“She’s following them!” Ramon exclaimed. “She must think they’re going to lead her to Cali and Michael.”
“Good, Then we’ll follow her,” Mina said, pulling out after Layla.
As they drove both Ramon and Mina cringed to see Layla keeping an even distance from the car ahead of her, staying directly behind it and mirroring its lane changes.
“She’s doing it wrong,” Mina said.
Ramon sat tense in his seat, his fingers gripping his knees. “They’re going to spot her.”
The car ahead of Layla took a sudden turn, and she followed suit with a squeal of tires on pavement.
“They made her.” Ramon was dismayed.
Mina expected the men in the car to take off, but instead they slowed down, taking a series of convoluted turns. Ramon and Mina watched everything unfold, following at a distance as Layla was lured deep into a run-down industrial area. The black sedan rolled past a vast junkyard before it finally turned, disappearing from sight into a lot stacked high with the carcasses of crushed cars.
“Could this be where they’re holding them?” Mina wondered.
“Doubt it,” Ramon said, leaning forward anxiously. “They led her here on purpose.”
The two of them kept watching, cruising along slowly and stopping a good distance back from the junkyard entrance. Layla parked alongside a graffiti strewn wall, rushing out of her car and creeping alongside a chain link fence to peek into the deserted junkyard.
“Oh no Layla …” Ramon groaned, reaching for the door handle. “No. No. NO!”
She looked over her shoulder once, darting around the corner and out of sight.
Ramon jumped out of the car and hit the ground running.
~
The woods were Caledonia’s natural habitat, and if it weren’t for her wounded cousin slowing her down she would disappear as easily as a puff of smoke on the wind. She paused to let Michael catch his breath, snapping the heels off her uncomfortable shoes and tossing them aside.
“I can’t keep up. Just leave me,” Michael panted.
She held her finger to her lips, listening. “Shhh.”
The sounds of men crashing through the trees got closer. They had spread out to form a net, and were gaining on the two escapees as they struggled up the steep and wooded hillside.
“There they are!” one of them called out to the others.
Caledonia cursed the sparkling dress she wore, unable to keep it from reflecting the morning sun that slanted through the trees. She was like a human fishing lure.
She took Michael by the arm, pulling him up. “C’mon. We have to keep moving.”
Michael did his best to keep up with her, but he was feeling feverish and dizzy. He hadn’t eaten for nearly two days, and he was weak from hunger and blood loss. Caledonia could see that she was pushing her cousin past his limits. After a few more minutes of running uphill he fell to his knees, gagging.
“Leave me,” he panted. “Please … please … just go and find Layla.”
Caledonia looked around frantically, her eyes finally landing on a fallen log covered with lacy ferns. She dragged him over to it, scooping out a hollow just behind it.
“Lay down here and wait. I’ll draw them off and double back for you.”
Michael nodded, tucking in alongside the log and watching as she concealed his body with leaves. She snapped off a frond and knelt beside him, whispering, “I want you to be as still as a fawn.”
Michael nodded, his big eyes filled with relief, resignation and regret. It occurred to Caledonia that she’d never noticed how blue they were before.
“Tell Layla I’m sorry for everything,” he said. “Tell her that I love her.”
She bent to plant a quick kiss onto his forehead. “You can tell her yourself when you see her,” she whispered, covering his face with the fern. She sprang up and darted away, listening for the sounds of the men hot on their trail. Now her shining dress worked to her advantage, and she purposefully let them spot her, standing in a clearing above them like a beacon of light.
“Over there!” she heard one of them cry as she led them away from Michael. She kept it up, letting them get just close enough to spot a glimpse of her before she started off again, leading them deeper and deeper into the rugged wilderness. She knew she would be killed if they caught her, so once she’d drawn them far enough away she scurried up the hill as fast as she could go, fully aware that she was running for both her and Michael’s life.
Low hanging branches snagged her hair and tore at her skin, hampering her progress. She was ill protected by her flimsy outfit, slowed down by the awkward footwear, and dog tired from a nearly sleepless night. Caledonia was all too accustomed to ignoring hunger pangs, but she could feel herself weakening, and despite her best efforts they started gaining on her.
When she reached the top of the ridge she looked over the edge to see a steep and dangerous slope that tumbled down into a seemingly bottomless ravine. She scanned the terrain from her high vantage point, spotting the roof of another cabin off in the distance before the voices of her pursuers sent her running again.
She followed along the ridgeline as it descended, exposing herself briefly in exchange for taking a rocky, treeless path that made for easier going. All at once a man burst from the trees, barreling straight for her. She turned to flee in the opposite direction, but was cut off by a second man who came crashing through the undergrowth.
Pinned between the two of them with her back to the cliff she stood her ground, crouching to fight. The closest man lunged for her, grabbing her arm and hurling her to the ground. When he bent down to grasp her again she flung a handful of dirt and gravel into his face. He howled with surprise, bringing his hands up to rub his eyes.
