by Barr, Nevada
Gerald was not pushy about sex; he didn’t grab or grope or implore. It had made her feel safe, made her feel as if he loved her, cherished her innocence, wanted it to be “right” for her. The truth was Gerald was gay. He didn’t want her, he wanted the beautiful, charming Michael. Another woman might have noticed. Not Leah, the princess recently released from the ivory tower.
In a whirlwind that left her gasping, Gerald asked her to marry him, and they eloped to Niagara Falls. The next morning Gerald had returned shaking and pale from a walk. He said he was scared she wouldn’t like her wedding gift. Gerald’s wedding gift was that he’d bought Michael out of the partnership and sold the store. Most of the money would go into a lab for her. The rest would go to online marketing. Their honeymoon week was spent moving to Boulder, Colorado, and finding an apartment. Leah had never seen Michael again.
The dude said he was dead.
The dude hated Gerald. When she’d begged him to save Katie because she was an innocent, he’d said, “Tell that to Gerald.”
Michael had been an innocent. When in earnest, he swore by the Virgin Mary. Every Sunday he went to mass. Gerald teased him that he had to chew the host or he wouldn’t have a sin to confess the next week.
Michael was her husband’s lover. He was dead, an innocent, and, in his brother’s mind, at least, it was Gerald’s fault. Gerald had dumped Michael and run off with the golden goose to live the heterosexual life. Had Gerald cheated Michael out of his share of the business and, now that Michael was dead, the dude wanted revenge? After fourteen years it would be a very cold dish.
The dude was punching numbers into the cell phone. Mr. Big, Leah guessed. The mastermind, the person who would get the lion’s share of the ransom money. The person who had looked for rich ladies who were foolish enough to wander around without protection.
“Bring my cut,” the dude snapped into the phone. “I’m not going north with you.” He punched the disconnect before whoever it was could reply, then turned the phone off. This was not open to negotiation; he didn’t want to be called back.
Charlie, his name was Charlie. Leah remembered Michael opening half of his sentences with “My brother, Charlie.” Leah knew who he was. Katie knew enough to set hounds on his trail. The dude was Charlie Bagnold of Montreal, Canada. He wanted the cash up front, and he wasn’t going north with Mr. Big.
Charlie Bagnold didn’t intend to leave either her or her daughter alive.
FIFTY
Anna woke only when the first light of the sun struck the field, an hour or more after dawn. On her right side, to keep her injured arm elevated, she lay beside Heath. Elizabeth snuggled up to her mother on the other side. Not to be left out, Wily curled around their two heads like a mangy brown fur hood. One of his paws was on E’s shoulder. The girl’s hand rested atop it. Momentarily, Anna felt abandoned. Wily had been …
Magic, delusion, projection: Anna’s sister was a psychiatrist; she’d ask Molly when she got the chance.
Her intention was to rise quietly, stealthily, so the others could continue sleeping while she went on reconnaissance. Weakness turned those intentions into paving stones on the road to hell. During the night her arm had swollen alarmingly. The flesh was tight against the sleeve of her shirt. As she rolled from her side onto her back, the arm fell off her rib cage like a sausage rolling off a chopping block, and hit the ground with much the same sound. Unable to stop herself, she cried out as her body seized with an agony she had not known the nerves were capable of.
Elizabeth was awake instantly and, nearly as instantly, on her feet. To be fifteen and whole, Anna thought. It must be like being a god. Before Elizabeth could utter the inevitable and unanswerable “Are you okay?” Anna said, “I am jim-dandy. Never better. If you have a bit of rope or a gun, please put me out of my misery.”
“I was dreaming this was all a dream,” Heath said. “I was so relieved, I cried.”
“Good morning,” Anna said. Pushing down on Elizabeth’s shoulder with her good hand, she managed to rise to her knees. “Wait until you try to get up. That’s when crying might genuinely become a factor.” Sweat beaded on her forehead, though the morning was cold. Her breath came in shallow gasps that puffed in the air like smoke signals.
Anna pulled one knee up, rested a few seconds, then tried to rise to her feet. “Damn it!” she said, muttering, “Elizabeth, give me a hand, will you?”
