by Marta Perry
FIFTEEN
She had wept in his arms before. The thought shook Jade out of the fog of misery that gripped her. That time had been over Ruby. This…this was about her terrible guilt, and she didn’t see how he could even want to comfort her, knowing how she’d let her sister down.
“It was my fault,” she whispered the words, needing to make him understand.
“No.” He drew back a little and took her face in his hands, cradling it. “Don’t say that. It wasn’t your fault. You were a kid, trying to survive. You couldn’t make her go with you.”
“I should have.” She couldn’t let go of it, and she knew with sudden clarity that this was what had come between her and God. How could God ever forgive this?
“I should have found a way to help her. Instead I just saved myself.”
“Stop it.” He sounded almost angry, and his fingers tightened. “You did what you had to do.”
“But…” She couldn’t let go of her guilt so easily. She’d been living with it too long.
“No buts. Don’t you see? Yes, a terrible thing happened that night. But there were lots of other times when Ruby could have made different choices. She consistently made the one that she thought was easy.”
“That’s not fair. She didn’t deserve what happened to her.” She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her.
“Of course not. Neither of you deserved to be born into that situation.” His gaze was intent on his face, burning into her. “This isn’t about deserving. It’s about choices. All along the way, Ruby made her own choices. It wasn’t until the world crashed in on her that she finally made the hard one.”
She stilled, thinking about that.
The hard grip of Micah’s hands eased. His thumbs stroked her cheeks, wiping away the tears.
“Ruby wasn’t you. She looked for a different way out. You couldn’t change her any more than she could change you. But in the end…” He hesitated, as if searching for words. “In the end, she did the right thing. She found her way back to God.”
He kissed her eyes, first one, then the other, in a touch so gentle it might have been a blessing. “We can’t change the past. You don’t know why she took the road she did, but she ended up where she belonged. She was content. I told you that, remember? I’m sure she had regrets, but she was content.”
She had to ask the question that haunted her. “Do you think she forgave me?”
“I doubt she ever thought there was anything to forgive. You knew your sister. Do you think she’d welcome the idea that you were supposed to rescue her?”
That sliced through her misery like a knife, and she almost smiled. “She’d have been more likely to smack me if I suggested it.”
“There you go, then.” His eyes filled with so much tenderness that it took her breath away. “If there was anything to forgive, God forgave it long ago. You’re the only one who hasn’t forgiven yourself.”
The words seemed to sink into her heart, soothing away all the pain she’d been hiding so carefully. Healing her. Making her whole.
Micah stretched, bracing his hands against the steering wheel. His head was no longer throbbing, just the possessor of a dull ache that extended right down to his shoulders. He glanced across the seat at Jade. She looked relaxed, even half-asleep. She’d been better after they’d talked, as if what he said really had helped.
Since then, they’d made one uneventful stop for food, which they’d both desperately needed. Other than that, he sensed that they’d both felt oddly at peace after those moments when Jade had bared her soul to him. They’d been close, closer than he ever had been to another person. If they got through this, he knew he wanted her in his life.
Still, he had to be careful. He might be sure of his own mind, but Jade was vulnerable. She’d gone through the tragedy of her sister’s death, narrowly escaped death herself, and had her world turned upside down. He couldn’t rush her or take advantage of her vulnerability. And, always assuming he still had a job after this, he ought to wait until the case cleared. Which could be a long time, the way things had been going. No, he couldn’t believe that. The very fact that so much had happened so quickly meant that Martino was rushing into this without thinking. That made him prone to error, and with Jackson on his case, Vincent couldn’t afford errors.
Jade sat up, blinking. “I was nearly asleep. Is everything all right?”
“Fine. Traffic is starting to pick up.”
There were more trucks on the road as the drivers tried to make up for whatever time they’d lost. The passing lanes were slush-covered, but otherwise the road wasn’t too bad.
“It’s getting dark.” She pushed back her sleeve to check her watch. “Is it just me, or has this day lasted forever?”
