Unauthorized Return (Unauthorized Series Book 4)

by Ladew, Lisa

  There were no cars behind the gas station however, only a beat up old tow truck. Aria sighed in frustration and looked back towards the old motel. She saw its vacancy light blinking and seeming to call all criminals to it. There was no sign of their pursuers. For now.

  She might as well try. She pulled open the door to the tow truck and felt around under the seat and then above the visor. Nothing.

  "Are we going to steal it?" Coleton asked in a low voice, his eyes shrewdly watching the building they were behind.

  "I don't think we have a choice," Aria answered. "But the keys aren't in it."

  Coleton looked at her for a second, and the expression on his face almost made her burst out laughing. It would have if they weren't running for their lives.

  "Why are you looking at me like that?" she whispered.

  "If we have to find a vehicle with the keys in it, I think we're going to be looking for a long time. Probably long enough for my dad to find us and tell us how stupid we are."

  "Well do you have a better idea?" Aria snarled lightly.

  "Yeah, I do," Coleton said, swinging himself through the open door of the tow truck. He looked behind the seat and found a toolbox. He pulled a screwdriver out of it and held it up to Aria, his eyes gleaming. "Watch closely."

  He jammed the screwdriver into the ignition and turned it sharply. The engine of the old truck roared to life.

  Coleton gave her a grin that said he hadn't actually expected it to work. Aria laughed and shook her head. She ran around to the other side of the truck and climbed in. He'd earned the right to drive.

  "Head that way," she said, pointing to the exit that would not make them drive past the front of the building.

  Coleton threw the vehicle in drive and did as she said. Aria watched out the back window and when the motel was finally out of sight, she turned around and breathed a sigh of relief. "I think we are good for now."

  She turned to him, a light in her eyes. "I guess I should've known you would be able to do something like that."

  Coleton laughed. "Do you think my father handed out hot-wiring lessons? Not at all. While I was in the Army my car was about this old. It was a Ford too. I lost the keys down a sewer grate and had to start it with a screwdriver every time. Until I finally blew up the engine."

  Aria smiled and shook her head. There was so much she didn't know about him. So much she wanted the time to find out.

  "So where are we going?" he asked.

  She gave him a serious look. "Well I guess we're going to the police station, right? You wanted to trade me in?"

  Coleton chanced a look at her and the expression on his face was pained. "You misunderstood me, Aria. I really want to explain that."

  Aria held her tongue and waited. But what really could he say that would make up for what he had already said? The immediate danger of the situation had driven out most of her anger, but it couldn't make her hurt disappear.

  Coleton drove in silence for a few moments then spoke, choosing his words carefully. "It's just that ..." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and tried again. "You really have to know ..."

  Coleton bit down on his bottom lip and let out a huge huff of air. She could tell he was frustrated. But she wasn't going to help him. She wasn't going to let him off the hook. He needed to say whatever he was thinking. She couldn't read minds.

  "Argh!" Coleton yelled, startling her slightly. He grabbed her hand and pulled it to his chest, driving through the quiet, nighttime streets slowly. "It's just that I'm falling in love with you and if something happened to you because of me I would die."

  Aria felt the weight of his words press her into the seat, filling her chest and overloading her brain. Falling in love. Love. Falling. Her. Coleton falling in love with her. She examined her own feelings and her visceral response to his words and knew all at once that she was falling too.

  She squeezed his hand hard as tears leaked from her eyes.

  "Coleton, we're in this together. If you tried to fire me, I'd just follow you without your OK. There's no way I'm letting you try to deal with this without me. At least not until we know who in the department is working for your father."

  Coleton squeezed her hand back and stayed silent for a few moments as Aria replayed his words over and over in her head. Love. Love!

  "Damn stubborn woman," he finally choked out and Aria didn't argue with him.

  "We can still go to the station if you want. Or stop at a payphone and call Foley."

  Coleton nodded slowly. "I think it's a little too big for just the two of us now."

