Four

by Jane Blythe

  Now that they were in the car on the way there, it was all Laura could do to focus on keeping herself breathing. Jack was talking away with Rose, Ryan, and Paige, planning exactly what they would do once they arrived. They’d decided it would be best if Xavier remained at Ryan’s house with Sofia and Annabelle on the odd chance that the killer hadn’t seen them leave and made another attempt at breaking in to get to her.

  Time seemed to float away into nothingness. All Laura was thinking about was sucking in one nauseous breath after another. Her thumb was in her mouth in an attempt to remain even somewhat calm, and her head was resting against the window, the cold glass soothing her burning forehead.

  “Laura?”

  Jack’s voice broke her concentration, and she choked on the breath she was drawing and erupted into a coughing fit. Jack just rubbed her back and waited until she regained control of herself.

  “We’re here,” he told her once she’d managed to get her breathing back to a semblance of normal.

  “I'm sorry, I can't do this,” she whispered desperately. She wanted to be anywhere but here.

  Taking hold of her chin, he turned her face away from the window. “Look at me, Laura.” Jack waited until she reluctantly lifted her lids. “You said you trust me, I believe in you, I know you are strong enough to do this.”

  Locking her gaze onto Jack’s bright blue eyes, which seemed to almost hypnotize her, she nodded. When his hand firmly encircled her own, she let him pull her from the car.

  As the fresh air hit her, so did a barrage of memories. The Garretts laughing at her and mocking her, burning and cutting her, raping her over and over until she wished they would just kill her and end it all. Her knees buckled under the weight of the memories, but Jack was right beside her, his arm wrapping around her waist and keeping her upright.

  “It’s all right, Laura,” he soothed.

  “I can't make them stop.” She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes as though she could physically stop the flashbacks. “I can't make the memories stop.”

  “Yes, you can,” Jack contradicted confidently. “You don’t have to do this alone, I’m right here with you.”

  A whimper was all she could muster as a response.

  “Keep your eyes closed,” Jack instructed. “And take a deep breath. Okay, now hold it and count to ten, and then slowly let it out. All right, good, now I want you to think of something that makes you happy …”

  Laura pictured last night, lying in Jack’s arms, the reassuring beating of his heart beneath her ear, knowing that she wasn’t only safe with him, she was also loved and cared about, she was important to him. Jack knew that she’d been weak and pathetic and helpless, and he wanted her anyway. The tightness in her chest eased a little.

  “Feel better?” Jack asked. He continued when she nodded. “Okay, now imagine yourself taking a photo of that, and every time you feel overwhelmed, you just look at that photo.”

  “Thank you.” She looked up at him gratefully. Last night when she’d awakened wrapped in Jack’s arms, feeling safe and secure for the first time in eleven years, all her doubts about whether or not a relationship with him was a good idea had fled. She couldn’t hold something that he’d done when he was a stupid kid against him forever. When this was over, she wanted to see where things led with him.

  “You're welcome.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I told you that you don’t have to do this alone, I’m right here with you every step of the way. There’s a cabin just over there, think you can make it?”

  She nodded and tried to pull away and stand on her own, but Jack wouldn’t release her.

  “Remember, we’re doing this together, Laura.”

  With Jack’s arm still around her, Laura made her way to the cabin on wobbly legs. She let out a weary sigh of relief when the door closed behind them and they were back inside.

  Jack helped her to the couch and sat her down before turning to his friends. “I’ll stay here with Laura while you guys go and check the place out.”

  The others exchanged glances. “Actually, Jack,” Rose began, “we thought it might be better if one of us stay here with Laura.”

  He frowned at his partner. “Why?”

  “If you’re right and he’s followed us out here, then you staying here with her is exactly what he’s expecting,” Ryan explained. “We came out here to get ahead of him, give ourselves the advantage, and we want to keep it, so maybe Rose should stay with Laura, and you, Paige and I will go see if he’s here.”

  “I don’t know …” Jack wavered.

  “Do you trust me to keep her safe?” Rose asked.

  “Of course.” Jack nodded emphatically.

  “And you don’t want to do anything that could potentially put her life at risk, do you?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then let me stay with her. I won't let anything happen to her.”

  “Okay,” he agreed reluctantly.

  “What?” Laura’s head snapped up. “You’re leaving me?” At the moment, Jack was the only thing keeping her sane; she was petrified she would fall apart if he left her.

  He crouched in front of her so he could look her in the eyes. “Only for a little while.”

  “But you promised we’d do this together,” she whimpered.

  “And we are going to do this together.” He took her hands. “But unfortunately, they’re right about this. I’m too emotionally involved with you, I can't be objective, I’d be endangering your life, and that I won't do. You’ll be safe with Rose. And Ryan, Paige and I will be back before you know it.”

  “I don’t want you to go.” She clutched desperately at his hands.

  “And I don’t want to go.” He took her face in his hands. “We’re ending this tonight. When he comes, we’re going to get him before he has a chance to get close to you, but if by chance he does get near you, then Rose will be here to protect you.”

