Under His Protection

by Isabella Laase

  “I don’t want to stay by myself,” she said in a small panic. “Let me come with you.”

  “I’ll be fast,” he promised. “I need to buy a burner phone and a few things. You’re too easily identifiable, and I don’t want to take any chances that we don’t have to take. If I had any other options, I wouldn’t do it, but we aren’t going to get too far if I can’t call Matt or your father.”

  “Who’s Matt?” she said with a sniffle.

  “Matias, actually,” corrected Cruz. “He’s my brother. Right now, I need my family, and he’s first on my list. All we have to do is get to him.”

  “What makes you think your brother’s going to help us?” she said sadly. “We’re driving in a stolen car and people are trying to kill me. That whole message doesn’t exactly scream, ‘Come to our side! We’re fun people!’.”

  “He’ll help,” said Cruz simply. “We need to call your dad, too. I’m guessing that they’re just starting to realize that we aren’t coming back to DC. I’ll be as quick as I can.”

  It was the longest twenty minutes of her entire life as that tiniest bit of strength she’d managed to access since leaving the condo disappeared with him. The dirty blanket made a hot and stuffy cave, and the floor of the beaten-up truck was covered with fifteen years of sand and dirt. She clutched his dive watch the entire time, fully prepared to give up on her promise to stay put, no matter what the painful consequences, but the strange voices she heard in the parking lot were enough to keep her in some weird prison.

  He finally returned, speaking quietly and dropping a plastic shopping bag next to her. “Stay where you are until I get out on the road. Too many people are right next to the car, but I bought you something special for being such a good listener.”

  It was a brown, plush bunny with floppy ears and big brown eyes, all wrapped in a soft purple bow. Pulling him out of the bag, she allowed the tears as she pulled the stuffie to her chest, embracing his softness and warmth to settle her nerves. “Do you like it, little bit?” he said. “I tried to find you a monkey to match the one you had on your bed back at the White House, but they didn’t have one.”

  “He... He’s perfect,” she stuttered as the car pulled away from the spot. “I love him.”

  “I’m glad that you like him. I know that this is really hard, but you’re doing a great job. You can sit up now. Nobody is paying any attention to us, so come back up front and put your seat belt on before Clyde turns Bonnie over his knee.”

  “It’s not funny,” she insisted, sitting up and pushing away the hair escaping from the damaged ponytail. “You could go to jail over all of this.”

  “Let it go, little bit,” he warned. “I meant what I said and with everything that’s going on, I’m not going to have the kind of patience I had back in DC, so don’t push me.”

  Despite the drama, she snorted in a failed attempt to stop laughing, but he made eye contact in the rearview mirror. “What?” she asked. “Don’t glare at me like that.”

  “And what exactly do you find so funny?” he asked in an even tone.

  “Come on,” she persisted, climbing inelegantly over the console to return to the front seat. “Do you really think you had a lot of patience in DC? You spanked my ass the first time you met me. That’s not exactly what I’d describe as patient.”

  “Well, patience has a whole new meaning with you around. Open up that other bag on the floor by your feet. I got you something else.”

  A pair of hair-cutting shears and a box of light brown hair dye left her confused. “I don’t understand. Are you going to cut your hair? It’s like a quarter of an inch long. I don’t think it needs it, and I don’t think you’d look good with brown hair.”

  “No, silly,” he said. “We’re going to cut and dye your hair. Those blonde curls give you away for miles. If somebody happens to see us when we get to New York, you’ll have a nice short brown bob and with your sunglasses and hat, we should remain peacefully anonymous.”

  “I’m not cutting my hair.” She dropped the bag on the floor with a finality that she hoped he understood. “I just paid two hundred bucks with one of the best stylists in DC, and I’m not letting some random stranger touch it. It took me years to settle on this color.”

  “Actually, I’m not talking about some stranger,” he said evenly. “I’m going to cut it. And you can pick whether we do it the easy way or the hard way, but with both Matt and me available for muscle, you’re getting your hair cut.”