  "Yeah, I think you're right," Aria said and sighed. "Turn left here. We'll get close and then call."

  Chapter 27

  Coleton took a few left turns and headed towards the police department, like she'd said. He pulled down a one-way street and stopped at a stop light. Too late, they both realized their mistake as the black SUV turned out of a parking lot and pulled up alongside them on the right side. Aria pressed back into her seat nervously, fearing a bullet through the side window.

  "Go," she urged Coleton, but she knew he couldn't. Even though it was late, after midnight, they were waiting for the traffic from a busy street to pass in front of them. Cars blocked their every way of escape. Aria looked behind her and saw another large SUV pull up and park directly on their bumper.

  "They're boxing us in," she moaned. "Slide over, let me drive. I've been trained in offensive driving."

  Before Coleton could move, another vehicle pulled up on the left-hand side, half way on the sidewalk, but close enough that Coleton couldn't even open his door. Aria knew at once that as soon as they started moving, the vehicles would come in tight and squeeze them, the way the prison van had been squeezed. And then it would all be over. Fighting back panic, she yelled at Coleton, "Just go! Find a hole! They're going to start shooting at any minute!"

  Coleton popped the clutch out and tried to edge forward, but the flow of cars was too fast. The two vehicles next to him edged forward with him. He looked behind them and clenched his jaw. "Hold on," he growled.

  Aria looked behind them too. The SUV was still there, close enough for the vehicles to kiss.

  Still, Coleton threw the old tow truck into reverse and backed up, connecting with the SUV at once. He kept giving it gas and letting out the clutch and the vehicle behind them spun backwards. The transmission screamed, but kept pushing them backwards At once, the driver behind them realized his mistake and slammed hard on the brakes. Coleton gunned the gas. The SUV pushed sideways, and bounced up onto the curb. They were free! Coleton backed up quickly all the way down the one-way street, to where they had entered. A car swerved around them, blaring its horn.

  Aria swung her gaze to the two vehicles that had been blocking them on either side. Both were attempting to turn around and the vehicle they had pushed out of the way was already turned around and coming their way on the one-way street. "Go, go!" she yelled and Coleton was off like a shot, driving as fast as he dared through the city streets.

  He drove better than she expected and within a few moments she couldn't see any of the three vehicles behind them. "How in the hell did they find us?" she groaned. "You must still have a transistor on you. You need to strip."

  "I'm kind of in the middle of something here," Coleton said through clenched teeth, as he took another right-hand turn.

  "Just drive. When we get far enough away, we can switch and you can take off your clothes."

  Aria noticed the traffic around them getting lighter and lighter. They were headed into the old industrial area at the harbor. "Turn left at the next street. We don't want to be caught here. The streets all start to dead-end."

  Coleton nodded and tried to do as she instructed, but she noticed he was having a hard time getting the old tow truck into third gear. She looked out onto the street and saw smoke drifting out from under the hood. "Oh no," she moaned. At that moment, a loud clunking sound filled the cab. Their eyes met and Aria saw horror equal to her own in Co
leton's.

  He gave up on third gear and tried to go back down into second, but the gears ground even though he had his foot all the way down on the clutch. Finally, the horrible grinding sound stopped and a smooth silence replaced it. Aria's anxious heart loosened a little, but clenched right up again when Coleton tried to put the vehicle in gear one more time. It went smoothly, but nothing happened. He stepped on the gas and the engine screamed as fuel flooded it but the truck didn't accelerate.

  "We lost our transmission," Coleton said, his voice tight.

  "Stop and try reverse. Maybe it still works," she advised, knowing it wouldn't help them much, but not wanting to get out on foot.

  Coleton pulled over to the side and stopped, then shoved the gears smoothly in reverse. Nothing.

  "What now?" Coleton asked, his eyes searching hers.

  "Now we run," she said, grabbing their backpacks. "First strip out of your clothes, quickly!" she urged.

  Coleton got out of the tow truck and looked around. Seeing no one, he did as she instructed. Aria pulled out a pair of pants and a new shirt for him and he was dressed again within a minute.

