by Violet North
A thrill of excitement rushed through her when she saw Monroe Manufacturing below her. The feeling was followed fast by disappointment. The entire back side of the complex was surrounded by a tall, solid, gray fence. Carly could see the top of the building over it but not much else. The fence was between Monroe Manufacturing and the Cross River. Carly narrowed her eyes. Well, that might be that, then. They couldn’t dump things into the river if they didn’t have access to it.
She slid down the tree at her back until her rear end hit the ground. There would be no front-page story after all. No byline. No impressing Donovan with her ability to take care of herself.
Maybe she should stop fighting to keep this job and just start looking for a different one. Find something at another paper where she didn’t have to look at Donovan every day, wanting him but not able to have him.
Carly was getting ready to haul herself up and climb back to the colonial’s backyard when a small movement caught her eye along the fence line. She fumbled for the binoculars around her neck, shoving the camera aside to get to them.
When Carly finally got the binoculars up to her eyes and focused in on the spot where she’d seen something move, her heart rate surged. A round opening had appeared near the bottom of the middle point of the fence. As she watched, a pipe just a hair smaller than the hole began to inch out, slowly moving forward until it was about three feet over the Cross River. Another few minutes went by and then liquid began to spew out of the pipe, hitting the water like jets from a hot tub.
Carly let out a tiny squeak and dropped the binoculars. She grabbed the tree in front of her and used it to help her up and then pulled the camera up. She took dozens of pictures of the fence, the pipe, and the liquid spewing into the river. Then she grabbed her cell phone and took more pictures and a video of what was happening.
She knew she had to get down there. These pictures weren’t worth anything if Carly couldn’t prove what was coming out of the pipe was a harmful chemical and that someone inside the grounds of Monroe Manufacturing was controlling its dump into the Cross.
She checked the messenger bag to make sure the bottles, safety gloves, and glasses she’d brought were in there and then studied the embankment. It was probably at least an eighth of a mile down to the river, and she was on the opposite side as the pipe. She’d be lucky to make it down without getting injured and then how would she get across the water? But there was no way Carly was giving up now. She remembered Stuart Monroe’s smug face as he told her nothing illegal was going on in his plant. Then a picture of Donovan’s face floated in front of her. She packed the camera and binoculars in her bag so they wouldn’t bang on her chest while she climbed down the ravine and left the safety of the twin trees.
Carly tried to pick a good line down the slope. Her plan was to use trees every few feet to give her something to grab and slow her descent. It worked at first, but near the bank of the river, the trees thinned to the point that they weren’t helping her anymore. She had to sit down and slide the last twenty feet until the ground evened out on the banks of the Cross.
She got up, wiped her pants off, and checked several scrapes on her hands and arms. She hoped the camera had made it unscathed. She didn’t want to have to replace it for her dad—it would take at least two months’ salary, and then she’d have to live with her parents for an extra two months.
The river wasn’t too wide, but it was moving fast enough and was deep enough to make wading across it impossible. Carly walked up and down the river a bit in both directions looking for some big rocks she could use to help her get across but the only ones she saw were too far apart and too low in the water for safety.
This plan definitely had not worked out. Carly took closer pictures of the pipe and the liquid coming out of it. She almost growled in frustration that she couldn’t get a sample.
There was no way she could climb the ridge again to get back to her car, so Carly started walking east. She hoped to find a shallower angle up the hill at some point, but what she found was even better—a way across the river. A small log spanned the distance between the banks about thirty yards from where Carly had come down the hill. It was wedged between rocks, and she’d have to leap the last couple feet on the opposite side, but it looked doable.
Carly didn’t give much thought before she started over. All that gymnastics as a kid paid off—it was as though she was on the balance beam again. Except this balance beam was slippery and Carly might die if she fell. Pushing that thought from her mind and focusing on taking one step at a time, she had to remind herself to keep breathing. She slipped a little once and cursed under her breath. Taking the last bit at a faster clip, she got near the end of the log and jumped.
Her feet barely made it to the bank. She landed on her right foot, and it immediately slid backward into the water. Carly threw herself forward onto her knees and scrambled up onto the dirt.
Her heart thundered. She ran her hands over her body, a little surprised to be alive. Then she shrugged the messenger bag off and got the gloves and sample bottles out. She climbed to her feet and hurried toward the pipe.
Carly heard the alarm when it went off behind the fence and knew she must have tripped a security device. She turned to run, but it was too late. Men came around both ends of the fence toward her. They had her cornered.
She put her best reporter face on but it slipped when she realized her press badge was in the car. Turning her back to the river, she watched both men approach. The one on her left was tall and thin with a shock of red hair peeking out from under his Jets cap. The other was shorter and meatier, with hands that looked as big as baseball mitts. He wore jeans and a flannel shirt, and his baseball cap was plain black.
“Hi, guys. How are you today?” Carly smiled brightly at the men.
“Better than you are, lady,” the big guy growled. “Come on.” He grabbed her arm, and Carly suddenly knew she was in trouble.
When she tried to wrench away, his hand kept its grip like it was made of rock. “What are you doing?” She tried to stop her voice from shaking and managed it but just barely.