  “You?” she shouted. “No freaking way. Cutting hair isn’t like cutting the grass or trimming bushes.”

  “My dad’s a landscaper,” he said simply. “So I’m pretty good at yard work, too. And my mom was a hairdresser when we were growing up. She retired to start keeping the books when my dad’s business really took off. I’ll leave it long enough so you can still pull it into a ponytail. I have sisters. I know what’s important.”

  She pulled out the hair band to smooth out her infamous locks before reintroducing the perfect ponytail. “Yeah, well, my father is president of the United States, but that doesn’t qualify me to sign any bills into law. You’re not cutting my hair, Cruz. Find another plan.”

  “I don’t know,” he deadpanned. “I bet you’re pretty good at signing your name. Seriously, Victoria, look what you’ve trusted me with in the last few hours. I can’t believe you’re even thinking about drawing a line over a box of hair dye and a pair of scissors.”

  “Are you oblivious to what’s important to me? My hair is pretty much my identity. It’s the first thing people think of when they think of me.” But as soon as she spoke, she realized that, not only was she making his argument for him, but how incredibly shallow she sounded. Reaching into the bag with a frown, she pulled out the pair of scissors, trying to wrap her head around the whole crazy plan when she saw the label. “My god... they’re pet scissors! Couldn’t you even buy people scissors?”

  “I didn’t have time to walk all over a giant discount store,” he dismissed her. “Stop being such a brat. You’ll be fine. Scissors are scissors.”

  “Cruz!” she started, the first step toward a category five tantrum. “There is no way in hell you’re going to touch me with dog scissors.”

  “Do you remember me explaining that you’re going to have to trust me, Victoria?” he said, pointing his finger at her nose. “Don’t make me stop this car, because I guarantee that you won’t like the results.”

  She waited a moment before mumbling under her breath, “You sound just like my father.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said dryly.

  “It wasn’t meant to be,” she snapped, dropping the scissors and dye to the floor.

  “Make me tell you one more time that this is going to happen, little girl,” he dared loudly. “And don’t let this car ride lull you into some false sense of security because there are a boatload of empty, isolated roads less than ten minutes from this highway, and I assure you that I’ll find someplace to put this whole dilemma in perspective.”

  He wouldn’t dare paddle her on a public road, no matter how angry he got. But when she prepared to continue the battle, the desolate woods surrounding the highway suddenly seemed ridiculously endless and the tingling across her ass convinced her that he probably wouldn’t even hesitate. Kicking the bag with a grumble, she turned her back to him as much as the small cab would allow.

  “Good,” he said with a finality that she wasn’t going to touch. “This conversation is over. Now, call your dad on his private number. He needs to understand that you’re safe. He shouldn’t send anybody to look for us, and we’ll call him again in a few days with an update.”

  Her call went to voicemail, and she left the message exactly the way he’d dictated. But at the end she added, “I love you, Daddy. Don’t worry about us. I mean, me. We’re both fine.”

  “Nicely done, little bit. Now I need you to dial Matt. Put him on the speaker so you can hear what he says, too.” He gave her the telephone nu
mber, but the voice who answered sounded so much like Cruz that it was almost eerie. There were no pleasantries after Matt’s initial hello. “Matty,” he said quietly. “It’s me. I need your help.”

  There was a brief silence before he responded. “How bad is it, bro?”

  “Bad. Off the grid bad. I’m not sure who’s going to be looking for us or how deep their pockets run.”

  Another long silence. “I’m guessing this has something to do with the cute little president’s daughter we talked about. You’ve been with her since the explosion?”

  “Yep,” he responded.

  Despite Cruz’s cryptic short answers, Matt seemed to understand everything, but Victoria was getting frustrated. “Tell him—” Cruz cut her off with a glare, and she shrank back into her seat with an obvious pout.

  “She’s there, huh?” said Matt with a chuckle. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, little lady. What do you need, Alec?”