She recognized the man who’d clipped Michael’s finger off, and with a sudden surge of anger-fueled adrenalin she sprang to her feet and kicked him squarely in the crotch. He yelped in pain, stumbling back a step before losing his balance and tumbling over the side of the ridge. His strangled cry echoed back up to the other man who rushed over to the edge to see him tumbling and bouncing down the rocky slope. He disappeared from sight into the chasm.
Caledonia was off running again, continuing on the path downhill to an area where the ground leveled off. When she no longer heard the man behind her she stopped in the cover of some brush to rest, bent over double with her hands on her knees, breathing hard.
“One down,” she said under her breath.
~
Chapter Nine
CAUGHT
~
The black sedan had been swallowed up by the junkyard labyrinth, and Layla hurried along the rows of compressed cars, desperately searching for any sign of the two men she’d been following. She finally spotted the back of their car sticking out of a blind alley and slowed down to approach it with caution. She crouched down and crept up to peer inside, only to find it abandoned. She heard a soft chuckle behind her and whirled around to see both men grinning at her.
“Looking for us?” one of them asked.
She was trapped, her only way out blocked by them. She backed away, circling around the car at the same time she started working up a pacifying color bombardment. The men split up, coming at her from opposite sides.
“Um, no. I guess I’m just lost,” she said, looking back and forth from one to the other. They were both wearing sunglasses, and she realized that Teddy must have prepared them before they were sent to fetch her.
“Where were you headed?” the other one asked, looking her up and down lasciviously.
She took off her own sunglasses, hoping he might follow suit. “I was going shopping.”
“Sweetheart, you’re a long way from the mall,” the other one said, coming closer.
“I … I …” she backed up as far as she could go, wondering what Cali would do in this circumstance. She tried to make a run for it, but one of them grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm behind her back so hard she thought it might snap. T
he other stood before her with an evil smile.
“You have some explaining to do. Frankie was real pissed off when he heard about your letter.”
“Help!” she cried, struggling to free herself.
“Save your breath honey. There’s nobody coming back around here ’till Monday,” the one behind her grunted in her ear. If only she could knock his glasses off she might have a chance, but when she tried to reach her free hand behind her he locked his elbow around her neck, pulling her close to his body and clamping both of her slim wrists together in one hand. She started gasping for air as his stranglehold tightened.
“Should we give her a pat down before we bring her in?” he asked his partner.
“Good idea,” other one laughed. He started to run his hands up and down her body, reaching down the front of her blouse to fondle her as she fought to breathe. Her vision started to blacken around the edges as the pressure on her neck increased, and she squeezed her eyes shut when he reached his hands up her skirt.
A shot rang out, reverberating from the canyons of metal scrap that surrounded them, and Layla opened her eyes to see Ramon standing before them, a smoking gun pointed at the sky. He lowered the weapon, pointing it directly at the man holding her.
“Let her go!”
The arm eased off her neck as he reached for a gun, and when he pulled it from his waistband he held it to her head. “Back off or I’ll blow her brains out!”
The other man drew his weapon and trained it on Ramon, and the two guns stared each other down while Layla caught her breath, wondering if she was dreaming. The cool metal of the gun barrel pressed to her temple told her that what was happening was all too real.
“Looks like it’s two to one,” the man holding the gun to Layla’s head taunted Ramon.
All at once a car pulled up and stopped with a screech of tires. Mina jumped out and positioned herself behind the hood, pointing her own very large gun steadily at the man that held Layla. “Drop your weapons!” her voice rang out, surprisingly confident, “Release your hostage.”
The men looked back and forth at Mina and Ramon, their lustful colors completely replaced by yellowish confusion. “Who the hell are you?”
Mina used one of her hands to pull open the lapel of her blazer, revealing a badge. “FBI. Federal agents have all of the exits secured. You’re not going anywhere.”
“The Feds?” one of them gasped.
Mina continued, “Were you planning on kidnapping this woman? Because you’re only looking at aggravated assault and false imprisonment at the moment. I’d cut my losses if I were you.”
The two men exchanged a glance, groaned, and lowered their guns. Layla staggered away from them, coughing as she caught herself against their car.
“Good move,” Mina said. “Now put your weapons on the ground, turn around and place your hands on top of your head.”
The men obeyed, and Ramon kept his gun trained on them while Mina came up behind them, pulling a handful of zip ties from her pocket. She quickly and efficiently secured their hands behind their backs.
“Down on the ground,” she ordered, forcing them to sit back to back so that she could lash their hands together. Only then did Ramon holster his weapon and rush over to Layla. He took her by both of her arms, looking her over.
“Are you okay?” he asked, alarm in his voice.
She nodded no, speechless in her shock. Her eyes filled with tears and an involuntary sob escaped her throat when she felt his arms wrap around her. She pressed her face into his shirt, the weight of all the fear and anxiety she’d been managing on her own hitting her all at once, buckling her knees.
“Layla!” Ramon cried, scooping her up to set her down on the hood of the car. He took her face between his hands, searching her eyes, “Are you hurt?”