  "Leave them here," she said, motioning to his clothes. He dropped them on the ground and she handed him a backpack.

  They ran.

  Aria headed into the abandoned harbor area. She hadn't wanted to come this way when they had an escape route, but now that they didn't, she knew the best chance was to hole up somewhere in the abandoned buildings and wait for help to arrive.

  They ran hard, zigzagging in between empty, white buildings that used to hold shipyards and factories. Aria stopped occasionally and tried a door, but never found one unlocked. Building lights flickered and waned in the darkness, but enough of them still worked to give them light to see by.

  Finally, just as Coleton was beginning to believe he couldn't run another step, she stopped and said, "There."

  Coleton looked where she was pointing and saw nothing but another empty, dilapidated building.

  "The fire escape," she told him.

  He stared at it blankly.

  "We're going to climb up it, and hide on the roof. That other building is close enough that if we have to escape we can jump for it."

  Coleton eyed the gap between the two buildings. Good thing he wasn't scared of heights. Apparently she wasn't either to suggest such a thing.

  Aria ran for the fire escape and pulled it down. It dropped with a horribly loud screech. Aria winced and motioned for Coleton to climb up. He did, then waited for her to join him. Once they were both up, he pulled the fire escape back up to its original position, hoping no one would give it a second look.

  They climbed to the very top, at least four stories up. From there, they had a view of the ocean on one side and the city on the other. Several blocks of abandoned harbor lay between them and the city, with abandoned buildings all around. If they put their backs to the ocean, they would be vulnerable that way, but what choice did they have?

  They walked to the city side of the building and Aria motioned for him to drop to the roof they were standing on. They crouched behind a concrete lip about a foot high. Aria scanned it, muttering crossly. She found what she was looking for and pulled him over. A hole in the brick. They could see the street below them but no one should be able to see them from the ground.

  "Now we watch," she said in a low voice, and suddenly he noticed her gun in her hand. "Dig the phone out of my backpack. Call 911. We need help."

  Coleton thought that was an understatement and he rooted around in the backpack, looking for their only phone.

  Just as his fingers touched something hard, she was pulling at him. "Get down," she whispered and motioned towards the street below them. Coleton dropped on his belly next to her and peeked through their hole. Two men, easily visible in the dim light, both with guns, walking slowly and checking between every building, rattling every doorknob.

  "Shoot them," Coleton whispered urgently to her.

  She looked at him. "Do you know them?"

  He shook his head no.

  She pressed her lips together. "I can't shoot them. We don't know what their intent is. Unless I recognize them as escaped felons that are an obvious danger to the community, I can't shoot them. They have to do something to put someone in imminent danger."

  "They aren't looking for us to challenge us to a tickle fight," Coleton said roughly.

  "I know," Aria replied. "But I still can't shoot them unless they shoot first or point the gun at me or someone else."

  One of the men jogged over to his cohort and pointed at their building. Coleton knew it was a matter of time, before they checked the fire escape. And once they did that, Aria would have to stick her head over the edge of the building to shoot them, instead of being almost completely behind cover like she was now. He had to take drastic measures and do it quickly.

  Coleton shot to his feet as Aria stared at him, open mouthed. "Hey!" he yelled, then dropped back to the ground, his hands over his head. He was rewarded with the sound of a gunshot echoing off the brick building.

  Aria said something under her breath that he couldn't quite make out. But in an instant, she was shooting back. Coleton waited, his breath stationary in his lungs. He prayed for the first time since he was a little boy.

  The shooting stopped and Coleton dared a glance at Aria. Her mouth was grim and her eyes hard, but she was getting up.

  Coleton got up too and looked over the edge of the roof. Both men were splayed out, red pools collecting beside them.

  "Nice job," Coleton told her, all seriousness in his voice. He had known she would be able to do it. The men had been completely out in the open, not even trying to take cover, and he'd guessed she was a good shot. She was good at everything else that she did.

