A Different Kind of Valentine

by K. J. Dahlen

  Bethany cleared her throat then went on. "Long story short, one night I found Faith having difficulty breathing with an irregular heart beat. Calvin had sold her a contaminated batch. He walked away from her. She died in the hospital a few hours later. I went looking for Calvin. I found him at the park with another girl.

  "I accused him of murdering Faith with his drugs. He laughed in my face and told me she wasn’t worth the money to fix her up. She was just another user he screwed when she didn’t have cash. I wanted to kill him that night. Lucky for me Ian came looking for me. He’d been worried about me acting out because Faith had died. He had to drag me away from the park.

  "Once I calmed down, he swore to me that he would get even with Calvin, but he made me swear I wouldn’t go near him again." Bethany felt the tears running down her face as she told Colton her story.

  "Did your brother actually stop Calvin?" Colton asked.

  Bethany nodded. "Oh yeah, he found a way to stop him. Ian got a bunch of guys together and they all went to talk to Calvin. They convinced him to turn himself in. He went to reform school for a while. After his release, he moved away. As far as I know he’s never been back."

  "Good Lord, how did they convince him to give up the life, the drug trade, all that money?" Colton asked.

  "I have no idea, but there wasn’t a mark on him, so they didn’t beat it out of him. Calvin would have called on his old buddies if Ian and his friends had laid a hand on him."

  "Did Calvin ever accept responsibility for Faith’s death?"

  Bethany shook her head. "No, he didn’t. To him she was just another user prostitute. He knew that once she was hooked, she wouldn’t last long. She was lost from the first day. She couldn’t save herself, no one could."

  Colton nodded. "That’s how I felt when my buddy needed me. He lived but he was never the same."

  Bethany wiped the tears from her eyes. "Faith was the reason I became a DEA agent; I didn’t want anyone else falling through the cracks like Faith. I wanted to make a difference in someone else’s life."

  "I think you made a difference in Faith’s life even if she didn’t make it," Colton told her.

  Reaching for a Kleenex she went on, "I felt so helpless. I didn’t know what to do back then but I do now. The drug syndicate cost me a best friend and now my brother. I know I can’t stop it alone, but I can put a dent in it."

  Bethany moved over by the window and gazed into the falling snow. She could no longer appreciate the scenery; instead she remembered the night her brother died. How she saw the gun in the moonlight, heard the report as it fired. How he fell. When Travis stepped forward to turn him over, she could see the red stain on his shirt. He was dead.

  She knew she had to get out of the alley quickly before they discovered her or they would have killed her as well. Looking back on that night she had remembered the second man, the one who stayed in the shadows. It was he who heard her turn to run. On her way out of the alley, it wasn’t Travis’s voice but another man’s that she heard.

  She stood lost in thought until Colton touched her shoulder. She jumped at his touch and abruptly turned to face him. He steadied her as he told her to come to the table for supper.

  Bethany glanced from Colton to the window and back to Colton. "Well, I was looking out at the fading afternoon, but now it’s dark out."

  "You’ve been at that window for an hour or more. I thought you realized the sun had set."

  "I was well and truly lost in thought. I am so sorry."

  "So what were you thinking about for so long?" Colton wanted to know.

  "I was trying to think about the night Ian was shot. I was trying to remember something from that night that might help me remember the rest of what happened." Bethany tried to explain. She was increasingly anxious because she knew time was running short.

  "Maybe you’re concentrating too hard. Let it go for a while, see what happens, "Colton suggested.

  "I can’t help myself." Bethany cried out. "Travis Trainer shot my brother then he said something to the man in the shadows! I can’t for the life of me remember what he said. I need to remember because I--it’s important."

  "You were probably in shock at seeing Ian gunned down in a dirty alley. Then you were almost caught trying to get away." Colton tried to calm her.

  Bethany's eyes searched for a calendar. "What’s the date today?" she asked.

  "It’s December 12th, why?"

  "Ian was shot on December 10th. Today is the 12th. I’m sure something is going to happen very soon. The man in the shadows said something about a specific date. Damn, I wish I could remember what he said." Bethany pounded the window sill and turned to face the room, her breathing ragged.

  "Hey, slow down. You’ll remember." Colton grabbed her shoulders to pull her closer. She tried to get loose of his embrace but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to fully break away. In his arms she felt safe from the Trainers. No one but Ian ever made her feel safe before, yet she was afraid of what she was feeling for Colton.

