by Nicole Fox
By the time they got to the car, Opal had recovered. “Maybe we can play Candy Land again. Last time, I won!”
“That sounds great.” Vanessa threw the bags in beside Opal and jumped into the front seat, then jammed her key in and took off.
They weren’t off their street yet when she saw the black van pull out behind her. She watched her mirrors, trying desperately to pay attention to what Opal was saying so that she wouldn’t upset her.
“I’m sure you can play lots of games,” she said. Was there a way she could lose this van? How in the world did someone pull that off? In the movies, it involved lots of fast turns and crazy antics. Far too dangerous with a child in the backseat. Especially when that child didn’t know they were on the run.
She glanced down as her phone buzzed. It was Mari responding to the text she had sent immediately after hanging up with Jeremy. She’d simply responded with, “I have some,” which was the plan. That response to Vanessa’s initial text of “Orange juice?” would make sense if someone read it, but no one would know what it meant.
Now that she knew Mari was ready, she could focus on the more immediate problem, if there was one more pressing than another in this horrible situation. She looked in her rearview mirror and saw the van right behind her.
She tried to think and make a plan. She stopped at the next stoplight and watched. She had her left turn signal on and watched the traffic coming the opposite direction. She waited for the right setup, then, when there was a car close enough, she stomped on the gas and turned right, pulling out in front of an oncoming vehicle. The car honked at her, but she smiled.
The van couldn’t possibly get out behind her. She made a fast turn at the next road available, then turned several more times until even she didn’t know where she was. She popped in Mari’s address on her phone and took the directions to get there, checking constantly for the van to reappear.
When she pulled up to Mari’s, she backed in. Maybe if her license plate was hidden, it would be less obvious that this black Honda Accord was hers and not one of the hundreds on the road. She tore open the car doors and got Opal out, then rushed her to the front door.
Mari was waiting for them, the door already open. “Are you okay?”
“So far.” Vanessa glanced to the road. No black van in sight. She handed the book bag to Mari and knelt down to hug Opal tight. “You do whatever Miss Snyder says and be real good, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy.”
“I’ll see you real soon.” She kissed her forehead and held her tight, trying not to lose it. She stood and gave Mari a tight hug. “Thank you.”
“Go. Be safe.”
Vanessa dashed back to her car and was on the road in seconds. As she drove, a thought haunted her. She had just told Hunter everything about them. Right before Jeremy showed up. Maybe her previous suspicions of him were correct. Her blood turned cold as she thought that maybe he was the one who had told Jeremy where they were.
# # #
Hunter yawned and reached for his phone. Jeremy was calling. Again. How many updates could he give this guy?
“Yeah?” he said, stretching out on the couch. He’d fallen asleep watching TV.
“Well, I guess I can understand why you’d be sleeping. I’d be worn out, too, after a night with Vanessa.”
Hunter sat up. So his suspicions were correct. Jeremy was having him followed. “It was nothing special.” He had planned to play this off as nothing more than part of the job. No ulterior motives whatsoever.
“Is that how you treat all your dates?”
“No, it’s how I treat all my jobs. Sometimes I have to use a romantic relationship to get closer to my mark. You don’t want to chance me hurting the child, do you?”
“Enough of the bullshit! You spent hours with her alone, and Opal was out of the house. You had more than enough time. I’m through with your lies and manipulation. You’re not the only hit man I have on speed dial, you know.”
“And you think your other man would be able to get the information I’m about to get from Vanessa? Believe what you want, but when she takes off, I’ll be the one she confides in.”
“Why would she take off?”
“If she suspects you’ve found her. Do you honestly think she doesn’t have a plan? What do you think I’ve been doing all this time, getting close to her? I don’t expect you to understand how a hit man works, but I do expect you to let me do my job. Now do you want to scare her off and lose them again, or do you want to let me do it my way?” He let his voice be full of anger. That would make it seem more realistic.
There was a long pause. “Actually, my men have already lost them.”
“What? What did you do?”
“I called her. She needed to know it was all over. But they took off. I had someone on them, but she managed to shake him somehow. Now I don’t know where either of them is.”
“You stupid moron. God, if you’d just have let me do my job, I could have avoided all of this. I guess it’s a damn good thing I went out with her, wasn’t it? No one is in a better position to find out where she is and where Opal is than I am. You can apologize at any time.”
“I, umm…”
“You idiot. You will increase your rate by $10k, or I’ll help them instead of you. What’ll it be?”
“Fine. Another 10. But you have until morning. I want them both in my possession. Got it?”
“Then keep your shitheads out of my way so I can do my job.” He hung up and punched the bed.
