by M J Adams
“She’s not in charge,” Jonas said. “My orders came from the General.”
“Who’s that?”
“I don’t know,” he said thoughtfully. He finally looked fully at Isaac, and he saw the same fear flowing through him mirrored in his friend’s eyes.
“Come with me,” Isaac said. “We have a secure place. Plenty of room.”
“I can’t,” Jonas said. “My brothers.”
Isaac sighed, glancing around this tiny town and back toward the bus station. “At least let me go, then.”
Jonas looked like he was battling an internal war, and Isaac saw their two-year friendship in a single moment. Before Jonas could act or speak, Isaac slipped the backpack off his shoulder and flung the strap around Jonas’s neck. He launched himself over the man’s shoulder and pulled on the backpack strap as Jonas grunted and tried to get the ligature away from his neck.
“Don’t struggle,” Isaac said softly. “Just relax. Come on, soldier.” He didn’t want to do this. Didn’t want to hurt Jonas or leave him behind. But if what he’d said was true, Isaac’s life was on the line. Cora’s too. And Luke’s. Max’s.
So he’d knock him out, get on the bus, and then get to Richland Center as soon as possible. Go into hiding there, and hope the trail went cold with Jonas on the blazing hot asphalt a block away from the bus station in Benson, Arizona.
Jonas finally stopped struggling, and he dropped to his knees with a groan. Isaac didn’t let up on the pressure on the backpack strap as he said, “You’ve got to get out of there, bro. Get your brothers, and leave that place.”
Jonas dropped to the ground, face-down, and Isaac quickly un-looped the backpack, put it on his shoulder, and ran.
He went through the possibilities quickly. Couldn’t steal a car. Too much attention drawn. Reports made. Paperwork for miles.
Couldn’t get on the bus. Jonas was a big guy, and his body would come back to life quickly as more oxygen made it inside those lungs. So no time to wait.
He had no money and no way to get money. Couldn’t rent a car or buy an airplane ticket.
The helplessness and panic he felt drowned him, pulsing against his stomach as if someone had poured acid in his body cavity. And he suddenly understood the desperation and fear of the women he’d been helping for the past three years.
“Focus,” he said, glancing right and seeing the grocery store. He just needed a ride that would get him out of town quickly and not draw attention to himself. Maybe he could hitch somewhere with someone leaving the store.
He parked himself next to the exit, sure the cops would be showing up at any moment. Instead, a white hatchback pulled up to a door in the middle and someone came out and started loading groceries into the back of the car.
“Just gonna use the restroom,” the teenage driver said, and the woman nodded.
Seizing the opportunity, Isaac ducked into the store just in time to see the kid going into the restroom. Leaving the backpack by the shopping carts, he made sure he had his wallet before heading to the middle of the store. He grabbed a pair of sunglasses from one display and a blue Diamondbacks hat from another as he walked.
Step, he put on the hat. Step, he put on the sunglasses. No one stopped him as he walked right past the grocery delivery counter and out the door.
“I’ve got it,” he said, glancing at the woman’s nametag. “Thanks, Melissa.”
She didn’t even look at him. Just moved the cart away from the hatchback with the words, “Don’t dawdle on the way back, Titan. I’m sick of calling you to find out where you are.”
Isaac felt a pinch of regret for her and the boy in the bathroom. But he slid behind the wheel and glanced at the console to find a phone there. He tossed it on the ground, pulled the door closed, and drove away.
He drove and drove and drove, not daring to stop until the car was about to run out of gas. He probably could’ve used a phone, but he knew better than most that cell phones were traceable, and that teenager could have parents with some app that would allow them to see where their son was geographically.
Isaac didn’t need that.
While the tank filled with gas, he went through the groceries in the back, finding a sub sandwich and several bags of chips. “Lotto,” he muttered to himself, moving a bunch of food up to the passenger seat.
