“Paul, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why doesn’t your father just move me out of your home? Wouldn’t it be better than staying here putting everyone in danger?”
“There’s too much heat on you right now.”
“I know. The heat would go away if I was gone.”
“No, it wouldn’t. It won’t go away till you’re captured. If we tried to move you, they’d find us. It’s actually better to let them zoom in on our home and raid us. Then we can escape through the tunnel while all their eyes are on the home and hopefully get away, a diversion of sorts.”
“It sounds too risky.”
“It is, but we’ve done it before and it works. But Sam is the one who handles the evacuations, not me.”
“Where does the tunnel lead?”
“Can’t tell you. When you come out of the tunnel, you’ll know where it leads.”
“What’s that, like some kind of a club or something? The tunnel club?”
“Yeah. Exactly.” He looked over at her and smiled. The strained tension that he felt when he looked at her curled his toes. He looked away back to the ceiling.
“Tomorrow, I plan to stay in the crawlspace all day long,” she said.
“If it makes you feel safer.”
“I feel safe when I’m with you. If that’s where you’ll be, it’s where I want to be too.”
He looked at her again and saw she was completely serious. “Okay. Let’s get some sleep.”
“You don’t think they’ll raid us during the night?”
“Highly unlikely. They can’t track us as easily after dark. They always raid in the daylight, often at the crack of dawn. Get some rest, Sara.” He rolled away so he wouldn’t have to look at her, so maybe the knot in his stomach would relax.
“Goodnight, Paul.” Sierra laid her head down on the pillow and stared at Paul’s back. He had changed in a matter of hours. In two days’ time she had watched as he matured from boy to man. His sincerity toward her wasn’t masked or fake. It was genuine. Her father was the only other person she had ever known who displayed this kind of trait. Paul reminded her of her father, and she knew without a doubt that her father would’ve liked Paul.
*****
“Sir, may I have a moment with you?”
Reginald looked up from his papers. “Come in.”
General Steinman entered and stood before Reginald with a nervousness that didn’t go unnoticed by Reginald. “May I ask if you’ve come up with an explanation about Sierra’s absence?” the general asked.
“No one knows she’s disappeared.”
“Well, assuming she hasn’t been located in time for the wedding, I’m wondering what you plan to tell the press.”
“No one will ever know she’s disappeared.” Reginald’s anger began to rise.
“Sir, if I may, I have an idea of how you can explain the delay of the wedding. Of course it won’t be necessary if she’s found and returned in time, but if not, I think it would be sufficient for the people.”
“Tell me.”
“The public knows about the attempts on her life from several months ago, so why not paint the picture that there are current threats against her, and you don’t want to risk her safety by holding the wedding — that is, until the threat is nullified, which of course would be once you find her.”
Reginald rubbed his chin in heavy contemplation. “Yes, that sounds good. Alert the press. As head of my security, you’ve determined that there’s a viable threat to Ms. Montgomery’s life, and the wedding is currently on hold until we can be assured of her safety.”
“Yes sir.” General Steinman saluted and left the room.
Reginald leaned back in his chair and inhaled deeply. Relief settled over him. What would he do without his trusted personnel? General Steinman had come up with plausible propaganda. People in general are weak minded and believe whatever you tell them, but not Reginald. No, he was smarter than that.
*****
The next day started out fine with no new developments to report on any level. Sam joined Paul in the crawlspace, and together they worked removing the dirt and rocks. Sierra joined them but remained over in the opposite corner curled up in a blanket.
“She’s real cute, Pauly,” Sam teased quietly.
“Shut up,” Paul hissed. He hated it when his older brother called him that.
“Come on. You know I’m only jealous. I’ve never been in your situation, you know, sleeping with a crosser.”
“Leave it to you to make it sound scandalous,” Paul said. “Why are there so many damn rocks?” He reached down and wrapped his fingers around a rock twelve inches across and heaved it out of the tunnel.
By Zachary’s calculations, they still had about four feet of earth to move before they would reach the tunnel wall. Every four inches they progressed forward, they added a two-by-four wood plank to the ceiling with uprights to support it. The tunnel they were digging was five feet tall and three feet wide. In the crawlspace, it sloped down ramp style till its height reached five feet directly under the foundation of the house. It followed the outer side of the solid cement wall which formed the basement. Soon they would connect perpendicularly to the existing tunnel.
Zachary had begun forming the doorway on the inside wall of the existing tunnel. He needed to cut the upright beams and install a header for support, and he planned on running a line of wire to power low-wattage lighting.
“Paul, hand me another upper beam.”
“We’re all out of upper beams. I’ll go get more.” They both knew the beams were outside in the back yard.
“No, I’ll do it,” Sam said. “You stay with Sara.”
They both climbed up the ramp into the crawlspace. It pained both of their backs to be hunched over for the extended periods of time required to dig and haul the bucket loads of dirt and rock, mostly rock. Even in the crawlspace they couldn’t stand up completely. Paul and Sam walked like hunchbacks toward the trap door.
Sierra sat on the blanket near the trap door, watching in earnest as they approached. “What’s going on?” she asked.
