Flee From Evil

by Connie Almony

  Cassandra adjusted the ear piece then untangled the cord connecting it to her phone. She needed to keep busy somehow. The phone’s ring shook her.

  “I’m here.” Her words barely made it through the clog in her throat.

  “Good.” The Voice slithered. “Just one more place to go.” Its musical quality made Cassandra think of a madman dressed in a clown’s suit.

  She cranked the engine back to life. “Where to?”

  “Get back on the road you came from. Take the first entrance on the left. It’s unmarked. No street name. But watch out,” he said as if he really cared for her safety. “It’s hidden by trees. You wouldn’t want to miss it.”

  Cassandra shivered. No, she wouldn’t.

  “Bad things could happen if you miss it.”

  Cassandra wouldn’t cry. She’d be strong for Sophie. Vince would get her. Sophie would be safe. Unfortunately Vince had taught her long ago that no matter how many nice words are used, reality doesn’t always follow.

  “There is a graveled section on the side of the road about a quarter mile in. Pull onto it. Fifty feet into the woods, there will be a tree with a rope tied around it. Drop the bag there.”

  Cassandra waited for more. It didn’t come, but he hadn’t hung up either. “That’s it?” If only it could be that easy. Drop the money, get her daughter back. “Then you’ll release Sophie?”

  “If everyone behaves.”

  But Cassandra already had not. “I want to talk to her.”

  “No.” It felt like a hard metal door had slammed.

  “If I don’t hear her voice, you don’t get your money.” Was this a bad move?

  He slung out a row of curses. Squeaks and thuds and rustling sounded. “Sophie,” Cassandra heard from the depths of the cell phone. “Your mummy wants to talk to you.”

  More rustling. “Mom.” Her voice squealed as if in pain. “They’re going to—”

  Crack!

  Cassandra jolted.

  “I’ll be at the tree. The money better be waiting.”

  “Don’t you hurt my girl.” Cassandra went rigid.

  “Now, why would I do that?”

  “If you do,” her throat closed, making her voice go deep, “I’ll hunt you down.”

  Silence. But no click. Cassandra waited for him to end the call.

  “Try and find me.”

  Cassandra collapsed against the wheel as the dial tone sounded in her ear.

  “Where now?” Lew’s voice pulled her from despair.

  “Hidden entrance to the left,” she said with as little movement from her face as possible.

  “Good.”

  She wanted to ask Lew, how in the world a hidden entrance could be a good thing, but knew not to use any unnecessary talk now. She’d have to trust in good.

  ~*~

  Lord, how many mosquitoes must I endure before this thing gets going? Vince swatted his cheek, then glanced to the man next to him, ever-present binoculars attached to his face. He jerked and before Vince could ask, Chen slapped a palm to Vince’s mouth. The seconds till Chen moved again ate through the only flesh not taken by bugs.

  A distant clap of a screen door. A man exited the cabin, got into an old red Corvette, and drove away.

  Chen’s intense expression shifted to Vince. “You better get her out of there.”

  “Wha—?”

  “Instructions are to kill her at the next call.”

  “How do you—?”

  “Read lips.” Chen reached for his bag. “Deaf as a kid. No time to chat.” He gestured toward the pack by Vince. “You know what to do?”

  “Saw the lock as soon as the guy comes out.”

  Chen’s nod was quick as he swung the back pack onto his shoulder and slunk away. Vince slid in the other direction, toward a path that would get him to the back door while affording a good view of anyone coming from the front.

  Adrenaline pumping relentlessly through every vessel of his limbs, he found his place, and waited some more. This must be what a racehorse feels in the gate. Could he take more pounding in his heart?

  He watched the still cabin, wondering what was happening inside. Was Sophie safe? Had she been harmed? He couldn’t imagine what horrors she must have gone through.

  An explosion rocked the woods. Vince ducked for cover. A cracking sounded as limbs and dirt rained everywhere. The cabin door opened and out came …

  Sky?

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Cassandra pulled into the gravel shoulder and parked. The summer day had long given way to night. “We’re here.” She mumbled for Lew.

