Her Best Friend Jon

by Kristy K. James

  Within minutes they were fighting against strong winds and huge snowflakes being blown into their face like frozen missiles. Martin climbed in the backseat while Jon helped Hannah in the passenger side of the truck. He considered clearing the windows for about half a second, then shook his head and hurried around to the driver's side. The windows would be covered again as fast as he could scrape them off, so he didn't even bother trying.

  "I've never been out in anything like this before," Hannah said, sounding a little nervous as he eased through the snow and out onto the road. He resisted the urge to remind her that she didn't have to be out in it at all. "How will you ever see to find Perkey Road?"

  "Hopefully my GPS won't go all wonky because of the storm, and I won't have to worry about it." He'd entered the destination immediately after starting the engine. It said they were only about ten miles away, but it was going to take a lot longer than fifteen minutes to get there today.

  Before leaving the house, he'd called the sheriff's office to let them know a fellow officer was stranded on a back country road. The desk sergeant had apologized, but told him every available car was on the main highways trying to deal with dozens of accidents and vehicles in ditches, and he had no idea how long it would take to get someone out there. He was kind enough to wish Jon luck, and to urge him to be careful. Yeah, like he needed to be reminded of that.

  "I'd just love to know what he's doing out there today. That's nowhere near Lansing. Anything happening in that area would be the county or state's responsibility."

  "Maybe he got another letter with coordinates." Martin suggested.

  "Yeah. You know how paranoid he's been since Jenna was kidnapped," Hannah said, and he figured they were probably right. It would take something drastic like that to get Ed this far from his normal beat in the middle of the worst winter storm they'd had in years.

  "Let's hope it wasn't anything like that. We already know everyone else is safe at home. I sure don't want to have to go searching for some remote location after we find him." Dan had made a few quick calls to make sure everyone they cared about was okay, and then let him know, so they couldn't figure out why Ed would do something this stupid – unless he thought he needed to save someone.

  "I can't even see twenty feet in front of us," Hannah observed, leaning forward in her seat like that would help. But Jon didn't say a word, realizing he was hunched over the steering wheel trying to do the same thing.

  "You never had anything this bad in Texas?" He heard her laugh, though it was lacking any sort of amusement.

  "Like this? No. Never anything like this. Not where I lived anyway."

  "Welcome to Michigan."

  "You forget, I've already experienced the first part of this winter, and that's already been worse than what I grew up with."

  "So you're getting the real initiation now, aren't you."

  "I guess I am. How long do you think it will take to get there?"

  "I don't know. Maybe half an hour, forty-five minutes." He couldn't get much over ten or fifteen miles an hour or the wheels started sliding. Besides, going any faster with almost no visibility was just plain stupid. That's why the police were so busy elsewhere. No one wanted to slow down. "You can turn on the radio if you want."

  Apparently she did, and didn't waste any time in turning it to a local station. Reception wasn't the greatest, but they heard a long list of event closings for the evening, dinners, concerts, ball games, club meetings. There were probably kids throughout the warning area lamenting the fact that tomorrow was Saturday and they wouldn't get a day off school. He should have suggested she find something with music, something to help relax them both, but he was as interested in what was going on as she was.

  ~~~~~

  Talk about Murphy's Law ruling the day…

  "Sorry you insisted on coming along?" Jon asked, panting as he chipped away at the deep bank of hard packed snow. Apparently the plows had yet to make it to the north and south roads they'd blocked when clearing the ones running east and west. This was the only one they'd gotten stuck at so far, but to have gotten stuck on both sides was beyond ridiculous.

  "Nope," Martin huffed, using the other little shovel that they'd pulled from the tool chest. It was taking ten times longer than it would have to clear freshly fallen snow. Even normal sized dirt shovels would have made quicker work of it, but these were better than nothing.

  "Pretty sure this isn't how you pictured spending your afternoon."

  "Maybe not, but at least doing this, I know I'm doing my job right." Jon paused to look up at him, but Martin didn't stop shoveling.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Guarding all of you. We're a joke. Like the Three Stooges, only there's more of us – and we're costing you and your friends a small fortune."

  Hmm. He wasn't sure what to say to that, because he actually agreed with him, but the stalker was good, so he didn’t know that they were totally to blame.

  "We talk, you know. Meet for coffee after our shifts. We haven't stopped that guy once. Not once. None of us. The joker waits so long between attacks that we get complacent. It's easy to get distracted when nothing is happening day, after day, after day."

  "I imagine it does get pretty boring." This time Martin did look up, his lips turned down in a scowl.

  "That's no excuse! Do you know what I was doing when you and Ed were nearly blown to kingdom come? I was texting my wife. I figured Brent and Alan were there, too, so it would be okay to ask her what was for supper. The only problem is, Alan was daydreaming about a date he'd had with his new girlfriend. Brent won't say what he was doing, but I'd bet it was online poker. He's quite the gambler. Anyway, none of us expected someone to come through the woods," he muttered, slamming the shovel into the snow hard. "I mean who does something like that in the dead of winter? Those are thick woods, the road is more than a quarter of a mile away, and the snow was deep. I couldn't even get close to him."

  "Like you said, Martin, he's good," Jon said, relieved when to see that they were almost finished. He wasn't sure why he was trying to make the man feel better, but he couldn't imagine being constantly on guard, just watching, and usually watching nothing. He'd probably spend most of his time trying not to fall asleep, and to do it every day for months on end had to be miserable.

  "He won't get through again. I promise you that."