  “Food for a week or so, clothes to fit me and about a size eight wom—”

  “Size six,” she hissed, sucking in her stomach.

  Cruz glared at her a second time. “Buy a boatload of the ugliest sweats and t-shirts you can find in large. That should do the trick.”

  “And what about protection?” Matt added with a chuckle.

  Victoria looked at his crotch with her mouth open, and Cruz sighed. “He means weapons, Victoria. Stop visualizing me naked.”

  Despite the seriousness, Matt laughed out loud. “Good god, Alec. What the hell have you gotten yourself into? I’m guessing you have your own little store of both types of protection. I’ll take care of everything else. You thinking Aldi’s place?”

  “Yeah. We’re still about eight hours away, though.”

  “I’ll be there in four. Should give me enough time to get everything set. And I’ll call Christian and Casey, too, so they can keep an eye on Mom and Dad and the girls. If the press gets wind that you’re missing along with her, they’ll be all over them.”

  They settled on a few more details before Matt hung up, and Cruz dropped the phone on the console between them. She didn’t speak. One mile of highway became the same as the last and darkness settled over the cab, offering a small sense of anonymity from the light traffic. Despite her nerves, the entire day had been too much, and she fell asleep curled into a ball with her bunny clutched to her chest.

  She was in a deep, unsettling slumber filled with nightmares that were real when Cruz gently woke her, leaving her unhappy and grumpy. The flat woods and commercial highway along the Delmarva Peninsula had been replaced by a mountain shadowed expressway in the middle of nowhere. Rubbing her eyes, she had no idea where they were, and truthfully didn’t want to ask.

  “Climb into the back of the cab again,” he said. “We were lucky enough to have almost a full tank back there, but I need gas up ahead, and I’ll bring you something to eat too. I have to pay in cash, so I’ll be a few minutes. Stay in the car. Keep the phone and call 911 if anything happens while I’m gone. I’ll keep an eye on the truck from the window, but it’s the best we can do.”

  “I’m going to have to pee sooner or later,” she mumbled. “You can’t keep me in the car for hours without going to the bathroom.”

  “You already know that’s going to involve some bushes and the side of the road,” he said with a sigh. “I’m not even sure why you’re bringing it up.”

  She couldn’t even respond to that indignity, but when he left her alone in the truck, the silence was deafening. She tried to be still, but the small burner phone was the first window to the real world that she’d had for days. With only a moment’s hesitation, she dialed Amanda’s number.

  “Hello?” said the comforting, familiar voice.

  “Manda,” she said, her voice breaking slightly under the emotional weight. “It’s me, Victoria.”

  “Tory,” she exclaimed in a rush. “Where the hell are you? I’ve left like a bazillion messages, and I even had my dad reach out to your dad, but he was completely brushed off. Are you safe?”

  “I... I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “I’m with Cruz. He’s amazing, and we’ve grown... close... but I don’t even know what to think anymore.”

  “Close?” she responded. “Like in, you’re sleeping with him?”

  Those two sentences didn’t belong together. No matter how good the sex was, it wasn’t a game-changing part of their relationship. Her feelings ran much deeper, but there was no time to explain to Amanda. “I’ve got to go, honey,” she said softly. “He’s going to be back in a minute. I just wanted to hear your voice and tell you that I was okay.”

  “Wait,” shouted Amanda. “You can’t hang up on me. Where are you? I can come to you and support you. Just tell me where.”

  “I don’t even know. I think we’re heading toward New York City, but I have to hang up before he comes back. He’s crazy into secret keeping, so don’t tell anybody I called, okay?”

  “Of course not, but this isn’t right. Please, Victoria, tell me where you are. You shouldn’t be alone with everything that’s going on.”

  “I’m not alone, really. I’ve got a lot of support, and I’ll try to call later if I can get his phone away from him again, but I really have to go. Goodbye, Amanda.”

