by Laura Scott
No, not talking. Praying.
“Heavenly Father, we thank You for keeping us safe in Your loving arms. Please continue to give us Your strength and guidance, Lord, as we seek shelter from the storm. Amen.”
Cody’s young voice echoed, “Amen.”
Humbled, he finished rifling through Rafe’s things with a renewed sense of purpose. They could do this. After all, God was watching over Shelby and Cody.
And maybe, even though he hadn’t prayed or stepped inside anything resembling a church in years, God was watching over him, too.
Alex climbed back into the Jeep with his loot of supplies. He knew Shelby had doubts about the wisdom of leaving the vehicle.
She phrased her next words carefully. “Won’t it be better to stay here, until we’re rescued?”
“We don’t want just anyone to find us,” he answered, with a meaningful glance at Cody. Her eyes widened when she absorbed his hidden meaning. “Don’t worry,” he interjected when she opened her mouth. “We won’t have to hike too far. As soon as we’re safely hidden, I’ll get in touch with Rafe.”
“Cody is too young to hike,” she protested.
“I’m going to make a sling, like this, and carry Cody against my chest. Rafe has a survival blanket which helps contain body heat. With the survival blanket and sharing my body heat, he’ll be as snug as a bug in a rug.”
He was encouraged when she forced a smile and nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
Considering it was the only plan he had at the moment, he didn’t respond. Hiking through the snow while carrying Cody’s additional weight would not be easy. He’d made the sling out of the nylon tent, but Shelby would have to carry a pack of supplies, too. When he handed her the gear, she didn’t voice a single complaint.
Soon they were ready to go.
Outside, he scanned the area, searching for any sign that the driver of the black truck was making his way to find them. But the swirling snow had a negative impact on the visibility and the only sound he could hear was the whistling wind.
As much as he would have preferred taking the easy route using gravity to head farther down the ravine, he forced himself to take a parallel path from the Jeep, going back in the direction from which they’d come.
He wasn’t crazy, he simply hoped to buy a little time, in case his worst fears were correct and the driver was brave enough or foolish enough to search for them. With any luck, by the time the guy found the Jeep, partially hidden in the evergreen trees, the wind would have obliterated their tracks in the snow. The driver would assume that since they had Cody, they’d head down the ravine, continuing north.
It wasn’t a perfect plan, but the best he could drum up at the moment.
As if sensing the seriousness of the situation, Cody kept quiet in his makeshift sling. Alex tried to keep his gait as smooth as possible, clasping one arm securely around the boy to avoid jostling him too much. He led the way, but had insisted he and Shelby be tied together with rope found in the back of Rafe’s Jeep, since they could barely see a few feet in front of their faces.
He’d figured they’d only gone about a mile when the rope tugged sharply. He stopped and turned around to find Shelby on her hands and knees in the snow. He staggered toward her, a sense of hopelessness washing over him.
How much more could Shelby take? They’d barely gone a mile but in these adverse conditions, it seemed like ten. He was breathing hard and he was accustomed to physical labor. How much longer could they battle the storm? They needed shelter. Soon.
He helped Shelby to her feet, and clasped her hands, peering at her through the snow. “Are you all right?”
Her mouth trembled but she nodded. “Fine,” she whispered.
Encouraged, he gave her hands a gentle squeeze before letting go. He turned about to face the invisible path he’d chosen.
As he walked, his boots sinking as far as his knees in some places, portions of Shelby’s prayer echoed in his mind and he found himself repeating them over and over again.
Heavenly Father, show us the way. Give us Your strength and guidance. Keep us safe.
Shelby clenched her teeth together, trying to keep them from clattering. Alex was amazing. He’d managed to rig up the tent he’d used to carry Cody into a temporary shelter between two large fir trees. Then he’d spread out another tarp over the snow-covered ground to minimize the chill. She was grateful he’d kept the survival blanket around Cody. With the shelter overhead and the trees around them, they were safe from the snow and the wind, but she was still wet and cold.
He’d used his cell phone to contact Rafe. At first she’d been worried the storm would ruin their connection but texting worked perfectly. They’d arranged for Rafe to contact them again, once he was in the general location, so Alex could risk marking their location with a flare.
“Here, you hold Cody for a while,” he said in a low voice, noticing her shivers despite her attempts to hide the extent of her discomfort.
“No, I don’t want him to get chilled.” She stuck her icy hands under her armpits, shivering at the coldness. “He’ll be warmer with you.”
“He’ll be okay. He’s drier than we are and with that survival blanket around him, his body is literally radiating heat.” She was grateful Cody appeared to be sleeping, a natural sleep, not one from dangerous hypothermia. Alex glanced at her. “You’ll need to take him soon anyway, when Rafe arrives.”
“I’ll wait until then.” When the feeling in her fingers returned, she clasped her knees to her chest, hugging them close. She wanted to ask if Rafe would get here soon, but there was no point in asking the impossible. In this weather, it could easily take him hours.
She closed her eyes, giving in to her numbing exhaustion.
“Shelby,” Alex said, shaking her to get her attention. “Stay awake. Here, come over next to me, I have enough body heat for the both of us.”