  He grunted back.

  She stepped out of the vehicle and peered through the woods. She couldn’t see the tree with the rope, but grabbed the duffel from the back seat. Carefully, she scanned the area for human activity and found none. She tread through the woods, the earth and sticks crackling beneath her feet. An owl hooted. She flinched.

  “Oh God, please get me through this.” Her pounding pulse answered. “Save my Sophie.”

  Something fluttered through her hair. She screeched as she waved it away. How much more could she bear?

  Movement to the right. She swung her head around and focused.

  Nothing.

  Cassandra maneuvered farther into the thicket. Could she see the rope in this light? She wasn’t sure. Her feet moved her forward and her mind seemed to numb the images that threatened her anxious imagination. Why didn’t she bring a flashlight?

  There! The tree with the rope. She almost took off in a trot, but didn’t want to bump into the man who meant her daughter harm. She reached it, pivoted a three-sixty to see who might be with her, and dropped the bag.

  Was he there? Was he watching her right now? She saw nothing

  Taking a deep breath, Cassandra turned back the way she came. Halfway to the car, she heard the rustling of the bag. “Nice,” a voice said.

  She turned. “Where’s Sophie?”

  The hooded figure looked up from his crouch over the duffel with a flashlight. He put something over his mouth. “You’ll get her. Get in your car and drive home. I’ll call and tell you where to find her.”

  “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

  “You’ll have to trust me.”

  “Trust you?”

  “That’s all you have. Now, run along.” He flicked his fingers. “Or you’ll never see her again.”

  Cassandra swallowed hard, backed some, then swiveled.

  “Hey,” his natural voice yelled. “These are fake.”

  Hearing his footsteps closing in, she sprinted to the car. The passenger door flung opened, and Lew waved from the driver’s seat. “Get in!”

  ~*~

  Bullets pelted trees as Lew shifted and tore off, wheels spinning in the gravel. They passed a parked ’80s model Corvette. Lew saw the hooded figure in his rear-view climbing inside.

  “It’s ruined. He’ll kill Sophie.”

  Lew glanced again at the headlights now following them. “Not if he’s chasing us.”

  Cassandra swung around to confirm it. She gasped. “What if he calls the other guy to do it?”

  “Can’t hold a phone and steer where I’m gonna take him.” Lew decided to stay close enough to let the guy think he could catch them. That way he wouldn’t give up and make the call. Lew wound his way back to the main route and turned west. Only five miles to his favorite road. Lew almost chuckled. This was what Billy would call a “God-Thing”—being exactly where he needed to be right when he needed to be there.

  He checked the rear-view. The headlights were fading. Lew eased up on the gas, and the car behind closed in. Gunshots hit the hatchback. Lew cursed. A little too close. This was going to be tricky.

  One more mile past the Wawa convenience store and he’d make the turn.The lights behind ebbed and flowed, nearer-farther. Cassandra clutched the dash. Her lips moved continuously. Must be pleading to Billy’s God. Lew would take all the help he could get!

  The turn. Sc
reech. Rubber burned. He pulled the car through the tree-lined dirt road and slowed enough to make sure the other car followed. It did. Lew wove in and out, left and right. Fish-tailed a few times. The car behind him did the same.

  The large Aviator would be no match for the guy’s Corvette on a regular day. Lew’s smile broadened at the thought … ‘cause after he and the boys from the track souped this puppy up …

  This was no regular day!

  The straightaway. The pit.

  Should he chance it? An SUV maneuvered differently than the Camaro he usually took on this drive. Not low enough to the ground. He may not be able to keep it steady at the edge. They might roll. But if he could maintain control, he was certain Perkins could not.

  Cassandra’s murmured prayers seemed to intensify beside him. Lew even threw up a help me Jesus of his own. He decided to take a chance.

  Gunning the engine, Lew felt one with its roar. The headlights behind stretched, then closed again. Gunshots pinged off the Aviator. “Get down.”

  Cassandra folded over.

  “Here we go. You better hold on.”

  At the silence of shots, Cassandra peeked up, saw the pit shining in the moonlight, and cried out, “Lew, no!”