  She ended the call and deleted the record from his calls log, the touch of guilt burning a small hole in her tummy. Wrapping the dirty blanket further around her, she pulled the bunny next to her cheek and closed her eyes as tightly as she could to stop the tears.

  Chapter Fifteen

  She was out like a light when he bumped the stolen car down the rutted, unpaved driveway that led to his buddy’s wooded cabin in the Finger Lakes region of New York, but he didn’t try to waken her. While they weren’t miles into the Alaska wilderness, with no street lights or sidewalks in sight, his little city girl might be happier if she didn’t realize exactly how far off the grid they were until daylight.

  Matt was leaning against the railing on the front porch when Cruz parked the truck on the gravel driveway next to his brother’s SUV. Moving to the passenger side, he quietly opened the door and tried to lift her into his arms, but she startled, her eyes wide with fear. She instinctively punched out with a well-placed right jab that connected firmly to his jaw. “Easy, little bit,” he said softly with a small grimace while Matt laughed. “It’s just me.”

  The calm tone settled her enough to cuddle her head to his chest. “I need my bunny,” she whimpered in a dramatic return to her little girl self, and Cruz shifted her weight to grab it from her vacated seat.

  She remained quiet while he moved her through the semi-dark great room to the bed tucked underneath the second story sleeping loft. Slipping off her jeans and sneakers, he snugged her between the sheets before collapsing beside her, his muscles slowly lessening their tense hold. His intent was to stay awake long enough to talk to Matt and gain any new updates, but the stress that had accumulated in his system for days finally defeated him. Knowing that his brother had their backs, he fell into a deep slumber.

  By the time he woke up, the sun had been around long enough to evaporate the morning dew, leaving a chilly September morning. The leaves were starting to show signs of the changing season with the real color explosion still a few weeks away, but fall was one of his favorite times of the year to be away from the city. Putting his arms behind his head, he took a few minutes to connect to the expansive view out the floor-to-ceiling windows in the two-story great room, the green meadows and small tree line reaching to the horizon before catching a glimmer of Keuka Lake in the distance. Matt sat on the deck with his back to him, watching the view with a cup of something steaming.

  He quietly slipped out of bed, pulling the covers a little closer around her shoulders to help counter the warmth she’d lose when he left. He showered before finding a clean pair of jeans and a navy blue t-shirt in a bunch of discarded shopping bags and joined his brother with his own cup of coffee and a dry bagel from the kitchen counter.

&
nbsp; “You the only one up?” asked Matt with a grin.

  “It will be good for her to sleep a little,” he said, moving Matt’s sweatshirt to take the heavy Adirondack chair next to him. “The last few days have been life-changing. What are we looking at around here?”

  “I’ve got a trip line started around the cabin but didn’t want to finish it until you knew where it was. Motion detector cameras in the front and back send alerts to my phone, but I had to hack into a neighbor’s Wi-Fi to make it work. Plus I have enough blankets and fabrics to block out the lights, even in the great room if you want more privacy. That old barn would probably take both cars.”

  “I don’t know,” Cruz said. “Neighbors could wander past, and people can see the cabin from the lake if they looked hard enough. It might be better to let them think we’re just normal people visiting. You don’t have your sheriff’s vehicle, so it should be fine.”

  “You’re not on the news yet,” Matt said, “and I haven’t heard anything from Gray, either, so I don’t think anybody official is looking for you.”

  “I’m glad she’s still working for the FBI. You should have married her when you had the chance.” Cruz would never find words to express his appreciation for Matt’s unquestioning support, but he had to try. “This means a lot to me, Matt. Thanks for being here.”

  Before Matt could respond, the back slider opened and Victoria came out wrapped in the big white fluffy blanket off the bed, her hair tousled from sleep and her eyes a little blurry. There were plenty of other seats on the expansive deck, but Cruz patted his lap and she came to him with a small pout and settled into his arms. “Where the hell are we?” she mumbled grumpily, setting her head on his shoulder before taking his coffee cup for herself. “I thought you said we were going to New York.”