Jem stirred from sleep, and his eyes slowly began to open. I sat up before he could see me staring at him like a teenager in love and got busy collecting the two rods we had been able to remove from the headboard. They were heavy and could potentially serve as good weapons. We had come up with a plan, and we agreed that whatever our issues with each other were, they had to wait until we were out of there, safe and sound.
“No coffee?” Jem was sitting now, rubbing his head.
I laughed. “Right. I also made a couple mimosas to go with the quiche in the oven.” It was always so easy to kid around with Jem. I missed that more than anything else. Dave was an amazing guy, but his sense of humor sometimes didn’t quite match mine, and my silly, sarcastic jokes often fell flat with him.
“The sun is shining. They’ll probably come to get us very soon.” He voiced my own thoughts. “We should move closer to the door. Not sure how well we’ll be able to hear them coming.”
We wanted to catch them by surprise. After all, they had guns. We had metal rods. Without the element of surprise on our side, we didn’t have a prayer.
We moved to stand by the wall close to the door, each with a rod in hand. My stomach grumbled. I was very hungry.
“Yeah, I hear you,” Jem said with a chuckle. “I’m starved myself. You can only eat so many granola bars and handle so much stress before your body starts to rebel.”
Didn’t I know it. I had spent part of the night locked in the tiny bathroom while my body rid itself of the extra fiber. It had not been my proudest moment. Jem, on the other hand, as used as he was to eating tons of junk food without gaining so much as an ounce, did not seem affected by it at all.
My phone rang again. I quickly answered. It was the detective. “Good news,” he said. “We have your location. There are cruisers on the way as we speak. Did you find something to defend yourself with just in case?”
“Yes, we’re armed, so to speak.” I was too afraid to allow myself to feel relieved yet. “How long do you think until you guys get here?”
Jem raised his eyes to me in a silent question. I nodded.
“Less than forty-five minutes,” he replied. “But the bad guys may get there first. So be at the ready.” He hung up.
My mouth was dry. I realized I was trembling and Jem, having without doubt noticed it as well, laid a hand on my arm to comfort me. “It will be okay,” he whispered. I nodded again.
I’m not sure how long we stood there, not moving much, scared out of our wits. Reality had finally sunk in and my usual proclivity for sarcasm seemed to have vanished. Standing behind me, Jem supported me when my body went boneless and I almost fell backward. His solid, warm chest gave me back some of my strength and, for once, I did not begrudge him the contact.
Both our bodies tensed up as we heard someone turn keys in the lock and open the heavy door. Jem and I had lifted the makeshift weapons above our heads and, as soon as the tall figures of our two kidnappers appeared inside the space, we hit them across the heads as heavily as we could. They both fell to their knees and, with no hesitation, we hit them again. Not waiting to see whether they were conscious or not, Jem grabbed my hand and we took off, running toward their car, parked right outside the door.
“Where are the keys?” I asked, frantic as I realized there were no keys in the ignition.
“It’s keyless,” Jem said. “We should be close enough to them to….” He pressed the ignition button and sure enough, the engine roared. “Yes! We’re in business.”
Jem sped out of the open area while I played with the GPS, trying to figure out where we were and where we should go. “Right, turn right,” I yelled. “It will take us to the main road.”
My phone rang in my bra, and I felt as if someone had electrocuted me. My nerves were on edge. It was the detective again.
“We’re out,” I told him, my voice a lot louder than it needed to be. “What do we do?”
“Stop at the next gas station and wait for me,” he said. “My guys should be coming up soon.” Two cruisers with the lights flashing and sirens screaming passed us by on the dirt road just as I hung up. I let out a huge sigh of relief.
Jem stopped at the next gas station, ten minutes up the road, and we decided to stay put. My body was assailed by tremors, and my teeth chattered like castanets. Even though my brain refused to think about what had happened, my body had a different perspective on things. Relief mingled with a tidal wave of all the anxiety I had been holding inside.
“Are you okay?” Jem asked, a worried look on his face. “You’re shaking like a leaf.” He twisted on his seat to look in the backseat. “No blankets or jackets here. Let’s sit in the back.”
Without pausing to question his strange request, I opened the door and quickly switched to the backseat, immediately followed by Jem. He scooted closer and wrapped his arms around me. At first, I flinched a little. What a strange time to get physical. But then I realized he was only trying to keep me warm, like he used to do on very cold days when we were kids and I had unwisely walked to his house coatless. I relaxed against him and closed my eyes. The warmth of his body soothed my anxieties, and I think I dozed off because the next thing I knew there was a man waving a police badge outside the car.
We stepped outside to meet the detective who had been so diligently working to rescue us. Detective Jarvas introduced himself and shook our hands. Another cop brought us a couple blankets and two cups of steaming hot coffee. Never had gas station coffee tasted that good! With the blankets over our shoulders, we sat on the wooden bench outside the mini-mart and answered every question the good detective asked us. Then he left us to our own devices to go talk to the officers who had just arrived from the place we had escaped from.
“I feel like I’m a character in a mystery novel.” Growing up, I used to read a lot of mysteries because my dad was an avid reader of the genre. Being in the middle of one was not nearly as much fun as reading it.
