Under Duress

by Meghan Carver

  “He would verify it, though. Right?”

  Was that a hint of doubt creeping into Derek’s tone? “Of course. But he’d be at the hospital now with a gunshot wound. If he’s in surgery or recovery, he wouldn’t be able to answer right away.” And if there were officers who didn’t care for Reid, why would they bother asking Mr. Callahan when they could just harass Reid?

  Samantha tossed him a perplexed glance as she drove under another streetlight.

  Of course, Samantha.

  “Derek, Samantha is here. She’s his daughter, so we’re good.”

  “Sure.” But the hesitation in Derek’s voice did nothing to calm Reid. “I’ll see what we can find out after this latest incident, but as you know, these guys are good. We don’t have much information on them.”

  “We have a little bit more now. Found what looks like evidence of embezzlement hidden on a flash drive. We got into that tight spot before I could email it to you, but it still doesn’t help us as far as these guys’ identities go. I’ll get it to you as soon as I can.” Reid tucked the phone back in his pocket. One more call was all he would allow, and then it was time for another phone.

  He turned to Samantha, who was slumped in the driver’s seat. “Why don’t I take over? You’d probably like to rest after our getaway.” Her skin glowed pink in the stoplight, her strawberry blond hair fairly aflame with the light shimmering around it. He could get used to her by his side. He cleared his throat and forced himself to look for a spot to pull over. “Here. Behind the strip mall. If those guys are paying attention, they might know what make and model we’re in now, at least what they could see of it in the dark.”

  “I wouldn’t mind getting out of the hot seat.” She graced him with a weary grin, and his heart flip-flopped.

  She pulled around the structure and turned in a circle until the SUV was pointed out again. As he climbed into the driver’s seat, Lily roused in the back. “I want to sit next to Grandpa.”

  Samantha turned to look at Lily. “I think she’s talking in her sleep. Her eyes are closed.”

  Reid pulled out and took a couple of rights until he had driven in a circle. What should they do now? They were all hungry, but it was late enough that everything in the sleepy suburb was closed. Should they try another hotel? In Thomas’s SUV and with Reid’s phone turned off, they should be safe.

  Should be.

  Perhaps another suburb altogether? But they had driven to a different area quite removed from Heartwood Hill, where Samantha’s father lived, and the thugs had still found them.

  He took a couple of lefts. No way did they want to sleep in the SUV again. Surely Derek would figure something out soon. The guy definitely had more resources than Reid.

  But neither could he keep driving. He turned left again, only to see the same closed bookstore he had driven past a few minutes earlier.

  Samantha roused from her drowsiness to look out the window. “Are we going in circles?”

  “I thought you had your eyes closed.”

  “I can feel the motion of the car, too, you know.”

  Smart woman. It was just as much to her credit as it was to his that they were still out of the clutches of the bad guys.

  “Can’t we go to the hospital to check on my dad? Privacy laws are so strict that I don’t think they’ll tell me anything over the phone. I’d rather see him in person. Make sure he’s okay. Look him in the eye and see if his change is genuine.”

  If only it were that easy...to see someone’s truthfulness and intentions in their eyes. If it were, Samantha would have trusted him from the moment she rear-ended his Jeep. Her suggestion of the hospital was intriguing. It would be well lit, something in their favor since evil liked to conduct its deeds under cover of darkness. And the would-be kidnappers weren’t after her dad, so they may not be monitoring him. But they might figure that Samantha would visit, though after the shooting, they ought to know that the cops would be all over the place.

  “And what about food?” Samantha asked. “We never had our pizza, and I know Lily’s got to be hungry. We could eat at the hospital.”

  “No. The hospital is too dangerous. I’m sorry, but they know you went to your father once.” Five quiet minutes later, Reid pulled onto the interstate that led out of Heartwood Hill. “I have an idea, though.”

  * * *

  From one difficulty right into something even more trying—that was what Samantha’s weekend had been. She let her gaze follow the beam of the headlights, her fingers clutching at the fabric of her shirtsleeves, until she saw the sign pointing to the pull-off for the interstate rest area a few miles outside town.

  “Now what? I don’t want to sleep in the vehicle again.”

  “I don’t, either.” Reid swung the SUV in between two semis that had parked for the night. “But at this hour, there aren’t many choices. We can get a snack from the vending area and discuss our options. Like I said, I have an idea.”

  Reid was right, and Samantha blinked in the thick darkness in their secluded parking spot. “What about my dad? How do I get any information about how he’s doing?”

  “I’m not sure you can right now. But he’s in the Lord’s hands. Pray for him.” Reid unfastened his seat belt and shifted in his seat. “I’ve seen a couple of wounds like his back in my days on the police force. The bullet will need to come out, so he’s probably in surgery. Then it’ll be a few hours in recovery and, eventually, physical therapy. Once this is all over, I’ll drive you to the hospital myself.”

  Once this is all over. When would that be? She pressed a hand to her middle. Life had suddenly become tenuous...and precious. Was her father on a gurney, a standard-issue green hospital gown over his shoulders, a white blanket covering the rest of him? Were tubes and wires running every which way?