E reached out to help, but her mother stopped her.
“Wait, Elizabeth, I didn’t quite hear what Anna said,” Heath said sweetly.
“Mom,” Elizabeth chided.
Heath laughed and, annoyed as she was, hearing it gave Anna strength. “Give me a hand up, will you, E?” she said clearly. “I need all the help I can get.”
Quiet chuckling followed her as Elizabeth helped her to her feet. “Very funny. Don’t even look at me, Wily. One of you is bad enough. Coffee,” she said and sniffed the air. “They have coffee. Another reason to kill them.”
“Even if they did, you couldn’t smell it over a hundred yards away,” Heath said.
“Wily taught me to find my wolf nose,” Anna said, then smiled so Elizabeth and Heath wouldn’t think she was crazy. “E, come with me.” Looking pointedly at Heath, she added, “In case I fall down and break a hip.”
“Where are we going?” E asked as they walked the few yards toward the clearing and the burned hulk of the airplane.
“Just walking, seeing if there’s anything we need to see,” Anna said. “Mostly I need to move, get my blood flowing. So does Heath. When we get back, make her do whatever she does. The leg is a mess, but she’s got to get warm somehow.”
At the edge of the trees, still in the shadows, they stopped. The field was empty. At the far end smoke curled up into a pellucid blue sky, perfect flying weather. Reg stood by the fire. The dude, Leah, and Katie were not visible. “Probably still sleeping,” Anna said.
“Are we going to stay hidden until everyone is gone?” Elizabeth asked.
“That’s the only logical way to go,” Anna said.
“They’ll take Leah and Katie?” Elizabeth asked.
“The Hendrickses have plenty of money,” Anna said. “Leah’s husband will buy them back.”
Elizabeth’s full lips thinned, and she wouldn’t look at Anna. “I think the dude has it in for Leah.”
“Nah,” Anna said dismissively. “She’s just money to him.”
“You didn’t hear him. He said Gerald’s name at the rocks and then went ballistic when Katie said she’d seen a picture of him. It’s personal with him,” Elizabeth insisted.
“That’s a bit of a stretch,” Anna said. “He was probably just cold and hungry and tired like the rest of us.”
Anna turned away from E and walked slowly back into the trees. She needed a sling to keep her arm from driving her mad with pain; she needed a drink of water and the last of the aspirin. The list of needs had the potential of consuming the rest of the day. She quit thinking about it.
Heath turned down Anna’s offer to share the last three aspirins. Anna didn’t argue but washed them down with gratitude. Poor little white pills didn’t have a hope of fighting the kind of cruelty the bullet was dishing out. Swallowing them was an act of faith and optimism.
“Now, could some able-armed individual shred my T-shirt into strips?” Anna asked. “Then you can secure this wretched piece of meat to my chest.”
Elizabeth started to help Anna pull the T-shirt over her head. “Can’t,” Anna gasped. “Cut it off.”
“Duh,” Elizabeth mocked herself. “Right, we’re shredding it anyway.”
“That which isn’t already shredded,” Heath added. Eyes moving from Anna to her daughter, Heath said, “We remind me of that painting of the Revolutionary soldiers limping home, one with a bandage around his head.”
“Except they could walk,” Elizabeth said. “And the guy could hold a fife.”
“Can you return children to the breeder if they turn out to have defects?�
�� Heath asked.
“E and I were talking when we went for our morning stroll,” Anna said. “The thugs don’t know I exist. They think you’re dead. Elizabeth is long gone, lost in the woods, for all they know. They probably won’t make much of an effort to find us. Probably won’t make any effort at all to find us. I think we should lay low until the plane leaves and whatever leftover thugs clear out down the logging road.”
Heath, propped up on her elbows, stared at Anna for a second, then said, “You’re right. All I can do is die again. You’re spent. Another night in the cold will do us both in, and I don’t like the looks of E’s eye.”
Elizabeth stopped her meticulous shredding of the black knit shirt. “You’d just leave Leah and Katie?” she asked her mother.
