Clear Intent

by Diane Benefiel

  Jack’s voice didn’t reveal any emotion. “I don’t want to kill you. Dory or Adrian don’t need that image in their heads for the rest of their lives. You were worthless as a husband and father, but the last decent thing you can do is to give yourself up, so I don’t have to kill you in front of them.”

  “God, you’re such a pompous ass. You want to know why I married Dory, asshole? I married her so you couldn’t have her. And you think letting me whip your ass every month or so kept me from beating on her? Nah, didn’t work, bro. It was always a toss-up whether I hit her where no one would see the bruises, or if I made the bruises visible so I could watch you do the burn.”

  A different voice called out and Rodrigo jolted. “Put the knife down, Rod. We’ve both got guns pointed at your head. Neither of us wants to shoot you, but we will.”

  “Logan? Oh god, this is rich. We’re having a fucking high school reunion. I’ve got the biggest idiots in town trying to take me down. You two better drop your guns before you accidentally shoot each other.” Despite the swagger, Rodrigo was shaking so much she thought slitting her neck might happen sooner rather than later.

  “You know we’re not going to do that.”

  “You’re a dipshit, Logan, just like Jack. I heard about you. You couldn’t hack the FBI so you had to settle for a local yokel sheriff’s deputy position. And Jack is an overgrown Boy Scout, putting on a uniform that he thinks makes him look like he’s something. But he’s nothing. Both of you are nothing.”

  Dory didn’t know if the roaring in her ears was from the fire burning closer or adrenaline surging in her veins. With the knife against her throat, she had no idea how she could save herself.

  “Drop the knife, man. You even twitch to bring that blade closer to her neck and you’re a dead man. Drop it.” Maybe there was something in Jack’s tone that told Rodrigo that his time was up. There was a long, drawn-out minute where Dory braced herself for slicing pain, and an explosion of gunfire, but then Rodrigo’s spoke again, this time without the bravado.

  “Okay, okay.” His breathing was heavy. “Don’t shoot me.”

  “You even think about hurting her and you’re dead,” Jack said. “Move your arm slow and easy away from her throat.”

  Rodrigo complied, the pressure against her neck easing. Dory’s mask had come loose, and she took in a shaky breath of smoke-filled air.

  “Okay, Rodrigo, now drop the knife.”

  The knife hit the ground with a thud, and in the next second, Rodrigo gave her a hard shove on the back that had her reeling forward. Dory stumbled, then righted herself before running toward the source of the light. Big hands grabbed her, and for the briefest of moments she was held tight against a hard chest before she was scooped up in strong arms. The flashlight illuminated the outcropping of rocks, and Jack set her on the ground behind the protection of the granite boulders.

  “Mom.”

  In the next instant, Adrian was scrambling onto her lap, his arms encircling her neck. Her chin, the palms of her hands, the cut near her collarbone all throbbed, but she had her little boy in her arms. She clutched him to her, tears streaming down her face and into his hair.

  It was too dark and the smoke too thick to see him. “Are you okay, baby?”

  His head was nestled under her chin and she could feel him nodding. “I was scared the man was going to hurt you.”

  “He only hurt me a little bit. We’re going to be okay, baby, we’re going to be okay.”

  The wind shifted and embers spiraled upward to light the night sky in a shower of orange. The fire was getting close.

  A sharp voice rang out, she wasn’t sure if it was Jack or Logan, followed by a moment when all she could hear was the thunder of the fire as it consumed fuel. Dory pushed to her feet, once again holding Adrian’s hand in hers. Then Jack was there, shining the light in her face. His quiet oath made her think she looked pretty bad.

  “Can you run? I can carry you if I need to, and Logan can carry Adrian.”

  Logan stood next to Jack holding a long gun and facing back up the slope the way they’d come. He spoke on his radio as he swept the beam of his light back and forth.

  “No, I’m okay. Where’s Rodrigo?” She coughed to clear the smoke from her lungs.

  “He bolted when he shoved you.”

  “He got away?”