  There was no way now that she could talk to him, look into his eyes, verify his change of heart and his recommitment to his daughter. His approval of her. All she wanted, all she had ever wanted, was to make him proud of her. Had they been close to that tonight? Could people change? She swiped at the tears charting a course down her face. Reid seemed to think so. Maybe she ought to give Reid a chance, like she was willing to give her dad another chance.

  As helpful and heroic as Reid had been, the danger was inching closer and closer with each run-in. Lily had suffered so much already, growing up without a mother and then the sudden death of her father, that Samantha ached with grief for the girl. Completely inexperienced at parenting, Samantha hardly knew what to do for her ten-year-old ward except to keep her fed and to provide a listening ear. Perhaps those were the most important things.

  She fingered away her tears as Reid gestured toward the building at the rest area. “How about I get us something to eat? There ought to be a wide range of choices in the vending machines.”

  Lily perked up at the mention of food. “Sounds good to me.”

  Samantha leaned toward Reid to keep her question between them. “Are we okay here? Or do we need to watch for those guys again?”

  “We’ll always need to watch until they’re caught. But I think we’re okay here for a few moments. We’re sheltered between these trucks.”

  He cupped her elbow, perhaps as assurance that he wouldn’t be gone long. A pleasant warmth radiated up her arm and settled in her heart. It was becoming more and more comfortable to be with Reid, a fact that, ironically, made her more and more uncomfortable.

  He lowered the windows a couple of inches, and a breeze ruffled her hair. “I’ll scrounge up some snacks, hopefully something that doesn’t taste too much like cardboard. Keep the doors locked, and I’ll be right back.”

  As soon as the door closed, Lily scooted forward in her seat to lean against Samantha’s shoulder. “I just met Grandpa tonight, and now he’s at the hospital. Why did this happen to your dad?”

  Sa
mantha ached with renewed grief for the difficulties the girl had faced in her young life. Was Lily remembering the final moments she’d had with her own father? What could Samantha say to soothe her? “I don’t know, sweetie. But he’ll be all right. It’ll just take some time. In the meantime, we need to pray for him. For his recovery.”

  “I prayed for my dad. He’s dead now.” Tears hovered in her eyes.

  “I know, and I’m sorry.”

  “He got hit by that car, and they rushed him to the hospital, too. I saw him there, just like you just saw your father. But why did my father have to die? And yours gets to live?”

  Anguish squeezed Samantha’s heart like a vise. She wasn’t God. She didn’t know how to answer that. “My dad isn’t just my dad. He’s your grandfather now. He’ll live and recover and be your grandpa.”

  Lily wrapped her arms around Samantha’s middle as if holding on to a life preserver. “I guess so. But I still miss my dad.”

  “You’ll miss him for a long time, although eventually it won’t hurt as much. And you know that he loved you. Didn’t he tell you that at the hospital?”

  “Yeah. He said he loved me and that he was going to heaven where he would see my mom. And he called me by a nickname my mother made up. He never called me that after she died, until that night. So I know it was a big deal.” Lily rubbed her face against Samantha’s shirt as if drying tears.

  “Your dad may not be here for you anymore, but God the Father is. He’s always with us, guiding us and loving us and comforting us. As you grow up, I pray you’ll learn to lean on Him more.” Your dad may not be here for you... Samantha’s own words reverberated around in her mind. For how many years had she pushed God and His guidance aside as she nursed her wounds from her father and from her college boyfriend? Apparently, she could dish out good advice but she couldn’t follow it. The actions of her father and her ex-boyfriend had hurt her, but she had been letting that hurt dictate her attitudes for far too long. Just like she had told Lily, she needed to look only to the Father for comfort and love and acceptance. He would guide her to whatever was best for her.

  Samantha turned to stroke Lily’s hair away from her face. “The feelings we have after a relationship is over or when a relationship is difficult can hurt, but we can’t let them control our lives. We have to keep going, trusting God to take care of us.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean relationships with fathers can be complicated, especially when we want their love and approval. Everyone is human and makes mistakes. But what really matters is the love and approval of God.”

  Reid returned to the SUV, his arms full of plastic tubs of sandwiches and bags of chips and bottles of juice. Samantha leaned across the driver’s seat to open the door for him, and he stood still a moment, seeming to take in the two crying and smiling females. “Is everyone okay here?”

  Samantha blotted a tear off her cheek. “You know, Lily, I’m sure even Mr. Palmer has had difficulties in his relationship with his father.”

  Panic streaked across his face as he sat heavily in the vehicle. “You could say that.” A pain of some sort seemed to well up from someplace deep inside him, and he twisted in his seat as if he were sitting on tacks. He seemed to struggle to keep his tone level as he handed Lily a sandwich. “Eat something, and then we’ll get going. Want to hear my idea?”

  Samantha opened a bottle of tea and took a sip, waiting for Reid to answer further. But he wouldn’t look away from the darkness outside the front windshield. Her eyes stung as more tears formed. There was some history there, a burden he carried with him, that affected his every choice and each interaction he had with others. But would he ever confide in her about it?