“Definitely not just you, but it’s nearly over. The next exit is ours.” He frowned at the gray January dusk settling in. “It’ll be dark by the time we get to the top of the mountain, though.” He felt for his cell phone. “I’d better try Jackson again.”
The faintest of signals, but maybe it would be enough. Someone picked up on the second ring, and he heard his brother’s voice through a fog of static.
“Jackson, listen, we’re almost to the lodge.”
Jackson said something in response, but he stopped listening, focusing instead on the rearview mirror.
“We’ve picked up a tail again.” He pressed the phone to his ear, praying he was getting through. “I have to lose them.”
Jade swiveled in the seat, her eyes wide. “How did they find us? We’re not even in the same vehicle.”
“Worry about that later.” He dropped the phone to grab the wheel with both hands and pressed the accelerator. “I’ve got to lose them. We can’t risk leading them straight to the lodge.”
“How?” She braced her hands against the seat as the truck surged forward. “There’s no place to hide on the interstate.”
They passed a sign. The exit was a mile ahead. Take it? He thought of the lonely, winding road that led up to the lodge.
The maroon sedan cut in front of a semi, earning a blast of the horn. Surely they wouldn’t risk taking a shot in full view of several truck drivers. That hadn’t deterred them so far, though.
The sedan was in the passing lane now, closing fast. No chance to lose them—
With a triumphant blare of the horn, the semi driver swung back in front of the sedan. For a moment, at least, they were hidden from the sedan driver’s view, and there was the exit.
Holding his breath, Micah waited until the last possible second and slewed the wheel, sending them shrieking onto the exit ramp. The semi and the sedan rocketed past the exit while he slid his way down to the stop sign.
“You did it.” Jade grasped his arm. “By the time they get to the next exit, we’ll be safe.”
“They may not be that obedient to traffic laws. Still, by the time they find a break in the guard rails where they can get turned around, we’ll be halfway up the mountain.” He took his hand off the wheel long enough to squeeze hers.
“It’s not long now. When we get to the lodge, we’ll be safe.”
The tires bit into the mix of snow and gravel on the side of the mountain road, jerking Micah to attention. He blinked, careful not to oversteer as he got them back into the ruts made by previous drivers.
“Are you all right?” Faint alarm sounded in Jade’s voice. “Do you want me to drive?”
“I’m fine.” He took his gaze off the road long enough for a quick assessment. One look at Jade’s pale, drawn face was enough to convince him that she’d reached the end of her tether.
“You’re tired,” she persisted. “I can take over for a while.”
“Long hours are part of my job.” But added to the way his head was splitting, he suspected his fatigue would soon reach a dangerous state. “It can’t be more than a couple of miles farther, if that. Once you’re safely settled, I’ll use Stan’s landline to call Jackson. Maybe then I can crash for a couple of hours.”
> She let out a breath, audible in the close confines of the truck’s cab. “I can hardly believe it’s almost over.”
“It is.” He grasped her hand for a quick squeeze, all her could risk at the moment. “We’re going to get through this.”
They would. This day had been like running a 10K, sure at times he’d never make it, reduced to just putting one foot in front of the other. Then, suddenly, the finish line would loom ahead, small in the distance but getting bigger with every step. That’s where they were now, with the finish line almost in sight.
The truck veered a bit to the left, and he steadied it, peering ahead in the gathering dusk. “There—is that a signpost on the right?”
Jade leaned forward, her face a pale oval in the dim light. “Mountaintop Lodge. That’s it!”
A spurt of energy surged through him. “I told you we’d make it.” He patted the steering wheel as if it were the shoulder of his favorite horse. “I knew this old girl wouldn’t let us down.”
Jade swung toward him. “You will see that it gets back to Mamie Carson, won’t you? And I’d like to give her a thank-you gift.” She smiled, the sight lifting his spirits.
