“Amongst other things, yeah.”
Sawyer stepped forward. “Jim, can I get you guys some refreshments?”
“Sawyer, you need to hush up for the time being.”
That wasn’t Sawyer’s style. He stood his ground.
“Is there something going on here?” There was a new firmness to his tone.
“We’re under your roof and we’ll respect that, but we do need Miss Bradley to come with us now.”
Something in their faces made me nervous. Sawyer shook his head.
“You can talk to Cadence here. I’ll give you all the privacy you need.”
“Stay back, boy. This is serious business.”
The second cop took off his sunglasses. “Are you refusing to come voluntarily, Miss Bradley?”
I didn’t get a chance to answer. Sawyer cut in. “Of course, she is. Why can’t you talk here?”
Without any warning, Jim grabbed my hands and cuffed them. I squealed in horror.
“Miss Bradley, I’m arresting you on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a crime. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?”
I felt dizzy. My mouth didn’t seem to work. I opened and closed it like a goldfish.
“Is this a fucking joke?” Sawyer bellowed.
“Stand back, I said.” Jim pointed his finger at Sawyer.
“What do you think I’ve done?” I shrieked. “I haven’t done anything!”
“I put it to you that you persuaded this man to pay thirty million dollars into your own secret bank account. You’re in league with the kidnapper. Perhaps, you were even the mastermind. No wonder you wanted to know who we thought was responsible.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks as they hauled me out of the door. Sawyer stood in the doorway, watching them push my head down and make me sit in the back of the police car.
“What are you talking about, Jim?” His face was ashen.
“I know you paid that money over with a good heart, Sawyer. But you’ve been misled. Seriously misled. That account was diverted into Miss Bradley’s personal savings account. Her bank contacted the police in New York when they received a suspicious transaction. They notified us. Miss Bradley has been pretending innocence in all this. But things are not what they seem. Walk away, Sawyer, before you get in any deeper.”
“I didn’t do this,” I shouted at him. “I swear to God, I did not have any part in this. They have the wrong idea. I didn’t divert any money. I have no idea what’s going on. Please, Sawyer. You have to believe me.”
He didn’t answer. He just stared.
As we drove away, I turned around and watched him get smaller in the rear window, just like he had the day we met. He just stood with that same shell-shocked expression on his face, not moving a muscle. When we turned a corner and he vanished, I sobbed my heart out.
Flight
The police car stopped at the end of the winding private road that led into Sawyer’s driveway.
“You’ll probably be moved to a Denver facility tomorrow,” said the second cop.
“I’m staying overnight?”
Calmness ran over me then, almost like there was no point resisting, so why bother? I rested my head back on the seat, head pounding, and hands shaky.
Suddenly, the car screeched to a halt.
“Sonofabitch!” shouted Jim.
I looked through the windshield where he was pointing. There, in the middle of the road, was a tiger. A white tiger.
Wait, two white tigers.
And a spotty, oatmeal, leopard-like big cat, which jumped on the hood of the car with a rumbling growl. The car jolted as it landed.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. It had to be Dominic and Sebastian, surely?
And Sawyer. Oh my god, Sawyer. That must be the snow leopard I was crazy about.
The cops jumped out of the car, pointing their guns at the animals.
“No! Don’t shoot them!” I yelled. They ignored me.
One tiger leaped up at Jim and stood on its hind legs. It swiped the firearm right out of his hand. The gun went off as it hit the ground. I screamed.
But, nobody seemed to be hurt. The tiger slapped the gun hard, and it skidded into the undergrowth.
The second cop fired three times at the other tiger. Thankfully, the tiger kept moving and he missed. It sprang at him and bit him on the shoulder. He dropped his weapon with a shout.
The snow leopard made a digging motion with its front paws, and the gun slid under the car.
Cop Two was lying on the ground clutching his shoulder. It was bleeding, but it didn’t look like a serious wound. “Call for backup,” he snarled at Jim.
Jim reached for his radio, but one of the white tigers jumped on to him and pinned his arms flat against the snow.
My heart hammered so loudly in my ears, I hardly heard the snow leopard scratching at the window. Then I turned and saw it looking at me. We held each other’s eyes for a second.
Instantly, it disappeared behind the car. Then, just seconds later, Sawyer appeared. He jumped into the driver’s seat, butt naked.
“Hold on tight,” he said, as he screeched the car forward.
The tigers guarded the cops while we zoomed away. As we got further down the road, I could just make out the two tigers leaping up the mountainside, away from the scene.
“We are in deep trouble,” I said.
“I know,” said Sawyer, who didn’t seem to find nakedness to be a problem while driving. “It’s going to be okay, though. Trust me.”
“You said that before.”
“Yeah. Okay, so don’t trust me. But, I trust you. I know you didn’t do any of this. And I’ll prove it to you.”
He drove fast and frantically, into the mountains.
“Where are we going?”
“We’re just going to hide out for the rest of today. That should be long enough for the Chases to get this smoothed over.”
I watched the icy scenery blur past the window. I really hoped Sawyer was used to driving in freezing conditions, or we were going to be in even worse trouble soon.