“Ma’am,” he said to the woman next to him. She glanced at him warily, and Isaac hated himself for what he was about to do. “I just used the last of my money to fill up this time. I’m trying to get to my family up north.” Not a lie, on either count. “Could you spare twenty or forty bucks for a veteran?”
She softened, and Isaac wanted to tell her not to be so trusting. He’d shown her no proof he was a veteran, even though he was. She managed to keep both eyes on him and open her minivan to collect her purse at the same time.
After taking whatever bills she’d offered him, Isaac smiled, said, “God bless you,” and got behind the wheel again.
She’d given him two twenties. Enough to put more gas in the tank in several hours. He thought it might be a risk driving this car for so long, but he didn’t have another option at the moment. How far would the police from Benson go to find their grocery delivery car? He wasn’t sure, and that kept his foot pressing the accelerator almost all the way to the floor.
Twenty-four hours later, Isaac felt like someone had rubbed sand into his eyes. He’d been awake and driving for much of the last thirty-six hours, and he’d ditched the car in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Now, he just needed a ride into Richland Center, another two hours north. There were several cheese factories there, and plenty of big rigs on the road. He managed to catch a ride with a man with a goatee and a case of caffeinated soda.
“What’s in Richland Center?” the man asked as he got his truck rumbling along the highway.
“Family,” Isaac said, desperately hoping Cora had made it to the house. That Luke wasn’t in trouble. That he’d be the last one to arrive, and it would be a big family reunion. He closed his eyes and before he knew it, the semi was slowing.
He jolted awake, his heartbeat pounding beneath his breastbone.
“Richland Center,” the driver said. “You okay?”
“Fine,” Isaac said, looking around for his backpack before realizing he didn’t have it any longer. “Thanks.” He opened the door and slid to the ground, his legs weak, and the summer night still hot. The gravel beneath his feet made a comforting sound as he strode away, ignoring the trucker’s calls to wait a minute and he’d drive him wherever he needed to go.
That wasn’t going to happen.
Isaac couldn’t pull up to the Ranger hideout in a big rig. No witnesses, he told himself. He had the address to the house memorized, and while Richland Center wasn’t a huge place, it took him a little over an hour to walk there.
The first house at the intersection looked abandoned. Weeds had taken over most of the yard, and the yellow siding looked like it might have been gray at some point in the past. They’d bought this house too, and he wasn’t sure if Luke was planning to fix it up and make it look like someone lived there, or not.
Isaac kind of liked that it looked disastrous. He didn’t want to look at it for too long, and that meant no one else would either. They’d go right by it, uninterested.
Up the road another mile or so sat the house Luke had envisioned them living in full-time. There was no car in the driveway and no other indication that anyone was there.
Isaac went up to the front door and tried opening it. Locked. Of course.
He knocked loudly, calling, “It’s me,” so Luke would hurry up and open the door. Get him inside. Shelter him.
Scuffling came through the wood, along with the clicking of a lock, and then the door opened to reveal the glorious sight of Cora standing there.
“Isaac,” she said as if she was seeing a ghost. She launched herself into his arms, and every cell in his body rejoiced to see her here.
He walked inside with her
clinging to him, pushed the door closed with his foot, and locked it while she cried into his shoulder.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, automatically taking on his protector role again. In reality, he needed someone to protect him. Take care of him. Feed him. Let him sleep for hours and hours while they watched over him.
“Where is everyone?” he asked next.
“Luke’s in the shower,” she said, stepping back. Her fingers braided themselves together and pulled apart. “He’ll be so mad I answered the door.” She put a smile on her face. “But it was you.”
“I called.”
“I know. That’s why I opened the door.” Cora rushed him again, pressing a sloppy kiss to his lips. “I’ve been so worried about you.” She lined up their mouths again, right this time, and Isaac suddenly forgot about how tired he was. That he’d incapacitated a fellow Parkwood protector, that he’d stolen a grocery delivery car.