“I suppose a flower arrangement isn’t really a sensible gift in the middle of winter.”
“We’ll get the truck back safely, with a full tank of gas. Let me think about the gift. I’m sure we can find something she can use.”
We. Using the word to refer to the two of them pleased him. There’d be plenty of future occasions when they’d be buying gifts together, making plans together, doing all the things a couple did. His mother was going to love Jade. She’d start dreaming of grandchildren the minute she knew he’d found someone.
The lane to the lodge had recently been plowed. They rounded a curve and there the lodge was, settled into the mountain as if it had grown there, its rough-hewn timbers blending into the surrounding woods.
“Stan’s got a light on for us.” He drew up to the wide porch and stopped. “With a little luck, he has a pot of soup on the range.”
He slid out. A wave of dizziness hit when his feet touched the ground. He grabbed the door to keep from falling. Jade was out and around the car in an instant, supporting him. “You need a doctor.” Her tone, worried and scolding all at once, comforted him.
Suck it up, he ordered himself as he straightened. “I’m okay.” He slammed the truck door by way of emphasis.
“Let’s get inside.”
Arms around each other, they stumbled up the three steps to the porch. The front door swept open, revealing Stan’s bulgy, balding figure standing in a rectangle of golden light.
“Micah! Good to see you, good to see you. And your friend. Come in here and warm up.”
He gestured them inside, his round face beaming. “I was beginning to think you got lost. Shouldn’t take you that long to get here from Billings.”
“We had a few detours,” Micah said dryly. Warmth surrounded them the instant they stepped into the high-ceilinged lobby. A fire burned in the stone fireplace, welcoming them. Jade took a step away from him, as if she’d suddenly realized that they were clinging together. “This is beautiful, Mr….” She broke off, apparently realizing she didn’t know his name.
“Just call me Stan, Ms. Summers. Glad you like it. Don’t you worry about a thing. You’ll be safe here. Just come on in, take your jackets off, relax. Nothing to worry about now that you’re here.”
It took concentrated thought to pull off his gloves, unzip his jacket. He’d gotten it halfway off when he was aware of a faint warning alarm going off in the back of his fatigue-fogged brain.
Ms. Summers, Stan had said. But he hadn’t told Stan who he was bringing. He’d never mentioned a name. He was sure of that. It was second nature. He let the heavy parka drop to the floor, kicking it out of his way as he reached for Jade with one hand and his weapon with the other.
“Jade…”
She turned toward him at the sound of her name, her eyes widening at his expression. Stan turned, too. His face was a ludicrous combination of joviality and guilt.
“Micah, what’s goin’ on? You don’t need a gun in here.”
“Maybe I do.” If he was wrong, he’d apologize, but he’d err on the side of caution. He pulled Jade behind him. “How did you know Ms. Summers’s name, Stan?”
“You told me, man. That’s all. You told me.”
“I don’t think so.” He forced his brain to function, going over that phone conversation which felt as if it had happened in another decade.
“Sure you did.” Stan’s grin widened. “Listen, you know you can trust me. Hey, I owe you my life. You think I’d forget that.”
“Micah?”
At the sound of Jade’s questioning voice, his mind cleared. He was right. And that meant that Stan…
“He’s figured it out, Stan.”
Micah swiveled. A man stood in the door to Stan’s office, his dark suit an incongruous detail in this setting. He held a businesslike automatic in his hand, and it was pointed straight at Jade’s heart.
A shudder swept through Jade, as cold and paralyzing as if she’d been doused with ice water. Betrayal. They’d been betrayed. Micah’s friend had betrayed them.
“You’re keeping strange company, aren’t you, Stan?
What’s Frankie Como doing here?” Micah’s voice was cold, too. One hand reached toward her. She made an instinctive movement toward that hand, but the man…Como…Micah had said, gave a warning sound.
“Just stay perfectly still, Ms. Summers. Let’s not do anything we’ll regret.” His tone was cultured, almost pleasant, as if he really regretted the unfortunate events that had brought them to this.
