by Cindy Bell
“Where are you going?” John barked at her and drew her back to reality.
One glance in the direction of the gun that he pointed at her, reminded her how dire her situation was. She felt a rush of fear wash over her, and regret. She’d never even had the chance to tell Quinn how she felt about him. For a second, she entertained the thought of crashing the car.
“Answer me!” John growled. “You said that it was in the woods, there are no woods in this direction!”
“We’re almost there.” Nikki shuddered as her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I’m sorry, I’m not used to having a gun pointed at me.”
“Trust me, sweetheart, having it pointed at you is better than what I plan to do next if you don’t get me to those emeralds!” His voice raised, and he leaned closer to her, but before he could follow through, his cell phone rang. “What is it?” He growled into the phone. After a moment, his voice raised even further. “This is one big, fat mess! Be there in five minutes!” He hung up the phone, then pointed the gun directly at Nikki. “Turn left at the next intersection.”
“But the gems aren’t that way.” Her heart lurched.
“Do what I say or you can spend the rest of the ride in the trunk.” He released the safety on the gun.
“Okay, yes I will.” Nikki squeezed her eyes shut for just a second, then switched on the turn signal. One good bump in the road might set the gun off. She had to be careful. As he directed her where to go she wondered what had changed. Did he know that she was lying? Who was he on the phone with? The questions swirled in her mind as she wondered if Mrs. Whitter had found her cell phone in the laundry room. She could only hope, otherwise no one would even know she was missing. A brief glance in the direction of the clock on the dashboard revealed that she was late to pick up the dogs for their morning walk. Most of the owners were out when she picked up the dogs, they probably wouldn’t notice that she didn’t show up to get them.
“Turn right here, and keep going straight.” He frowned as he stared at her, then turned his attention to the windshield.
Nikki’s heart sank as she realized that they were headed out of town. Wherever he was taking her, she had a feeling he had no intention of ever bringing her back. Tears began to prick at the backs of her eyes as she tried to steady her emotions. Breaking down would not help her to escape, though at this point she didn’t think there was any way to escape.
Chapter 13
“Where are we going?” Nikki stole a glance in John’s direction, though barely turned her head to do so. Each time she saw the gun, her panic increased.
“Just drive.” He cleared his throat and settled back in the passenger seat.
Nikki tightened her grip and considered her options. If she tried to crash the car, the gun would go off, and she might not survive it. If she tried to jump out, she would likely hit the road too hard. She began to edge the speed of the car down enough that she might survive a jump out. He didn’t notice at first as he continued to stare hard through the windshield. As the car slowed down further, he looked over at her, then at the speedometer.
“What are you doing?” He snapped at her. “Why are you slowing down?”
“I can’t see.” Nikki sniffled as she gripped the steering wheel tight. “I’m so scared, I can’t see, clearly. I’m trying not to cry.”
“You listen to me!” John lunged so close to her that she winced and the car swerved slightly to the left. “You should be scared! If you do anything to draw attention to us, I will make sure that you don’t ever step out of this car, understand?”
“I understand.” Nikki gulped and sped the car back up. As her heart slammed against her chest she realized that everything she did from this moment on was a risk. However, she also knew that when they reached their destination, she would likely not be set free.
After driving about ten miles out of town, he pointed out a street for Nikki to turn down. The farther she drove down it, the more desolate it became. The long road led to an abandoned building, perhaps once a warehouse, where a motorcycle was parked. Her stomach twisted as she tried to work out who John had spoken to on the phone. Was it Tim? Was it Heather?
“Park right there.” John pointed to an area not far from the motorcycle. “Don’t bother trying to scream, there’s nothing around here. I scoped it out well.” He shot her a look of warning.
Nikki could only nod as she put the car into park. He snatched the keys out of the ignition.
As Nikki looked through the windshield, she saw Tim walk towards the car. Her heart dropped. She thought he was innocent. Tim seemed puzzled, then his expression darkened.
“What is she doing here?” Tim paused at the passenger side window. “Why did you bring her?”
“I told you I would get the emeralds no matter what it took. I went back to that old lady’s house to look for them again.” John popped the door open, but kept his gun trained on Nikki.
“I told you I already searched the house!” Tim growled. “The emeralds weren’t there!”
“But you had to rush, you were interrupted.”
“It doesn’t matter, they weren’t there.” Tim raised his voice. “What have you done now? Why did you bring her?”
“She told me she knows where the emeralds are. We were on our way to get them, when you decided to call an emergency meeting!” John scowled at Tim. “This has been one big mess from the start. Now, I’m going to start cleaning it up.”
“She doesn’t have the emeralds!” Tim balled his hands into fists at his sides. “There’s no way she does! She would have turned them in to the police!”
“She said she saw Bryan burying something in the woods.” John frowned as he looked over at Nikki. “She’d better not be lying, or she’s going to pay the price.”
“I’m not!” Her voice trembled as she spoke. She didn’t sound convincing, even to her own ears. As she looked past John at Tim, she wondered if there was some shred of decency within him that would keep her safe.