He only wanted to kiss Cora, and touch Cora, and make love to Cora. She seemed to have the same idea, and she guided him down the hall to a bedroom, barely taking her lips from his. In the back of his mind, he could hear the shower, but it didn’t bother him that Luke was there.
He’d just dropped his boxers to the floor and slipped into bed with Cora when the door creaked behind him.
“Isaac’s here,” Cora said, pushing herself up and looking toward the door. Isaac did too, seeing the heat in Luke’s expression as he stood there with damp hair and a towel around his waist.
“Where’s Max?” Isaac asked.
“He’s not here yet,” Cora said, and Isaac looked back at her.
Not here yet. That was the stuff of nightmares. “We haven’t heard from him?” he asked.
“Not yet,” Luke said, moving to the other side of the bed. He pulled the blanket back, and Isaac noticed he’d dropped the towel as he slid into bed on Cora’s other side. She moaned and pressed back into him, and it was the sexiest thing Isaac had ever seen.
“Both of us?” he asked, almost desperate for her to say yes.
So when she did, Isaac was more than happy to obey every command she gave him.
Chapter 26
Cora
Cora glanced up at Luke as he put a plate with bacon and sausage on the table. The scrambled eggs came next, and he sat next to her. Isaac came down the hall, his hair still wet from his shower, and he was so good-looking it hurt.
“Hey,” he said with a smile that didn’t go all the way to his eyes. “Breakfast. Wow.”
“We have to cook for ourselves out here,” Luke said, pushing a plate toward him. “I’m not half-bad.”
Isaac’s eyes lit up then, and Cora loved this simple life with them. Her heart wailed for Max, and she said, “So, what are we going to do?” She watched as the two of them exchanged a glance, and she wouldn’t be surprised if they were able to tell their stories from the past two weeks in that single look.
She still hadn’t quite gotten the hang of such quick, unspoken communication, so she took a few pieces of bacon and passed the plate to Luke. “I’ve been here for two days,” she said. “I guess this is the third day.”
Luke had slept with her every night, as Cora couldn’t stand to be alone. And this morning, as they’d all slept, she’d had a brilliant, breathing man on either side of her, keeping her warm and safe and protected.
Heat filled her, but it wasn’t quite complete. “Want me to start?” she asked, though she’d already detailed everything for Luke.
“Did you get to Canada?” Isaac asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“I wrote it up, Cora,” Luke said. “Isaac can just read it if he wants to.”
Isaac reached over and touched her hand, a quick smile on his face as he took the eggs from Luke. “I’ll do that. The important thing is you got here.”
Pride swelled in Cora’s very being. She had gotten herself there. With very little money or resources. She liked the feeling of power and confidence over fear and anxiety, and she never wanted to go back to the person she’d been a month ago.
A month.
It seemed like a different lifetime.
“So you start,” Luke said, looking at Isaac. “I’ll write it all up so Max can read it.”
“All right,” Isaac sighed, and it wasn’t one of the blissful, erotic sounds he made in the bedroom. Cora’s mind flew to their morning tryst anyway, barely listening to Isaac as he detailed how he’d become an agent for the Grand Master, gone through Rich’s house when the call came, and then rescued her in Seattle.
After that, he’d taken to hitching rides and bumming money and food as he moved south and then across the country. As he mentioned stealing a grocery delivery car, Luke got up and collected the laptop from the kitchen counter.
“Let’s look that up,” he said.
“I left the car in Cedar Rapids,” he said. “Hitched up here with a cheese trucker.”
“What’s the name of the grocery store?”
“I don’t know,” Isaac said. “It was in Benson, Arizona.”
Cora waited, the food she’d eaten churning in her gut. She clenched her arms across her middle, wishing Max would knock on the door. She wouldn’t be able to truly relax until she knew where he was, what had happened, and that he was safe.
Safe, here with her.
Luke had insisted they watch the news, search the Internet for any stories related to them. Because of that, she’d seen the news of her “death,” and Rich’s arrest, and the headline that had just come out that morning.