  “Yes,” Jack’s voice sounded remote in her ears. “I don’t know where he thinks he’ll go, and we don’t have time to look for him. The fire’s closing in.”

  He pressed the flashlight into her hand, then crouched down. “Adrian, climb aboard.”

  Adrian didn’t need any further encouragement. He clambered up, wrapping his arms under Jack’s chin.

  “What if he comes at us from behind?”

  “He won’t, he’s trying to save himself. But Logan will watch our backs. Let’s go.”

  Maybe it was simply the stress of the situation, but Jack sounded preoccupied and distant.

  They stepped out from behind the boulders and onto the trail. Even in that short amount of time the fire had surged closer. Sheets of flame shot up from burning trees and heat pressed against her skin like the sun on a hot day.

  Dory took the lead with the flashlight, Jack with Adrian on his back behind her, and Logan bringing up the rear. She ran as fast as she dared, pulling her shirt up to cover her mouth and nose. It didn’t help much to filter the smoke, making her cough, but she kept pushing, running through the trees. She was starting to flag, the smoke taking the place of oxygen in her lungs. She stumbled and Jack caught her before she could go down, bent nearly double as another coughing spasm shook her.

  “Take Adrian,” he said to Logan. “I’m carrying Dory.”

  She would have told him she was fine, but she couldn’t catch her breath. The next thing she knew Jack had her up over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry, and with the flashlight in his hand, he was off and running. The smoke had to be bad for him, too, but he didn’t let it slow him down.

  The trip down the mountain seemed to take a lifetime. Being slung over Jack’s shoulders while he ran full out wasn’t the most comfortable thing she’d ever experienced, but Dory was too grateful that he’d found her to complain.

  The splitting headache she’d developed worsened with every jostling bounce, and the cut on her collarbone felt raw as it rubbed against his back, but she wouldn’t allow herself to cry out. Finally, the ground began to level out, and a moment later the men were loping across the grass and past the darkened buildings of the camp.

  They approached the parking lot lit by what looked like a sea of vehicles all with revolving red or blue lights. Jack took her straight to the open rear door of an ambulance.

  The EMT was already pulling out the gurney, and Jack sat Dory on the bed. He took a second to cup her face in his hands, the expression in his bloodshot eyes turbulent.

  He turned to the EMT standing next to the gurney. “You’ll take care of her?”

  “Sure thing. We take care of all of them.” The EMT introduced herself as Judy and looked to be about fifty years old with curly salt-and-pepper hair frizzing from under a baseball-style cap.

  “Where’s Adrian?” Dory croaked.

  Logan was at her side a moment later, gently plucking Adrian off his shoulders and depositing him next to her on the gurney. “Here he is, sweetheart.”

  Logan’s pronouncement was followed by a flurry of activity. Dory would have liked one more minute with Jack, but the men were pushed aside as the EMTs, Judy and a young man named Josh, got busy. Blood pressure cuffs were attached, heartbeats counted, and things were put on their fingers to check oxygen levels. Those numbers must not have been good, because Dory and Adrian both had tubes carrying oxygen placed under their noses. A bandage was pressed onto the wound on her neck, and Judy cleaned Adrian’s scraped knees and applied Captain America Band-Aids. Dory shook with another coughing spasm, Adrian patting her back to help her through. The thick feeling in her lungs made her feel like s
he was slowly drowning.

  “Lie down.” Judy urged her back with a hand on her shoulder. “You two can share the gurney, but lie down so we can strap you in for safety and get you to the hospital.”

  “Wait.” Dory craned her head, searching for Jack. Emergency personnel were bustling about, and a group of firefighters in their turnout gear and with hoses draped over their shoulders were heading across the camp in the direction of the fire. A fire engine lumbered slowly between buildings and across the grassy interior of the camp.

  Finally she spotted Jack, standing a head above the bustling group of emergency personnel, talking with Brad and Logan. She wanted to tell him they were taking her and Adrian to the hospital, to say good-bye before they left, but knew she was being selfish. No doubt there was a lot going on for him to deal with. “Never mind.” She lay back on the gurney, drawing Adrian down with her. Finding Rodrigo had to be Jack’s number one priority.

