Читать книгу Mistaken Identity - Shirlee McCoy - Страница 13

FOUR

“Don’t scream again. You hear me?”

Trinity heard. Loud and clear.

She was going to listen, because the guy had the barrel of his gun pressed to her jaw. She could feel the metal digging into her skin, but it didn’t hurt. Maybe it did, and she was just too scared to feel it.

“I said,” he growled, slamming the gun into her face, “did you hear me?”

“Yes,” she bit out, and he shoved her forward with his body, one arm around her waist, the other around her shoulder, that gun still pressed against her jaw. They were moving fast, and she was terrified of tripping and causing him to pull the trigger. She doubted he’d care if that happened.

He’d shot an officer of the law. He wasn’t planning to be caught. She wasn’t planning to be kidnapped. She needed to get back to the deputy. He’d been shot in the chest, but she hadn’t seen any blood. If he’d been wearing a Kevlar vest under his shirt, he should be okay, but she’d barely had time to feel for a pulse before she’d been dragged into the forest.

One scream. That’s all she’d had time for.

It didn’t matter. Between the gunshot and her scream, there was no way the sheriff hadn’t been alerted to the trouble. Help would arrive. Eventually. She just hoped eventually wasn’t sometime after the guy got her to his vehicle. She knew how these things worked. Once she was in a car traveling away from the scene, her chances of survival went from grim to none.

They moved through dense forest, branches and twigs snagging in Trinity’s hair and pulling at her still-wet clothes. She couldn’t feel the cold any more than she’d felt pain. Adrenaline was a gift God gave people to get them out of terrible situations. She hoped it would be enough to get her out of this one. Her family would be devastated if something happened to her. Her brothers would probably blame themselves. Her parents would, too.

She’d be safe in the arms of Jesus—just like the old song said—and they’d be left to move on without her. Only they wouldn’t be able to move on any more than they’d been able to move on after her sister had been kidnapped. They’d spend every holiday leaving a place at the table for her. They’d visit her grave and put flowers there. They’d wonder what they could have done to help her, and she wouldn’t be there to remind them that she’d made her own stupid choices and gotten her own not-so-great consequences.

Just thinking about it made her tear up. Of course, she’d thought this through before she’d decided to come, but in all her thinking, she’d never imagined getting into a situation where she might actually die.

The forest opened onto an old logging road, the dirt deeply rutted from years of heavy trucks hauling out logs. Even now, decades after the last load had been transported, the ruts were still there, deep, black lines in the packed earth. She stumbled into one, her ankle twisting, pain shooting up her leg. She went down hard, the guy’s hold loosening as he lost his balance, the gun falling away. No explosion of bullets. No violent report.

She didn’t think. She didn’t need to. She’d practiced the move hundreds of times with her brothers. She grabbed the guy’s forearm, yanking him toward her with enough force to send him flying. She was on her feet before he landed, darting into the trees, searching for shadowy areas to hide in. There were plenty of them. There were also twigs, branches, thorns, roots. She tripped and flew into a tree, bouncing off and landing with a loud crash that carried through the darkness.

She thought she could hear the guy coming after her, running through the forest in pursuit. She didn’t know who he was. She didn’t know what he wanted. She wasn’t going to wait around to find out. She also wasn’t going to try to outrun him. She was making too much noise and she’d be too easy to track.

She eased between trees, forcing herself to slow down, to be quiet, to urge a little calm into her frantic heartbeat. She could do this. She had to do this. Think. Act. Escape.

Except she wasn’t sure where she’d be escaping to.

The woods were dense, the foliage tangled masses of thorny brambles. She could get lost out here. She could lose her bearings and wander so far away no one would ever find her. Safe from the gunman and undone by her own terrible sense of direction.

She stopped, listened.

He was behind her, pushing through the thick patch of brambles she’d just run through. In the distance, men and women were calling out to one another. A dog barked and sirens screamed. Lots of help, but all of it too far away to do her any good.

She had to switch gears. Be smart rather than fast.

She moved silently, ducking under the heavy bough of a pine tree and grabbing hold of one of the lower branches. This would be an easy climb and a better option than fleeing. She scrambled up, perching on a thick branch and waiting as her pursuer thundered past. Rain dripped through the umbrella of pine needles, landing on her head and her exposed neck. She still had Mason’s coat, but her clothes clung to her nearly frozen skin and she shivered, the tremors shaking the branch and sending pine needles tumbling.

If he returned, he’d notice.

If he noticed, she’d be trapped. Nowhere to go but down, straight into his waiting arms. She could still hear people in the distance. She thought about shouting for help but the gunman might return before help arrived.

She waited another few heartbeats, listening as the voices drew closer. Nature was its own kind of song and she was hearing it in the drip of rain and patter of ice, her heartbeat the backdrop rhythm to which it all played.