  “I’ve got it.” He told himself as much as her. Could this car hold the edge like his Camaro?

  Not usually.

  Her prayers were said at the top of her voice, as Lew spun the wheel, slid to the rim, then turned toward it to gain control. The heavier weight took him closer than he’d ever been before, but the wheels seemed to snag some rocks that halted momentum. The top-heavy car tilted in slow motion. Would they roll to the depths? Lew cursed.

  Cassandra’s cries to God were less coherent.

  A split second later, Lew felt a shift that told him where to turn the wheel. He punched the gas and sped from certain death.

  Cassandra sucked in a breath.

  Lew peeked behind them. The rear-view showed only darkness. Where were Perkins’ headlights? Was this good or bad? Lew didn’t know. He wanted the guy to follow, but didn’t want to get killed. Had Perkins run off the cliff? Lew was too busy keeping his own control to really notice.

  He backed into a treed-over, hidden side path then cut the lights.

  “What’s wrong?” Cassandra gulped air between words.

  “He’s not behind us anymore.”

  Her expression seemed to wobble with anxiety. “That’s a good thing, right?”

  Lew wasn’t sure. What if he was calling his friend? “Yeah, I guess.” He decided to take a minute and catch his breath too. He needed to be clear-headed just in case. It wasn’t just his life he carried in this car. It was Tibo’s mom’s. The kid couldn’t lose another parent.

  “I wonder what’s happening with Sophie.” Her face twisted.

  Lew tried not to think about it. He needed to get Cassandra home safe, and hope to meet her daughter there. “Well, I guess we better—”

  Zzzzzoom!

  The Corvette flashed by their hidden spot in a streak of red. Where was he going now? What took him so long to pass them? Had Perkins stopped to call his pal? They needed to get to the cabin. Billy’d told him where it was. Lew shifted into drive.

  “Where’re we going?”

  “From being the hunt-ed to the hunt-er.”

  ~*~

  Sky was part of this? It took everything Vince had in him not to rush the boy and break his every last bone. Vince ducked behind a bush and watched as Sky held the gun, pointed, scanning the area. Vince unzipped his back pack and found the saw. He didn’t have much time to get Sophie.

  Another explosion split the night. Sky ran from view. Vince sawed and sawed, and finally the metal broke open. He flung the doors wide, dropped through the slanted entrance, and closed them again. He didn’t want a red flag waving that he’d just entered.

  The room was quiet except for the gunshots echoing above. Had Sky found Chen?

  “Sophie?”

  A noise shuffled in the dark. “Pastor Vince?” Her voice was worn, questioning.

  He ran to the bed, where she lay bound and blindfolded with duct tape. “Sophie, I’m here. We’re gonna get you out.” He pulled her up, extricated the knife from his pack, and split open the tape at her feet.

  A rush of air sprung from her at the freedom.

  The tape around her head would be tricky. He didn’t want to scar her face, but it was too tight for the knife to enter easily. He lifted it in the back where her hair kept it loose, and wheedled the blade to knick one notch at a time. Hunks of her hair fell to the floor. Small casualties. Finally, the tape was completely severed. Vince pulled it from the back.

  She flinched and gritted her teeth.

  “Sorry.”

  “Just get it off!”

  Vince yanked it from the skin around her face, and winced at the red swellings the adhesive left behind.

  Sophie blinked and squinted and blinked some more. She wiggled the hands in cuffs behind her. “Sky has the key,” answering Vince’s next question.

  Vince thought about the saw in his pack then wondered about the lock-picking tools he didn’t know how to use. No time. He yanked her forward. “We’ll take care of that later. Let’s go.”

  Sophie staggered on wobbly legs, viewing through continually blinking eyes as Vince pulled her to the nearest exit.

  Another explosion. Closer this time. Both flinched at the loud bang. A crackling rent the air, and ended with a wham as the cellar doors bounced.

  What was that? He looked to his exit point and feared the worst. Pulling Sophie, he tried the doors. They wouldn’t budge. Something must have fallen on them.