  ~~~~~

  It wound up taking almost an hour and a half to get to Perkey Road. By that time, Jon's knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel. It was stressful enough being a passenger, and Hannah couldn't imagine being in the driver's seat. When the storm caught them by surprise, moving in hours earlier than predicted, Jon had insisted she stay the night so neither one of them would be caught out in the mess.

  And yet here they were, along with Martin, smack in the middle of the worst driving conditions she'd ever seen, searching the sides of the road for any sign of Ed, who was supposed to be stuck in a ditch about two and a half miles south of the store. Except they'd gone five full miles, to where Perkey ended at the next crossroad…with absolutely no sign of him. And now the sun was beginning to set.

  "His emergency flashers might show up better in the dark," Jon said, trying to put a positive spin on the situation.

  She didn't have the heart to tell him that if they were covered with snow, it could be black as pitch and they might not be able to see them. She really hoped that wasn't the case because she didn't want Ed to freeze to death out here. Not when she'd come to care for him so much. In fact, she'd been planning to confess to him this coming weekend when he came back out to Jon's to help finish the dining room. That was before the weather changed, but she still intended to tell him soon. She hadn't thought she'd have the courage to do it on her own, but now she'd take any opportunity she could – if only he was all right.

  "I'm going to run in and talk to the clerk," Jon said, putting the shifter in park. "Maybe he knows a little more than he told me on
the phone." They'd made it back to the corner, and he parked near the front door of the store. "Stay here and lock the doors."

  Somehow Hannah doubted there was anyone out tonight looking for trouble, but she did as he said anyway. Better safe than sorry was a good motto to live by given everything that had happened.

  She screamed a little when Jon's cell phone rang, but she jerked it off the console and pressed talk, glancing at Martin who also looked a little startled.

  "Hello? Ed?"

  "No. Hannah, it's me, Dan. What are you doing with Jon's phone." She explained that Jon had gone in the store to question the clerk, and could have sworn she heard Dan whisper a word she'd never heard him use. In the background she could hear Jess demanding to know if she'd gone out with Jon. "Yes. She's with Jon," he said, then asked Hannah, "Have you found Ed yet?"

  "No. We've been up and down the road once already with no sign of him."

  "Wonderful. His SUV is probably buried by now. Jeez, Hannah, why did you go with him? Do you have any idea what kind of danger you're in?"

  "Yeah, Dan, actually I do." She made sure her words were gentle, understanding that he was scared, so she didn't take offense at his censure. He was the worrier of the group, and couldn't help himself. Especially now that he had to add her to the list of people he cared about who weren't yet safe.

  "I know. I'm sorry."

  "It's okay. One of the guards came with us, so you don't have to worry about that. But hopefully it won't be too much longer. We'll find him soon and then head back to Jon's. I promise." She just hoped she could make good on that, because if the darkness didn't help Ed's emergency flashers to show up better, she despaired of ever finding him. At least of finding him alive.

  ~~~~~

  "I wish I could help you," the older gentleman behind the counter said, shaking his head. "All I know is that the lady came in for bread and milk, and she said some guy in a big SUV pulled in the parking lot long enough to hand her a note from the guy who's in the ditch. It had his name, your name, and your phone number, so I called. That's all I know. I wish there was more, but there wasn't."

  "Well we haven't been able to find him, and I still can't get him on the phone."

  "Cell service sucks out here during a storm. And I'm not surprised you're having trouble. He's got to be out there about two hours now. His car is probably buried." He winced when he realized what he'd said, and shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry."

  "It's okay. I'm going back out to look again."

  "Be careful, and good luck."

  "Thanks. I think I'm going to need it."

  By the time he got back in the truck, he looked like a snowman again. His jeans were damp from all the snow melting on him over the course of this trip, and now the denim felt like a second skin. All he wanted to do was find Ed, and get home where it was warm and dry. Mostly though, he just wanted to get Hannah off these roads. He should have refused to bring her, but then she probably would have followed through on her threat and tried to follow in her car.

  ~~~~~

  "How long has it been?" Jess asked – for the twentieth time.

  She was standing at the counter chopping vegetables for a salad to go with their supper. Dan was doing what he'd been doing since he'd talked to Hannah a little while ago, and that was pacing, with frequent stops to stand at the patio doors, where he would stare at the whiteout on the deck. He'd have liked to have seen what condition the yard was in, but it was impossible to see through the blowing, churning snow.

  And they were all out there in the middle of it. Miles from any town, warmth, and safety.

  "About three hours since they got the call about Ed."

  "I know," she admitted with a sigh, shrugging her shoulders when he glanced at her. "I've been watching the clock, too. I hope he calls soon."