She felt lulled by it and by the cold that had seeped through to her bones. If she waited any longer, she’d fall asleep in the crook of the old pine tree, her body slowly freezing as the temperature dropped.

Not a good image and not any more pleasant to think about than being kidnapped.

Her movements were sluggish as she climbed down, her efforts clumsy. Her fingers felt thick and stiff, her grip tenuous. She should have thought this trip through a little more. She should have consulted with her brothers. They would have insisted on coming along, and she’d have let them, because she loved them and hated to upset her family.

Should have. Could have.

Hadn’t.

Now she was alone—just like she’d wanted to be. She’d have to figure things out on her own. Just like she’d planned. She’d have to face things head-on. She’d have to do what she’d been telling her brothers she could for years.

Her feet slipped and she fell, her hands grasping a branch as she tumbled. She jerked to a stop, body dangling for a split second before she realized she was right above the forest floor. A quick drop and she was down. Breathless. Cold. Alive.

She just had to stay that way.

She wanted to walk back the way she’d come, but every direction looked the same. She’d spent childhood summers camping with her parents and brothers. She’d hiked parts of the Appalachian Trail with friends. She was used to rough terrain and thick forest, but she wasn’t use to navigating without a compass.

“You should have thought of that before you came here,” she muttered.

“Thought of what?” someone asked, and she jumped, whirling around to face the shadowy figure of a man.

She didn’t panic. She was too cold for that. She didn’t run, because her slow-moving brain finally recognized the voice.

“Mason,” she said. “I thought you were down near the lake.”

“I’m not,” he said. “I heard the gunshot. Where did he go?”

“There’s a logging road somewhere through there.” She pointed in what she hoped was the direction of the road.

“I know it. It’s actually to the west,” he corrected, gesturing in the opposite direction.

“He brought me there, so I think he might have a ride waiting.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear,” he said, pulling out his cell phone and sending a quick text. “Judah will send some cars out, but the guy is probably long gone by now. If he’s smart. That’s up for debate.”

“He was smart enough to figure out how to get into your house,” she pointed out.

“I didn’t make it difficult to get in. Not for someone who’s trained to do it,” he said, not offering any details or giving any reasons.

“You don’t have a security system?”

“Yes. I also have cameras. Unless he wore a mask, he’s on the security footage.”

“The FBI has face-match technology. They can probably figure out who he was.”

“How about you let law enforcement worry about that. You have enough problems of your own,” he responded. “You’re in trouble. Probably more than you imagined when you came out here tonight.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“So maybe it’s time to rethink things and take a new approach to the situation.”

“I drove out to see you. I can’t undo that.” She started walking, and he grabbed her elbow, forced her into a one-eighty.

“My place is the other way,” he murmured. “And I’m not talking about undoing anything. I’m talking about coming clean.”

“About?”

“Your reason for being out here tonight.”

“I already told you my reason.” But she’d be happy to tell him again, because the more she told him about Henry, the easier it might be to convince him to help. “My friend’s son has cancer. He’s an athlete. A runner. Probably Olympic-level one day,” she continued in a rush, hoping to get the whole story out before he cut her off. “He’s going to lose his leg, and I promised his mother that I’d—”

“You know how easy it will be to check your story, right?” he cut in.

“I’ll be happy to give you Bryn’s number.”

“She’s the friend?”

“She’s more than a friend. We’re like sisters. I’ve known her for most of my life.”

“So she’d lie for you?”

“That would depend on the circumstances.”

“Let’s say the circumstances were you going to jail. Or not.” He pushed through thick brambles, holding a branch as she followed.

“That would depend on my guilt or innocence. If I were innocent and she knew it, she might lie to help me,” she admitted.

“I see.”

“No. You don’t. If I were going to make up a story to get myself out of trouble, it wouldn’t be one that involved my best friend. First, because I wouldn’t want to pull her into my trouble, and second, because I’d figure that you wouldn’t believe a word she said.”

“You’d be right about that,” he responded.

“You want a little more truth? I make my living getting people in and out of really tough situations. I know how to spin a story and how to plant plenty of evidence to make that story seem true.” It’s what she did at her brothers’ company. HEART was a hostage rescue team, a cohesive unit of men and women who reunited families and rescued people from terrible situations. Trinity was glorified office help. She did the research before missions, created travel plans and coordinated the missions from home. When there was trouble, she often contacted local authorities in places like South Africa, China, Egypt. Sometimes, she had to get team members out of really dicey situations. When that happened, she said what needed to be said to save their lives.

“I’m surprised you’re admitting that,” Mason said.

“I’m admitting it because I don’t have anything to hide. I came out here to try to help a friend. I’m hoping I’ll still be able to do that.”

He didn’t respond.

She wanted to try to get some kind of reaction out of him, but her teeth were chattering and she was shaking so hard she could barely walk. She wanted out of the woods. She wanted a nice warm room, to be wrapped in a nice warm blanket, far away from the icy rain and the guy with the gun.

