Kristina sat up fast and looked around. There was definitely a car on their tail, but she couldn’t tell if Keith was the one driving it. She had never seen the car before; she had only ever seen Keith ride a bike. The lights were so blinding that she couldn’t make out much more.
“Keith,” she whispered to herself as though his name held a prayer.
Chapter Thirty Eight
Keith
Keith came to a stop outside of Miles’s house. It was slightly run down, but far better compared to what it had been like when Miles had first bought it. Keith hopped off his bike and walked straight for the front door. He knocked, and then he kept knocking until the door was thrown open.
“Erica,” Keith said the moment he saw her. “Is Miles here?”
“He’s putting the baby to sleep,” Erica replied. She looked at him questioningly, seeing the urgency on his face. “Is everything alright?”
“Not really,” Keith replied, he didn’t have the energy to lie. “Can I speak to him please; it’s urgent.”
“Of course,” Erica nodded. “Come in.”
“I’d rather stay here,” Keith replied.
Erica looked at him curiously, and with a little worry. “Alright,” she nodded. “I’ll tell him to come to the door.”
She left him on the threshold and disappeared into a room on the right. Moments later, Miles came out wearing a worried expression. “Keith,” he said immediately. “What’s happened… have the police been able to find Kristina?”
“No,” Keith replied. “And they’re probably not going to. I have to do it.”
“Keith…”
“I don’t have time to argue,” Keith replied. “And I don’t have time to convince you. Kovic called me; he wants me to come alone.”
“Where?”
“I can’t say.”
“Keith, don’t be a fucking idiot.”
“I can’t risk it, Miles,” Keith replied abruptly. “Not this time. I’m going to save her, but I’m going to have to do it my way.”
“How are you going to manage that?”
“I… I don’t know yet,” Keith replied. “But I do know that I need your car to do it.”
“You’re here for my car?”
“Yes,” Keith nodded.
“Keith…”
“Don’t,” Keith interrupted him immediately. “I told you, I can’t do this now. I don’t have much time left.”
“I’ll come with you,” Miles said immediately.
“I appreciate that,” Keith said. “I really do. But you have Erica and the baby… all the guys have family, which is why I need to go alone.”
“You have family, too,” Miles pointed out. “Your mother… and us.”
“But this is my situation,” Keith reminded him. “I got Kristina into this, and I have to get her out, no matter what it takes.”
“Keith—?”
“Can I have your car or not?”
Miles sighed. He grabbed the keys on the table next to the door and passed them to Keith. “Be careful,” he said.
Keith nodded and headed straight for the car. He started driving, wishing that he could have taken his bike. It gave him a sense of confidence that he simply could not feel sitting behind the feel of Miles’s car. He tried to keep his mind focused and clear, but no matter how hard he tried, his thoughts kept flitting to images of Natalie and how she had looked as she had died in his arms.
The more he pictured the memory, the more it seemed to change. Suddenly he realized that Natalie’s face was changing slowly until it turned into Kristina’s. He could feel the ultimatum in the air; this was the night that he absolved himself of the guilt he carried around with him, or it was the night where he cemented his fate and killed the second woman he had ever dared to love.
The moment he thought the words, he froze in place, and he had to concentrate on keeping the car on the road. He repeated the words slowly in his head, and he wondered when that had happened. He wondered how he had ever allowed it to happen.
“I love her,” he whispered into the still silence of the car. “I love Kristina.”
It had never been a conscious thought until the realization had practically smacked him over the head. He had loved her internally, instinctively, in his gut and in his heart, but he had not admitted it to himself because admitting it meant that the pain would be so much worse if he failed this time. He remembered Natalie once more, wondering if his memory of her had changed in light of his newfound realization.
He realized that his love for Natalie still remained, but it had changed somehow. She was no longer the love of his life. She was now his lost love, who would always have a place in his heart, but now things were different. He was not sure if Kristina was the love of his life. All he knew was that he loved her and that failing to save her was impossible.
“I’m going to save her,” Keith said out loud, through gritted teeth. “I will save her.”
He followed the instructions that Kovic had given him. He knew he was early, but he had wanted to be. He turned into a lonely road; on each side of the road was a dense field of trees. There were no streetlights; the only light came from the car. He turned off the headlights and sped up, hoping to pass under the radar. He drove for a long time before he heard the sound of another engine not far in front of him. Slowly, he turned on his lights again and read the car’s number plate.
“Kovic,” Keith spat.
With rage coursing through his body, Keith turned his headlights on and sped up. He knew that Kristina would be in the car so he couldn’t crash into it as he had originally intended. He drove up close, the tires screeching with the speed and ferocity with which he was driving. Kovic sped up instantly realizing who was on his tail, but Keith was unconcerned. He revved the engine and stomped down hard on the accelerator so that he was driving right alongside of Kovic.