  “Don’t worry, your boyfriend knows we’re taking you to the hospital in Bishop,” Judy said in a soothing voice.

  “Who?”

  “The big guy who carried you.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend.”

  “Well, if he’s not your boyfriend, he’s something.”

  The EMT gave her a reassuring smile before pushing the gurney into the back of the ambulance. After confirming they were going to the hospital in Bishop, she pulled out her phone. Still no signal. She turned to Judy.

  “Do you think you could call dispatch and have them call my parents and tell them Adrian and I are on the way to the hospital?”

  “Honey, news of you and your boy has spread like wildfire. Your dad’s the mayor, right?” At her nod, she continued. “He’s been told you two were rescued and has been on the radio already. He wanted to come up here, but they’re limiting access to essential personnel only.”

  “Okay, thank you. Would you let me know if you hear if the escaped convict, Rodrigo Calderon, has been found?”

  “Will do. Okay, cowboy.” She turned to Adrian, who was regarding her with an owlish stare. “Hold on to your hat, because we’re hitting lights and sirens. You’ve rated an exciting ride to the hospital where you’ll get fixed up PDQ.”

  With her arm around Adrian keeping him close to her side, Dory closed her eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Mom, we’re going to be okay.”

  “Yes, you are, but I’m not leaving you two alone. The nurses here will take good care of you, but they’re busy. I’m not, so I’m staying to keep an eye on my babies. At least for a couple of hours.” Rosa pushed back the rolling bed table that held the scant remnants of the meal Adrian had inhaled. Despite the late hour, the nurse had managed to find him a hamburger, strawberry Jell-O, and chocolate milk, and he’d been quite pleased to sit in his bed, the TV tuned to a cartoon channel while he ate his dinner.

  Rosa put the head of his bed flat, then announced that she was in search of a blanket.

  Adrian lay on his side, looking at Dory through the rails, his dark eyes big. “I’m sorry I ran away, Mom. Are you mad at me?”

  “I know you’re sorry, sweetheart, and no, I’m not mad at you, but I do want to understand. Go to sleep, we’ll talk about it more tomorrow, but I think sleep is the best thing right now.”

  Adrian closed his eyes. Her boy was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep in less than a minute. She watched him, giving a prayer of thanks that she’d thought of the miner’s cabin.

  She sighed, settling into her own bed. She and Adrian were the only patients in the hospital room. They’d both received treatments for smoke inhalation and she still had a tube for oxygen in her nose, and her breath was coming easier.

  Thankfully, while the cut on her collarbone throbbed like a son of a gun, it hadn’t needed stitches. The scrapes on her chin and palms had been cleaned and bandaged, and now all she had to do was heal from the emotional turmoil of the day.

  Dory picked up her phone to check the time. Eleven fifteen. She tried not to read anything into the absence of messages from Jack. Perhaps he was with the rest of the police force, searching for Rodrigo.

  With it being night and the fire spreading so rapidly, she would have thought the danger to the search team would make looking for him too dangerous. She tapped out a short text to Jack and set her phone down with a sigh. Jack’s kind-of marriage proposal had scared her silly. Since leaving Rodrigo, she’d forced herself to stand on her own, to prove that she was resilient and independent and didn’t need to rely on anyone to make a good life for her and her son.

  She’d resisted her attraction to Jack because of fear that loving him made her vulnerable. But over the past few days, she’d begun to realize that being with him didn’t diminish her strength, and that maybe, together, they were even stronger.

  She stretched, trying to ease the aches and pains that seemed to start at the top of her head and travel all the way to her toes. The painkiller the doctor had prescribed had taken the edge off, but that was all it had done. The trauma of the day was catching up to her, and her eyelids were starting to droop. Rosa pulled a chair between the two beds, then leaned over Dory’s bedside to lay a cool hand on her cheek.

  “I love you, Mom.”