Hollywood producer to plead guilty to killing wife.
Only she wasn’t dead. Rich hadn’t stayed in the shadows, and Isaac had done exactly what he’d said he’d do—he’d given all the evidence he had for her abuse and Rich’s threats to the police and the media.
“A tiny blip of a story,” Luke said. “They reported it missing. I can’t see anything that says it’s been found.”
“I just left it there this morning,” Isaac said, glancing around. “What time is it?”
Cora looked at the clock on the microwave too. It was mid-afternoon now, as they’d slept for a few hours after Isaac’s arrival at the house.
“Ten hours ago,” he said, looking at Cora. “That seems weird. Feels a lot longer.”
“Time is weird here,” she said with a smile.
“Any word from Max since he called you in Hollywood Hills?” Luke asked, putting the laptop on the counter and bringing over the desk calendar. “That was Tuesday?”
“Yes,” Isaac said. “Same day Cora flew to Seattle.” He peered at the calendar. “It took you nine days to get here?”
Cora nodded, the memories from that time flooding her mind. She pushed them back, stronger than them now.
“It took you eleven,” Luke said, his eyebrows raised. “And Max must’ve gone back to Parkwood.” He turned and got the laptop again. “We have news articles of Rich’s arrest on Thursday, and Friday, and Max is in both of them.”
He let Isaac read the articles, but Cora had Max’s quotes memorized. She’d downloaded the one photo where he stood off to the side, that dark suit so neat and perfect on his tall frame. She’d tried zooming in. Tried to connect with him somehow.
Nothing worked.
“Have we called him?”
“We don’t dare,” Luke said. “There have been a few articles about Parkwood Academy too, and well…” He looked at Cora.
“We don’t trust them.”
“Oh, I have a story for you,” Isaac said. “It’s about Jonas. He said his orders to find me and all of us came from a General. The General, he called him.
Cora wanted to ask so many questions about Parkwood. It had been a place of peace and tranquility for her after a very tumultuous time in her life. “Max said the Academy was funded by private grants.”
“Yeah, that’s what we thought,” Isaac said. “But why would we have to stay there forever? I wish I had a copy of my contract.”
“I have it,” Luke said
, bringing silence with his statement. The three of them sat there, looking at one another. Finally, he bolted to his feet. “I have them. Let’s see what we can learn.”
The moment he left the room, Isaac leaned forward and kissed her. “I’ve missed you,” he murmured, capturing his mouth with his so completely Cora melted right into his touch. “I’m so glad you made it here safely. Putting you in that car was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
She cradled his face in both of her hands. “I’m glad you made it too.” She searched his eyes, disliking that she needed his reassurance. But she did. “Do you think Max will make it?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “He’ll be careful, and he’ll take his time. So we’ll need to be patient.”
“Patient,” Cora echoed. “I can probably do that.” She kissed him again, taking in a deep breath of his cologne, the scent of his shampoo. “And this morning…that was okay?”
“Yeah,” he said. “You know we’ll do whatever you want.”
“What if I want just you? Like we had in Amarillo?”
“Then it’s just me and you,” he whispered, skating his lips down her neck. “But Cora, it really is up to you. I thought this morning was great.”
“Yeah? With Luke there?”
“Oh, yeah,” Isaac said, his lips dipping further down her neck and his hands wandering to usually untouched parts of her body. Of course, that morning, with four hands and two mouths on her, she’d felt like they’d covered every inch of her dozens of times.
“I want Max to come home,” she whispered, guiding Isaac’s hand away from her sensitive areas. “And then I want you all in bed with me.” The fantasy had been in her mind for a while now, but Cora hadn’t dared to give it much room. Or a voice. But after being with Luke and Isaac at the same time, she’d realized that fantasies could become realities.
“Okay,” Luke said, but Isaac didn’t move back a single inch.