“That was Sebastian and Dominic, wasn’t it?”
“Almost. It was Dominic and their brother Benedict. Their other brother Maximilian is going to meet us at the cabin. Sebastian is doing the tourist thing this afternoon with the family.”
“Wait. They’re meeting us at the cabin?” I felt so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. “What cabin? And man, there are a lot of Chase brothers.”
Sawyer grinned into the rear view mirror. “Four brothers. Many cousins. It’s a big ol’ family tree.”
I let my eyes droop closed as we thundered along, higher and higher up a winding mountain track. It was almost hidden from view, behind thick pines.
“Almost there,” said Sawyer, as I nodded forward and then woke up again. “Hang in there, Cadence. I’m not going to let them take you anywhere.”
We arrived at a clearing in a patch of woodland and Sawyer swung the car off-road into the trees. He ran around to my door and opened it.
“We have twenty minutes at the very most. They’ll trace the car by GPS, and we need to be away from here by then.” He pulled me out of the car, hands still cuffed behind my back. I’d almost forgotten he was naked. It suited him, but I worried he’d freeze.
He led me into a small beat-up looking log cabin and bolted the door behind us. Inside was a pile of clothes on a crooked chair.
“You weren’t kidding when you said you had clothes stashed everywhere.”
He laughed, throwing them on at top speed. “The Chases put these here. Great guys. Maximilian will be here soon.”
There was a low growl outside the door. Sawyer threw the door open immediately and in walked another tall, blonde guy with the same blue eyes. This one was younger.
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“Max, your timing is perfect.” Sawyer hugged him, and thumped him affectionately on the back.
“I’m known for it,” smiled the youngest Chase brother. “Come on. We have two minutes before the helicopter gets here. We can’t make it wait in this weather, so we have to be ready.”
We ran outside, and the familiar sound of a helicopter’s blades filled the air. The trees began to wave and thrash around in the wind they created.
“Think you can climb a rope ladder attached to a moving helicopter?” Sawyer shouted over the noise.
I stared at him, then up into the sky. As if by magic, a rope ladder dropped down between us. It swung violently in the air.
It was the stupidest idea I’d ever heard.
“Why the hell not?” I said.
Sawyer and Maximilian grabbed the flimsy ladder on each side and I put my foot on the bottom rung.
Things couldn’t get any more insane, I decided. I might as well go with it.
I climbed the ladder, swinging precariously over the trees, as high as I could. My hands grew tired quickly, but Sawyer pressed up behind me and made me feel like I couldn’t stop.
It was almost impossible, because the helicopter kept veering this way and that. It wasn’t hovering in a stable way. Maybe helicopters never did.
But we persisted, because we basically had no choice.
We climbed higher and higher, until we were really close to the body of the helicopter, swinging wildly. I had to shut my eyes because the wind from the blades was stinging them. It was freezing cold and all of a sudden, I couldn’t feel my hands any more. I panicked.
“I’m going to fall.”
“No you’re not,” shouted Sawyer behind me. “I won’t let that happen.”
“Hang on,” yelled a voice from above us.
Suddenly, the ladder began to rise. We clung on for dear life as Benedict, Dominic, and some other people I didn’t recognize pulled the whole ladder up into the craft.
It was probably only fifty feet above ground, but it felt like we were at the top of the Empire State Building to me. We were yanked across the floor, away from the open door, and the helicopter began to move.
Dominic shoved us into seats and clicked our seatbelts on. The side of the helicopter was still open. As we ascended, my knees started to tremble.
“We’re going to fall out of that door,” I shouted. “Can’t you close it?”
“We won’t fall out,” grinned Benedict. “Don’t look down. We’ll be there in a half-hour, or so.”
“There? Where’s ‘there’?”
Nobody answered me. Sawyer grabbed my hand from across our seats.
I closed my eyes and tried to stay calm. First Deborah, now this. If I’d known what Aspen would be like, I’d never have gotten on that plane.
And then I looked into Sawyer’s eyes. Even in this crazy situation, his look of longing set my pulse racing and my panties aflame. I almost laughed at how instant the lust was.
And I realized, that even though this was quite possibly the worst trip I had ever had, it was also sort of the best, all at the same time.
When I came to Aspen this winter, I was just one person, walking through life alone. Now, there were two of us.
If we could just make it out of this horrible situation, we might have a future.
Interview
The helicopter landed in a deserted patch of wasteland. I had no idea where we were as I’d kept my eyes shut for most of the flight. By that point, I was happy to leave it to the Chases. There was no point worrying, when I couldn’t do anything to improve my situation.
We headed into an anonymous-looking brick building, with armed security at the entrance. They stepped aside as soon as they saw the Chases.
“We’ll use the library,” Dominic said, leading us through a rabbit warren-like network of corridors and rooms.
We got inside, and Maximilian shut the door behind us.
“Please, take a seat.”
We all sat down on leather armchairs. Dominic took a place in front of us.
“Okay. We made it.”
There was muted cheer and gratitude. He held up his hand.