  Did she even want him to?

  FOURTEEN

  Reid’s idea for help was far more important than Samantha’s little psychoanalysis session, but a glance at her told him she wasn’t going to let it go easily. Sure, she had difficulty with her father. He’d cheated and left, both actions that destroyed families. Reid felt bad for her. But she had hope of reconciliation and time in the future to spend together. He had neither, unless he wanted to move into the state penitentiary and share a cell with the man he called Father. No, thank you.

  His idea, though, could tie this whole discussion up in a neat little bow. He wouldn’t bother talking about his biological father, the man who had passed the ever-destructive anger gene to him. He would focus on the father figure the Lord had sent to him all those years ago when the patterns passed on by his dad had finally caught up with him.

  That father figure who could possibly save him...again.

  Perhaps the expression on his face had warned Samantha not to pursue her line of questioning. Her next statement startled him in its bluntness, as if she had rebuilt that wall that had initially kept her distant and aloof. She wanted him to open up, to confide in her, but he wasn’t willing. Probably never would be.

  “I’m ready to go home.”

  Obviously, she thought she was in charge. But he hadn’t given up his goal of making amends with his buddies on the police force and settling down in Heartwood Hill. He’d been through too much in the past couple of days to walk away now and let the entire community think he was a coward and a quitter. “You’re not going anywhere without me. And we’re not going to your home.”

  Samantha bristled like a threatened cat. “Look. My number one priority has not changed. Lily. Thank you for the snack, but we’ll be fine.”

  “You absolutely cannot go home. Remember how those thugs tore your place up? They’ll find you there. And if you don’t like being under my protection, I guarantee you won’t want to be in their custody.” He wasn’t ready to give up her presence, despite her bristles, but he didn’t want to admit that even to himself.

  “Fine. We’ll sleep at my office.”

  “Where? In a plastic client chair? Does your desk chair lean back? Do you even have a sofa?”

  Samantha glanced at Lily then back to Reid. A heartbeat later, a tear slid down her cheek, charting a course through her freckles that stood out against the paleness of her face. “I need normal, Reid. Lily needs normal.”

  He longed to brush away the dampness and touch the softness of her skin, but instead he shoved his hands into his pockets. “We all need normal. And we’re going to have it back soon. This chase can’t last forever. Someone will win, and I pray it’s us. We have the police working on it, but I’m going to need your help, as well.” He extracted a hand and touched her shoulder. “Now, why don’t you and Lily use the facilities and dry your eyes, and then we’ll get going. I need to make a phone call to secure our next move.”

  “Fine.” Samantha and Lily scooted out of the car and headed to the restroom.

  Reid had a clear visual line to the entrance. After the door closed, he shook his head. Statistics or not, he was still better off without the entanglement of a relationship. He’d explained the situation as best he could, doing his best to project empathy and feeling into his words just like he figured a woman would want, and all she could say was the innocuous fine?

  “Whatever.” His voice sounded loud in his ears with no one else there to hear his contribution to the scintillating conversation.

  With the windows down, he had heard almost all of what Samantha and Lily had said. In fact, he hadn’t really needed that long to purchase their snacks. He just didn’t want to have to participate, perhaps because what Samantha had said to Lily had a bit of truth to it. A sliver of truth that pricked his conscience like a splinter.

  He had suffered a lot of rejection because of his father and the genetic tendencies he had inherited. But did he really have to be like his father? What good was his salvation if it didn’t truly and gloriously change him? Cross-examination had been a strength of his in law school, so now it was time to turn the tables on himself. Questions were
the best weapon in an attorney’s arsenal.

  Reid removed the burner phone from his pocket and ran his fingers gently over the buttons. Could he truly change even though his father hadn’t? Were the statistics right? Or did they not factor in glorious salvation and the help of the God of the universe? God was more powerful than any genetic tendency or string of statistics. Why couldn’t he learn that once and for all?

  He had the phone number memorized, and Bump had promised he was available anytime. But as Reid looked down to dial, his gaze caught on Lily’s purple-hearts backpack resting in the backseat. He had no idea how she had managed to keep it close through all the running, but it had become like a third arm to the girl. Even in the commotion of escaping Samantha’s father’s house, she’d managed to drag it along. He snagged it from the bench and unzipped it. Perhaps there would be another clue inside that might lead them to whoever was jerking the strings of the thugs chasing them. They had found the flash drive, but was there more?

  He pulled it open, disappointment slamming him in the chest at how little was in it. The torn-up memory book of her father was in there, which she had brought from their ransacked home. He flipped slowly through the pages, but there didn’t seem to be any more information than what he already knew. It was simply filled with photos and memories of a happy life with Dad, as happy as it could be without Mom. Reid studied a photo of Lily’s father, a recent one judging by Lily’s appearance in it. He was not a standout guy, just medium height and medium build. But there was a spark in his eye that told Reid that he would not have stood down easily.

  Reid laid the memory book on the front seat and pulled out a little stuffed panda bear. The fuzz on one ear was worn down to the nubs. The bear looked old enough to have been a baby plaything for Lily years ago.