“Taking you inside.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Carly said, still trying to get away. “If I’m trespassing or something, I’ll walk around front with you and wait while you call the police. But I’m not going in. Let me go.”
This time, the man didn’t reply. He simply began to walk back toward his end of the fence, pulling her along with him. The red-haired man followed along behind them. She knew somehow that these guys weren’t just going to take her inside and provide a snack and some coffee while they gave a lecture about trespassing and then let her go.
She was in danger.
Carly dug her heels into the soft riverbank ground and desperately tried to get away. “No!” she screamed. “I’m not going with you! Help!”
Pain exploded on the back of her head and everything went black.
Chapter 17
Carly opened her eyes and cursed. Her head felt like someone had tried to split it like kindling. For a second, she didn’t remember who that could have been, but then it all came back to her at once. It was that skinny red-haired guy by the river. She looked around carefully. Yep, there was the redhead—sitting on a chair staring at her with a completely bored look on his face.
Carly was in a chair too, but her arms were tied to it. She tried to move her legs and found they were bound by rope to the chair.
Dammit! How had she gotten herself into this? Carly felt a surge of regret. She hadn’t told anyone where she was going. No one knew anything about her trip to Monroe Manufacturing. What was wrong with her? She hadn’t even followed the basic rules of journalist safety and made her whereabouts known to someone.
“She’s awake.” The redhead still looked as bored as could be, and Carly felt irrationally strong anger about that.
The sound of movement came from behind her and then the other guy, the one with the ham hands, wandered into her peripheral vision. “I’ll call t
he boss,” he said.
These guys sounded like they belonged in a mafia movie, not an upholstery manufacturing plant in a medium-sized town.
“Why am I tied up?” Carly asked. “This is kidnapping. You know that, right?”
Redheaded Guy smirked, and Ham Hands said, “We’re not really sticklers for the law around here.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Well, my editor knows where I am, so he’s going to start looking for me when I don’t show back up at the paper when I’m supposed to. He really is a stickler—especially when it comes to his reporters’ safety.
“He didn’t care much about the last one he lost.” Carly was so surprised to hear Redheaded Guy speak that it took a second for his words to reach her brain. “What did you say?”
Ham Hands kicked Redheaded Guy’s boot with his own and gave him a warning look, but RG just scoffed. “You really think she’s gonna make it outta here to talk? Last one didn’t, and I bet the boss will want this one to get the same treatment.”
Carly had never felt such terror. These guys were saying they’d already killed a reporter and she was next. Wait, didn’t Jessica say something about a missing reporter? Yes! Someone named Samantha, whose cubicle was next to Carly’s. She must be who RG and HH were talking about. She swallowed hard and fought the urge to cry. If she was going to die, Carly wasn’t going to give these goons the satisfaction of seeing her weep.
The heavy door creaked, and Stuart Monroe stalked in. His face was clouded with fury. He stopped a foot in front of Carly and glared down at her. She tried to meet his gaze without flinching. It took everything she had. Maybe she could still get out of this by acting like she didn’t know anything.
“What’s going on?” Her voice quivered intentionally.
Stuart spoke like a ventriloquist, hardly moving his mouth. “I was going to ask you that. Didn’t I tell you there was no story here and you should go away?”
“I did. Go away, I mean. I don’t understand what’s going on.”
Monroe glanced at the goons. HH spoke. “She was around back. The pipe was running, and she had a camera.”
Carly knit her brows together. “Pipe? I don’t know about a pipe. I . . .” She let her eyes cloud over and lose focus. “I don’t remember anything.”
“Pete hit her pretty hard,” HH said.
Monroe sighed. “We don’t have a choice now. She’ll have to be dealt with. Handle it.”
“No!” Carly tried to leap out of the chair, but the bonds held tight.
Monroe ignored her, crossing the room to the door. Before he could open it, RG spoke. “Her car’s up in Pine Hills somewhere.”
The plant’s owner didn’t slow down or turn around. “Get it out of there.”
The heavy door clanged into place behind Monroe, and Carly trembled in her chair. They were going to kill her. She thought about Penny, her parents, her brother, and what a short life she’d had. Strong regret flooded through her. Carly had been stupid to come here without backup, but she didn’t deserve to die for one less than brilliant action.
“Where’d you put her stuff?”
RG stood up. “In my locker.”
“Go get it. Her car keys are probably in there. We can leave her belongings in the car when we decide where to put it.”
RG nodded and then jerked his head toward Carly. “Where we gonna put her?”
HH regarded her with hooded eyes. “Same place we put the other one, I guess.”
“That swamp out west of 49? Okay. I’ll get her stuff. You get the towels and shovel.”
The two men left the room, and Carly frantically tugged on her bindings. It would probably only be a few minutes before they came back, and getting loose wasn’t likely, but she couldn’t sit there and not try.
When the door opened again, her heart sank. That was way faster than she expected. Her time was up, and she was going to die.
But it wasn’t either of the goons who slipped in through the open door.
It was Donovan.
He crossed over to her and pulled out a pocket knife, slicing the ropes at her hands and feet. “Come on,” he said. “The cops will be here any minute. We should try to make our way toward them.”