Paul lay on the blanket to try to stretch his muscles, anything to ease his throbbing back. “We’re out of upper beams. He’s going to get more.”
“How’s the digging going?”
“Slow. We’re almost there, I think.”
“I wish my foot felt better. I’d help you dig,” she said with a smile. She sat cross-legged next to his torso. “It’s feeling a lot better. I can put weight on it now. I’ve been practicing.”
“That’s not a good idea if it’s broken.” He looked over at her. She had an expression on her face Paul couldn’t read. His lack of experience with girls made it even more difficult to decipher her expressions. It would be so much easier if girls had flash cards stating their emotions at the time.
“What’s wrong Paul?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re looking at me like something is wrong.”
“Oh sorry, I was just … thinking.”
“Thinking,” she repeated, enunciating each syllable.
“Sara, what do you plan to do with your life once you’re free?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it that far.”
“Maybe you should.”
“You sound confident that I’ll be able to escape.”
“Do you have doubts?”
“Frankly, yes. You don’t know the Rawlings family like I do. They don’t ever stop. I’ll probably have to flee to another country, except … ”
“Except what?” He saw pain in her eyes. He saw fear and agony. But why?
They were interrupted by the trap door falling open and boards clattering down. She jumped nervously, and Paul instinctively sat up and placed his hand on hers.
The trap door closed, but Sam hadn’t come down. Paul spotted a note attached to one of the boards. He moved quickly and grabbed it. “Stay put. Men at the door,” it r
ead. He looked upward at the floor joists.
“What is it, Paul?”
He turned his head toward her and placed his finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet. He moved back over to her side and handed her the note. She read it, and her eyes shot upward too. They hadn’t heard the doorbell, and there weren’t any sounds of footsteps.
Paul motioned toward the furthest corner of the crawlspace, and he helped her move. This position placed them in the southwest corner under the living room, right beside the boxes of supplies. Paul reached in a box and pulled out a blanket, which he spread out on the ground.
“Lie down here,” he said quietly. She seemed frightened to him, and he wished he could comfort her, but he didn’t know what to do.
She whispered back, “Is this a raid?”
“I don’t think so. It’s quiet up there, so we’ll wait till Sam comes back down. Are you cold?” He’d seen her shiver.
“No, well maybe a little, I’m scared.” She tried to smile, but her chin quivered with the effort.
There was just enough light from the bulb by the trap door to cast a glimmer on the gathering moisture in her eyes. His heart swelled with concern, and he sat beside her. He slid his arm under her neck and helped her sit up, then pulled her body into his arms.
Her head came to rest on the front of his shoulder, and her forehead fit perfectly against his neck. He held her close across his lap with his hand wrapped around, cradling the back of her head. She reached her arm up around his neck and held on for her life.
She felt entirely safe in his arms, the same arms that had pulled her from the ice and nursed her back to the land of the living. Was it coincidence or fate that he had found her? She didn’t know. She only knew she was safe in his arms at this moment, and she wished it would never end.
Paul, on the other hand, sat holding his crosser, his mind racing with the impossibilities of keeping her safe. They were trapped down in this hole. The exit wasn’t completed, not near enough. How was he supposed to protect her? This vulnerable, highly sought-after, incredibly beautiful crosser had accidentally become his responsibility, his first ever, just because he saw her orange bandana in the ice and didn’t turn the other way. Now she literally clung to him.
He rubbed the back of her head and leaned his head on hers. Her tense arm, which had wrapped itself around his neck, had now relaxed, and her thumb was lazily rubbing his neck. The action made him feel suddenly different — tense, not because of the possible danger above, but because of the possible situation below.
He put his focus back on the happenings upstairs, but nothing sounded out of the ordinary. Pulling his head away from hers, he looked down at her. At the same time, she looked up at him, and her hand on the back of his neck moved forward, cradling his jaw under his ear. Again her thumb made the lazy circles of desire across his skin, warming it.
Her eyes were in shadows away from the light, and Paul couldn’t see their intent. Her head lifted slightly from his shoulder as her hand on his neck pulled him toward her. It became obvious to Paul only a fraction of a second before it happened that she was going to kiss him.
Their lips met, sweetly. Paul’s initial thought racing through his head was that she was thanking him for protecting her with a polite kiss. All the senses that he had purposely closed off now came fully awake. His curiosity, his wondering, and his dreams of her needed to be explored, if only for a moment.
His mouth opened, inviting her in, hoping she wouldn’t turn tail and run the other way. On the contrary, she took the invitation and responded in a heated, passionate kiss. Her feelings for him were passed through her lips to his and through her hands as they caressed his chest and torso. The intensity of the moment had him leaning forward, supporting her as he laid her back to the blanketed ground. She willingly let him do so, never breaking mouth-to-mouth contact. On her back, both of her hands were in his hair, turning his head to get the best possible angle on his mouth.
He rested his weight on his elbow with his hand under her head as he stretched out beside her, his mouth never leaving hers. His other hand wrapped around her middle, and his palm was under her back supporting her.
The sweetness of her mouth and the incredible softness of her lips had driven him crazy with desire. Otherwise he would have heard the trap door drop open and his brother entering the crawlspace.