Jem smiled, his blue eyes twinkling like sapphires in the sun. “I half expect Miss Marple to come around the corner.”
As if on cue, someone did come around the corner, driving at the speed of light and slamming on the brakes so hard the car weaved to a sudden stop right in front of us. My crazy sister! No one drove quite like her.
“Brace yourself,” I told Jem with a little chuckle. “Here comes trouble.”
Celia slammed the car door and ran the few feet between the car and us. “Oh my God! Are you guys okay? Did they hurt you? I want to talk to whoever is in charge. I….” The barrage of words kept coming while Jem and I sat quietly, enjoying the sound of a friendly voice and the cold breeze on our faces.
After many hugs and way too many questions, Celia was finally sated. “I’m so happy to see you both, crazy kids,” she said as another car, a bright yellow VW Beetle, came to a stop beside her car. “Look, there’s Marcy.”
What in heaven’s name is Marcy doing here?
The little witch stepped out of the car, closed the door, and walked around to the passenger side, waving at us. She was wearing a short dress in a cartoon print fabric of bright blues and yellows, and bright orange sneakers. Her hair was the usual mess of red curls piled on top of her hair and secured with a huge blue bow.
She approached us with a big paper bag in her hands. “So glad to see you’re safe and sound,” she said, her glasses hanging on the edge of her tiny nose. “I thought you would be hungry, so I stopped at McDonald’s on my way here.”
I hated fast food, but that hamburger and fries tasted like nectar from the gods. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I took my first bite. Jem was in ecstasy. With each bite he took, a groan of pleasure escaped his lips. He sure loved his burgers! I laughed, a great weight finally lifted from my chest, and Jem joined me.
“Thank you, guys.” I felt better than I had in a long time, now that I was safe and my stomach was full. Marcy and my sister were still eying Jem and me with some worry, as if they expected us to break down and cry—whic
h I may have done had I not been feeling so happy to be alive. “Where is Dave?” I finally noticed my boyfriend was not part of the welcome committee.
“We couldn’t get ahold of him,” Celia said with a frown. “I called his work phone. His receptionist told me he was out on a job and to try to call his cell. I called it and no answer. I left several messages, texted him a few times, and nothing. Weird, don’t you think?”
It was a bit strange, but he had worked on sites where the phone signal was nonexistent. He would call as soon as he could check his messages, I was sure. “He’ll call back as soon as he can.”
Jem looked at me with a sideways glance. “So the perfect boyfriend vanishes when he’s most needed.”
I wanted to slap him, but I had to admit it annoyed me that Dave was absent during such a tough time in my life. “Shut up, Jeremy Peter.”
“Well, my young friends.” It was the detective again. He had a lit cigarette between his fingers, and a big cloud of smoke followed him. “I’ve talked to my officers, and we’re in a bit of a pickle.” He took another drag on the cigarette.
“A pickle? What do you mean?” Jem coughed a little as he inhaled some of the smoke.
“The guys who had you are minions.” He frowned as both Jem and I coughed again. He threw the butt on the ground and stepped on it. “Sorry, nasty habit.”
Marcy waved her hand in front of her face. “How is that a problem? That those guys were minions?” she asked, pulling out an embroidered handkerchief and covering her nose with it. “You got them, right?”
“Yes, we have them. However, the person who hired them is still on the loose.” He stuffed his hands in his pants pockets and rocked on his feet. “The two who kidnapped you are hired muscle. They don’t know much and are too scared to tell us who their boss is.”
“So what do we do?” Celia asked, munching on some leftover fries.
Detective Jarvas squinted at Jem and me and licked his lips. “It means, young people, that you have to be put into a safe house until we find the culprit.”
We both jumped to our feet and exclaimed at the same time. “What? Safe house? What do you mean?”
“Calm down,” the detective said. “It won’t be that bad. We’ll keep you both in a safe house for a few days until we can track down who’s behind this.”
Speechless, I looked up at Jem, a question in my eyes. He shrugged and looked back at the cop, who had removed a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket. “Is that really necessary?” Jem asked.
“Whoever this is, he thinks you guys know where Tina is or that she confided in you, Jeremy.” The detective had lit another cigarette and puffed smoke up into the air. “You two are in danger for as long as he’s free. So, yes. It is necessary.”
I wrapped the blanket tighter around my shoulders. “I’m a teacher. I can’t disappear and leave my class by itself.”
“We will contact your school and help them arrange for a substitute teacher. A good one, I promise,” the police officer said. “It shouldn’t be for very long. We have very good leads. I’ll leave you to discuss it.” He walked away, leaving a trail of smoke behind him.
We sat back on the bench, stealing glances at each other, almost scared to bring it up. “What do we do?” Jem asked finally.
Celia slapped him across the arm. “You go into the safe house, of course,” she exclaimed. “What kind of question is that? You guys are in danger.”
“Celia, I don’t want to be stuck in a strange place again,” I protested. “These last few hours were more than enough.”
“You won’t be a prisoner,” my sister added. “And it’s for just a few days. You can look at it as a… retreat.”
