What was strange was the way Jax acted. Whenever we had been to visit a debtor, he had let me take the lead, looming in the background and giving me feedback when we were done. But when we went out that night, Jax was on the front foot.
“Good evening, David,” he said as he approached Claire’s father. I had never heard him address any target by their first name. It was like he knew this guy personally. He motioned me to hang back. He leaned in close to David, almost whispering in his ear. The guy’s face was ashen, filled with a terrible fear. Then Jax motioned me to come closer. The guy looked at me, but I could tell it wasn’t me he was afraid of, or himself he was afraid for. Jax must have been threatening Claire. Then Jax handed me a knife.
“Cut his hand. Give him a reminder he won’t be able to ignore.”
I swallowed hard, trying not to betray any hint of hesitation. I grabbed the hand, not looking at his face. He offered no resistance. It was like whatever Jax had told him had sapped his will entirely. I cut, drawing the blade across his palm in a smooth stroke. A line of red followed the glinting steel. When I let his hand go, he clasped his palm tight and then ran off.
“Don’t you forget what I told you!” Jax shouted after him.
Jax clapped me on the shoulder and told me I had done a good job. I had been so wrapped up in making sure I did what was expected that I hadn’t noticed how strange the encounter was. But now it was clear.
Claire’s father wasn’t just some deadbeat who owed Kovalev money. There was something else going on. Could he have something on him? Some information that could take him down? That could be a reason to keep Claire hostage, her life the price of his silence.
If that was the case, Kovalev would be freaking out that both Claire and her dad were missing. He wouldn’t stop at anything to find them. But how would he find them?
I stepped on the brake and made a hard u-turn across the double yellow lines, turning toward the brightening eastern horizon, and racing back to the park.
They would be tracking his car. They knew where he was.
And where Claire was.
They would be coming soon, if they weren’t there already.
I hoped I got there in time.
Chapter 22 - Claire
A soft, pinkish light filtered through the tent’s thin fabric as I opened my eyes. Birds greeted the morning with a cheerful chirping. I looked over at my father, who was still fast asleep. My muscles were tight. It felt like the third day after starting a new workout. I guess the tension and stress had sunk into my shoulders and back without me noticing yesterday. I needed to get out and stretch.
Carefully, I unzipped the tent door and stepped out into the still cold dawn. The sun was almost at the horizon, sending golden light to the tops of the mountains to the west of us. I reached down to grab my shoes, shaking them out to make sure no desert critters had made a home in them overnight. Just to be sure, I lifted the tongues and peered down into the toes. The last thing I wanted was to jam my foot right into a scorpion.
I felt a chill run across my skin from a cool little breeze. I figured I would kill two birds with one stone and walked over to an open space and began to stretch. One of the few things that had been good about the apartment was that it gave me ample time and space to practice yoga. I dropped into downward facing dog and felt a little shot of pain as I stretched from my heels to my shoulders. I was tighter than I’d thought. I took in a deep breath and released it, feeling the tension melt away. I settled into the stretch. Then I flowed forward into a cobra pose.
My back got so tight I thought I would snap in two. I wasn’t alone in the campsite.
Booted feet crunched the loose sand and rock.
I jumped to my feet and looked around.
There was nobody there.
More footsteps, this time from behind me. I spun around, but there was still nothing to be seen.
I turned back around and then I saw them. Jax and two other goons were walking into the campsite. My heart felt like it jumped into my throat and wrapped itself around my windpipe. I was frozen, fixed in place. Another sound behind me. Two more men emerged from around a large boulder.
“Good morning, Claire. Where’d your boyfriend go?”
“H..he..he’s gone.” I cursed myself for being so afraid, but I couldn’t help it. How had they found us?
“No matter, we’ll deal with him later. Your father still in the tent? Be a good girl and go wake him up.” Jax’s smile was infuriating, but I couldn’t refuse.
When I got to the tent, my father had already awoken.
“Dad, you have to get up now. They’re here.”
“Wha? Who is..” he said groggily. Then his eyes sharpened and the realization hit him. “Oh, fuck.”
I backed away as he scrambled out of the small opening and struggled to his feet.
“Now listen, Jax, you son of a bitch, you lay one hand on my daughter and I…”
“You will what, David?” a familiar voice said softly from behind us.
My stomach turned to ice. The kind of dirty roiling slush left over from when snowplows cleared the streets in a big city. I turned around, hoping against hope that I had misheard.
I hadn’t.
It was Kovalev.
“Baby, thank goodness you’re here.” I walked over to him with a smile plastered on my face. It was desperate, but it was the only thing I could think to do. I had to convince him to let us both live. “I was taken; I had no choice.”