Gratefully, she scooted closer, leaning against him. He wrapped his arm around her, hugging her close. He was right. She could already feel some of his warmth seeping through her jacket.
“Don’t go to sleep,” he commanded softly, still keeping his voice low so as not to disturb Cody. “Talk to me.”
“Talk? About what?”
“Anything.” He rubbed her arm, helping to warm the side of her that wasn’t pressed against his warmth. “Tell me about yourself. What made you decide to open a day care center?”
Since that was actually a fairly long story, she decided to give him the abbreviated version. “I majored in education in college with a minor in business. I taught fifth grade for a while, but it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. After Cody was born, it seemed natural to open a day care center.”
“Natural? What do you mean?”
“Teaching was all right, but I wanted more. I discovered I’m able to make a bigger impact in my children’s lives through the day care center.”
“I’m sure you’ve made a huge impact on Cody’s life,” Alex murmured. “He’s a great kid.”
“Thank you.” She smiled, finding it was easy to talk in the cozy darkness. If not for being so chilled, she’d be comfortable here with Alex. “Yes, I like to think I’m making a difference. Trina and Stephan were very busy managing the marina. I often kept Cody overnight in my apartment above the day care. I used to wonder why they didn’t spend more time with him, but now that I know Stephan knew he wasn’t Cody’s father, it makes sense. Although I still think Trina should have been more of a mother to Cody. I guess she was trying to make Stephan happy, too.”
“Stephan wasn’t—mean to him, was he?”
“No,” she hastily reassured him. “More like indifferent in a way. I just thought they were always too busy to make time for him.”
“So you really have been like a mother to him.” He paused and then added, “Didn’t you ever think about having a family of your own?”
“I’d love to have children some day.” She couldn’t hide the longing in her tone. She stared in
to the darkness, thinking it was funny how she wasn’t afraid to be with Alex like this. “But I guess you’ve probably realized I have issues. With men.”
“All men?” he probed gently. “Not just me?”
“All men.” She felt bad he’d taken her aversion personally. “Unfortunately, I was attacked twice. The first time was a near miss in college.” She had no idea why she was telling him all of this, when she normally preferred not to talk about the attacks at all.
“What do you mean by a near miss?” This time his tone was lined with steel. “Did some jerk hurt you? Did he—?”
“No.” She couldn’t let him think the worst, and tried to downplay what had happened, as if she hadn’t been completely terrorized at the time. “He didn’t want to take no for an answer, but I managed to get away, mostly unscathed.”
“Mostly unscathed.” There was a strange undertone in his voice, one she couldn’t quite pin down.
“A few bruises, nothing more.” She turned her head in the darkness, trying to see him, wishing she could read the expression in his eyes.
“Bruises.” There was a tense silence. “And the second time?”
“I was attacked down at the shipyard.”
She thought he tensed beside her, but when he didn’t say anything, she continued.
“A man came up behind me and grabbed me. I thought he was going to drag me into the warehouse, but he hit me over the head. I woke up in the hospital, and they said I was only physically attacked, nothing more.” At the time she’d feared the worst, that she’d been sexually assaulted while she was unconscious. But even without that violation, the two attacks had sometimes blurred into one awful nightmare where she’d been unable to get away. Her fear colored her interactions with every man she’d dealt with ever since.
There was another long pause. “Did they arrest the man who hit you?”
“No.” She’d often wondered if that was part of the reason she remained so haunted by the attacks. She’d sought solace in God, but there was still a part of her that was worried the man who’d attacked her would find her again.
“You reported the jerk in college, didn’t you?”
She couldn’t answer. Because she had, but the entire event had turned into a fiasco to the point where she was made to feel like the guilty one. After all, she’d agreed to meet him in his dorm room. And he had claimed that she led him on, then changed her mind. The bruises on her chest and arms hadn’t convinced the authorities to press charges.
That experience, along with the attack at the shipyard made her want to protect Cody from being a victim, too.
Alex’s phone beeped, indicating a new text message. He looked at the message, and then shut the phone.
“Rafe is on the road where we went over. Take Cody so I can set the flare.”
“All right.” She gladly took the burden of Cody’s weight. The boy roused a bit with the movement.
Alex pulled the flare out of his coat pocket and made his way to the edge of their enclosure.
“Shelby?” She glanced up at him. “We’re not finished with this conversation.”
Before she could respond, he disappeared into the cold.
She huddled with Cody, missing Alex’s warm presence. Somehow, being with him, the two of them caring for Cody, felt right. Sharing her secrets with Alex hadn’t been as difficult as she’d imagined.
She was starting to care for him.
And that thought scared her more than being caught in the middle of a snowstorm.
Alex didn’t completely relax until he’d gotten Shelby and Cody safely tucked into Kayla’s SUV which Rafe had brought to pick them up.
That had been a close call. Too close. If they hadn’t had Rafe’s Jeep, complete with the camping supplies in the back, there was a very good chance they would have died from hypothermia exposure before Rafe had been able to rescue them.
Had that been the truck driver’s plan?
Alex had to believe it was. He’d given Rafe all the details leading up to their crash and Rafe agreed that, somehow, the smoker who’d been watching outside the bed-and-breakfast had followed them.
