by R. G. Ryan
The Joshua tree that provided cover was also blocking my view. For all I knew, Morgan could be moving toward me even now. Then again, he could be wounded.
Hell, he could be dead.
I had to find out.
As I slowly pushed myself up into a sitting position, I saw movement. Morgan had stood and was walking toward me. We made eye contact and he fired two shots, both missed badly.
I took aim and fired the DP once—Morgan went down.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Leaning with her back against a sturdy Joshua tree, Cassie was nearly overcome by the pain in her foot. The call to Jake had provided an infusion of hope, but she knew that her situation was far from hopeful.
“What does Jake want us to do?” Eddie asked.
“To stay right where we are. It’s a long story, but he’s close by.”
“How close?”
“Not sure exactly, but he says the FBI can get a fix on our SatPhone and when they do he’ll be able to come find us.”
Eddie was suddenly terrified.
“That’s a horrible idea. We can’t just stay put. Paul will find us.”
“He won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Jake has him.”
Eddie’s eyes went wide.
“What?”
“Like I said, it’s a long story and I don’t even know how it happened, but Jake got him.”
“Do we dare believe that?”
Cassie said, “I know my uncle. So, yes…we can.”
“Still, I don’t like being where we are. It feels too…I don’t know, exposed I guess. Hang on.”
Eddie stood and walked a little ways to where the terrain was broken by a small mound. Climbing to the top, she turned in a complete circle trying to spot anything that looked hopeful.
She shouted suddenly, “Cass, I thought I saw something before, but now I’m sure of it.”
Cassie stood painfully and limped over to where Eddie stood.
Following Eddie’s outstretched arm, she strained her eyes in the dim light and saw what appeared to be a structure about a quarter-mile or so away.
“What do you think?” Eddie asked.
“Hard to tell for sure from this distance, but I’m betting that it’s a small building of some sort. Maybe a ranger’s post, or an abandoned shack—it could be just about anything.”
“Don’t ask me why I feel this way, Cass, but I think we’ve got to get over to that…whatever it is.”
Cassie nodded her head slowly and said, “Okay. I’ll try, but I just don’t…”
“Cassie!”
Eddie was pointing toward a Joshua tree on their right. It wasn’t possible, but there, leaning against the side of the tree was a piece of wood shaped almost exactly like a cane. A little long, but useable. Cassie looked all around their position to find something that could have produced such a branch but saw nothing.
“I can’t believe it!” Eddie said in complete amazement.
Cassie hobbled over to the tree and picked up the branch. She put her weight on it, fearing at first that due to its obvious age it would break under the first strain, but it held and proved remarkably suitable for use as a walking stick. The little bit of weight she was able to take off her foot was just enough to enable her to walk without being in complete agony.
“Well, that’s much better,” she said after taking a few steps.
“Do you think that you can make it to that cabin?” Eddie inquired hopefully.
“Let’s give it a shot,” Cassie replied as she started off bravely in the direction of the structure.
Eddie watched Cassie walking slowly and painfully and yet filled with a powerful resolve. She admired her more in that moment than anyone she had ever known in her entire life.
“Eddie, I’ve been thinking,” Cassie called back over her shoulder.
“Uh-huh, and you’re pretty good at it.”
“Thanks, but I’m serious.” She paused and then continued, “I’ve been thinking about what’s going to happen, you know, when all this is over. I mean you obviously can’t go back to being—“
“A hooker?”
Cassie stopped and turned to face her.
“Well, I guess. But you don’t have to—“
“I appreciate the sentiment, Cass, I really do. But it’s not like I have a lot of options. See, when you are in the business of selling your body, there is really only a small window of opportunity before everything starts to sag. Eventually you wind up sweeping the floor at a fast-food place and wiping tables for people. I can’t do that! I have a very limited shelf-life left to me, and I have to get back to work or I’m not gonna…”
She hung her head as the tears came.
Compassion filled Cassie’s heart and she found herself stepping forward to envelop Eddie’s quivering body in a healing hug. For the first time in many years, she remembered that her mother had given hugs like this. She would always say to her, “Cassandra, sometimes people hurt so bad that you can’t really talk to them because their pain won’t allow them to hear you. Times like that you have to just hold them until they’re better.”
And in Cassie’s experience, she had been the best hugger of all time.
So, she held Eddie until she was better.
They stepped back from each other and Cassie said quickly, “Eddie, I want you to come and live with me and Muriel.”
The shock on Eddie’s face couldn’t have been more profound had she been told that her parents were British royalty.
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s very simple—I want you to come to San Diego and live with us.”
“But, what would I do? I don’t have a cent to my name. How could I afford to—“
“Forget about what you can and can’t afford. I’ll find something for you to do. I’m going to need an assistant, you know, because after Michael and I are married I’m going to take over a lot of his business stuff.”
“You mean that I could really come and live in San Diego with you and work with you and not have to go back on the street?” Eddie said incredulously.