“Stan’s already done something to regret.” If Micah felt pain at this betrayal, he covered it. “What was it, Stan? How did they get to you?”
Stan backed up a step, shrugging. “Guess maybe I wasn’t really cut out for living way up here, hardly seeing a soul. It was tough to break all the old ties. You oughta know that.” He shrugged. “So, I stayed in touch. I hear things. Like how much money Vincent Martino has out on some woman he wants iced. I wouldna done nothing about it, but when you called, it just seemed like it was meant.”
Como lifted his shoulders slightly. “Stan, Stan. Your tongue is running away with you. Somebody might have to do something about that.”
Stan blanched. “Sorry. I didn’t mean…” He mumbled off into silence.
“So, what’s Vincent Martino’s right-hand man doing getting mixed up in this?”
Micah’s weight shifted slightly as he said the words. Jade, attuned to his every movement, sensed it. He was going to do something. She had to be ready to help him, but what could she do?
Como frowned. “Too many errors have been occurring. I told Vincent myself that his actions were unwise, but he didn’t listen. Now it’s left to me to clean up all his loose ends. So I came myself, along with a couple of pros.”
“You should have made sure your pros knew how to drive on icy roads,” Micah said.
“True, they erred,” Como admitted. “But they did catch up with you eventually. After all, we knew where you were going. They got just close enough to make sure you headed up here.”
A fresh chill went down her spine. He’d known all along where they were, waiting here like a spider in a web. Como’s idea of cleaning up matters probably meant leaving no witnesses.
Ahead of her, slightly to the left, an oval table bore a brass lamp. A nice, heavy, brass lamp.
“Stand still, Marshal.” Como snapped the words.
“Let the gun fall to the floor, and then kick it over toward Stan.”
Micah obeyed, held prisoner by the fact that the man still had his weapon trained on her. But the distraction provided by his actions gave her an instant to ease a step nearer the table, her heart hammering so loudly she feared he could hear it.
Don’t give up, she ordered herself. Don’t you dare give up.
Yea, though I walk through t
he valley of the shadow of death, Thou art with me…
Be with us, Lord. Protect us. Give me courage to act when I have to.
Micah straightened, and the moment’s respite was over. Stan held Micah’s gun, a trace of uneasiness on his face. Maybe he hadn’t minded betraying his friend in the abstract, but now that he was face-to-face with him, it was different. That could give them a little edge, couldn’t it?
Please, God. Touch whatever conscience that man has left.
“Hold the weapon on Marshal McGraw.” Como snapped the order. “Ms. Summers, step toward me.”
Micah made an instinctive move.
“Don’t be foolish, McGraw.” Como almost sounded tired of this. “I just want to have a better look at her. Come into the light, Ms. Summers.”
She moved forward. Every step took her farther from Micah, and that was a physical pain, as if she separated from herself.
But it gave Micah a little more of a chance, didn’t it?
And brought her closer to the only potential weapon she might get her hands on.
She’d never hit anyone, not in her whole life. But she could do it, if it meant her life or Micah’s. Como moved closer to her, close enough that she caught a whiff of some expensive scent. The barrel of his gun pointed at her chest, unwavering, while he leaned nearer, seeming to study her lips. He touched her chin, his fingers cold, tilting it toward the light. Her skin crawling, she had to force herself not to cringe away. Micah hated the man touching her. She sensed his anger and clung to it, taking strength from that to remain still. Finally Como moved back, shaking his head.
“Too bad,” he said. “After all this trouble, she’s not the right one, either. I told Vincent he was going about this all wrong, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She burst into speech, hoping to keep his attention on her long enough for Micah to act. “Wrong one? What does that even mean? Why have you been chasing us?”
He smiled thinly. “That doesn’t really matter now, Ms. Summers. Right one or wrong one, you two got too close to the family. So now, I’m afraid you have to die.”