“She’s lying, you idiot. She’s just trying to keep herself alive!” Tim slammed his hand against the top of the car. “I never should have gotten involved with you!”
“Well, now you are.” John shifted his weapon from Nikki to Tim. “Either you tell me why you called me here, or you’re going to be part of the mess that I need to clean up.”
“I want to know the truth.” Tim’s shoulders straightened as he stared at the larger man.
“This isn’t the time.” John stepped out of the car, though he shot a look of warning back in Nikki’s direction. “The only thing we should be focused on right now is finding the emeralds. You interrupted me in the process of getting them.”
“That’s crazy, she doesn’t have any idea where those emeralds are.” Tim rolled his eyes. “You should just let her go.”
Nikki sighed with relief. Maybe she wasn’t so wrong about Tim after all. He seemed eager for John to release her.
“Let her go?” John chuckled. “There’s no way I’m doing that. She knows too much. If you’re right and she doesn’t know where the emeralds are, then she’s useless to us.”
“John!” Tim glared at him. “You told me that no one was going to get hurt!”
“I don’t care what I told you. You knew what you were getting into. Things are out of hand, because of your idiot brother, and we have to handle it. No actually, you have to handle it.” John held his gun out to Tim. “You made this mess, now you’re going to take care of it. If you don’t, then you become part of the mess I need to clean up, understand me?”
“John, this is crazy. Like you said, we have to find those emeralds.” Tim shook his head. “Why waste our time on this?”
“I’m not wasting my time. I’m going back to that old woman’s house, and I’m going to turn it upside down. If I don’t find the emeralds, then I’ll move on to every house in Dahlia. I will find what I’m looking for, no matter what it takes.” John pushed his gun into Tim’s hand. “You need to hurry up with your
task, so you can help me look for them.”
“All right, all right. Fine.” Tim closed his hand around the gun and looked past John into the car.
Nikki looked away as she noticed his attention on her. Terrified that John would hurt Mrs. Whitter after all, she wondered if there was any way to stop him. At the moment, she couldn’t think of one.
“Give me the keys to the bike.” John held out his hand.
“Go easy on it.” Tim tossed him the keys. Then he took the car keys from John. As he walked around to the driver’s side of the car, Nikki held her breath.
“Get out.” He pulled open the driver’s side door.
“What?” Nikki stared up at him. “Tim, please.”
“Get out of the car!” Tim demanded as John gunned the engine of the motorcycle. He took off down the long road.
Alone with Tim, Nikki had no idea if she would survive the next few minutes. She eased her way out of the car as her body trembled.
“Up against the car.” He gave her a light shove.
“Tim, please, you don’t have to do this.”
“Quiet.” Tim grabbed her hands and tied them behind her back with something that felt like a cord. Then he walked her around the car. For a second, she thought he might put her in the trunk. Instead he pushed her down in the passenger seat. As he buckled her seat belt, she hoped that meant that he wanted to keep her alive. “I’m sorry about this, Nikki. I really am.”
Tim walked back around the car and climbed into the driver’s seat. As the engine started, Nikki’s heart sank. Any hope she had that he would let her go, vanished. She closed her eyes and hoped that by now Mrs. Whitter was safe, and Quinn was looking for her.
After several minutes of driving in silence, Nikki got the idea that Tim didn’t have a particular destination. She glanced over at him, and noticed the stress that deepened the lines in his face. It seemed to her that he was tense over more than just the missing emeralds.
“I’m sorry about your brother.” Nikki spoke tentatively, unsure how he would react to the sound of her voice.
“Me, too.” Tim’s jaw rippled, and he kept his gaze on the road.
“Were you close?” Nikki softened her voice as she sensed that his grief was raw.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He veered the car into another lane, then stepped on the gas.
“Sorry.” She wobbled in her seat, unable to brace herself with her hands tied behind her back. “You don’t have to do this, Tim. You can trust me not to say anything.”
“Right.” Tim flashed her a brief smile. “You’re just going to forget all about being abducted?” He shook his head and turned his attention back to the road.
“I will, I promise, Tim. I will.” Nikki squirmed in her seat in an attempt to look at him, but he kept his focus on the road. As they drove along she tried to untie the rope. “I know you don’t want to do this. I know that you’re not a killer.”
“You’re wrong. I am.” Tim turned off the main road. “Bryan is dead because of me.” He turned down another road, that paralleled farmland, and woods.
“You can still do something about it.” Nikki took a sharp breath as she wondered if his words were a confession. Had he really killed his brother? “Go to the police.”
“You’re crazy.” He turned down another road, and she noticed that the pavement disappeared. As the car rolled along the dirt, her heart sank. This was where he was headed the whole time. He had a plan for her, and it didn’t include returning her safely to her apartment.
“Please, Tim, think about what you’re doing.” Nikki began to panic more as he pulled the car to a stop on the side of the road. He leaned across the car and untied the cord from around her wrists.