“But, we don’t have long. Cadence, I’ll say this quickly, to stop you worrying. The local police acted without the authority of the federal agents dealing with Deborah’s case. You aren’t under any suspicion from them, and we have traced the kidnapper. He tried to frame you to throw us off the scent, and that actually helped us confirm who he was. He has a grudge against Edgar, because Edgar put him in jail years ago. It’s an open and shut case. So, please don’t sit there thinking you’re a wanted fugitive.”
Everyone laughed. I just gaped, and then thanked him.
“As you can see, we’ve started up with our project already. We have allies in various intelligence agencies worldwide, and we have a great relationship with the paranormal arm of the FBI.”
A few days ago, I would’ve been all, “The FBI has a paranormal arm? I knew it!”. But now, I guess I had to embrace the tinfoil hat.
“What about Deborah?” Sawyer read my mind.
Dominic smiled, a big friendly smile aimed mainly at me. “I’m very happy to say she’s safe. In fact, our people are getting her out of there right now.”
I gasped, a sob caught in my throat. “She’s okay?”
“Yes. Please don’t worry.”
Sawyer grabbed me and pulled me close. I fought back the tears, taking strength from his quiet support.
“And, we have one more thing to talk about. I hope you don’t mind us squeezing this all into the same session, but we don’t know when we’ll all be together again.”
Sawyer smiled and nudged me. I lifted my head and looked at Sawyer. He raised his eyebrows and nodded toward the Chases, who were now all sitting next to each other.
I sat straight and looked at them all in turn, still confused.
“Cadence, we have a proposition to put to you.”
“You do?”
“Would you be interested in a job?”
I stared at them. Not a muscle in my face or body moved.
Sawyer nudged me again.
I found my voice. “What did you say?”
Dominic smiled kindly at me. “It’s not the best day to have a job interview, I know. You’ve had an absolute bastard of a day. But, we were wondering if you might consider working for us. We know you dropped out of basic training for the police. We thought perhaps you might want to continue your detective training in our organization.”
I shook my head to clear the fuzz from it. “Are you serious?”
“Very.”
“What sort of thing do you do? I don’t think I even really understand what your work is.”
“That’s all just details. You have the qualities we’re looking for. That’s the important part. There will be lots of investigative, analytical work. Plus, our sister-in-law recommended you after a long in-depth chat about whatever it is you talked about. And, we think she’s a great judge of character.”
Finola. What a doll. I owed her a big thank you for saying nice things about me.
“I don’t know what I’m saying yes to, but I’m saying yes. I’d be honored to work with you.” I held out my hand to shake on the deal. “You guys are seriously badass.”
Everyone rushed up and hugged me. We stayed in that room chatting and laughing together, until the official call came to say that the police had cleared me. I was no longer under arrest.
“You can see Deborah tonight,” Maximilian told me. “She’s under armed guard at the house now. The kidnapper has been detained. He’ll have his day in court, but there’s a pretty clear motive now, and he’s admitting everything. She’s absolutely fine. Just really pissed.”
I laughed at that. “God, yes. She must be. I bet she’ll be snarling like a wildcat for weeks. I hope she doesn’t mind that I’m giving my two weeks notice the second I see her again.”
“She’ll understand,” Sawyer said.
“She’ll just be happy to be at home.”
I hoped she didn’t mind too much. Only one way to find out, I thought. I’d bring the subject up as soon as I knew she was back to her old self again.
But however much she might yell at me about it, I was overjoyed to know she was back. The nightmare was over.
She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain
LATER THAT WEEK…
Sawyer’s skiing style was as over-confident as his personality. He flipped effortlessly around, then zigzagged down the slopes of Buttermilk Mountain as fast as the gentle incline would allow.
“This is too easy,” he complained when he reached my position in the lowest part of the hills.
“It’s perfect for me,” I said. “This is my first day on skis, remember? Have some mercy.”
He spun me around on my skis and kissed me until I got dizzy. Then, he skidded off toward the group of school kids wobbling their way across the snow. Their teacher shook his hand and stopped to chat to him.
Deborah linked her arm through mine. “He’s a great find,” she said. “Hang on to him.”
Since I quit working for her, Deborah had become friendly and affectionate. I wondered if being kidnapped had made her appreciate the good people in her life. Either way, she was suddenly becoming a friend, instead of just a tyrannical boss.
“I intend to,” I said. “Deborah, I’m so sorry about what happened to you. I should’ve been more responsible with that laptop.”
“Nonsense! You did nothing wrong. I made impossible demands, which was why you went out in the first place. Don’t blame yourself, honey. Plus, I’m digging this shorter hairstyle. I should thank him, really.” She laughed loudly.
Whoever that kidnapper had replaced Deborah with, I was happy to see her.
The two Rollinson kids whizzed past us. They’d been on skis since they were toddlers, and they were experts.
Finola came sliding over to us, slightly more confident than me on the snow, but not by much.
“Sawyer’s great with the kids. Look!”
He was teaching a big group of kids how to turn in a circle with skis on. They listened to him intently as he guided one boy around slowly, and then let him try on his own.
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