She nodded no again, still unable to form words.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her throat was tighten with emotion, but she sobbed out, “They… they… I saw… I saw… They said if you came with me they’d kill them.”
“And you believed them?”
“They said they’d know if you were with me. I saw them hurt Michael. We have to find him now! He may already be dead.”
Mina’s eyes flashed with alarm at her words, but she continued working to secure the men completely, binding each one’s ankles together and attaching them both to a rusty chain that was wrapped around a bundle of scrap metal.
“Why didn’t you trust me?” Ramon asked Layla. “I only wanted to help you!” She could see the hurt and confusion radiating from him and it made her feel even worse.
She found her voice again. “You were about to report the kidnapping!”
“You didn’t give me a chance to think about it!”
“I didn’t have time!”
“Layla–”
“Listen to me!” Layla rushed to explain. “These two came to pick me up today, but I left them a note saying I wanted proof they’d free Michael and Cali before I went with them. When they left the hotel I followed them.”
“We saw,” Ramon said.
She looked around in panic. “What if their boss already found out the police are involved? What if it gets Cali and Michael killed?”
“Don’t worry. Nobody knows we’re here. We’re off the record.”
“Even her?” Layla asked, looking over to where Mina was methodically rifling through the men’s pockets.
“Yes,” Ramon answered. “Even her.”
“Why would she do that?” asked Layla, watching Mina work with brisk efficiency as she gathered the men’s phones, wallets, and weapons. “She seems like even more of a law-and-order type than you.”
He smiled wryly at the comparison. “Michael told her what you could do, and I think she feels bad for not really believing him. She wants to help find him, and I think she can do it. She traced your phone, and that’s how we found you.”
Layla nodded numbly, flooded with relief that she was no longer going it alone. Mina started going through the men’s things on the hood of their car, first removing the ammunition clips from their guns. “Thank you for helping,” Layla told her.
“You’re welcome,” she nodded curtly, holding up a couple of cell phones. “Let’s see who they’ve been in contact with.” She scooped everything up and walked past them to return to her car.
Ramon took Layla’s hands in his, his voice earnest, “You can trust me. You should have given me a chance. You should have told me what happened.”
She remembered how she had manipulated him in the hospital and hung her head, ashamed to look him in the eye. “I’m sorry,” she squeaked out in a tiny voice. “I was trying to do what was best for everyone. Don’t hate me.”
He cradled her face with both hands, lifting it towards his. “You stupid… stupid… stupid… girl,” he said, peppering her face with kisses between his words. “Don’t you know that I’d do anything for you?”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I was scared.”
“To tell me?”
“No … About what happened. About what else they were going to do.”
Ramon was exasperated, pulling back to look her in the eyes. “You were going to trade yourself for them!”
There was pain in her voice when she tried to explain. “Ramon, I had to try. They cut Michael’s finger off. I saw them do it.”
“Oh no,” he had a sudden flash of insight.
“I had to,” she repeated. “They said–”
Ramon had made sacrifices for his family, but nothing like what Layla was prepared to do. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and kissed the top of her head. He looked over at Mina, sitting in her car and typing away on her laptop, telling Layla, “Don’t worry. Mina will track them down.”
Layla nodded, but she pulled away from him to wipe her eyes, sucking in a deep shuddering breath. She walked over to where the bound men were sitting, crouching down beside them. She studied them for a moment, finally picking one. She took hi
s sunglasses off and gazed deeply into his eyes.
“Where is my brother?” she asked, her voice dripping with menace.
His eyes rolled away from hers in fear, and he choked out, “I dunno.”
“I think you do,” Layla replied, redoubling her efforts. “And you’re going to tell me right now … aren’t you?”
Ramon waved Mina over, and she stopped what she was doing to come closer and watch Layla in action.
The man looked back into her mismatched eyes and started shaking in terror. He cringed backwards into his partner, his whole face quivering like a mass of jello. He started to talk, words spilling out between sobs.
His fellow prisoner scolded him, “What the hell are you doing Tony? You don’t need to tell her nothing!”
“But you do Tony, don’t you? You need to tell me everything,” Layla said with a soothing smile.
Them man continued talking, blubbering like a frightened baby in between telling them all about the safe house. He explained how Cali and Michael were locked away in a basement, and how he had been ordered to bring her there to join them.
Mina gasped in amazement, and when her eyes met Ramon’s he raised his eyebrows and nodded.
“Shut up!” Tony’s partner in crime screamed. “Frankie’s gonna kill both of us for this!” Mina rushed to her car, returning with a roll of duct tape. She tore off a strip, kneeling opposite the yelling man. “I want my lawyer!” he screamed into her face. “This is police brutal–” His words were cut short when she slapped the tape across his mouth.
Layla kept up her interrogation, squeezing every ounce of information she could out of the terrified man. By the time she rose to her feet, she had detailed directions to the cabin in the woods. She tucked in her blouse and smoothed her skirt, standing up straight with her shoulders drawn back.
“C’mon. Let’s go get them,” she said.
The Redcastle Redemption (The Athena Effect) Page 8