He turned his head and saw the monster in the driver’s seat. His eyes were wide with fury and anger. Keith tried to get a glimpse of Kristina, but she didn’t appear to be in the car. Panic gripped him as he wondered if Kovic had had a greater plan and he had again put Kristina in danger. Kovic smashed his car into the side of Keith’s and he had to work had to keep the car from veering into the thicket of trees.
He managed to stay on course and keep up with Kovic, but his thoughts were preoccupied with images of what might be happening to Kristina if Kovic had left her in the hands of his gang. His distraction allowed Kovic to race ahead. Keith ground his teeth together and hit down on the accelerator again, hoping that he hadn’t made another mistake. He was close on Kovic’s heels when suddenly, out of nowhere, Kovic’s car veered violently on the road before it smashed straight through the forest of trees, disappearing out of sight.
“What the fuck?” Keith gasped, as he watched the car disappear. “Shit,” he yelled as he realized he too was veering off the road. He slammed the brakes, and the car skidded to a halt after one violent spin. Breathing heavily, Keith got out of the car and looked in the direction that Kovic had taken. He was fairly certain that it had not been intentional. It looked like Kovic had lost control of the vehicle and crashed.
Quickly, Keith started moving towards the trees. The forest was dark and dense with shrubbery and undergrowth. He wished that he had a flashlight… something that would light his way. He remembered the phone in his pocket, and instantly he realized what he should be doing. He quickly dialed in Marie’s number and called her.
“Hello?” Marie answered on the first ring.
“Marie, it’s Keith,” he said talking fast. “I think I know where Kovic and Kristina are. Give this address to the police and tell them to hurry.”
“Ok,” Marie said immediately.
“Do you have a pen, you’ll need to take this down.”
Chapter Thirty Nine
Kristina
“Keith.”
She wanted to sit up, she wanted to yell for him, and yet, she wanted to protect him at the same time. He had come
for her, and the moment that she knew he had, she wondered why she had ever doubted him. Of course he would come for her…whether he cared about her or not. That was the kind of man he was.
The car was going so fast that Kristina could hear the wind roaring against them. She braced herself, lying flat against the back seat and took advantage of Kovic’s distraction. Her binds were torn in different places, but they still held her hands together. Kristina knew if she didn’t rid herself of them now she would never have another opportunity.
She used every last bit of strength and energy she possessed and tried to pull her hands apart, making use of the tears she had already created in the cloth. The car teetered dangerously, and Kristina knew her time would be up soon.
“Motherfucker!” Kovic yelled as he sped up.
Suddenly there was a sound as loud as a cannonball and something massive crashed into the side of the car. Kristina screamed and braced herself. She almost fell to the floor of the car, but she managed to hold her balance at the last minute.
“Looks like your boyfriend is trying to kill us both,” Kovic practically screamed.
Desperate, Kristina grabbed her bind with her teeth and pulled as hard as she could. Another rip and she was free. She could separate her hands easily now and the freedom made her more confident than she had ever felt in her life. Kovic was still driving fast, but Kristina didn’t want to wait. She sat up and glanced behind her. Keith had fallen behind, and he was at a safe enough distance. She grabbed the cloth that Kovic had used to tie her hands up and threw it around his neck. Then she pulled hard against the seat so that she was choking him.
She could feel him choking as he removed his hands from the wheel and tried to grab at her. The car swung back and forth and Kristina tried desperately to keep her grip. He was unbelievably strong however, and the car was now uncontrollable. They were about to crash when Kovic reached back and grabbed a fistful of her hair. He pulled hard and the pain of it forced Kristina to let go of the cloth. Kovic grabbed the wheel, and they veered wildly in the opposite direction, straight into the dense line of trees.
The car bucked until it finally crashed into a large tree and everything suddenly went very quiet. Kristina held her head, which was throbbing with a dull, hollow pain. She tried to steady herself, but the dizziness would not leave her. Suddenly the back door smashed open and Kovic was staring daggers at her.
“Get out, you bitch,” he spat. “Get out now.”
Kristina was forced to obey him. She got out of the car gingerly and realized that despite the pain, all her limbs were intact. She glanced at Kovic and realized that he hadn’t faired so well. He was bleeding from the side of his head; blood oozed from a tear in his left trouser leg; and his right hand was bent in an odd angle. It was then that Kristina realized he must have dislocated his shoulder in the crash.
“Don’t get any funny ideas,” Kovic hissed at her, as he revealed the gun in his left hand.