Maybe adventure wasn’t her thing, after all.

She’d thought it was when she’d been sitting at the desk in her office in DC, pouring through internet files and old documents. But maybe the idea of going on rescue missions with her brothers had been as silly and childish as they’d always seemed to think. Maybe she really wasn’t cut out for this kind of thing, and maybe she’d be smart to acknowledge it. At least to herself.

Then again, maybe she was just frozen and tired, her thinking clouded by cold and fatigue. Maybe she’d done just fine escaping the gunman, coming up with a plan to keep from being kidnapped, proving to herself that all the hours of in-class, self-defense training had paid off.

She tripped and Mason’s hand shifted from her elbow to her waist. She couldn’t feel it. Not through the layers of cloth and ice.

“I’m okay,” she said as if he’d asked.

“Our ideas of what okay means are vastly different,” he responded.

“I’m alive. I’m moving. I’m...” She couldn’t think of any other positives.

“Freezing?” he supplied.

“I’m too cold to know for sure, but it’s a good possibility.”

She thought he chuckled but she might have been mistaken. Her ears were as cold as the rest of her.

“They’ll warm you up when you get to the police station. Hot coffee. Blankets.” He steered her through the woods without any hesitation. Obviously he didn’t need a compass, a guide, a helping hand.

“I’d rather go to the hospital,” she responded.

“You’re hurt?”

“I’m worried about the deputy who was shot.” That was true. She was worried, but she also thought she’d have a better chance of walking out of a hospital than she would the sheriff’s department. Aside from trespassing, she hadn’t done anything wrong. She knew that but she wasn’t sure the sheriff did, and she was certain Mason didn’t. She needed to find a place to go to ground, contact her brothers and get some help. Otherwise she might end up spending the night in a jail cell, being held on a trumped-up charge designed to keep her close until the sheriff and Mason could figure out what was going on.

“He’s going to be fine. He had a Kevlar vest under his shirt. Might have a few bruised ribs and a lot of bruised ego, but he’ll recover.”

“I’d still like to see him.”

* * *

Mason was sure she would.

He was also sure she was hatching an escape plan, trying to come up with a way to keep herself out of the sheriff’s office. That could mean she had something to hide or it could mean she was afraid.

“Good idea,” he said, and she stumbled.

He tightened his grip, his hand curved around her narrow waist. She was small but muscular and he figured she could move fast if she needed to.

He wasn’t going to chance a foot race. He could catch her, but maybe not before she led them both into more trouble.

“You think me going to the hospital is a good idea?” she asked. From the tone of her voice, he’d say she was surprised by how quickly he’d acquiesced.

“Yes. You can get checked out, make sure you’re not hypothermic.”

“I’m going to the hospital to make sure the deputy is okay. Not because I need medical attention.”

“I’m sure your family would want you to see a doctor.” He’d shot an arrow in the dark, wondering if it would hit its mark. She seemed like the kind of person who’d be all about family and friendship and love. He wasn’t sure what it was about her that made him think that. Maybe her story about traveling six hundred miles to help a friend.

“What do you know about my family?”

She stopped short and looked him straight in the eyes, and he knew he’d been right. She was all about family.

“Not much. Yet.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You told me a story about why you’re here. It makes sense for me to check it out.” He took her arm again, leading her back toward his house.

“By checking out my family?”

“Why not?”

“Because my family has nothing to do with this. If you want to confirm my story, call Bryn Laurel. She’ll tell you about Henry’s diagnosis. She’ll explain how upset she’s been, how desperate to give Henry some kind of ho—”

“We can discuss it at the hospital,” he cut in. He wouldn’t ask again, wouldn’t let her give him more of an explanation. Not about the woman with the son who had cancer.

He could imagine the mother.

He could imagine the kid.

He could imagine getting pulled into their tragedy, and he didn’t want it to happen. He’d been down that road before and it had nearly broken him. He’d seen a lot during his time in the army. He’d said goodbye to way too many comrades, but the hardest thing he’d ever done was watch his daughter suffer and then die.

Ten years ago, but it still hurt.

His relationship with his ex-wife, Felicia, hadn’t survived. They’d been too different. He knew that now. Then? They’d been high school sweethearts, and he’d been joining the army. Marrying her had seemed like the right thing at the right time.

Until it wasn’t.

Until months of separation and countless arguments and a beautiful baby girl who was suddenly sick and dying and gone.

He was a different man now. Older. Hopefully smarter. The past couldn’t be changed, though, and he couldn’t go back and offer Felicia the support he should have given her. He couldn’t try to grieve with her instead of leaving her to grieve alone. He wasn’t sure that would have saved the marriage. Felicia had been seeing someone else for months before their daughter’s diagnosis. Maybe, though, it would have helped him move on without the boatload of guilt he carried.