  “You scared us, mija. When we heard Rodrigo had held you with a knife to your throat? All I could think about is what could have happened. I don’t think I’ve ever seen your father more upset.” It was all they’d been able to do to convince an exhausted Bert to go home to get some sleep, with the plan that he’d be there in the morning when Dory and Adrian were released.

  “I scared me, too, Mom. But I had to find Adrian.”

  “I know you did.” Rosa pressed her lips to her daughter’s forehead. “I’m so glad you’re both alive and will heal. Go to sleep. I’ll sit in this chair and rest better knowing you’re right beside me and safe.”

  Grateful for the comfort, Dory shut her eyes and tried to blank her mind. Adrian was safe, God knew where Rodrigo had run to, but she was confident he would be found, and her own injuries would heal. The only worry that refused to be quieted was Jack, whom she hadn’t heard from since he’d left her with the ambulance crew.

  Something was wrong there, but she’d have to think about that when her mind didn’t feel like it was still hazy with smoke.

  ***

  Dory opened her eyes to find sunlight filtering through the blinds hanging over the hospital windows. She rolled onto her side and let out a startled gasp. Rosa Morales no longer rested in the chair between Dory’s bed and Adrian’s. Instead, six and a half feet of exhausted man who looked way uncomfortable slouched in the chair with his big feet sprawled in front of him. Dark eyelashes fanned his cheeks, one side still bruised. A lock of hair fell across his forehead, which might have given him a boyish look but for the dark scab covering the healing wound.

  He’d carried her out of the burning forest, which would have aggravated the injuries to his shoulder and side. He must have showered because the soot had been washed off his face and he was now dressed in faded jeans and a flannel shirt unbuttoned over a black t-shirt, the light blanket her mom had used encircling his shoulders.

  And he was holding her son’s hand.

  Dory’s heart melted. Through the siderail, Jack’s hand lay on Adrian’s mattress, her little boy’s resting securely in Jack’s bigger one. Jack’s fingers flexed and her gaze returned to his face to find forest green eyes open and hungry enough to devour her. But then his expression closed and it was like he’d taken a huge mental step backward.

  “Hey,” she said softly.

  “Hey back.”

  He glanced at Adrian, then let go of his hand to remove the blanket. He sat up, his whiskers making a rasping sound when he scrubbed a hand over his face.

  “What was that about?”

  “He woke up when I came in last night and wanted to crawl into bed with you. Rosa did her magic and reassured him, and I told him I’d stay. Your mom was beat so she went home.”
/>   “Then you stayed the rest of the night, holding his hand.” Her quiet voice matched his.

  He shrugged. “Seemed to help. I should go.”

  Dory’s trouble radar sounded a mental ping. After that initial all-consuming look, it now felt like they were separated by a wall of smoke and she couldn’t see through. She pressed the button to raise the head of her bed, then piled pillows behind her so she was sitting up. Jack couldn’t have gotten much sleep and weariness seemed to envelope him like a shroud. He sat forward, his shoulders slumped as he put his head in his hands.

  “What’s going on, Jack?”

  He ran his hands through his hair then sat back in the seat, finally meeting her gaze. When he gave an indifferent shrug, she could feel her heart fracturing.

  “You and Adrian need to regroup, get your life back. Rod won’t be bothering you again. Ever.”

  “Wait, what? You found him?”

  “Not me. Fire crew came across his body. He burned to death.”

  “Oh god.” Dory waited for the wave of relief, but all she felt was sadness. Rodrigo had created a path of destruction, laying waste to lives and property, but ultimately had ended with destroying his own. It was time to move on, to grow beyond the pain of the past, for both her and Adrian. She glanced past Jack and assured herself Adrian was still sleeping soundly. “I’m sorry he’s dead, and that he died in that way. But he made his choices.”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s going on with the fire?”

  “Cal Fire stopped it before it could advance, so the camp was saved. Winds were supposed to die down by daybreak today and rain is forecast for this afternoon, so the fire agencies are throwing everything they’ve got at the beast to get it contained.”

  All good news for her town, but did nothing to lessen the emotional distance she felt stretching between them. “I was worried about you last night.”