  “All right,” she agreed, only because it seemed she didn’t have a choice; they’d already made up their minds. “But hurry back, please.”

  Jack leaned in and kissed her. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”

  She watched Jack, Ryan, and Paige depart, then curled herself up on the couch and began to suck her thumb, attempting to calm herself. Rose filled the silence with mindless chatter, but Laura was barely listening, instead counting the seconds in her head until Jack returned. Outside it began to rain, the rhythmic drumming of the rain on the roof matched her thumping heart. It had been raining the night she was kidnapped. Raining the day she had been found, too.

  A bump somewhere out in the dark night had both her and Rose jumping. Rose went immediately to the window, trying to make out the shadows.

  “What was that?” Laura asked.

  “I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Go,” Rose commanded, “hide in the closet and don’t come out unless Jack or I tell you to, promise me.”

  “I promise,” Laura nodded solemnly.

  “I mean it.” Rose raised an eyebrow. “Jack will kill me if I let anything happen to you.”

  “I promise.” She nodded again, more emphatically this time.

  Rose slipped her gun free then paused, “Hey, Laura.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m sorry I called you a fruit loop.” Her eyes dipped in embarrassment. “That you still get up every morning considering everything you’ve been through is a miracle.”

  “I …” Laura never finished the sentence. The cabin door was suddenly flung open, a shadowy figure fired off a shot, and Rose’s green eyes flew wide open in shock. Blood foamed from her mouth as her gun clattered to the floor, and half a second later, Rose dropped down beside it.

  * * * * *

  7:35 P.M.

  Running.

  Audrey was running.

  Partly because she didn’t know what else to do and partly because moving helped keep her otherwise paralyzing fear at bay.

  The man had been driving her around in his car for what se
emed like forever, although she guessed it had been close to forty-eight hours. It had just been getting dark when he’d returned to the cabin, tied her up and thrown her in a box in the back of his white van. The box hadn’t been airtight, nor had it completely obscured her view. If she pressed herself up to the top, she could see through the crack between the sides and the lid, and through that, out a window in the side of the van.

  Audrey couldn’t maintain the position for very long; with her wrists tied behind her back and hogtied to her bound ankles, she wasn't very maneuverable. Still, for short periods of time she would do it, and would stare out the window and watch the sky get darker and darker until slowly it started to lighten again.

  They'd driven to somewhere noisy and busy. The man had muttered about if this didn’t work, he didn’t know what would. He had left her for a while and she had thumped as loudly as she could manage, but no one had heard her. Then the man had returned and they were off again, a bevy of gunfire had nearly scared her witless, but she had fought to keep her carefully controlled calm.

  The idea of him taking her somewhere else before the arrival of this Laura woman he was all worked up about hadn’t occurred to her. For a little while, it had thrown her. Did his apparent change in plans mean good news or bad news for her? Audrey wasn't sure, but she knew she wasn't going to give up. She was not a quitter.

  Audrey had managed to find something to use that might help her get free later. Might, she emphasized to herself. She had found a pin, like the kind you used in sewing. It was probably no good against the plastic zip ties he’d tied her up with, or ropes, but it could have worked against duct tape. She might have been able to push it through and make a small hole and then work from there.

  In the end, it had become a moot point.

  After the gunfire, they’d driven through what seemed like a residential neighborhood where they had come to a stop. They’d been there for hours; it grew light and then dark and then light once more. And then they were on the move.

  They’d driven here.

  To these woods.

  Darkness was falling again.

  The man had finally stopped his van, opened the back, and then the box inside which she was stuffed.

  He had lifted her out, set her on the ground, and cut her bindings with a knife.

  Audrey had been petrified that he had given up on the whole Laura thing and decided to just do whatever he’d been going to do to the other woman to her instead.

  But he had simply smiled at her, told her to run, and that he’d see her soon.

  And so, run she had.

  At first, it had been awkward. After so long bound and squashed in a small place, her limbs were numb and useless.

  But that hadn’t stopped her.

  Not knowing whether the man was behind her, she cleared her mind of everything else except moving.

  She had barely noticed when a thunderstorm hit.

  Thunder rumbled, lightning lit up the woods for terrifying seconds where she was sure the man would spot her and come for her, rain poured down, drenching Audrey and the world around her making things slippery.

  She lost count of how many times she fell.

  All that mattered was that she kept on moving.

  And she did.

  Until she ran headlong into something warm and solid and human.

  The person she had run into lost their balance, and the two of them tumbled to the muddy ground.

  Fearing it was the man, Audrey fought as hard as she could. Swinging her fists and her legs.

  “Ow,” the person beneath her yelped as Audrey’s fist connected with her face.

  Before she could process that the voice was a woman’s, someone had tackled her and was pinning her on her stomach against the ground.

  “Paige, are you all right?” A tall man knelt beside the woman. “Where’d you get hit?”

  Paige propped herself up on her elbows. “In the face.”

  “Let me look.” He shone a light in the woman’s face, and probed the area she indicated. “That’s going to leave a bruise, but I don’t think anything’s broken, we’ll ice it as soon as we can.”