“Is she hurt?” Sam questioned in a loud annoyed voice.
Panic raced through Paul as he quickly sat up and moved away at arm’s length. “Whoa! Sam!”
“Yep, it’s me. Is she hurt?”
“No,” Paul and Sierra said at the same time with the same amount of guilt in their voices.
“Well,” Sam chuckled, “it just looked like you were performing mouth-to-mouth on her, that’s all.”
Paul and Sierra looked at each other, then back to Sam. Their hands had been caught in the cookie jar. It seemed incredible to Paul that his mind had completely blanked everything else out except for Sierra. Evidently hers had too, or she would have heard the trap door open.
“Who was … you know, um … upstairs?” Paul wondered if his hair was as messed up as Sierra’s or if his face was as red as it felt.
“When I came into the living room, Mom was stepping out on the porch to speak with someone. So I looked through the peep hole and saw two men in suits and ties speaking with her. I attached the note to the wood and dropped it down the hole until I could ascertain if the men were a threat or not.”
“Well? Were they?”
“Actually, yes, they were.” His eyes focused on Sierra, who had propped herself up on her elbows. “They were looking for you. They had a physical description and said a reward has been posted.”
“A reward? Like money?” she asked.
“A great deal of ‘like money.’” Sam nodded and then smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to turn you in. Not when I can get to see a humongous display of innocent embarrassment. I’ll leave you two alone so you can try to explain your instant awkward attraction and say something like, ‘I don’t know what came over me’ or ‘I’m sorry about that; it won’t happen again.’”
Sam left. Paul took a deep cleansing breath and looked at Sierra. Before he could even formulate any words, she spoke first. “Paul, I do know what came over me, and I’m not sorry one bit. From your reaction, I think you feel the same.”
He leaned forward, took her chin in his hand, and kissed her lips again. “I’m only sorry I didn’t hear him come down the hole.”
“I didn’t hear him either!” she whispered with amazement in her voice.
He pulled her up into a hug and caressed the back of her head. “That was even better than my dreams.” He kissed the top of her head. “I need to go dig with Sam.”
She nodded as he got up. She watched him leave the blanketed area and saw him turn around to throw her an appreciative smile. It made her soul melt and her core heat up again. What had made her act so impulsively? What did it matter? She wanted to kiss him. He clearly liked it, just as she had, and yet she was surprised by the amount of passion between the two of them. Then the comment about her being in his dreams shot a lightning bolt to her toes. She didn’t know he had been dreaming about her. It was an exciting revelation.
Paul made it down the tunnel to where Sam was already positioning an overhead board in place. “Thought you’d never come,” Sam laughed in spite of himself.
“Drop it, Sam.”
“Oh no, I can’t do that. You see, you’ve made the biggest mistake ever where crossers are concerned: never become attached to one. But it’s just our little secret, right?”
“I’ve never been in on those cardinal rules, Sam.”
“Its common sense, little bro. Use your head. She’ll be gone before you know it, and you’ll be left here. It’s called self-preservation, man.”
“Is that how come you’ve never married? Self preservation has helped you reach the ripe old age of twenty-six without a broken heart. Sheez, how do
you do it?”
Sam stalked over to Paul, more like he waddled, half bent over due to the low ceiling. “Don’t begin to think you understand anything about me, ’cause you don’t! And don’t think you know more than me about complications that can come from getting too involved with a crosser!”
“Alright.” Paul held his hands up in front of himself. “Simmer down, Sam. Obviously I’ve hit a nerve.”
“Yeah. Let’s just drop this. We’ve got to finish this before those men come back.”
“Right.”
Chapter 7
By evening they had reached the tunnel. They were both covered in sweat and dust, and Paul’s mouth had dirt in it. Whenever he put his teeth together, they crunched with grit. He continually spit to get it out, but to no avail.
He asked Grandma Martha to stay with Sierra while he cleaned up. He took a quick shower, and then he went outside to chop some firewood. Being around Sierra was driving him crazy. Working in the tunnel hunched over all day had taken its toll on him, but not more than the emotional storm brewing in his gut. The kiss he and Sierra shared still sent tingles through his body when he thought about it.
Paul swung the axe hard, and it sunk into the large log. Chopping wood for the fireplaces had always been one of the responsibilities Paul shared with Sam. Tonight, Paul actually welcomed the extracurricular activity. He needed something to ground his mind with. What better way than chopping the hell out of a pile of firewood.
“Whoa! What got into you, Paul?” Greg looked over the fence with both arms folded across the top of the rail.
Paul looked at him, and then slammed the axe down again, chopping a log in half. “Why do you ask?” he answered with a smile.
“All this pent up anger you’re taking out on innocent logs can’t be good.”
“Who said it was anger?”
“Isn’t it?”
Paul wiped his brow with his sleeve. “No. As a matter of fact, I’m feeling pretty good.” He leaned the axe against the log and walked over to the fence. He pulled his leather gloves off one finger at a time.
“Feeling good about what?”
“Can’t a guy just feel good without a reason?” Paul spread his arms wide and looked to the sky.
Scars Of Defiance Page 9