“That’s exactly what I mean. You risked your life to save me back there—showed unbelievable courage and character. Our lives will never be the same after these experiences.”
Eddie peered intently into Cassie’s eyes as if to divine sincerity from pretense.
After a moment she said, “I believe you mean it. I really believe you mean it.”
“Of course I mean it, silly!” Cassie teased.
Eddie bowed her head, nodding silently. Vivid pictures flooded her mind—the father, brothers and mother who had abused and molested her every day of her life from the age of seven until she ran away at fifteen. The literally hundreds of men on the streets of Seattle who she had allowed to paw, pinch and maul her young flesh in return for a few dollars just so she could stay alive. The agonizingly bitter years spent with Paul Morgan filled with abuse and torture. Now, twenty-three going on seventy, she was hopeless, faithless and fearful. No matter how mightily she tried, the tapes of her past seemed set on an endless loop where each viewing renewed her great shame and sense of utter despair.
Abruptly she sat down hard on the desert floor, hugging her knees to her breasts and giving voice to a chilling wail. For those who have surrendered hope, the possibility of redemption is nonexistent. Therefore, to have hope suddenly thrust upon you is emotionally overwhelming as the mind seeks to defend against that which it deems invasive and maleficent.
Eddie found herself engaged in a fierce battle for survival—on the one side was the life she had come to accept as her destiny. On the other side was now the prospect of a life so beautiful she’d never even dared to dream of it. And yet, the longing was so achingly intense that she feared for her emotional survival.
“Eddie, what’s wrong?”
Cassie had observed some sort of emotional collapse happeni
ng over the previous sixty seconds or so but was powerless to stop it. Then as she gazed at her friend, who was now in a near fetal position, understanding suddenly broke upon her consciousness. She knew she had to leave her alone for the time being and allow the struggle to play out.
After a while the wailing ceased and Eddie began to unwind from her protective ball—slowly stretching her legs one at a time, then cat-like arching her back and rolling her neck side-to-side. Looking up at Cassie, who had stood silently by during the entire process, she gave a small almost embarrassed smile and stood carefully to her feet.
“Are you all right?” Cassie asked softly.
With clear eyes, resonant voice and a steady gaze Eddie said, “I am more ‘all right’ than I think I’ve ever been.”
Cassie scarcely recognized the young woman who stood in front of her. It was as if Eddie had undergone a metamorphosis and a new creature had emerged. Gone were the slumped shoulders. Gone the hesitation to look you in the eye. Gone the fallen countenance.
“Can you tell me what just happened here?” Cassie prompted.
Eddie allowed herself a moment’s hesitation to gather her thoughts, then she spoke.
“I’m not very good with words, but I’ll try.”
She walked a few paces over to stand once more on the mound from where she had earlier spotted the structure.
“See, I haven’t had much of a life and the life you proposed sounds so fantastic that I fear it. I fear it because I don’t understand it—I mean, really, it’s an expression of your love and kindness and…and, no one has ever loved me or shown any kindness to me before.” She turned back to face Cassie, a bitter smile playing around her mouth. “The men—animals! Grunting, stinking, slobbering animals! They took and never gave…not a single time. And as for Paul, well, I don’t really have to tell you about that.”
Cassie remained attentive and still, absorbing every word.
Eddie walked back and stopped a pace in front of her.
“I’ve learned one thing in my life—no one can steal your hope from you. But you can give it up. And I gave up hope the second time my father forced himself on me and I saw my mother standing outside my bedroom door watching…and then joining him. I was seven. Twenty-three years is a long time to live without hope. Then here you come offering me a chance at this fantastic life—a life filled with…hope.”
“I know, Eddie, I know. I felt your struggle, but I knew it was something you had to go through on your own.” Cassie paused. “So, what’s the verdict?”
Eddie nodded her head as a smile transformed her face.
“I hope we get out of this desert and I hope Paul Morgan receives as much pain as he forced on you and me.” The words were coming in a rush. “I hope you can see Michael before the sun comes up. I hope that I really can come and live with you in San Diego and work for Michael. I hope that my body can heal from…from all the horrible things I’ve allowed people to do to it.” She grew suddenly serious. “And…and I hope that there really is a God and that maybe, just maybe He can, you know, make it possible for me to…for me to, to have kids some day.” Eddie laughed. “Listen to me…I’m starting to sound like that last scene in The Shawshank Redemption.”
The adolescent affectations were gone and in their place was a remarkably articulate young woman filled with the light of promise. She seemed taller, older and more radiant.
“One of my favorite movies of all time,“ Cassie said, smiling a contented smile. “Come on, Ms. Madison, let’s go find that cabin.”
They had just started walking when the sound of gunshots split the night air causing them to drop involuntarily to the ground.
“Did Paul have a gun?” Cassie asked.
Eddie was shaking her head.
“Not that I know of.”
“Good! Then that means that Jake is firing at him.”