This wasn’t how it was meant to go at all. Jeremy had called Vanessa and scared her. Who knew where they were now. How could he protect her and Opal if he didn’t know where they were?
He pulled on his boots in a hurry. Why hadn’t Vanessa called or texted him? Didn’t she trust him enough to call him to help her? Maybe he hadn’t gotten as close to her as he thought.
He called her. No answer. He sent a text: “Are you okay?”
He didn’t want to include any specific information, but he wished he could tell her that Jeremy was coming. That he knew where they were in case she didn’t already know, and Jeremy had been lying. He couldn’t put anything past that man at this point. Clearly, he would resort to any means necessary to get what he wanted. And Hunter was going to make sure that didn’t happen. If his life depended on it, he would keep Jeremy from Vanessa and Opal.
He hurried out of the house and into his car to speed over to Vanessa’s apartment. Jeremy had said she fled, but he wasn’t going to believe anything he said. There was a good chance Jeremy was there now, hurting Vanessa or Opal. Since he had no other information on where she might be, her apartment was all he had to go by. If nothing else, maybe she’d left a clue for him.
He pulled into the parking lot. Her car was nowhere in sight. Maybe she had gone after all. He ran into the building and to her door. He paused to listen. No sound came from inside. No light crept under the door.
He put his hand on the knob and turned. It gave under his touch. He pushed open the door and entered her apartment, shutting the door quietly behind him.
“Vanessa?” he whispered.
He walked toward her bedroom. When he stepped into the hall, he heard the click of a gun’s slide, then felt the hard tip of the barrel press against his head. He froze and put his hands up in the air to show he wasn’t holding a weapon. Of course, that didn’t mean he didn’t have his gun on him and his knife, or that his hands weren’t weapons in themselves.
A hand reached out and pulled the gun from the back of his pants. He stiffened at the touch.
“I’m going to ask you a question, and if I suspect you’re lying at all, I will shoot you.”
Hunter blinked in the dark of the apartment. He hadn’t heard correctly. He couldn’t have. He tried to turn his head, but the gun pressed harder to keep him looking straight ahead.
“Vanessa? Why are you doing this?”
Chapter Ten
Vanessa
“I need answers, Hunter,”
Vanessa said. “And some things aren’t adding up.”
“Can we talk about this? I don’t know what you think is going on, but I came here to find you, to make sure you and Opal were okay. To protect you.”
She didn’t let up with her gun. If her suspicions were correct, he was part of the problem, and she might have to kill him before the night was through. She hated the idea of it, hated the thought that this man who she trusted, who she had let in when she had let in no one else, had been the one to turn her over to her greatest enemy. She hated herself for being so wrong about him, and she wanted more than anything to be wrong. To be able to trust him after all.
“Where do you really work?” she asked.
“I will explain everything. Can you please put the gun down?”
“No. Answer the question, Hunter.”
“I don’t work around the corner in the restaurant supply company.”
“Where then?” She pushed the gun harder into his head. Her anger and raw feeling of betrayal had pushed her to the point of lacking all compassion. She didn’t care if she hurt him. He’d hurt her.
“I don’t have an office or a place I go. I’m sort of a freelancer.”
“Doing what?” she growled through clenched teeth.
He took several deep breaths. “Vanessa, please, let me explain. I’ll tell you everything.”
She banged the gun hard into his head.
He grunted and said, “Okay. But at least promise to hear everything before you shoot me.”
“No.”
He hung his head. “Then I’ll talk fast and hope you hear me out. I’m a hit man. I was hired by your ex-husband to kill you and take Opal to him.”
Her breathing sped as his words hit her. Each one was a fresh slap in the face, a new wave of pain.
“He claimed you were abusing Opal, that you yelled at her all the time and hit her. He made you sound like a monster, but the very first time I met you, I doubted that what he said was true. I had to get to know you. There was no way I was going to kill you or take Opal to him if I couldn’t be sure his claim was correct. And the more I got to know you both and spent time with you, the more certain I became that there was absolutely no way you’d ever hurt Opal.”
She didn’t want to keep listening. She wanted to take out all her rage and agony on him right now. On this man who had lied to her. But he was talking fast, as he had said he would. And she couldn’t help but listen to him.
“It took no time at all for me to start having feelings for you. When I knew that you weren’t the one hurting Opal, it meant that Jeremy was. So then, I went from finding a way to kill you and take Opal to finding a way to keep you safe, and keep you both from him. He called me tonight. He thought he had me, because he hired someone to follow me. There’s been a black van lurking around. He—”
“I’ve seen it,” she said. “It followed me tonight when I got Opal out of here. I managed to lose it.”
