by B. J Daniels
“That sounds like thunder,” Thorn said. Another rumble, this one sounding closer. He sat up, taking most of the sheet with him.
She rolled over on her stomach into the hollow closest to him. “I like rain.”
“Not when our only transportation is a motorbike.” He made a good point. “We need to go get our vehicles from Geneva’s house.”
“Now?” JJ sat up, blinking. Through the curtains she could see that it was still dark outside. “What time is it?”
“Almost three in the morning.” They’d made love twice before falling asleep. He turned to her. “This is a good time to go. We shouldn’t run into anyone at the house.”
Another good point. Still, she didn’t want to leave the bed. She didn’t want to put on her clothes or have him put on his. She feared if she did, it would be like waking from a wonderful dream and it would start slipping away until she realized it hadn’t been real.
He turned and leaned over to kiss her. She smiled as she looked into those gray eyes. It had been real. No dream. She remembered every kiss, every touch, every lick of his tongue... She slid closer until they were touching again. She felt her nipples harden instantly.
“If you stay here like this...” he said, his voice suddenly hoarse with desire.
She laughed, knowing he was right. The storm could last for a couple of days and they would be stranded here in this cabin. Just the two of them. Right now she couldn’t imagine anything better.
But as the euphoria of their lovemaking fell away, she remembered what was at stake. “We should go.”
He nodded, and with obvious reluctance folded his legs over the side of the bed and rose. She followed, getting up and dressing quickly as thunder boomed as it drew closer and closer. They’d stolen a few hours to themselves, knowing it couldn’t last.
Pulling on their jackets, they went outside to the motorcycle. The night was quiet except for the ominous thunder in the distance. The bar had closed an hour ago, all the cars gone. The music had been turned off, along with most of the flashing neon. The summer breeze stirred the nearby pine boughs, the air carrying the promise of rain.
JJ felt nervous about returning to Geneva’s house as she swung a leg over the bike behind Thorn. That’s where this had all begun. The motor sounded especially loud in the quiet. As he pulled out onto the highway, there was no traffic. He hit the throttle, opening up the motor as off to the west, over the lake, lightning splintered the clouds, illuminating the night sky before it went black again. She could practically smell the rain as they raced toward Geneva’s house.
Fortunately, it wasn’t far from the place where they were staying. They encountered no other vehicles along the highway. The motorcycle raced up the mountain, going so fast that JJ felt like a child again, when she believed that if she ran the rain couldn’t catch her. Thorn slowed and pulled onto the road into the development as the first drops of rain began to fall.
She jumped off the bike the moment he stopped in front of Geneva’s three-car garage, and, hurrying to the front, she keyed in the passcode. The moment the door opened, she stepped in and hit the button that opened the first garage stall. The door began to rise. Standing under the overhang, she watched Thorn drive the motorcycle into the garage and quickly followed him.
Once inside, she closed the garage door. Her car was where she’d left it. Just like his truck. Geneva’s SUV also looked as if it hadn’t been moved. She wondered what had happened to her red sports car, if the police had impounded it or returned it to her grandfather. Which left the question of how Geneva was getting around. Or if she was.
From the back of his truck, Thorn pulled out a ramp, then drove his bike into the back, pulling the ramp up after it. After tying his bike in, he jumped down and closed the tailgate. His dark hair was wet from the rain, his gray eyes shiny as they settled on her. “You want me to follow you back to Miguel’s?”
She felt a cold chill that she knew could simply be the cool air of the garage coupled with the rain. She could hear it blowing against the garage doors. She’d always liked thunderstorms. She knew that wasn’t what had caused the chill. It felt as if someone had walked across her grave.
Hugging herself, she looked around the garage, knowing they were alone but still sensing something ill on the wind.
Thorn stepped to JJ and wrapped his arms around her. She rested her cheek against his chest, yearning for his earlier warmth. “Everything is going to be all right.” When she said nothing, he held her at arm’s length to meet her gaze. “You’re right, I can’t promise that. But I can promise that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe and to find Geneva and get her back to her grandfather. Or die trying.”
JJ smiled up at him, tears in her eyes. “It’s the die trying part that scares me.”
He chuckled. “Me too.” She knew that wasn’t true. She thought little frightened this man, and knew that he must have seen the worst in the military. Let alone losing his wife. She wondered which had been worse or if it had been a combination of the two.
“We should go. It doesn’t sound like it’s going to let up,” she said, and extracting herself from his arms started toward her car. But as she did, she saw something pass across his face. He reached for the hand that was holding her car keys and pulled them from her fingers. “Why don’t you go over and open the garage door while I get your car for you.”
She started to argue that it wasn’t necessary when she saw the set of his jaw. Her gaze shot to her car. Did he think someone had what...sabotaged it? Planted a bomb in it? She hadn’t moved.
He stepped to the back of her car in the first stall and motioned her to the farthest corner of the three-car garage.
“No,” she called to him. “Just leave it. I’ll go with you in your truck.” Her car wasn’t worth anything. The last thing she wanted was him to—
She heard her car door groan open. She hurried to open the garage door in front of her car; fear lodged her heart firmly in her throat. Her car engine turned over, ran rough, coughed and let out a belch of carbon monoxide as the garage door slid open to the rainy night.