“There’s nothing we can do to help them, E,” Heath said. “Hey, look what I found,” From the folds of Jimmy’s much-abused coat, Heath pulled out a mauled cigarette. “Too bad I lost my lighter,” she said sadly. “Leah’s husband will pay the ransom and the kidnapper will cut them loose, E. They’ll be okay.”
“You didn’t leave me behind,” Elizabeth said.
Heath winced.
Anna wanted to slink cravenly away from the scene and leave it to mother and daughter. “That was different, Elizabeth,” Anna said. “That was something we could do something about.”
“We could do something to help Leah and Katie,” Elizabeth insisted.
“Don’t be an ass,” Anna snapped. “Two grown men, neither injured, two pistols, a rifle, and a plane on the way? Act your age. There is nothing we can do but get ourselves killed.” Rising without assistance, she left the clearing. Had she not been in the forest, she would have stomped out and slammed the door.
Several yards away white pines, tangled with winterberry bushes, provided cover. Anna stepped behind them so Elizabeth could no longer see her.
“I’m sorry Anna snapped at you,” she heard Heath say.
“I’ve never seen her being such a bitch before,” Elizabeth replied. Hearing the tears in her voice, Anna felt her own eyes sting.
“She has her days,” Heath said dryly.
Turncoat, Anna thought.
“She’s right, though,” Heath said. “I hate it as much as you do, but we haven’t a chance—especially if Anna’s lost her nerve. Throwing our lives away won’t help Leah and Katie, it’ll just break Aunt Gwen’s and Paul’s hearts.”
Anna counted slowly to one hundred, giving Elizabeth time to process; then she crunched around a bit to announce her arrival and returned to where they sat. “Sorry,” she said. “My arm’s killing me.” She sat down, ignoring the cold emanating from the teenager. “We’ll follow the logging road out,” Anna said. “It’ll take us somewhere there are people and cars.”
“Dragging Mom?” Elizabeth asked acidly.
“Can’t you carry her?” Anna asked.
“I’d bleed to death, Anna,” Heath said. “Leg. Holes on both sides. You remember.”
“There is that,” Anna admitted. “E and I can go. The faster we get help, the better your chances. Your golden hour is already shot to hell.”
“I won’t leave Mom,” Elizabeth said.
“Then I guess it’s me going for help,” Anna said. Painfully, she rose to her feet, Four steps later she fell to her knees. “Woozy from blood loss. Once I get moving I’ll be fine.” This time she didn’t make it to her feet before faintness hit. Staggering, she leaned against a tree, shaking her head to clear it.
“Go, E,” Heath said softly. “I’ll be okay. Run like the wind. Get us help. Stay in the trees until you’re out of sight of the field. If you hear a plane, duck back into the trees.”
“Mom…”
“Go now before things start to happen. We’ll be fine. They’ll never even know we’re here. I promise.”
Elizabeth got to her feet. Anna could feel her staring at her back. “Take the water bottle,” Anna said.
“Hurry,” Heath urged.
“I love you, Mom,” Elizabeth said as she left the clearing. Then, “You, too, Anna. I guess.” Fleet footsteps faded quickly in the direction of the logging road.
“You sure raised one stubborn girl,” Anna said.
“Yes I did,” Heath agreed. “What are we going to do?”
“I have no idea. We wait for an opening. Tie my arm to my chest?”
“Shhh.” Heath held up a hand.
Men talking.
Anna slipped back to the fringe of brush around the clearing. Maybe there were fewer leaves than the day before. Maybe she was just feeling more vulnerable. Crawling commando-style, throwing herself to her belly—those marvelous feats were beyond her now. Not all of the fainting and fogging had been assumed for Elizabeth’s sake.
Using trees and hoping for luck, she could see the field in its entirety. Reg and the dude had brought the hostages to the center of the cleared area. Their hands had been retied behind their backs. The dude was taking no chances. He barked an order that sounded like “Down.” Before there was time to respond, he grabbed Leah by the shoulder and shoved her to the ground. Hands bound behind her, she couldn’t break her fall and slammed facefirst into the weeds. Katie quickly got down.
Orders were given that Anna could not hear. Both Leah and her daughter stretched their legs out in front of them, feet together, like Barbie dolls on a shelf. Reg knelt and began tying their ankles with strips of cloth. Finally, they had run out of plastic ties.