“Good girl,” he said.
“Don’t call me that.” She hit him again with the gun.
He groaned. “Easy. I didn’t mean it as an insult. It’s hard to lose a tail. I’m genuinely impressed. After Jeremy called me to tell me he knew that we had been out, he threatened to kill me, too. So, I lied. I told him it was all a ruse to get close to you to get more information in case you ran. I convinced him that I was still working for him, on his side. Then I came right here to find you and make sure you were safe. I didn’t see your car, but I thought maybe you left a clue as to where you had gone. I had nothing else to go by. I didn’t know where you might go, so I came in to look around. And that’s when you put a gun to my head.”
“So, that black van isn’t with you? Jeremy’s other men aren’t working with you?”
“No. They’re trying to kill me, just like they’re trying to kill you. Is Opal safe?”
“Yes. That van is back. It’s sitting out front.”
Hunter cursed under his breath. “So they’re here. I don’t know who Jeremy hired to come after us, but I can tell you this. No one is as ruthless as me. I will protect you with my life, and I will make sure Jeremy never touches Opal again.”
“Why would you do that? You don’t even know us. You owe us nothing. And I’m sure Jeremy paid you plenty to do your job.”
“He did. But I only kill people who deserve it. And I don’t kill women. It took a lot of convincing for me to take this job, and I was suspicious of him from the start. Rightly so, apparently. He was full of nothing but lies. He didn’t know it, but he’s paid me to protect you instead of kill you. And I’ll take him out.”
“You’d… kill him?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
Hunter laughed. “Are you kidding me? Baby, come on. Because he’s a horrible man and a liar. He’s hurt you and Opal and hired someone to kill you. He’s not going to stop. Nothing will stop him until you’re dead. Or until he is. So it’s that simple. I want to protect you, so I have to kill him.”
Her hand shook as she kept the gun pressed to him. It was starting to feel less necessary, but she couldn’t bring herself to move it away. Not yet. “How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you weren’t the one to tell Jeremy where I was?”
“You were alone with me for hours, and I didn’t kill you.”
“But maybe what you told Jeremy was true. You just wanted to get more information.”
“It’s not,” he said. “What other information would I possibly need? I know where you are, I know how to contact you. I could have killed you at any time. I could have waited outside the pub and attacked you. I could have poisoned you in the pub. I could have run you off the road as we drove here. I could have strangled you or stabbed you or shot you, or done any number of things when we were alone in your apartment. Like we are now. But I held you and kissed you instead.”
“Maybe you were getting me to trust you.”
“Do you?”
“No.” Though some of her trust was beginning to return, she didn’t want to admit it yet. He needed to earn it back.
“Well, there’s nothing else I can say except trust is just that. Trust. You have to believe I’m not going to harm you. Believe I only want to protect you and Opal. And then you’ll see that you’re right. What do you have to lose?”
“Umm, hello? My life, my daughter. Only my everything.”
He sighed. “I mean, I’m here now. Jeremy knows where you are. He has other men after you and after me. The odds are severely against you. You’ve got to trust someone if you’re going to get any help from anyone.”
She dropped the gun to her side. He had said almost the exact thing Mari had said. She had trusted Mari and that had turned out okay. Or had it? Her gut wrenched suddenly. What if Mari was in on it somehow? What if she was taking Opal to Jeremy this very moment?
She raised the gun again, but put it at his shoulder instead of his head. “I can’t trust anyone,” she whispered in a shaky voice.
“Okay then. I guess you’re on your own. Good luck to you.” He lifted his hands in the air and stood still.
Tears flowed down her cheeks. He spun suddenly, so he was facing her. She didn’t even react. Her mind was reeling with the possibility that she had given Opal over to the enemy. She finally set the gun down and put her hands to her face to let the sobs out.
Hunter’s strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. He was right. She didn’t have much choice but to trust him. To hope he wasn’t fooling her and still working for Jeremy. He kissed the top of her head.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Once, twice. She didn’t want to see who was calling. It had to be Jeremy. But she could only ignore it for so long. She pulled it out and gasped when she saw Mari’s name.
“Hello?”
“Hi Mommy,” Opal said.
“Hi baby. What are you doing?”
“Miss Snyder took me on an adventure. We’re at her special house. It�
�s so neat here, Mommy! It used to be a farm and there are still horses outside!”
“That sounds great, baby. Is Miss Snyder there?”
“Yup.”
There was a muffling sound and then Mari was there. “I hope it was okay to call. She seemed a little unsure when I brought her here and I thought it might do you both good to hear each other’s voices.”
“Yes.” Vanessa let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”