Kovalev struck out with the back of his hand contemptuously. The blow landed right on my cheek and sent a constellation of stars across my vision. I didn’t remember falling, but I was suddenly on the ground.
“Time’s up, David. You have exhausted the last bit of my patience.”
Why was Kovalev being so familiar with my father? He was just a gambler in debt and yet Kovalev was talking to him like he knew him personally.
“Look, Peter, I haven’t talked to anyone. Honest. I just came down here to take a little break, ok?”
“You are a bad liar, David. Always were. The one thing I can’t figure out, though, is how you were able to get Jason to help you. He seemed like a stand-up guy.” Kovalev held his hands out to his sides. “I guess you never really know a person.”
“Peter, please.” My father dropped to his knees in the soft sand. I could barely stand myself. What were they talking about? Had my father been lying to me the whole time?
“Too late, David. I’m afraid I can’t afford to let you live any longer. Tell me who you have told and I will consider sparing Claire.”
My father’s mouth hung open. It looked like he wanted to say something but was unable to summon the breath.
Silence hung in the early morning air. The birds had all flown away, it seemed. I stayed rooted to the spot I was standing, too shocked to say or do anything. The moment seemed to stretch out forever. Then Kovalev nodded to the man standing next to him. The man pulled a chrome plated pistol out of his jacket and pointed it at my father.
“Please, Peter, don’t hurt her.”
A single gunshot echoed around the boulders. I closed my eyes. I tried to scream, but my throat was too tight. No sound came out.
“Who the fuck was that?”
“Alex, you ok?”
“Where is he?”
A cacophony of voices and movement. I slowly opened my eyes to a scene of utter chaos. My father was still there, kneeling in the middle of the campsite. Jax, Kovalev, and the other goons had scattered. They were hiding behind whatever rocks or boulders they could find. The one who had been aiming at my father was lying, unmoving. The sand around his head turned dark as it soaked up his blood.
Another gunshot echoed. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once. The men hiding behind the rocks returned fire, each shooting in a different direction. All of them except for the one who joined his fellow, prone and bleeding in the sand.
“Mike!” Jax’s voice called out. “Go ‘round and try to flank him
!”
A figure rose up from behind a boulder and then immediately collapsed to the ground as another shot rang out. The campsite was pandemonium. Kovalev’s men were firing at rocks and shadows while they were being picked off, one by one. Two tried to run for the cars, but they were dropped before they even made it halfway. Finally, only Jax and Kovalev were left.
Kovalev hadn’t fired a shot. He didn’t even seem to have a gun. He just cowered behind the largest boulder he could find. It was shocking to see him in such a position. This man who had wielded such power over me, who had filled me with such dread, doubled over in fear.
“Jason!” Jax yelled in a voice that was shot through with more than a little quaver. “I know it is you. Why don’t you come out and we can talk about it? Look. I will put down my gun, ok? Just talk.” He placed his pistol on top of the rock he was hiding behind.
He was met with silence. A silence that felt oppressive after the chaos and gunfire.
After a few long moments, I heard Jason’s voice.
“Ok, Jax. Let’s talk.”
Even though I was sure it was Jason all along, the confirmation was like a little fire blooming in my heart. He had come back for me, again.
Jason stepped out from around a boulder, far closer than I would have imagined it was possible to be without being seen. He placed his own gun down on the sand. I felt a sharp twinge of fear. Something was wrong. When Jax stood up, I saw a bulge in the back of his waistband. He had another gun!
Jason was walking forward nonchalantly, unarmed. I saw Jax raise his left arm, offering peace, but his right arm was drifting toward the small of his back.
“Jason! He has another gun!” I shouted.
Almost before I got the words out, Jax’s hand whipped back and took hold of the pistol, bringing it forward in a fast, fluid motion. My heart stopped beating. The moment stretched out into hours.
Jason reached to his own back and dropped to one knee. Too fast to see, he pulled a second gun and trained it at the center of Jax’s chest. The bullet Jax shot sparked off the granite above Jason’s head. Jason’s bullet found its mark. The big man took a faltering step, his gun hand hanging limp at his side. Jason stood up, keeping the barrel aimed straight at Jax. He fired again. Jax’s head snapped back and his body collapsed forward like a felled tree.
I released a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding and smiled broadly.
Then I felt a familiar hand around my throat.
Chapter 23 - Claire
“Let her go, Kovalev!”
“Put down your gun, or I will snap her neck.”
Kovalev’s voice was hollow, like he was speaking into an empty paint can. I slowly realized it sounded that way because he was squeezing the arteries in my neck. I was losing consciousness. The world around me started to go dark. I kept my eyes focused on Jason, his face in an ever shrinking circle of light. His expression was grim.
