by Sheri Landry
“You have what you need. You can go now.” She lowers her voice back to a level tone and waits for my response. This is her challenge. She thinks she’s being used all over again.
“No,” I answer flatly. I’m done lying down.
“No?” She crosses her arms, jutting her hip to the side. One by one, chairs around the bar slide back, and the people who have come to know Dana over the last year stand up in silent support. Over Dana’s shoulder, I watch as Dale lifts a bat and places it on the bar in warning.
“No. I don’t have what I came here for.” My temperature rises, and suddenly my shirt feels too tight. I’m not the bad guy here. “I looked for you for an entire year, Kim.” I emphasize her fake name, and she shifts awkwardly as I stare her down. I don’t care. I want her to know I’m not playing games. They may have known her for the last twelve months, but I know who she really is. I won’t be an outsider where she is concerned, and I sure as hell won’t be the bad guy.
“Not a day went by when I didn’t do something to try to find you. As soon as the base was secure, I took off after you, but all I found was our abandoned company vehicle. Lead after lead went cold. None of this was even going on.” I wave my hands around to indicate the contract on her life. “I had no reason to keep searching for you but one. And that reason was because I let you down. You were the one who ran. Even after that morning in the lot, when I told you we were all still there for you, you left me. And I didn’t stop looking. So no, I don’t have what I need—yet. But I will, because I’m not leaving here without you.”
Even before I’m done saying my piece, the muscles in my neck tense tight as I brace for her response. Dana’s lips are pinched, and her face remains stuck in a scowl as she stares me down.
“You said you were there for me?” Dana leans forward, lowering her voice, and the shift from my raised tone is jarring.
“I—yes.” I take a deep breath to reset my defenses, then continue, “What Jessa did for you and for us. The sacrifice you both made. We wouldn’t have thrown you out. I thought we had an understanding.”
“Everything after—Jessa—in the room, um, is a blur.” For the first time since I’ve seen her again, Dana looks vulnerable. Rapidly blinking, she clears her throat, and the strong front she’s put up shows signs of breakage.
“Dana.” My whisper matches hers, and her eyes snap to mine at her real name, the name no one here knows her by. “There is something you need to know.” It’s the first time I’ve wanted to defy my orders to keep Jessa’s survival a secret for now. I could tell her everything and heal her broken heart, but doing so would increase the danger she’s in. Now that we know she unknowingly destroyed the only backup of Zane’s program, extracting her will be easier. If word got out Jessa was still alive, all bets would be off. The body count would start to climb as Maxwell tried to get to her, and I won’t put her in harm’s way, even if it means lying to her a little longer. Lowering my voice so only she hears me, I say, “More than one person is hunting you. You aren’t safe yet. And until you are, more of your friends might become collateral damage.” I cock my head up and around the room to draw her attention to the depth of our situation.
I’m not sure if I should have shared the information, but Dana needs to know. This is far from over for her, or the new friends she’s come to care for.
Dana’s eyes drop to the floor before she glances at everyone behind her. Dana on her own is impressive. I have no doubt in my mind that if she disappeared again, she would stay gone. But she has developed a new weakness, and it is in all the people who are standing their ground around her, waiting for her decision.
Turning her attention back to me, I find myself straightening my back. She looks like she’s ready for battle. She sure packs a lot of rage into her small frame. Sucking air in between her gritted teeth, I expect her to tell me to pound sand. A vision of me carrying her out of here over my shoulder pops into my head before her expression changes.
Her thoughts wage war with each other, and she finally groans to herself before she takes a resigned step toward me, her shoulders dropping as she speaks.
“How many people are trying to kill me, Michael?”
10
Dana
“The hit has four contractors.”
Four.
There are four people who kill people for a living who are trying to kill me.
Well, three now.
Jessa is gone, and on my own I’m irrelevant. Before Jessa died, she said she had set Zane’s program to self-destruct. So I must have some information Maxwell wants. It has to be in those files I have hidden away.
“Give me a minute, okay?” I drop my attitude down a level, and Michael nods.
Stan has already died, and no one in this town knows what they’re up against. I need to reduce the tension so we can all go home for the night. Once I’m away from everything, I’ll figure out my next steps.
Turning on my heels, my body stops before the room does. The combination of shock, alcohol, and anxiety is settling in. Bonnie smiles at me from our table, and I return the expression before walking on shaky legs toward Dale at the bar, lifting my hand to silently ask everyone to go back to their tables.
It isn’t lost on me: no one moves until Dale does a similar gesture with his bat.
“Hey, sunshine.” Smiling tentatively, Dale secures the bat out of sight and leans his forearms over the bar. “What can I get you?”
I open my mouth to answer, but he doesn’t wait. His question is rhetorical. He fills a glass with water and pushes it toward me.
“Thanks. Um…” I cup the glass with my hands, looking up and down the bar with heavy eyes. Every time I try to meet his stare, the weight of my guilt pushes my gaze down. I’m responsible for Stan’s death. I almost got the town kids shot tonight. I should never have stopped running.