  Bethany awkwardly freed herself from his embrace. As much as she wanted to be in his arms, she felt that was too dangerous for her. There was something about the night her brother died she needed to remember. Until then she couldn’t possibly know for sure whom she could trust. Colton could be exactly who he said he was, a rancher with no ties to drug trafficking. Or he could be the man in the shadows, the mastermind behind one of the largest drug cartels operating in the United States. She had to remember what she heard that man say.

  "I think I’ll go to bed. I’m not really hungry. And besides there is really no use us pretending," Bethany told him.

  Colton’s eyes met hers. He asked, "Pretending what?"

  "Never mind, maybe someday I’ll tell you, but right now I don’t think I can," Bethany said wearily. She walked over to the bed, kicked off her shoes. She lay down and turned her face from him not wanting him to see her tears.

  She eventually slept but her nightmare, her ordeal began. She was back in the alley hiding behind a dumpster, trying to make her way closer to where her brother stood facing a man in uniform. She was close enough to hear the exchange between them.

  "So how did you get the package in the first place?" Travis Trainer asked Ian.

  "It doesn’t matter." Ian argued. "I have it. Now I am returning it to you."

  Travis smiled. "I can see that. What makes you think I know what’s in the package?"

  "The person who gave the package to me told me to return it to you," Ian told him.

  "And I suppose the person who gave it to you is long gone huh?" Travis nodded as he shifted his position and stepped to his left.

  Bethany watched with terrified eyes as the shadows behind Travis moved as well. It was too dark to see who or what was there but, definitely, there was movement. Movement in the direction of the pool of light whereby all she saw was the barrel of a gun pointed right at her brother. She tried to scream but she found she couldn’t.

  "Yeah he’s gone. I sent him somewhere safe until we get this sorted out." Ian told Travis.

  Travis grunted. "Until we get what sorted out? That someone has been telling tales out of school? The fact that you brought the package to me in the first place tells me something. But you opened the package as well. In these matters, that’s a bad way to do things."

  Ian nodded. "I had see for myself what was in there."

  "That’s tampering with evidence. How do I know you didn’t put drugs in the box? How do I know you aren’t an undercover DEA agent making me the target of a sting? How do I know if you’re working alone in the area or if you have help?"

  Travis seemed to know quite a bit about him. Almost as much as he knew about Travis. That’s when he saw Travis reaching for the gun on his hip. As if in slow motion Ian turned to run. Travis fired.

  Travis holstered his weapon. He walked over to where Ian lay. He squatted on his heels, reaching out to turn him over, making sure he was dead. Travis spoke inaudibly.

  Anot
her voice replied from the shadows. "We have three days until the shipment comes in. We have to find and tie up all the loose ends. We have to find out if Ian was working with anyone else."

  Travis squinted looking up and into the shadows. "I know what we have to do. We have to find that little bastard Nick to shut his mouth up for good."

  The man in the shadows leaned forward just far enough that she could barely make out his face. "I will not go to prison for your screw up. Fix this! Fix it now." He backed away talking to someone else but she couldn’t hear what he said.

  Bethany sat up in bed and screamed. She felt strong arms about her. Someone whispered that everything would be all right. Bethany was crying, sobbing Ian’s name over and over.

  Chapter Six

  Colton held her until she stopped crying. He’d been asleep on the sofa when the nightmare began. Her restless tossing and turning awakened him. She had talked through the entire event reliving her helpless role as witness to the murder of her brother.

  Bethany finally calmed down enough to see by the faint light of the fire the single room the sofa and table of the cabin so far from roads that she knew herself to be safe. Colton’s arms were around her. She pushed herself away a little to be able to see Colton’s face. She saw genuine concern there and something else.

  "What did you overhear?" she finally asked.

  "Everything you saw happen the night your brother died," he told her. "Was Nick the person who gave your brother the package?"

  Bethany nodded. "Ian was working with him. He’s one of the kids from the center. "

  "Do you know where he is now?"

  Bethany shrugged her shoulders, seeming to release a knot of tension. "I think so."

  "Who is the man in the shadows?" Colton asked.

  Bethany dropped her head. "I don’t remember if I ever saw his face clearly. He leaned forward into the light under the streetlamp to talk to Travis but his face was still shadowed, and I was too far away. He’s the guy who wears the nauseating aftershave."

  She hadn’t been able to add anything to her earlier recollection of last night. He focused on her face." Are you alright?"

  "So much has happened in the last few days. I haven’t been able to get enough sleep to make a difference."