A few moments later, Thorn appeared at the back of the SUV, walking toward her. He’d left her car running. She tried to breathe. Just the sight of him made her want to sob with gratitude that he’d been wrong. No one had touched her car. She felt foolish even thinking that someone would blow it up—especially if Geneva was involved in this. After all, this was her house. But then again, Thorn believed that the plane had been blown up with explosives.
“I’ll follow you,” he said as he walked past Geneva’s SUV to where his pickup was parked at the end of the three-car bay.
All she could do was nod and head for her car. As she climbed in, she clutched the steering wheel, trying to quit shaking. False alarm. And yet the fact that both of them had even considered that something had been done to her car made all this too real again.
She heard Gertrude’s engine start up and let out the breath she’d been holding before backing out and heading down the mountain in the pouring rain.
The thunderstorm had dropped like a dark cloak over them. Her wipers clacked back and forth, back and forth, as she tried to see through the driving rain. The narrow road, flanked by tall pines on each side, was steep and filled with sharp curves as it fell away off the mountainside.
JJ hadn’t realized how fast she was going. She’d been too busy trying to see the road ahead through the rain. It wasn’t until she started to brake that she realized she was going too fast. She touched her brakes. Nothing happened.
When she’d gotten into the car and backed out, her brakes had been fine.
But this time the pedal went clear to the floor. She pumped frantically, realizing that she was going too fast, the car out of control and with no way to stop.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE HEADLIGHTS OF the truck shone on JJ’s vehicle.
Thorn was sure she was having as much trouble as he was seeing through the driving rain. She hadn’t taken off in a hurry, but with growing concern, he could see her car pulling away from him.
With a shock, he realized something was wrong. He could see her fighting to keep the car on the road. His mind raced. JJ was wild and impetuous, but she wasn’t suicidal. Then suddenly he knew. He’d tried the brakes. They seemed fine, but he should have done a more thorough check under the car. He hadn’t seen any explosives or any sign that anyone had messed with the car.
But someone could have emptied out just enough brake fluid that it would go unnoticed—until the driver started off this mountain.
He saw his chance and, giving the old truck everything Gertrude had on a short straight stretch, he roared past her. Then he slowly applied his brakes as he saw her car coming up behind him way too fast. He gave the truck a little gas, but knew he couldn’t give it much. There was a curve coming up soon. He could get them both killed if he blew this.
Her car ran into the back of his truck, jarring him. He heard metal crunch even over the thunder booming overhead. He began to brake, knowing it was going to take a lot to get both of their rigs stopped without one of them losing control and ending up in the trees.
All he could hope was that JJ knew what he was trying to do and would keep her car pointed in the same direction as the truck. He could smell his brakes, and just prayed that they wouldn’t burn out before he reached the highway. If he had any hope of saving the two of them...
“Come on, Gertrude,” he said as he heard the tear of metal and the truck cab filled with the smell of burning rubber and brake pads. “You can do this, old girl. You can do this.” He knew he was telling himself more than the truck as he took a curve, looking back to make sure JJ was still with him.
Ahead, he glimpsed the dark strip of blacktop through the rain. They had to get stopped before that. If they didn’t, they could career across the highway and into the pines. Even with traffic light, there was also the chance a vehicle on the highway might hit them before they crashed into the pines on the other side. He wasn’t sure that even the pines would stop them. They could end up in the lake, if they survived crashing through the pines.
* * *
IT ALL HAPPENED so fast that JJ didn’t have time to think. One moment everything was fine. The next she was careening off the mountain. And then Thorn was passing her, getting his truck in front of her and trying to slow them both down. She cringed at the sound of rending metal, reminded of the plane crash, and thinking nothing could save her this time.
But she felt her car slow some, felt Thorn’s determination, as the air filled with the smell of his brakes burning out. Ahead she could see the two-lane blacktop and past that pines and eventually the lake. As they raced along the last part of the road, she could feel all of Thorn’s efforts finally working.
But they weren’t going to get stopped before they hit the pines on the opposite side of the highway. There was no way. Thorn seemed to put everything he and Gertrude had into stopping them. She had to do something.
Earlier, she’d thought about grabbing the emergency brake, but she’d been going way too fast. Now though, she thought she had no choice. She grabbed it, grimacing as her car began to fishtail. Ahead of her, Thorn crashed into the pines next to the road and stopped, his bike slamming into the cab. The front of her car seemed to come disconnected from the back of the truck, sliding to a stop in the middle of the highway.
Through the pouring rain she saw headlights headed right for her.
She realized that her car engine had died. She tried to start it. Nothing. She tried to get out of the car to flag the person down, but her door was jammed. She unhooked her seat belt after several wasted tries with fingers that trembled too hard to operate even the simple buckle.
As she started to climb over to the passenger side, her driver’s side door was jerked so hard, it broke loose on one side. Thorn dragged her out and pulled her through the rain over to the side of the road before running out into the highway to flag the approaching car.