She watched as he grabbed his dislocated hand and violently popped it back into the socket. There was a sickening crunch and a moan of pain, and then it was over. Kristina wondered if she should risk charging at him, but he was already pointing the gun at her and she had no doubt he would use it.
“Start walking,” he commanded, and Kristina was forced to do as he said.
He walked her through the forest, until they reached a clearing that overlooked a small but dangerous looking precipice. After her eyes had adjusted to the burst of light that the moon supplied, Kristina realized that she was looking at a canyon. She started to panic once more as Kovic turned to face her.
“That was a stupid thing you did,” he hissed.
“Can you blame me for not wanting to die?” Kristina said. It the most honest thing she could think of.
“You’re going to suffer before you die,” Kovic said. “I’m going to make sure the canyons echo with your screams.”
Kristina noticed how badly Kovic’s leg was bleeding. His face had paled visibly, and she knew he had been weakened by the crash. Suddenly she was seized with new confidence. She knew that she could get out of this.
“At least Keith won’t be here to see me die,” she said softly. “At least he won’t be tortured by that memory.”
Kovic froze slightly. “You’re right… maybe I’m rushing things. Maybe we should wait for Keith. Sit down,” he said harshly.
Kristina did as she was told and sat down silently. Kovic sat opposite her, against a blunt rock with the gun clutched in his hands. He was trying to act as though his wounds did not affect him, but Kristina could see the shiver running through his body. She knew that he would only get weaker as the night wore on. His leg was still bleeding, and the more blood he lost, the harder it would be to stay awake.
Kristina waited for the first moment his eyes closed, and then she pounced. He opened his eyes and grabbed at her, but it was too late. She already had the gun in her hands. She stood up slowly and stared down at him. He looked small from where she stood, too weak to even lift himself up to face her.
“You’re going to kill me now?” he asked, his eyes were cold flints of hate in the moonlight.
“You told me it takes a special kind of strength to kill someone,” Kristina said softly. “Well, I think it takes a special type of strength not to kill someone who has wronged you. I’m no murderer.”
With that she walked to the edge of the canyon and threw the gun into the abyss. “I hope you rot,” she said sincerely, as she moved away from him, backing into the trees. She waited till his silhouette became a shadow among the rocks, and then she turned her back on him and ran in the direction they had come from. She stumbled through the dark, trying to find something that looked familiar to her, but everything just looked like different versions of the same thing.
She came up among another thick forestation of trees, and she slowed down, wondering if it looked a little like the place they had come through just after Kovic had crashed the car. Still, there was no indication that people had been through the spot, and she couldn’t spy the car either. She kept walking, moving steadily through the forest until she tripped on a rock. She fell face first onto the rough dirt of the ground and narrowly avoided hitting her face.
“God dammit,” she screamed, exhausted and weary and ready for the nightmare to be over.
Then she heard something in the distance, and she froze in place. She was low on the ground, and she sunk down even lower so that whoever was out there would not be able to see her, even if they were looking directly at her. She hoped it was Keith, but she wasn’t sure if Kovic had called for backup or he had other men out in the forests looking for her. She lay still, watching carefully, wondering if what she had heard was a person or just the sounds of the forest.
Then again she heard something, this time however, it was more distinctive, and much more like a person. In fact, she could have sworn it was a voice. Someone was calling out, but she couldn’t understand anything they were saying. She edged closer, practically belly crawling across the floor. She noticed a beetle waddle past her, but she was beyond being scared by it. She let it pass and then continued to crawl close. Then slowly, from behind two trees, a figure emerged.
She still couldn’t see very clearly, but she was sure it was a man and she thought she recognized who it was from the broadness of his shoulders and the definition in his arms. “Keith?” she said before she could stop herself.
The man froze in place, and then he looked in her general direction. “Kristina?” he whispered, and then a little more loudly he called again “Kristina?”
Kristina didn’t even hesitate. She launched herself from her hiding place and ran straight at him. He took a step forward and caught her in his arms, encircling her immediately and kissing her face as though it were the most significant thing in the world. “Kristina,” he said again as though the sound of her name made him feel better. “Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”
“He didn’t get a chance to,” Kristina said
with satisfaction. “I attacked him in the car and he lost control. We crashed and he was badly injured.”
“Where is he now?” Keith asked urgently.
“By the canyon,” Kristina responded. “He’s really weak; he’s lost a lot of blood. I don’t think he’ll survive if no one gets to him in time.” She turned her head to the side at the sound of some distant sound. “What is that?” she asked, trying to place the familiar sound.
“Sirens probably,” Keith replied. “The police are looking for you.”
“How did they know to come here?” Kristina asked.
Tempted: The Numb MC Page 50