Eddie said, “Or, Paul somehow got hold of a gun and is shooting at Jake.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
Chapter Twenty-eight
“Jake! Jake, are you still with us? Talk to me, buddy.”
Gerald Redfern’s frantic voice came over my in-ear comm.
“I’m alive,” I groaned. “But far from okay.”
“What happened?”
“It’s complicated, but let’s just say that when I wasn’t paying attention Morgan beaned me in the back of my head with a rock and managed to get the Sig away from me.”
“You’re not shot, are you?”
“No, in fact I think I may have shot him with the DP.”
“You’re not sure?”
“No, I’m not. What I am sure of is that I have a concussion from that knock on the head and…”
I must have lost consciousness for a moment because I heard Redfern shouting, “Jake! Jake, are you there?”
I roused myself enough to respond.
“Yeah, I’m here, but I’m barely holding on and I don’t know if I can walk. My immediate problem is, I think Morgan is wounded, but I don’t know how seriously. He may be just laying low, waiting for me to make a move. I have some concealment and have him outgunned by a bunch. So, I think my best bet right now is to stay put and let this play out.”
“Okay…okay. So what can we do?” Redfern asked.
I was starting to fade, and I knew I had to finish up quickly.
“First of all, did you get Cassie’s location?”
I heard him sigh deeply.
“The simple answer is…no.”
“What? Why?”
“I couldn’t begin to tell you. William says that it could be any number of factors, but he’s not sure.”
I said, “Do you at least still have my position?”
“Affirmative. But the chopper is still about thirty minutes out and we’ve had no luck repairing the rotor on ours. I can send a couple of my guys overland to your position. At least you’d have some help with the wound and to hold off Morgan in case he‘s still a threat.”
My head was spinning and I could no longer hold a sitting position. I fell over onto my side feeling seriously worse than any time I could remember.
“Jake? You still with me?”
I tried to answer, but my speech was so slurred Redfern couldn’t understand what I was saying.
I heard him hollering, “Go get him! Go now!” Then, “Jake, I’m sending the guys. They’re young and fast and will be there soon. I need you to hang on, buddy. Just hang on.”
Or at least that’s what I thought he said. I couldn’t tell you for sure, because I passed out.
Chapter Twenty-nine
“What should we do?” Eddie asked.
Cassie listened intently.
“There it is again. It sounds like…two different guns.”
“How can you know that?”
“Because I shoot guns. And I know the difference between a pistol and a rifle.”
“Just by the sound?”
“Yeah, just by the sound.”
“Can you tell where it’s coming from?”
Cassie shook her head and replied after a few seconds, “No. The desert is weird like that. There are so many surfaces for sound to reflect off of. Everything tends to be directionless.”
“So, you’ve spent a lot of time in the desert too?”
“Actually, yeah, I have. Jake lives in Vegas, so he’s taken me on many excursions out into the desert to go shooting or just exploring.”
The silence returned, almost smothering in its heaviness.
Cassie finally said, “I think we should go to that structure. We’re going to need shelter regardless of what happens. And if the FBI is able to track the SatPhone, they’ll still be able to find us or at least tell Jake where we are.”
And with that, they stood and started walking…slowly, as much for caution as for Cassie’s impairment.
It took them a little more than thirty minutes to reach the struct
ure which, based on the paraphernalia left behind, appeared to be an abandoned mining cabin. There was just enough light from the moon to see that the food tins in the cupboards had brand names and were of a style that neither one recognized. From the tarpaper roof to the rough-hewn wood used for the siding and floor, everything about the place seemed to suggest age. A collection of tools piled carelessly in one corner would surely have yielded a handsome sum in an antique auction.
“Cass, these things are old!” Eddie observed as she examined an oil-burning miner’s light.
Cassie was fascinated by the rusty hand pump by the side of the sink as well as the tin plates and rustic eating utensils left lying right where their former owner had been in the act of washing them.
“Amazing!”
“It looks like whoever lived here just walked out right in the middle of dinner or something and never came back.”
Eddie blew the dust off a crudely formed table framed on two sides by equally crude benches. Two tin plates with attendant knives and forks were set with three blackened cooking pots between them. Whatever the occupants had been having for dinner still lingered in the form of mummified remains.
Against the sides of two of the four walls were cots upon which rotted bedding was still piled. Visible under each were the cracked leather toes of work boots awaiting the next wearing by owners long since departed.
The moonlight seeped through the open door, highlighting an odd coloration on the floor around the entry where their feet had scuffed away some of the dust. Cassie bent down for a closer look, but couldn’t tell for sure what it was. A straw broom stood on its handle in the corner by the cupboards. Remarkably it was still functional. Sweeping the dust away from an area roughly four feet square revealed dark brown, nearly black stains clustered around the doorway.
“What do you make of that?” Eddie asked as she walked slowly over to stand by Cassie.
“Well, I’m not an expert in forensics, but I’d be willing to bet that those are blood stains.”