  “Jack?” The voice of the man holding her down sounded concerned.

  “She’s fine,” Jack assured him, helping Paige to her feet. “Who was that?”

  She was rolled onto her back. “It’s Audrey Nichols.” The man sounded surprised.

  How did they know her?

  Audrey’s panic levels spiked back up.

  Should she fight them?

  What good would that do? There were three of them and only one of her. And she was hurt.

  Then the man above her eased off her and said the words she’d been longing to hear. “It’s okay, ma’am, we’re the police, you're safe now.”

  Dizzy with relief, she sank back against the wet grass. She was saved. Somehow, the police had found her.

  “Are you hurt, ma’am?” the cop beside her asked as he shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it around her near naked body.

  “Just some bruises,” she managed to choke out, fighting back tears of utter joy. “The man who took me, he’s after someone named Laura.” They needed to find that woman before the man got her.

  “Yeah, we know,” Jack replied grimly. “Ryan, you okay here while I go back and check on Rose and Laura?”

  “Of course,” Ryan replied. “We’ll head back to the car and radio for an ambulance and backup.”

  Jack nodded and jogged off, quickly disappearing into the rainy woods.

  “Can you walk, ma’am?” Ryan asked her.

  Her body was sore, stiff, bruised, and exhausted; she wasn't sure she could take another step. “I don’t think so,” she replied.

  “No worries.” He gave her a comforting smile. “I got you.” Lifting her easily, he began the trek out of the woods. “Just so you know, the paramedics are checking you out, too,” he said over his shoulder to the woman.

  “What? No, I'm fine,” Paige protested.

  “Six months ago, you sustained injuries that nearly killed you; you get checked out,” Ryan shot back.

  “You're not the boss of me, Ryan,” Paige retorted.

  “Well, isn’t that a mature comeback,” Ryan laughed.

  The sound of their argument was oddly soothing and Audrey sank down into Ryan’s arms and simply reveled in being alive.

  * * * * *

  8:12 P.M.

  Too terrified even to scream, Laura just stood there as the dark figure took a step into the cabin. A sheath of light fell across him and she knew they had been right.

  “Hi, Laura. We were interrupted last time; this time I think we’ll be able to settle some old business.” Her old college professor, Axel Christianson, took another step toward her. “I see my friends and I made quite an impression on you.” A gleeful smile lit his face. “It was your fault, you know. You never fought back, you just laid there and let them hurt you over and over and over again.”

  Laura tried to speak, tried to tell him that she had fought at first but it did no good. Still, she knew he was right. She was weak and pathetic, and she still wished she had died out there in that forest, that those hikers had never stumbled across her half dead body.

  He chuckled. “Never mind, I like it better that way. I never forgot that day in the van; it was magical, the best day of my life. I’d love to take my time, savor every second, but those cops are still out there, so we’re going to have to make this quick.”

  As Axel came closer, Laura could see his blue eyes sparkling with lust, his breathing already heavy in anticipation. She wanted to run, to scream, to fight with every ounce of strength she had, unleashing the anger over what the Garretts had done to her that she had kept under strict control the last eleven years.

  Yet, she found herself powerless to move.

  She just stood there while Axel threw her over his shoulder and laid her down on the bed. The torrential pounding of the rain outside seemed to enter her brain; it’s rhyth
mic beating became almost hypnotic and she found herself able to perfectly recreate the deep blue skies of that summer. In her head, she saw the tiny white clouds chase each other across the endless blue that almost made your eyes hurt if you tried to stare at it too long. Then there were the bigger clouds that morphed from one thing to another as they drifted more slowly in the sky.

  She was so wrapped up in her imaginings that she hardly noticed Axel pull off her jeans, but as his fingers traced their way up her legs and found the elastic waistband of her underwear, one of the clouds suddenly changed into Jack’s face. Jack had said that she was strong enough to do this, to finally fight her demons once and for all. He had said that they were going to do it together, and even though he wasn’t here right now, maybe there was still a way he could help her.

  She pictured in her mind the photo she’d taken of the place that made her feel happy, just as Jack had instructed her to do when she felt overwhelmed. Imagining Jack’s arms around her now, she drew strength and comfort and slowly the fog in her mind lifted a little and she could think. Last time she’d been alone, but this time, Jack and the others were here with her. They couldn’t be that far away; they’d be back soon, and all she had to do was keep herself alive until they returned.

  By now, Axel had removed her sweater and was fumbling with the clasp on her bra. Summoning strength she hadn't known she possessed, Laura lashed out with her arms and legs simultaneously, connecting with Axel’s chest and groin, not hard enough to cause any real damage, but enough to catch him off guard.

  Throwing herself off the bed, Laura made a dash for the door, but Axel recovered quickly and fired off a shot. Waiting for pain to explode out from somewhere in her body, it took Laura a second to realize that Axel had aimed for the light globe, not her, and plunged the small room into darkness.

  “Ah, it seems like we are going to have a bit of fun, after all.” Axel clapped his hands excitedly.