  "Ok, I’ll be on the couch if you need anything." As he moved to rise and leave the bed, his arms moving to his side, colder air found her as the space between them widened.

  Bethany panicked. "Please can you stay here with me? I don’t know if I can handle being alone right now."

  ~ * ~

  Colton hesitated. He lay down on the bed and pulled her back into his arms. Something stirred inside him and as much as he tried to quash what was happening, he knew the effort was futile. At least, he hoped, she wouldn’t notice what was happening.

  Bethany nestled her head on his shoulder. He was amazed at the heat radiating from her body. He heard the steady beat of her heart as it pounded in her chest. He breathed in her natural scent.

  Colton felt a change come over her. She felt right in his arms and he wondered what it meant. He closed his eyes and he too drifted to sleep.

  Some time later Colton was roused by a noise. At first it was too faint to detect but the longer he heard it the louder and more annoying the noise became. It grew closer then it faded again and again. Colton propped himself up in bed on one elbow. He listened for the annoying sound. It reminded him of the buzz of a dragonfly in the summer time, but it wasn’t summertime now.

  He shook Bethany, "Do you hear that? Listen."

  Bethany cocked her head and listened. At first she didn’t hear anything but then she too heard the buzzing. She glanced at Colton. "That sounds like a snowmobile."

  "Damn!"

  "Do you think it’s could be Grayson looking for us?" Bethany asked.

  "It might be." Colton agreed. "He knows I’m not at the ranch. He’d figure I couldn’t be very far away. If he checked, he would find my truck in the barn, and he knows I ride horses when I’m home." Colton stood up and walked over to the windows. "Trainer might not know about this cabin, but it won’t take him long to find it. They’ll spot it as soon as the sun comes up.

  Bethany sat up in bed. "What can we do?"

  Colton glanced over at her from the windows. "We’ll have to keep watch. If they come too close, we’ll have to be able to move at a moment’s notice."

  "How are we going to do that?" Bethany asked.

  "We’ll have to go on Beau. He’s the only transportation we have at the moment," Colton told her. "On a horse we can go places a snowmobile can’t."

  Bethany stood up and joined him at the windows. "What have you got in mind?"

  Colton walked over to the cabinet and handed the black pouch to her." You keep watch while I go saddle Beau. That way we can get out before they get here if we see them coming. If they don’t find us before dawn, we’ll start out as soon as the sun comes up."

  Bethany took her weapon out of the pouch, loading it before Colton walked outside to saddle his horse. No light shone inside the cabin to give away their position or turn the glass in the window into a mirror. She was surrounded by darkness.

  Each time he caught the whine of the snowmobiles his heart sped, but the lights he saw in the distance never shown toward the cabin.

  Colton finished saddling Beau and came back to help her keep watch.

  All too soon the sun was above the horizon, Colton wanted to go back in time and dig a little deeper into Bethany’s memories of the murder. In that brief unguarded moment he remembered that flash of desire and something else. He glanced over at Bethany. She was looking back at him, her eyes guarded, and so the moment was lost.

  Colton could see the storm had completely blown over and the sky was clear. He didn’t know what the day would bring, but he knew they couldn’t wait any longer to get away from the cabin. He opened the cupboard that housed the ham radio to call his foreman, Barry. He needed to know what was waiting for them at home. The broadcast was brief, and when he signed off Colton glanced over at Bethany. He said, "Everything is quiet at the ranch but Barry doesn’t trust it will stay that way."

  "What does that mean? He doesn’t trust what?"

  "He knows the Trainers are close by. He’s found tracks near the cattle pens, but nothing is out of place. He saw snowmobile tracks all over the fresh snow on his way in this morning. He said he can almost feel their eyes watching his every move." Colton stood up and grabbed his jacket. "We should get out of here now before the snowmobiles circle back."

  ~ * ~

  Bethany looked around the cabin. She was going to miss it. She didn’t know why, she had never been one for the outdoors scene, but she knew she was going to miss the hush as night fell, the warmth of the stove, the physical nearness of Colton. She stood and walked to the big window. She saw the clear sky and the fresh layer of snow. She was glad the storm was finally past.

  Colton caught her eye as he closed the door to the cabinet. He seemed upset.

  "What’s bothering you?" Bethany asked.

  "I told Barry to go home to stay until he hears from me. I don’t want him caught in the crossfire. Damn it." He swore as he shrugged into his jacket. "They must want you really bad. Grayson wouldn’t be this bold otherwise."