxious to get back to her desk without talking to anyone. Peet was hanging up her phone as Jan sat down and started to close down her computer. She felt on the verge of panic.

  “What are you doing?” Peet said.

  “Getting the hell out of here.”

  Peet watched for a moment as Jan stuffed her things into her bag. “That was Mrs. Harrington on the phone. She said they have Maddy in therapy, but that she seems to be okay. Except for the broken jaw that is.”

  “Yeah, she seemed okay when I talked to her. She’s a tough kid.”

  “I talked to her too. She’s got a thing for you. She kept asking about you, wanting to know all about you. I should have just said that no one knows all about you. It’s a state secret or something.”

  “Funny.” Yet now there was someone who knew everything about her. Jan never believed that would or could happen.

  “Maddy thinks you’re a hero. She wants to thank you in person.”

  “It’s Catherine she should be thanking. But she’ll have to do it quickly. The London office is sending her home.”

&
nbsp; “What? When?”

  “Immediately. That’s all I know. LJ is in with her now.”

  Peet sighed and stared at Jan some more. “When you’re on the job, you have to go see a shrink after you’re involved in a shooting. Maybe you should do the same.”

  Jan glared at her. “I didn’t shoot anyone.”

  “It’s really the same as. I think so, anyway. You’re having a tsunami of stress right now.”

  “I’m fine”

  “This thing with Catherine only adds to it. That’s all I’m saying.”

  “I’m fine. And that’s all I’m saying.” As far as the events in Idaho, Jan did feel fine. If she felt anything about it at all, it was relief. But she was suspicious of how muted her reaction was. The last thing she wanted was a shrink poking away at her.

  All of that paled compared to what losing Catherine would do to her. She knew that once Catherine left, whatever feelings she had for Jan in Chicago would evaporate quickly in London. The distance would kill the very tenuous beginning of whatever it was they had. She’d been counting on their remaining time together to try to figure out where they were going and how they were going to get there. Catherine seemed unfazed by her orders to return to London.

  “Too bad the Idaho prosecutor didn’t press charges against Catherine,” Peet said. “Then she wouldn’t have been able to leave.” Peet was like a fucking mind reader.

  Jan’s phone rang.

  “It’s me,” Catherine said.

  “I know.”

  “Can you come back to me?”

  Jan hesitated.

  “Jan, I need you. Please.”

  Jan marched back across the office and saw that the blinds in the conference room were drawn. She looked at Vivian.

  “She’s in there. Alone,” Vivian said.

  Jan knocked and found Catherine pouring more coffee.

  “Another cup?”

  Jan nodded. She tried for some of the nonchalance Catherine seemed to always have at her fingertips. She felt in danger of crying as Catherine came around the table with the thermos and poured into Jan’s cup, standing inches from her.