JJ stood at the edge of the road. She was shaking so hard her teeth chattered from the rain, the fear, the relief. Tears burned her eyes. Thorn Grayson had saved her life yet again. She had to sit down, and sank into the wet grass at the edge of the road. Putting her head in her hands, she heard Thorn and the man who’d stopped.
And then the two men were pushing her car off the road and calling for a wrecker.
* * *
THORN THANKED HIS friend as Miguel dropped them off at their cabin.
“You can use my car,” he told them, and dropped the keys into the cup holder as they all got out. “I had a friend leave his pickup for me here at the bar.”
Thorn shook his hand and thanked him again as Miguel left in an older model truck. He felt bowled over by his friend’s thoughtfulness and help. He wondered how he could ever repay his generosity as he quickly ushered JJ into the cabin.
He was anxious to get them both into the shower even though their clothing had mostly dried and they were both warmer since the sun had come up on a beautiful summer day in the Flathead. The wrecker had taken their vehicles, but Thorn knew both were totaled. His bike might be salvageable but he had his doubts. He felt worse about JJ’s car, knowing her financial situation.
As he pushed open the cabin door, he was startled to see that they weren’t alone. The judge was sitting on the bed waiting for them. The older man rose as they entered the small cabin. Thorn had called him to tell him what had happened and let him know that they hadn’t called the police. Right now, there would be too many questions they couldn’t answer.
He hadn’t expected the judge to show up here, though. In truth, he hadn’t told WT where they were staying. But he realized it hadn’t taken all that much for the judge to figure it out. Thorn and Miguel had met when they’d shared a cell for a short time in their youth. Miguel had gotten out and enlisted in the army to avoid prison. Thorn had gone into the judge’s boot camp and later the Marines. They’d both avoided prison thanks to the judge, who pulled some strings for Miguel.
So of course the judge would know the bond the two men shared and would know Miguel would help Thorn when he was in trouble.
“I see you found us,” Thorn said. “This is JJ. Jenny Jo Foster. Judge W. T. Landusky.” She shook the judge’s hand. “As I told you on the phone—”
“That’s why I’m here,” WT said, cutting him off. “I don’t want either of you involved in this any further.” Thorn started to argue, but the judge didn’t give him a chance. “Going back into the mountains looking for the plane was one thing. It was dangerous enough. I don’t like the way this has escalated.”
“JJ, you should change out of your wet clothes,” Thorn said. “I know you’re still cold.”
She looked as if she had something to say but had decided to keep it to herself for the moment. She nodded, as if seeing that he wanted to be alone with the judge. “Nice meeting you,” she said to WT, and went into the bathroom.
“Nice looking young lady,” the judge said, then gave him a look that said he knew there was a lot more going on between them than searching for Geneva Davenport.
“Why don’t we take this outside?” Thorn said, afraid what the judge might say next. They stepped outside and closed the cabin door behind them.
“Let’s have a seat in my car,” WT suggested, and they walked over to where the judge had left it parked in the pines some distance from the cabin.
The moment they sat down, the judge said, “You have to stop this. For your sake. But especially for that young woman’s sake. I won’t have you risking her life anymore.”
“Her life is already at risk. Someone planned on her dying in that plane crash. If not that, the explosion. When that didn’t happen, they tampered with the brakes on her car. I don’t know who is behind this, but they’re using her.
”
“Geneva,” WT said. “We both know she has to be involved.”
Thorn nodded. “I agree. Or she’s a pawn. Either way, whoever is pulling the strings wants that ten-million-dollar ransom money very badly. I don’t think they are going to stop until they get it, no matter how many people get hurt or killed.”
“My point exactly.” The judge’s phone rang. He took his phone from his jacket pocket, looked at the screen and said, “I have to take this.” Then, “Hello.” He listened for a moment. “I’ll be right there.” Disconnecting, he turned to Thorn again. “That was Franklin Davenport. The kidnapper called again. They’ve set up a ransom drop for tonight.”
* * *
THE JUDGE WAS nothing like JJ had expected. For some reason she’d pictured him as short, stoop-shouldered, intelligent but withered with thick glasses. Judge W. T. Landusky, an attractive, distinguished athletic-looking man whose appearance belied his age, was a surprise.
JJ heard the two men leave. She stripped down and stepped into the shower. The warm water felt wonderful. She quickly washed her hair, still shaken from what had happened. Someone had tampered with her brake fluid? Anyone who knew that road off the mountain would know that she could have been killed. Whoever had done it...
Her heart ached. She didn’t want to believe it was Geneva. But then again, the woman didn’t know her. She was just some voice on the phone. Geneva knew nothing about her, while JJ had come to know the young woman. JJ was expendable.
She changed into dry clothing, growing more angry than afraid. Thorn was convinced that Geneva was behind all of this. That she had planned for the kidnappers and the woman they’d abducted from her house to die in the plane crash. So when JJ hadn’t, had Geneva tampered with her car?
What would a young woman like Geneva Davenport know about brake fluid, let alone how to empty out just enough that it would go unnoticed at first. Thorn had said there was no sign that it had been tampered with. JJ just couldn’t see the young woman under her car, being careful not to spill any brake fluid on the garage floor. No, someone else was involved.