The roads were still in bad shape, so it took them longer than planned to reach the small motel, located in the middle of a dinky town that was nothing but a speck on most road maps.
“I’ll order something to eat,” Alex said, after they’d secured two connecting rooms. “At least there’s a small café attached, or we’d really be in trouble.”
Shelby nodded, looking relieved to have decent living quarters after the time they’d spent in a makeshift tent. He guessed she was still chilled when she’d immediately crossed the room to crank up the heat.
“Keep the connecting door unlocked, would you?” he asked. “Rafe and I will be right next door. We’ll let you know when the pizza arrives.”
“Sure,” she said with an exhausted smile.
“Maybe we should take shifts staying on guard tonight,” Rafe suggested in a low tone after they’d left Shelby and Cody alone. “Just in case.”
“You’re probably right, although I don’t see how we could have been followed,” Alex said with a sigh. “There wasn’t another soul behind us once we got off the main highway. This town isn’t exactly a hot spot.”
“I know, but I still don’t like it that you were followed at all,” Rafe said with a scowl.
He didn’t like it, either. “You arranged to have Shelby’s car returned to Green Bay?”
Rafe nodded. “Everything worked out fine. Two friends of mine picked up Shelby’s car. Kayla, Brianna and Ellen are safe at the resort. I was heading back to Green Bay myself when you called.”
“I’m going to get cleaned up a bit,” Alex said. “By then the pizza should be here. If you want to take shifts, tonight, that’s fine with me.”
“I’ll take the first shift, since you look like you could use some sleep.”
Alex doubted he’d be able to sleep, no matter how exhausted he was. Those moments the black truck had rammed into them would be forever etched in his mind. What if something had happened to Cody? Or Shelby? The thought of either of them being injured, or worse, made him feel sick to his stomach. They’d only been part of his life for a couple of days, but suddenly he couldn’t imagine living without them.
He cleaned up in the bathroom and when he emerged ten minutes later, he could smell the enticing scent of pizza. Rafe and Shelby were speaking in low tones in the room next door.
When he stepped through the connecting door, he abruptly stopped, surprised to see Rafe, Shelby and Cody, all sitting with their heads bowed, as Rafe prayed.
“Dear Lord, thank You for providing us food to eat and shelter from the storm. We are grateful to have You watching over us and providing for us. Amen.”
Awkwardly, he stood and waited for them to finish before coming farther into the room. He and Rafe had been partners over the past few years while working this case, but it wasn’t as if they’d spent a lot of time together, considering he’d been deep undercover as a longshoreman. He’d seen the simple gold cross Rafe wore like a talisman around his neck, but Alex had figured it was more for decoration rather than as a true symbol of Rafe’s religious beliefs.
Obviously, he’d been wrong.
After they finished the pizza, Alex cleaned up the mess while Shelby tucked Cody into bed. Rafe went outside to do a perimeter check around the hotel area to make sure there was nothing suspicious. Alex stood in the entryway between their rooms, watching as Cody finished up his prayers.
He gestured Shelby over when she doused the lamp next to the beds, leaving just the bathroom light on.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Shelby, while Rafe is outside, I want to talk to you. It’s important.” Alex pulled up two chairs, so they could sit down.
“All right,” she agreed, her expression wary. “What is it?”
He took a deep breath, trying to think of a way to tell her. He wanted to say something sooner, when she�
��d bared her secrets about the attacks but Rafe’s arrival had interrupted them.
There was just no easy way to break the news. “I was there that night,” he finally said. “At the shipyard. When you were attacked. I happened to be coming toward the warehouse, when I heard something. When I turned to look, I saw the guy grab you.”
“You saw him? You can identify him?” The hope in her voice only made him feel worse.
“I wish I could, but his back was toward me and since he was dressed like every other longshoreman with a knit cap pulled over his head, I couldn’t tell who he was. But I created a diversion, which was when he hit you and left you there. Once he’d gotten away from you, I called the police. I went over to make sure you were okay, staying by your side until I heard the sirens. I left before the police arrived, so I wouldn’t risk blowing my cover.”
She gaped at him. “You didn’t tell the police what you saw?”
He slowly shook his head. “No. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t be seen cooperating with the police. Not when I was trying to behave like the kind of guy who wanted to be included in the action of the drug running operation.”
“I see.” She dropped her gaze to her hands, twisted tightly in her lap.
“Shelby, I’m so sorry. Please try to understand. If I’d had information that would help the police catch the guy, I would have left an anonymous tip. But I didn’t see anything that would help me identify him.”
“I understand, really.” Shelby’s attempt at a smile was pitiful.
“Why did you go down to the warehouse that night?” he asked, puzzled. It had only been a fleeting moment in the middle of his case and he hadn’t immediately recognized Shelby as the woman who he’d helped back then.
“I was looking for Trina and my father said she was down at the warehouse.”
The warehouse where there were likely hidden drugs. Why would Russ Jacobson send Shelby to the shipyard where rough longshoremen hung out? He stared at her, trying to remember what she’d looked like back then. “You wore your hair shorter, didn’t you?”