The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn
Page 13
In her rearview mirror Myles dashed through the open parking lot and into an alley between two deserted, gray cinder block buildings. The police car swerved to follow her, but then thought better and chased after Myles. The black-and-white burned rubber as it plowed toward the narrow alley.
“I’ve got to get Myles!” she wailed to the empty car. “But how?”
She slammed on her brakes to avoid the car that suddenly appeared in front of her. Cranking the wheel to her right, she skidded through the turn onto a side street with an unfamiliar name. Rolling down the window and straining for the sound of sirens, she sailed in the direction she thought Myles was headed. He would not lead the police officer to the motel, but neither would he go in the completely opposite direction.
Myles had told her to save herself if the police showed up. Even though she had agreed to it, she knew the truth. She couldn’t leave him behind. They were in this together.
Swerving around two large metal dumpsters lining the one-way street, Kenzie floored the accelerator, one eye on the road in front of her and one on her rearview mirror. Backup was likely very close, but she could still hear nothing over the sound of her own engine and the wild thumping of her heart in her ears.
And then a flash of blue and green sprinted across the street several blocks in front of her. It looked like blue jeans and a green T-shirt. If she squinted—Myles?
A black-and-white police car sailed across the same intersection.
Myles!
Almost ripping the steering wheel from its base, Kenzie turned the car one block in front of Myles and the police car, flying down the narrow alley. She caught a glimpse of the police car’s rear bumper at the next intersection and continued down her own alley, bumping into a Dumpster.
A man carrying a garbage bag flung open a screen door just after the next Dumpster. Laying on the horn, Kenzie kept her path. He jumped back just in time, landing on his backside, clutching the large bag of trash. He raised a shaking fist and opened his mouth to yell at her, but she was far past the point of hearing or caring.
She absolutely had to find Myles. They were in this mess together, and without him she had no one to trust. Would Mac or Nana or anyone else believe her if she tried to explain all that had happened in just a few short days? Highly unlikely. Would it ever be safe to return to the prison, to the prisoners she loved teaching? Her only chance seemed to lie with Myles.
Myles, who was injured and running flat-out from a police cruiser. He couldn’t keep this up for long.
But Myles was smart. If he couldn’t outrun the cruiser, what would he do?
Kenzie slammed on her brakes and skidded to a stop right at the mouth of the next intersection. The black-and-white soared through the intersection one block down, its lights flashing, but no sirens blaring. Kenzie waited for ten seconds, then slowly pulled into normal traffic. One block down, she turned to retrace the path of the cruiser, hoping beyond reason to find Myles stashed somewhere, lurking in a doorway, or hiding beside a Dumpster.
She was creeping along the empty road and peering into every doorway and recess, when…
Thud!
The enormous jolt stole her breath. And the man’s seemingly lifeless body on the hood of her car stopped her heart.
THIRTEEN
“Myles Borden!” Kenzie screeched, yanking at Myles’s feet as he slid off the hood of the car. Kenzie stood with her hands on her hips next to the open car door and glared at him. He just walked around her and slid into the driver’s seat, his laughter only fueling her irritation. She had no choice but to hurry to the other side of the car and jump in. “What if I had really hit you?” she demanded as he drove them back in the direction of the gas station.
“Well, you didn’t.”
Being forced to physically restrain herself from hitting him made the next words shoot out of her mouth. “But I could have! You’re a jerk for letting me think I had hurt you.”
His head tilted to the left and he rumbled, “Forget about it.”
“I will not! How could you be so mean to me?”
“I didn’t mean to be make you so upset.”
“But you’re all that I have right now!” She couldn’t refrain from the exclamations as they exploded from somewhere near the pit of her stomach. “What would happen if I didn’t have you? What would I do?” The fear making her voice shake shamed her to the core, and she hated the truth it revealed. Without him she was lost.
“So now this is all about you?”
“What?”
His lips twitched and it seemed to take him some effort to force them back into a straight line. “Well, it’s just that every statement you just made was about you.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is, too,” he said.
She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. The man was incorrigible.
“Don’t worry. I’m really okay, so you won’t be alone yet or anything.” His lips quirked and he rubbed his left knee. With the other hand he patted his right leg. “I didn’t even reopen the scratch on my leg.”
“And now it’s a scratch? You mean that little cut that’s been either profusely bleeding or making you lose consciousness for the last…I don’t know how many days!” How dare he belittle such an important thing!