My muscles started to feel weak. I wondered that my legs could even hold me up anymore. I felt like the darkness was calling out to me in a soft, comforting voice.
“Just let go. Rest. Let the pain fade away forever.”
I fell to the ground, hitting the sand like a rag doll.
Air rushed back into my lungs and the color came back into the world. My chest, my neck, my head were all throbbing. I leaned over, sucking deep gulps of air into my starved lungs. And I noticed a red, wet patch of sand slowly spreading toward me. I looked up. Kovalev’s fat, brutish face lay only a few inches from me. His eyes open but unseeing. His mouth hanging limp and obscene. A dark red, perfectly round hole had appeared in the middle of his forehead.
In an instant, Jason was at my side, gently helping me up to a sitting position.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
“Boy, I forgive you for the cut on my hand and then some,” my father burst in before I had a chance to answer. “I mean, holy shit!”
Jason gave him a brief nod and looked back at me, his eyebrow arched in a familiar expression.
“I’m fine, really. I can’t…I can’t believe he is dead.”
Jason pulled me upright and right into a tight embrace.
“I couldn’t imagine you being back in his hands. I’m sorry I even let him touch you.”
“Thank you. Thank you for coming back for me, again.”
“I will always come back for you.”
“Hah,” I laughed, “you better not need to come back.”
He slipped his hand around the back of my neck and softly but firmly pulled me closer. I opened my lips to kiss him, but before we met, my father butted in again.
“Ah, kids, I hate to spoil the mood, but, first of all, don’t do that in front of me. Second, someone is sure to have heard that gunfire. There will be rangers here soon. You two should get out of here.”
“What about you, Dad?”
“I registered for the campsite. If I run, it will just look more suspicious.”
I started to protest, but he waved his hand.
“Don’t worry about it. Look, I have information about Kovalev. Even if he’s dead, I know stuff about some other players, too. I have stuff to trade. Go, now.”
“Come on, he’s right.” Jason inclined his head toward the road. His car was parked a little ways up the road, so we jogged the quarter mile or so. He smiled broadly at me as he turned the engine and pulled onto the dirt road. I saw lights flashing in the distance. We turned the opposite direction and accelerated down the main road.
We were free.
“I think we could use a little vacation, don’t you?” Jason said, entirely too calm given what had just happened.
I breathed out loudly.
“Yea, I think that would be a good idea.”
“I wonder how much flights to Belize are?”
“I’d say we probably have enough.” I nodded back to the duffel bag still stuffed into the backseat.
Jason started laughing. I quickly joined him. We drove on into the bright morning.
The End
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1
When the invitation arrives…
“Here it is! Here it is!” my roommate Caroline yells at the top of her lungs as she runs into my room. We were friends all through Yale and we moved to New York together after graduation. Even though I’ve known Caroline for what feels like a million years, I am still shocked by the exuberance of her voice. It’s quite loud given the smallness of her body.
Caroline is one of those super skinny girls who can eat pretty much anything without gaining a pound. Unfortunately, I am not that talented. In fact, my body seems to have the opposite gift. I can eat nothing but vegetables for a week straight, eat one slice of pizza, and gain a pound.
“What is it?” I ask, forcing myself to sit up. It’s noon and I’m still in bed. My mother thinks I’m depressed and wants me to see her shrink. She might be right, but I can
’t fathom the strength.
“The invitation!” Caroline says jumping in bed next to me. I stare at her blankly. And then suddenly it hits me. This must be the invitation.
“You mean…it’s…”
“Yes!” she screams and hugs me with excitement.
“Oh my God!” She gasps for air and pulls away from me almost as quickly.
“Hey, you know I didn’t brush my teeth yet,” I say turning my face away from hers.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Go brush them,” she instructs.
Begrudgingly, I make my way to the bathroom.
We have been waiting for this invitation for some time now. And by we, I mean Caroline. I’ve just been playing along, pretending to care, not really expecting it to show up. Without being able to contain her excitement, Caroline bursts through the door when my mouth is still full of toothpaste. She’s jumping up and down, holding a box in her hand.
“Wait, what’s that?” I mumble and wash my mouth out with water.
“This is it!” Caroline screeches and pulls me into the living room before I have a chance to wipe my mouth with a towel.
“But it’s a box,” I say staring at her.
“Okay, okay,” Caroline takes a couple of deep yoga breaths, exhaling loudly. She puts the box carefully on our dining room table. There’s no address on it. It looks something like a fancy gift box with a big monogrammed C in the middle. Is the C for Caroline?
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