The Carrier (The Carrier Series Book 1)

by Diana Ryan

  Nolan looked upriver toward the docks. “I realized that night that you were the most important person in my life. I knew I needed to do whatever I could in order to protect you, even if that meant harming you in the process.”

  Did he know I felt the same way?

  “That day,” I began, “when I knew something was wrong and I was sure you were going to break up with me, I literally felt like my life was over. I had been through heartbreak before, but nothing compared to the pain I went through that night. That’s when I knew, I had given you my heart.”

  I leaned my head onto his shoulder and we continued to look around, taking in the beauty of the environment around us. I looked down toward the end of the rock ledge and couldn’t help but imagine the exact position I was in when I lay here waiting for death to take me away that night. Then I noticed a dark stain on the rock where I had lain.

  My blood.

  Of course, my blood had stained the rock. All of a sudden I flashed back to that moment when I truly thought my life had ended. When someone I loved and trusted purposely shoved a knife into my belly.

  I stood up, shaking. “Let’s get going. I think I’ve had enough for one day.”

  “Absolutely.” He rose and turned to leave. “Are you alri—” But then he stopped abruptly, made a weird face, and scanned the area around us.

  “What’s wrong?” He put two fingers over my lips to silence me.

  He whispered, “Shh...listen,” as his ears turned up like a Lab on a hunt.

  I heard it, too. A very faint beeping noise. Its high-pitched warning tone was rapidly getting faster and faster.

  “Run!” he screamed, and pulled my arm toward the railroad tracks. I begged my feet to go faster but I couldn’t seem to make them keep up with Nolan’s. A wild scream escaped my lips as he leaped over the tracks and dove into the ditch behind them. I followed his lead and right as I landed, Nolan rolled over my body and an ear splitting BOOM echoed out over the river and through the baseball fields. My hands instinctively covered my ears and I screamed again.

  Nolan waited a few seconds and then rolled off of me. We sat up on our elbows and looked toward the rock. The whole cliff top had been blown away. Thick, angry smoke took over the air, and fire began to eat the bottom of the trees. My jaw was stuck in the open position.

  My Dells! My beautiful Dells blown away!

  Nolan stood up. “Are you okay?”

  My ears were ringing but I could still hear Nolan. I took a quick inventory of the rest of my body, running my hands up and down my legs, torso, and arms. All parts were accounted for and I could see no blood. “Yeah. I think I’m fine.” My head stayed focused on the scene before me.

  “We have to get out of here!” Nolan held out his hand to help me up, but I was still in awe of what had happened. Why was he in such a hurry to leave?

  I couldn’t take my eyes off the scene at hand. “We have to call 911.”

  Nolan began yelling, “They won’t be far away! We have to go now!”

  “Who won’t be far away?”

  Nolan yanked me onto my feet and pulled me in the opposite direction of his car, toward a grassy pathway parallel with the train tracks. I kept looking over my shoulder, causing my body to twist and my legs to flail, not being able to keep up with my top half.

  Nolan stopped and grabbed my face in his hands. He looked deep into my eyes and said with great authority, “Ava Gardner. You have to trust me. We need to run down this path as fast as we can. Now!”

  I stared with disbelief. Was I dreaming? It wasn’t until I heard the police sirens behind us that I snapped out of my trance and began to run.

  Nolan led the way, sprinting through the forest. My heart was beating out of my chest, and I didn’t think I could go much farther. We must have been running at full speed for at least five minutes. I was not used to such nonsense.

  Finally he stopped and surveyed the scene. “This will do,” he said.

  I bent over with my hands on my knees, breathing like I had just given birth right there on the forest floor. He told me to climb halfway up the tree and sit on a sturdy limb.

  “No!...Not until...you tell me...what’s going...on!” I could barely get the words out between my heavy breathing. I was beyond frustration.

  Nolan quickly walked over to me. He pulled me up from my crouched position and stared deeply into my eyes. “My sweet Ava. Please. I know this must be hard, but you have to trust me. Do as I say and this will all be over in a few minutes.” Then he kissed me passionately but quickly. “Please.”

  I wanted to protest but instead I surrendered to those damn baby blues. I was helpless against their power.

  I turned around and climbed the tree up to the third limb. I was lucky my sister and I had trees to climb in our backyard as kids. Who knew that skill would come in handy as an adult? I looked down. I was probably about forty feet up the tree and glad that heights didn’t bother me.

  Nolan nervously paced the forest floor under my hideout tree. He took out his cell and dialed a number. Then he turned his back away from me. Normally I would be able to hear what he was saying, but my ears were still ringing from the blast. My stomach had turned inside out again. I was nervous and anxious and sure of one thing—I would never go near that rock again.

  I could see the smoke rising from the site a few hundred yards down the pathway. There was a fire truck there now with men pointing long hoses at the fire.

  Nolan’s voice grew louder. “Dammit! I need a reconnaissance team in here now!” He began to pace quicker. “What do you mean my field rating is unsatisfactory?” He paused and I could tell he was angry. “A civilian’s life is at risk!”

  Nolan suddenly slammed a finger at the screen to hang up the call, letting out a grunt of frustration in the process. He quickly and intensely looked up over the tree line. Had he heard something I didn’t? Then out of nowhere the crack of gunshot echoed through the woods and Nolan dropped to the ground with a groan.

  I gasped. No...no...no...no! My mouth opened to let out a scream but nothing came out.

  Nolan rolled over to his side, looked up at me, and said in a raspy voice, “Greeeeeeeeen. Trust Greene.”

  I whispered back through my tears, “What? Sweetheart...?”

  I was about to jump down from the tree when I heard footsteps. I looked out into the forest and saw three men in dark suits carrying guns. They ran towards the unmoving Nolan. I held completely still. They hadn’t seen me up in the tree yet.

  One of the men pressed something in his ear, “We got him. No sign of the girl.”

  They knew I had been with Nolan. Chills sped down my spine. Another man picked up Nolan and threw him over his shoulder, and then they all ran out of the forest the same way they entered.

  Uncontrollable tears began to fall from my eyes. What just happened? This couldn’t be real! A nightmare, this had to be a nightmare.

  Wake up, Ava!

  I slapped myself in the face, but lost my balance on the tree limb and fell backwards, narrowly missing all the branches on the way down. My body landed with a thud on the grass and weeds below, and I let out a groan as I rolled to my left. My right arm radiated intense pain.

  Oh no! I probably broke it.

  I knew I had to get out of there before someone else came. But should I run after Nolan’s captors or toward my parents’ house? I wasn’t prepared for any kind of fight so I painfully set off in the direction of Capital Street. I scrambled about four steps forward before I heard a loud crack and felt a sting in my back, sending me instantly to the ground.

  I’d been shot, too. What kind of evil world would bring us together only to rip us apart time and time again?

  Well, at least I could join Nolan in heaven.

 

 

 
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