For the first time since she did it, I understand the final choice Jessa made. I don’t agree with it. If I could go back, I would have fought harder for her, but I understand what she struggled with. I shouldn’t have settled down here, but I did, and the consequences of my decision to stop running are now closing in on all of us.
“What’s going on, Kim?” Dale leans on his arms, closing the distance and keeping the conversation between us. He lifts his chin in Michael’s direction. “You okay?”
Am I okay? That’s a loaded question.
“No, Dale. I’m not okay.” Suddenly, my mouth goes dry. Dale waits patiently as I take a sip of water to steady my nerves. “There are people after me.” Dale pushes off the bar and crosses his arms, and I speak fast so there isn’t any trouble for Michael and the guys. “But these guys here? They’re—from a different life. They’re trying to help.”
I hesitate for a moment, and Dale eases his threatening stance. I don’t know what to share, but I can’t let them walk into something that might kill them. I don’t know everyone here well enough to handle this situation.
“Dale, I need to tell you some things, but I don’t know how to say it, so I’m just going to say it and leave it with you—because I trust you. I need you to keep everyone safe without drawing attention to anyone in town.” The expression on his face doesn’t change as he leans in for a second time, and I consider telling him Stan is dead.
While Stan wasn’t with Dale’s core group, he usually sat at their table. If I share what I know, there is no telling what will happen. My eyes bounce around the bar, taking the group inside and the guys waiting outside into consideration. There’s a whole lot of macho testosterone lingering around, and one wrong nugget of information could light everything up like the Fourth of July.
“Kim isn’t my real name. I have some bad people after me, and there’s a price on my head. But you need to know, these guys”—I point over my shoulder—“are trying to help me.”
“Your real name?” His voice is so low I almost miss his question.
“Dana.” I return my answer on a whisper of my own, and he nods, taking in the
severity of the situation.
“Two minutes.” Michael’s voice breaks our conversation and I lift my hand, waving to him over my shoulder without turning my attention away from Dale.
“I don’t know what to tell you. I would have left if I’d known I’d bring this here. I wouldn’t have stopped running if I knew I was wanted like this. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. I just need time to—I don’t know.” My nose tickles as tears line my lids. I bite my lips together to stop my emotions from bubbling up.
“TYLER!” Dale shouts, and I startle as a tear escapes down my cheek.
Knocking over the wooden chair he was sitting on, Tyler bolts upright by the front door, and everyone turns to look at him.
“Yes. Here, Sir.”
“I want everyone under the age of twenty-five at home. NOW. Curfew just got moved up. GO!”
Wasting no time with an answer, Tyler waves in our direction as he pushes through the door.
Around here, the way everyone answers to each other in some kind of unspoken hierarchy has always confused me. For a little town up in the mountains where everyone values their own privacy, everyone seems to work together as a team when needed, and their group dynamic is borderline suspicious.
“I’m glad you stopped running—Dana.” My name is barely audible. It’s a secret between friends, and remorse eats at my stomach. I am holding back information about Stan. I wonder if the weight of this same burden was as heavy for Jessa when she tried to protect me.
Dale reaches across the bar and places his hand on my forearm, and Michael clears his throat behind me. “You do what you need to do. I’ve got this.” Tilting his head to his customers, he meets my gaze with a wink before continuing, “So is he the reason?”
“Reason?” I look in the direction of his stare. Michael is watching us closely.
“The reason you passed all this up?” Winking, he snaps a towel over his shoulder before gesturing to his stained shirt.
He’s trying to lighten the mood. If I feel anything like I look, I must be ashen, and no one in their right mind would let me leave with Michael in this condition. Shaking the anxiety loose, I smile at his joke.
“You need to go. If there are eyes searching for you, you need to get off the grid, and I think your friend there knows it. Leave this to me, but I expect to talk to you again—really soon.” I nod and step back, pulling my arm away, but he doesn’t let go. “Don’t underestimate the friends you’ve made here. We want to help you. You get me?” Dale’s smile stays plastered on his face. For the benefit of everyone in the room, I match the happier expression.
“Yes. Thank you, Dale.” I cover the hand he has on my arm with my own and squeeze before breaking our connection and turning to join Michael.
He looks like a statue, frozen in place. Only his eyes follow me as I close the distance between us.
“Ready?” Michael’s tone is clipped as he steps aside, allowing me to lead the way out. I nod, making my way to the door.
The chill in the air is welcome. Across the parking lot, Jack and Logan push off the vehicle they were leaning against as we approach. Tyler is long gone.
Strong fingers wrap around my upper arm as soon as the barn door closes behind us, and both men stop walking toward us as Michael turns me to face him.
“Did you tell him about Stan?”
“No.” I don’t expand on my answer.
“Why not?”
“Knowing that information could hurt them right now. I wanted to. I don’t like keeping this from them. They need to know.” I drop my head. The irony of my answer isn’t lost on me.
We both know Jessa kept a lot of things from me, and this is exactly why. Her secrets kept us all alive, and now I realize she must have suffered so many things all by herself so I wouldn’t have to.
“It’s not easy to keep things from the people you—care about,” Michael muses dejectedly.