Anna was mystified. Why leave their nice cozy pen with the food and the fire to stand in the middle of an open field on a cold morning? Unless the plane had left wherever it left from in darkness, it would be a while before it arrived. Satellite phone: The dude would know its ETA to the minute. Was he afraid the pilot wouldn’t see them in the shelter? That was absurd. Smoke from the campfire marked the spot beautifully.
The plane was coming in minutes; the thought cut cold through Anna’s mind. No. Were the plane imminent, they wouldn’t tie Leah’s and Katie’s feet. They’d have to untie them to get the women into the plane, unless they planned on loading them like gunny sacks full of grain.
Anna tried to put herself in the dude’s place. Why would she leave the comfort of the camp they’d made? Because it was a trap. Because she didn’t want anybody sneaking up on her from behind the three standing walls or around the corner of the barracks building. The dude must have finally figured out they were not alone in these woods. That, or Leah or Katie had told him she was here; she was responsible for Jimmy’s decimation of the troops.
Damn.
Having finished tying Leah’s and Katie’s ankles, Reg rose to his feet. The dude issued a few more sotto voce orders.
“No fuckin’ way,” Reg ejaculated.
The dude argued. Reg shuffled.
“You go,” Reg said.
The dude had the rifle under his arm. His gun hand twitched toward the pocket of the coat. Reg turned and stared at Anna. She flinched, but he hadn’t seen her. His eyes were searching the tree line. The dude knew, or suspected, Anna existed. He was sending Reg to search the area beyond the burned-out plane hulk.
Sulkily, like a recalcitrant teen with an attitude, Reg started in the direction of the plane, the direction of Anna, of Heath.
Anna backed away until she could no longer see him, then turned and walked as rapidly as she dared to where she’d left Heath. There was no way Anna could move her. With luck, she could scrape enough forest detritus over her to camouflage her from a casual glance, no more than that. The red-and-black checkered coat could be buried under duff. Signs of their disturbance couldn’t be erased even if she had fifteen minutes. They’d been there too long, rearranged too much.
“They’re coming?” Heath asked as Anna walked into their primitive camp.
“Reg,” Anna said. “I think the dude knows I exist. He’s not leaving Leah and Katie. He’s got them tied hand and foot in the middle of the clearing. I don’t think he knows you’re alive. Can we use that?”
For a minute or more neither woman spoke.
Heath drew in a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “Give me your pants,” she said.
Since Anna had no better idea, she undid the top button of her trousers and let Heath skin them down to where she could step out of them. Working on nothing but trust and hope that Heath actually had a plan, Anna asked, “Do you want my tank top as well?”
“No,” Heath said. “I have good breasts. These breasts have been known to freeze men in their tracks for three to five seconds. They should be good for at least half that with Reg, given he thinks they’re returned from beyond the grave.”
Kneeling, Anna helped Heath pull on her trousers as best she could. With one arm screaming every time she moved, she wasn’t terribly effective. “I don’t want him to see my legs, the bandage, all that. It will spoil the effect,” Heath explained as she zipped and buttoned. “Grab the strips of your shirt.”
Anna did as she was told.
“Give them to me.” Heath quickly tied three of them together into two ropes each several feet long.
“Help me get up, then tie me to the tree,” she said.
The plan finally came together in Anna’s mind, the fruition of blind faith. “Got it,” she said. With Anna’s hand and knee, Heath pulled herself up until she was hanging from Anna’s good shoulder, her back against the tree. Overhead was a small branch, no more than two inches in diameter and a few feet long. Anna supported her until she got one hand around it.
“I’m good for a second,” Heath said. “Hand me the first strip. Good. You take one end.” Heath held her end in her free hand as Anna passed the other around the trunk.
“Brace me,” Heath said.
Anna wrapped her good arm around Heath’s waist and took her weight on her hip as Heath tied the strips tightly under her breasts and tucked the tails in where they didn’t show.
Without awaiting instructions, Anna handed her one end of the second rope, ran it around the tree trunk, then held it in place while Heath tied it tightly around her hips. “That should keep me from suffocating for at least four minutes,” Heath said.