  They crouched back behind the lip of the roof and Aria said, "What about that phone call?"

  "Fuck," Coleton muttered. He still hadn't called. He dialed 911.

  "911, what is your emergency?" a cool female voice said.

  "My name is Coleton Savoy and I am ... uh ..."

  "On Maplewood Drive, in the old harbor," Aria supplied in a quiet voice.

  "On Maplewood Drive, in the old harbor," Coleton repeated. "Two men just tried to kill me. They shot at me. I'm here with Sergeant Gale and she shot back at them. We need help right now."

  That broke through the dispatchers aloofness. She began firing questions at him in an excited voice.

  Coleton opened his mouth to answer, but then his eyes fell on something glittering on Aria's backside. He leaned forward and scraped it with his fingernail, the dispatcher forgotten.

  "Hey!" Aria said, turning her eyes away from the street in front of them for a second.

  Coleton plucked the tiny, puffy transistor off of Aria's pants, where it had lodged partially in her pocket. He held it up and Aria's eyes grew wide.

  She groaned. At that moment, the horrible screech of the fire escape being pulled down reached both their ears.

  Aria glared at Coleton in horror, then they both looked that way. She held a finger to her lips and began to tiptoe over to that side of the building as they both heard someone clamber up the fire escape.

  A voice rang out. "Sergeant Gale! I found you. It's okay. I brought help."

  Coleton followed closely behind Aria and she looked at him, eyes wide. "It's Harrison," she mouthed, her face disbelieving. Coleton noticed her gun hand shook slightly. And could he blame her? Harrison was obviously dirty, but she still couldn't shoot him. Because what if he wasn't?

  The assistant chief's head poked over the side of the building and Aria and Coleton stared at him, waiting for him to make the first move. He smiled broadly and Coleton could see it didn't reach his eyes. His body was twisted and Coleton couldn't see one of his hands. He looked at Aria and saw her eyes were glued to Harrison's side, waiting to see what was in his hand. Coleton stepped forward, intending to get in front of Aria. Wanting only to protect her. The phone was still in his left hand,
but it couldn't help him now.

  Harrison made a sudden move and his gun hand came out before Coleton could get all the way in front of Aria. Aria's gun came up at the same time but action beat reaction, and Harrison got off four rounds before Aria could even squeeze the trigger.

  In slow-motion, Coleton felt the slugs rush past him. He screamed, but only in his mind, and saw Aria fly backwards through the air as the bullets took her in the chest. She landed on the hard concrete roof, her head bouncing off of it like a rag doll. Coleton ran for Aria, his mind intent only on helping her, saving her, turning back time and leaving her at the courthouse so she would be safe, alive, fine, whole.

  "Get away from her," Harrison ordered, his voice booming.

  Coleton ignored him and dropped to his knees.

  "Now, I said, or I'll shoot her again!" the hateful man shouted. Coleton pushed himself backwards and stood up, ready to fight to the death.

  Footsteps sounded slowly on the fire escape and Coleton waited, knowing who would shortly be facing him.

  His father rounded the last rung and stepped onto the roof. He still wore his suit from the courthouse, and held a gun in his hand. Coleton recognized it as the gun from his dream. The biggest gun he had ever seen. A gun that left no room for error. Just point and shoot and your troubles are obliterated.

  "Coleton, my boy. I'll bet you wish you had taken me up on my offer years ago, don't you."

  "No dad," Coleton said, his voice low and deadly. "I don't."

  Harrison laughed and Coleton's eyes flicked to him. This was it. The moment was at hand, and there was nothing he could do about it. His father was going to win after all. His premonition had always been correct. It was two against one, and the woman he loved had already paid the ultimate price. Now he would pay it too. But he would go down just the way Aria did - fighting.

  He tensed his muscles and tried to decide who to go for. His dad? Or Harrison? Harrison saw the decision on his face and raised his gun, pointing it right at Coleton's head. "I wouldn't do it, son. That's a bad choice."