Marcy pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “You’re scared of being stuck in a house alone with Jem.” Thank you, Marcy. Helpful as usual. “Admit it!”
An amused smile appeared on Jem’s lips, and I fought the urge to stick my tongue out at him again. “I am not!” I said, a bit too vehemently.
“She’s too scared of falling for my charm and wit,” Jem said, a silly smile plastered on his face.
“Right! And the Pope is not Catholic.” He could still make me feel like a young girl. It wasn’t an altogether bad feeling.
The little witch signaled me with a nod. She wanted to talk to me in private. I stood up and followed her a few steps away from the rest. “What is it, Marcy?”
Digging through her gigantic purse, the redhead pulled out a little pink bottle hanging from a chain that she slid into my hands. “Hide it,” she said in a whisper. “It’s for you, just in case.”
I was puzzled. “In case of what?” I asked, looking at the little bottle in my hand. It was a pretty little thing.
“In case you find yourself giving in to Jem’s charms,” she said, twitching her nose. “You guys obviously have a history.”
“Is this another potion?”
“Yes, and a very effective one.”
I took a deep breath, gathering the patience to reason with Glinda, the crazy witch. “The other one didn’t work at all.”
She chuckled. “I beg to differ,” she said. “It worked only too well. You weren’t honest about your feelings. This one will put him in a daze.”
About to argue with her, I stopped. “A daze? How would that be helpful?”
A quick glance at the rest of the group reassured her that it was safe to continue the conversation. “Say you are about to give in to his wiles.” Wiles? Is she for real? “You have him smell this potion. He will go into a temporary trance, almost as if he were hypnotized. That will give you ample time to remove yourself from the scene.”
For once, that actually didn’t sound like a bad idea. “Will it hurt him in any way?” I may not want Jem in my life, but I did not want to harm him either.
“No, of course not,” she assured me. “It will keep him out of it for five, ten minutes tops. Then it’s back to business as usual. Hang it from your neck and keep it with you at all times.”
The little red bottle seemed to throb in my hand, but I dismissed that as a figment of my imagination and exhaustion. I slipped the bottle into my pocket. “Thank you, Marcy. Hopefully I won’t have to use it.”
“If that doesn’t work, we can always feed him a red lizard’s tooth….”
And just like that, we were back to crazy.
CHAPTER SEVEN
__________
Hideouts and Regrets
The safe house turned out to be a small cabin in the woods with a mother-in-law suite—an attachment to the main building where the officers babysitting us would be staying. “That way you still have your privacy, but we can be close enough if needed,” Detective Jarvas had explained.
Much to my dismay, there was only one bedroom in the house. “But there are two of us,” I protested.
“Your sister told us you guys were a couple,” one of the officers said. I was really going to kill my sister. “Anyway, there are two beds. No harm, no foul.”
Jem and I were promised burner phones to keep in touch with family, and we were allowed to pack some of our things. Celia had promised to send us a care package soon.
“There will be new books and some junk food in it,” she said with a mischievous smile. Then she had lowered her voice and whispered for my ears only, “And maybe a potion or two.” Little devil, that’s what she was! She was enjoying the fact that I was stuck with the one person I most wanted distance from.
The two police officers in charge of keeping an eye on us settled themselves in the attached suite while we did our best to make ourselves at home. The kitchen was well stocked, and they had set us up with a big-screen TV and free access to movies on demand. If it weren’t for the fact we couldn’t leave without putting our lives in danger, we could easily imagine ourselves to be on a restful vacation somewhere.
It was late evening. We had finished eating dinner—which I had insisted on cooking for fear of ending up with frozen fries and a hot dog—when I decided to
call Dave. I still hadn’t heard from him and I was beginning to worry.
To my great relief, he picked up after a couple rings. “Dave, thank God!” I exclaimed. Jem squirmed beside me on the couch. “I was getting worried.”
“You were getting worried? Celia told me what happened. Are you okay?” His voice was frantic on the other end of the line.
At the sound of his warm voice I felt better. He was such a grounding element in my life; how could I even have considered betraying him? Shame invaded me and my cheeks burned. “We’re doing fine, Dave.”
There was a slight pause. “We…?”
Damn! Celia hadn’t told him about Jem. What was wrong with my sister lately? Why wouldn’t she have told him? What was that little twisted mind of hers up to now?
“Didn’t Celia tell you? Jem was with me when we got kidnapped.” That did not sound good at all. “I mean, we were kidnapped together.”
“And he’s there with you right now?” Dave did not sound like his usual happy-go-lucky self.
“Yes, he’s here.” Maybe if I spoke really softly he wouldn’t hear it. Jem gave me a sly look as if he were enjoying the show. “It’s not like I had a choice, Dave. The police told us we were in danger, and this was the only way they could protect us.”
I heard a snort from the other end. How dare he?
“It wasn’t like you were waiting by the phone anyway. No one could reach you for over a day. Where in heaven’s name were you?” Whoa. Where was that coming from? Why was I mad at Dave? After all, he did have a good reason to be jealous and suspicious.
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