  "So do I."

  He kept doing the math in his head, estimating the miles and the driving time, factoring in the need to travel at a snail's pace, and the way he figured it, they should have been back at Jon's at least half an hour ago.

  "It's Cal again," he muttered, looking at the caller I.D. on his cell phone when it rang. Cal and Sam had been like a tag team, calling every ten minutes or so.

  "Any word yet?"

  "No. Nothing."

  "It's getting worse. The weather report says we've already gotten about eighteen inches, with another foot or so expected by midnight."

  "We've been listening to the radio." And with each new report, getting more scared by the minute.

  "Should we go out and look for them? They're not that far from us." Dan almost laughed at the suggestion. Cal and Darby each drove a Lexus. They'd be lucky if they could get out of their driveway, much less five feet down any road.

  "It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, and that's saying you could even get near the area. I can't even see the rail on our deck."

  "What if-"

  "Cal, hang on. I've got another call." Expecting Sam, his knees went weak when he heard Ed's voice on the other end. "Oh thank God," he said, nodding when Jess's gaze met him.

  "What is going on?" Ed demanded, sounding stressed. "I've been in court all afternoon, and I finally get in my car and turn my phone on to find I've got about two dozen voice mails from all of you guys. What happened? What did Jon mean by he's on his way?"

  "What? You've been in court? All afternoon?" As he sank slowly onto one of the stools at the counter, Jess reached across and grabbed his hand, her face paling. He just wanted to throw up. The stalker. It couldn't be anything else.

  "Since one o'clock. Why?"

  "Jon- Jon got a call." He explained what happened, and that both Jon and Hannah were out searching the countryside for him. Ed muttered something he couldn't make out, then said,

  "Let me call you back. I'm going to see if I can get hold of him."

  "Good luck with that. Reception out that way isn't good, not even in the best weather conditions."

  "If I can't get through, I'll just go find him."

  "You'll never make it out of the city. Obviously you haven't been paying attention to the news reports."

  "Oh but I will. Trust me, I've driven in worse. Not much, but close."

  "Ed-"

  "I'm hanging up now. I'll let you know when we're safe and sound." When he heard silence, he looked at his wife, wondering if he looked as terrified as he felt.

  "What's going on, Dan?" she wanted to know, but he held up a finger, switching the phone back to Cal. That way he could explain it once for both of them.

  ~~~~~

  "Good grief!" Jon exclaimed, glancing in the rear view mirror.

  "What?"

  "I've got some idiot right on my bumper," he muttered, gripping the wheel tighter.

  "Are you serious?" From the corner of his eye he could see Hannah trying to look out the back window, but it was so snow covered that she wouldn't be able to see anything but the glow from a couple of high beams, which was all he could make out, too. "Why would anyone be tailgating in weather like this? If you had to stop suddenly, they'd hit us."

  "He's getting closer," Martin said. Jon could see his head in the rear view mirror as he craned it around to look.

  The words had no sooner left his mouth than the lights came closer – fast. They had to have put chains on their tires, something he wished he'd done before starting out.

  When the front of the vehicle, half again as big as Jon's truck, hit his bumper, they started swerving, and when it hit them the second time, he didn't have a clue where they were headed, but he knew it wasn't straight down the road anymore.

  "Hold on," he said, fighting the wheel to try and right the slide, but it was a losing battle.

  He could feel that they were beginning to travel down an incline, just before he saw the snow covered branch in front of the windshield. The branch that just happened to be aimed right at Hannah's face.

  Chapter 12

  He knew it all hap
pened in the blink of an eye, but it also felt like someone flipped a slow motion switch. Like the dreams he had when he was a kid. The ones where his heart would almost pound like a jackhammer because he was running away from something as hard as he could, but his feet always felt like they were strapped to concrete blocks. No matter that his legs would ache like he'd been running for miles, and he could hardly catch his breath, he wouldn't actually be moving forward – and all the while the big scary monster got ever closer.

  As soon as he felt the first hit, that's what he thought of because to him, it was almost as though they were moving at a snail's pace. He heard Hannah scream, could feel the truck shift position on the road…and he finally understood what people meant when they said their lives passed before their eyes. Except it wasn't his life he saw, but more of a sense, a knowing.

  There had been no doubt that this was the stalker's doing. That Ed wasn't out here at all. That he, Hannah, and Martin were probably going to be casualties of this miserable storm, victims of a vindictive, cruel monster who got off on hurting others.

  It was only when he saw the limb that time sped up again, and he reached out and yanked Hannah toward him, just as it crashed through the windshield, not stopping until it had broken the rear window out, too. When they finally jolted to a stop, the truck's grill rested at a downward angle against the tree trunk.

  He was thrown forward like he didn't have a seatbelt on, and when he hit the steering wheel he felt something snap. He ignored the sharp stab of pain, didn't even care, because the only thing he could see was that Hannah's head slammed into the dash. The first thing his muddled brain could think was at least she still had a head to hit the dash. If he hadn't acted so quickly, that same head would be resting in Martin's lap.