  Sophie scanned up the wooden steps. “Our only hope.”

  But if that kid came back, all hope was lost.

  ~*~

  Kevin cursed and floored the Corvette toward the cabin. Where had that Aviator gone? One minute it had cleared a corner in the trees. The next it had just disappeared, and Kevin had almost flown into a quarry.

  SUVs just weren’t that fast.

  He’d finally found his way out of the maze of forest and onto the main road. He looked around. No SUVs in sight. He cursed again.

  Now, he’d have to start over. Make new demands. Higher this time. But did they know it was him? They could identify his car. Not good. He’d have to take out witnesses. Maybe work the grandparents instead.

  He glanced at the duffel beside him, knowing some of those bills were real. But how many? Did Cassandra really not care about her daughter enough to take such a chance? Figures. She’d rather have her designer shoes than family. Probably bumped off the girl’s old man herself.

  Kevin chuckled to himself. That’s what he’d do.

  He pulled onto I-70 East. Only two exits to get to his place. Boy, this road was busy for a late-summer’s eve. Headlights neared and passed, and flew across the asphalt. Kevin didn’t feel like speeding to his destination. He’d had enough of that for one night. The girl wasn’t going anywhere.

  The rural route stretched out ahead from the exit. Not as highly traveled. Only one pair of headlights rolled a ways behind, and after a few miles, another came in the other direction. He followed the familiar markings to his hunting cabin. A left here. A right there. He pulled into the dirt path that led to the place, but something was wrong. He slowed, feeling the tires crunch the branches that littered the way. It looked like a windstorm had ripped through and uprooted trees.

  He hadn’t recalled any wind.

  Kevin rolled his Corvette farther down the path, watching the house for any movement inside. A flicker. The front door opened. Two people exited.

  That Sophie kid!

  A guy in camouflage spied his car, and pulled her around the building. Kevin grabbed his gun from the passenger seat and opened his door. This would not end here. He’d kill the man and find another place to keep the girl till he got what he wanted. Cassandra would not win.

  Ever!

  He exited the car then sprinted afte
r them down a wide path. Where did they think they were going? He knew these woods better than anyone. Even in the dark of night. He aimed his gun toward the movement and shot. Dirt kicked up in the moonlight. A roaring engine rumbled from the road. A crackling sounded in the trees. Kevin turned to find them and saw Sophie fall. Camo-guy yanked her up.

  Kevin narrowed his gaze down the gun, Camo-guy in his site. Squeeze the trig—

  Wham!

  ~*~

  It was gruesome even if the man was pure evil. If Cassandra didn’t have to witness it, she’d have preferred not to … but she did. Kevin Perkins pinned to a tree by her SUV, eyes wide and vacant before he slumped onto her hood. And yet she knew it was the only way they had to stop him from taking that shot.

  Lew didn’t seem to mind the spectacle.

  Cassandra opened the car door with shaky limbs. Her daughter was only feet away and nearing, Vince holding her so she wouldn’t stumble over the brush. Cassandra bolted toward the girl and held her frail body until the feel of her sunk deep into Cassandra’s soul.

  She brushed at her daughter’s bangs. “Where’s the other guy?”

  Sophie’s face had swollen welts surrounding her eyes. “You mean Sky?”

  “Sky’s involved?”

  Sophie’s lips quivered. Her voice broken. “Yes.”

  “Lew, take Sophie out of here.” Would this ever be done? “Vince and I will look for Sky.”

  Vince didn’t protest. Just helped to load her daughter into the car. Her hands still bound behind her. Vince took a hack-saw from his pack. “Get her far from here and break her free from the cuffs as soon as you can.”

  Lew nodded, pulled the vehicle back from the tree, letting the empty shell of Perkin’s body fall to the earth, then drove away.

  Cassandra shivered at the corpse that had once held the spirit of a man. What would he have been like had he known the Savior? She shivered then turned to Vince who’s appearance filled her with strength. He took her hand then led her through the path to the cabin while surveying the area.

  “Where’s Chen?” Every crackle of leaves set Cassandra’s nerves on edge.