Carly stood, but her legs wouldn’t hold her. She crashed down to the floor in a heap. The faint sound of sirens floated into the room.
Donovan sprinted to the door and locked it and then crossed back to Carly, sinking down to the floor. “Maybe we’ll just stay here and let the cops find us,” he said gently, pulling her into his arms.
He kissed the top of her head, and the relief at realizing she was alive and going to stay that flowed through her stronger and faster than the river she’d crossed earlier. Carly couldn’t hold tears back anymore. She wept in Donovan’s arms while he rocked her on the cold cement floor.
Chapter 18
Carly thought it was a shame the Newton Weekly Herald was an online only publication. It meant she couldn’t hold the paper with her story on the front page in her hands. She shrugged off the feeling and grinned at the computer screen in front of her. Her own smiling face with her name typed below it looked back at her, next to the title: Seven Arrested as Pollution and Murder Charges Brought Against Monroe Manufacturing Company. This was much better, she decided. It was digital, which meant it wouldn’t fade, yellow, and crumble into oblivion over time. Her first front page story about real bad guys would survive into perpetuity.
She felt something wet on her hand and smiled. “Hi, Gus,” she said, turning in her chair so she could snuggle the dog better.
“He’s glad you’re here.”
Carly glanced at Donovan, who stood leaning against the door frame. “I’m glad I’m here too,” she said. “Both in the sense of being at your apartment and also of being alive.”
Donovan grinned.
For about the hundredth time in the past two days, Carly felt a wave of thankfulness over how things had worked out. “I’m still not clear on everything from the other day,” she said as Donovan took a seat on a sofa across from where Carly sat. “It’s been so busy since it happened. Between all the interviews at the police station, my family and Penny wanting to see me, and writing the story, I haven’t had much time to get the scoop from you.”
Donovan nodded. “It has been pretty nuts. The scoop is that I wanted to talk to you after the story meeting that day. I’d been thinking about things and wanted to tell you I thought it would be better if you went to work at a different place. I was going to offer to get you in contact with the editor over at the Sioux Rivers paper. I followed you to the lobby, and when it was clear you were leaving, I jumped in my car and tailed you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, exactly. Since we lost Samantha, I’ve been on edge about all my reporters but especially you.” Donovan looked down at his hands. “It’s part of why I wasn’t giving you any real stories. I was a little afraid that Samantha had gotten into something with her reporting and it could happen to you too.”
Carly nodded. “Turned out you were right about that.” She’d been able to tell the police what Monroe’s goons had said about the whereabouts of Samantha’s body, and they’d found her the next day. RG, HH, and Stuart Monroe would most likely all be going to prison for a very long time.
“So, you followed me out to Pine Hills.”
“Yeah. I had to hang back once you parked so you wouldn’t see me and then try to catch up to keep you in sight. I’m lucky I happened to see you disappear down the side of that house or I would’ve lost you there.” His voice thickened, and Carly knew he was thinking about how, if he had lost sight of her at that point, she wouldn’t be alive now.
“I saw those guys hit you and take you into the plant,” he said. “I called the police and scrambled down the hill, over the river, and down to the fence line, but I couldn’t figure out how to get in at first.”
Carly’s eyes narrowed. “I tripped an alarm just walking toward that pipe they had out over the river. How did
you get inside the plant?”
“Larry and Moe left the doors unlocked behind them.”
Carly giggled at Donovan’s reference to Stuart Monroe’s two stooges.
“They were so involved in carrying you and making sure they had your bag and everything that, when they went in the entrance in the fence and then into the plant, they didn’t lock the doors behind them. I just followed a few minutes later. Then I waited around a corner in the hallway until they left you in the room alone.”
Carly moved over to sit by Donovan, and he put his arm around her. She pulled her feet up onto the couch and curled into his side. He rested his cheek on her head.
They were silent for a few minutes and then Carly couldn’t hold back anymore. “So, are we a thing?”
She felt him smile. “Yeah. We are.”
“What about waiting until you’re thirty to find someone?”
He shrugged, making her head move. “Screw it.”
Carly climbed onto his lap and felt his hardness. She leaned in to kiss him, and he responded by running his hands up and down her back. After a few minutes, he stood, keeping her in his arms, and carried her into his bedroom. He pulled her clothes off quickly and was inside her faster than she’d thought possible. They made love slowly, exploring each other thoroughly, and when she cried out his name, he called hers too.
They collapsed onto the sheets together, panting. When he’d caught his breath, Donovan got up on an elbow to look at her. “It won’t be the same as our ocean fling,” he said. “There will be strings attached. Actually, more like ropes. Nice, thick ones that keep you safely beside me. You’re too stubborn and persistent to keep yourself out of danger.”
Carly opened her mouth to protest, but his hand had found its way in between her legs. She was shocked to find her body responding to him again so quickly. The last thing that raced through her mind before coherent thought wasn’t possible anymore was that she would be happy for life dodging danger with and making love to this man. As her hips rose to meet him, Carly pulled Donovan down and whispered in his ear, “I’m all yours. Ropes and all.”