The depth of his words are something I need to work through, but now isn’t the time. Thankfully, a pair of bright lights pulls into the lot, heading straight for the vehicle Jack and Logan are standing near.
I recognize their team member from the street earlier. He’s the youngest of them.
“Grey. What’re you doing here?” Jack asks as the guy steps out of his SUV. He approaches Jack and Logan, and Michael links his arm in mine, guiding us to their conversation.
Grey’s eyes settle on me, and he looks conflicted. It’s the same look all these guys get when they want to say something but don’t want me to hear.
“Cell is down. Mountains. We heard from Link about the information you sent him. He has an ID.” Silence follows as the four men look between each other. When Jessa and I were being held a year ago, Logan took great pleasure in reminding me just how much I didn’t need to know, and I’m tired of being on the outside.
“Fine. You know what? Fuck you!” My first shot is aimed at Logan, and all four sets of eyes land on me. I’m so tired. I’m being played like a pawn, kept out of the loop, never on the need-to-know list. But it’s my life everyone is playing with, and the lives of all the innocent people here. “Fuck you. Fuck you.” One by one, I point at each one of them before squaring off with Michael. “And. Fuck. You.” I jab my finger at Michael’s chest to accentuate each word. “I’m out. I. Am. Out. I’m going to get in that car, and you can all have your fucking secrets. Remember how well that worked out for us the last time.” I must sound borderline hysterical, but I don’t care.
Still, silence. Michael shifts toward me, reaching out his hand, but I pull away before he reaches me and march myself around to the passenger side of the vehicle I hope I’m riding in. I test the door; it opens, and I waste no time jumping in, slamming the door shut behind me.
I said they could keep their secrets, but that was a lie. Just once I want to know what is happening, and I still myself, trying to listen to their conversation, but it’s no use. The four of them have moved back to the other vehicle, and the only sound I hear is my own huffy, frustrated breathing.
After a few minutes, the men break apart. The driver and passenger side doors of the other car open as two shadows move toward the vehicle I’m waiting in.
Michael is the bulkiest of the group. The silhouette of his body is obvious. He’s with me tonight, but I’m not sure who the other one is. Relief floods me when Jack gets into the back seat carrying a duffel bag he didn’t have before. Michael slides into the driver’s seat and starts the SUV before sitting quietly, eyes forward.
I hit a nerve. Fine by me.
“Dana, Michael and I will be staying with you tonight. We can’t take you to the cabin yet. Can we stay at your place?” I keep my eyes on Michael as Jack asks his question. Michael doesn’t move; his eyes stare out the windshield into the dark night at nothing.
“I’m off the grid. Cell is spotty here, but there is no signal where I am. Most nights, I sleep in the back of the coffee shop. It’s—um—hard to be out there on my own.” I drop my eyes, confessing into my lap.
When I look back up, Michael’s gaze burns into my head, his jaw clenched tight.
“Um, if you want to say anything to the guys”—I point to the car behind us—“you should say it now.”
“No need. Grey and Logan will follow us to make sure we don’t pick up any tails. I’ll speak to them when we search your perimeter. Mind showing us the way to your home?”
Home.
It’s such a foreign concept. I don’t have a home.
“Just drive back to the shop. I’m on the other side of town.” Hugging my backpack, I straighten in the front seat to face out the window.
“Is there a way to get through without driving near your shop?” Michael keeps his attention on the road in front of him.
“Turn left at the gas station. There’s a back road.”
The rest of the drive is quiet. I watch Jack look from the front window to the back, and Michael’s eyes stay straight ahead. This town is the definition of sleepy once the sun goes down
. I quietly point out the roads, offering one-word directions. For the most part, I’m left alone with my thoughts and the sound of gravel crunching under the tires when we slow down to turn onto a new road.
The muscles in my neck relax as we clear the little town with only the one set of headlights trailing behind us. Pulling off the main road, Michael drops his speed exponentially. There are no lights on these roads, and the slow climbs and twists are dangerous after dark. I love riding my mountain bike down here in the mornings. The return trip is killer though, and it is one of the reasons why I stay in town by myself most nights.
“This is it.” Pointing to an overgrown path, I gather my backpack.
The men are silent as we pull up to my home.
11
Michael
“Solar powered?” Jack catches Dana’s attention from the back seat and she turns, nodding her head in my peripheral vision.
Panels line the roof of what I would call a shed. It’s so small.
“The generator was noisy. It kind of ruined the whole nature thing. I had it installed a few months ago. I don’t use a lot of power on my own, and it’s a cozy space.”
Grey pulls in behind us. His headlights illuminate the interior of our car, revealing the look on Dana’s face before he turns them off.
The corners of her lips droop down; the fire in her eyes from earlier is gone. Her attention is on the place she’s called home for months.
“It’s—um—not a big place,” Dana mumbles as she opens her door, quietly enough that Jack doesn’t hear her, but I do.
“Jekyll, join me on the perimeter?” Jack circles the car, handing the duffel bag to me before walking to the other vehicle. I extend my arm, urging Dana to get inside the shack.
Dropping her head, her shoulders slouch as she heads toward the front door. Grey follows on my six.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out a key. I follow her hands as they move to unlock—a padlock.