“I have thought about it. I’ve thought about it from the moment that I got involved with John again. When I got out of jail, I thought I owed him something. I got arrested and he paid an attorney to help me get out. About a month ago he came to me about the emeralds. He needed a way to get them out of the country.” Tim shrugged as his eyes widened. “It seemed like such a simple thing to do. I knew that Bryan wanted to open a shop, and that he would be shipping some products to customers outside the country. I was sure we could find a way to use that.” He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the seat. “I couldn’t have known that things would get this out of control.”
“No, you couldn’t,” Nikki said gently. “I know that you loved your brother. I know that you never meant for any of this to happen.”
“I didn’t.” Tim opened his eyes and looked into hers. “But once I was involved with John, there was no way out. He set it up so that Bryan would get the shop space he needed to open his business. Bryan had no idea what was going on, until I showed up.” He lowered his eyes. “You should have seen the look on his face when he saw me. I thought maybe he would be happy, but he wasn’t. I tried to get him to volunteer to be involved in the smuggling, but he refused. He insisted he wanted to run a clean and legal business and that he didn’t want anything to do with me or John.”
“That must have upset you.” Nikki chewed on her bottom lip. “You can tell me what really happened, Tim, I’m listening.”
“I don’t know what happened!” He shook his head. “That’s the worst part of all of this. John insists that he didn’t kill Bryan, but I don’t know! I pulled Bryan into this mess, and eventually he complied. He helped me smuggle the emeralds in his products out of the country. I think he did it to protect me, because I told him that John would kill me if he didn’t follow through. For a week, all was well. Then all of a sudden, he decided he couldn’t do it anymore. John found out, he came to Dahlia. I tried to talk some sense into Bryan, I warned him that John was a dangerous man. He said that was why he needed out. He’d made a mistake and sold a collar with some of the emeralds to Mrs. Whitter. He got the emeralds back, but what if he hadn’t? He couldn’t live in fear. John would have gone after him.” He rubbed his hand across his forehead and groaned. “He was such an idiot!” He punched the steering wheel. “All he had to do was give all the emeralds to John, but he refused, he said he didn’t have them. I think he thought John wouldn’t harm him until he had the emeralds. When I left the shop, he was still alive. But as I was riding away, I heard a gunshot. I heard it.” He drew a sharp breath. “Someone walked right in that shop after I left and killed my brother, and I did nothing to stop it!”
“I’m sorry, that is heartbreaking, and it’s going to take some time for you to get through that, Tim.” Nikki’s mind spun with the information he gave her. He wasn’t a murderer, she wanted to believe him. He might have put his brother in danger, but maybe he wasn’t the one that pulled the trigger. That meant that there really could be a spark of good inside him. “You can’t do anything to change that now. But you can change this moment. You can make a good decision right now. One that your brother would be proud of, that he would encourage you to make.”
“Keep quiet.” He groaned again, then opened the car door. “There’s nothing I can do. Either I will do it, or John will. He’s going to kill me, too, if he doesn’t find those emeralds.”
“I can help you with that.” She shifted in the car seat, her hands finally free of the cord, still ached from being tied. “I know where the emeralds are.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Tim sighed as he looked over at her. “I know that you have no idea where they are.”
“No, I do.” She locked her eyes to his. “I lied to John, you’re right. I lied to him because I wanted to protect Mrs. Whitter. I had to get him away from her.”
“You lied to him about where the emeralds are, but you know where they are?” Tim pulled his car door shut as he stared at her. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, I am.” Her stomach churned. She knew that if she led him back to Mrs. Whitter’s house and she hadn’t found her phone, then she would be putting her friend in danger, again. But if she had found the phone, then the police might be right there waiting for them. But she co
uldn’t take the risk. She would pretend that the emeralds were close to Mrs. Whitter’s house, buried in the park, then if the police were in the area hopefully they would see her. “I can take you to them, Tim.”
“Why would you do that?” He studied her. “Why would you tell me where they are?”
“Because I want to live, Tim. I believe you don’t want to hurt us. We can make a deal.” She bit into her bottom lip and held her breath as she expected him to refuse.
“What kind of deal?” Tim settled back in the driver’s seat.
“I will take you to the emeralds, if you promise to let me and Mrs. Whitter go. Mrs. Whitter never saw you, she has no idea that you were involved. As far as she knows, John was the only one behind all of this. I’ll give you the emeralds, and you can take off. The police will have their criminal, and lock up John. He won’t be able to come after you. You can start a new life somewhere fresh, somewhere that you can forget everything that happened here.” She held his gaze as her heart pounded. “You can be the person who I know you really are inside. All you have to do is agree, and within an hour you’ll be on your way.”
“This is just another trick.” Tim frowned, but narrowed his eyes with interest.
“It isn’t, Tim. If I’m telling the truth, then you’ll have your emeralds, and your escape. Like you said, John is just going to kill you, too. Right?” She raised an eyebrow. “What do you have to lose?”
“Nothing, I suppose.” He slid his hand along the steering wheel. “If this is some kind of game, you’re going to regret it.”
“Oh, it’s no game. As long as Mrs. Whitter and I go free, I can assure you, you will have all of the emeralds you are looking for.” Nikki felt some relief as he started the engine. She’d just bought herself a bit more time. But would it be enough?