Suddenly, the rough pads of his fingers lay gently on her wrist, massaging the skin right above her pulse. She wanted to yank her arm away. To leave him feeling as deserted as she had. To give him a void that he couldn’t fill.
To leave her arm just out of reach of his for eternity.
Her initial instinct won out, and she pulled away, squinting at him under pinched brows. Her forehead ached from the force of pulling her eyebrows together so tightly, but he deserved to know that acting this way would not be tolerated.
“Kenzie, I’m okay. Don’t worry.” He gestured to his right leg. “The leg feels good. The knee isn’t going to fall off. We’re both fine. The cops are none the wiser.”
“How can you say that? They were chasing you. And in two minutes backup would have been chasing you, too.” Myles snorted, but she forged ahead. “Don’t you see? Your shenanigans put us in serious trouble.”
“My shenanigans? My shenanigans? Whoa, back that bus up. When did this all turn into my fault?”
“It’s always been your fault!”
“Since when? I think if this is anyone’s fault, it’s most likely yours.”
She wanted to blame him, to thrust the blame for this entire horrible situation on someone else. The truth hurt, and she fought with her heart over accepting it.
Finally, her shoulders drooped and she said, “You’re right.”
“I am?” The surprise clear in his voice, Myles nearly swerved the car into a curb.
“Yes.” She couldn’t offer him anything else just yet. Accepting that the danger they faced was her fault took some getting used to. Attempting to change the topic of conversation, she asked, “Where are we going?”
“We’re going to ditch the car in the alley by the gas station.”
“Why? Won’t we have to walk back to the motel?”
“Yep. No two ways about that. That cop made this car, and it won’t be long before they figure out it was you and me in it. We’ve got to get rid of the car.”
“But the cruiser was chasing you.”
“Yes, but the cop definitely saw this car, and even the least adept cop won’t miss the scratch on the bumper that matched the kiss you gave that barrier in the parking lot.”
“You saw that?” Heat rose in her neck and cheeks and she refused to look at him.
Myles chuckled. “Couldn’t miss it. It’s no big deal, but we’ve got to get rid of the car, and we need to do it close to the place where we were originally spotted. Whether they’ve made us out as who we really are remains to be seen. But the fact is that the cops will be looking for me and for this car. So we’ll ditch the car, and then we’ll have to wait until night to make our way back to the motel.”
Pulling into the alley adjacent to the station, Myles slipped the keys out of the ignition and pushed them into the pocket of his jeans. Using the hem of his T-shirt, he rubbed off the steering wheel, window crank and radio dials. “Do your door handle, too.” She followed suit, and soon the inside of the car was devoid of any distinguishable prints. He jerked his head toward his door and said, “Let’s go.”
Kenzie slid from the car and hurried to catch up with Myles’s long strides, leading deeper into the alley. About halfway down the next street, Myles slipped between two six-foot metal Dumpsters. He pushed the one farther from the car about a foot from the cement wall and proceeded to wedge himself into the tight spot.
“You coming?”
“Yes,” she mumbled, slipping into place beside him. The harsh texture of the cement wall on her back contrasted with the gentle-as-a-breeze brush of his knuckles across the back of her hand. Her stomach fluttered madly, and her head quickly followed suit. Disgusted with her immediate reaction to the gentlest touch from Myles, she blew wayward strands of hair off her cheeks with jagged puffs. Sweat trickled down the back of her neck.
She eyed the setting sun appreciatively. Soon the darkness would bring cooler temperatures, and the humidity would be less oppressive. And with any luck, the rotting refuse in the garbage bins would reek less.
A girl could dream.
Suddenly Myles’s voice broke into her daydream of trash that smelled of roses. “Aren’t you going to ask me about the phone call?”
“Oh, my—” she squeaked. “I forgot! What happened? Did someone pick up the phone? What did they say?”
“Easy there, Lois Lane. You’re not on deadline for your story, are you?”
“Just tell me what happened,” she begged.
“A man answered the phone. He had a thick, gravelly—”
“What?”
“Sshhh.” If there had been room to maneuver, Myles would have put his finger to his lips. Instead he whispered, “Someone’s coming.”
Kenzie breathed heavily beside him, tension evident in every jagged inhale. A crow squawked at the far end of the alley. The sun slipped behind the mountains, sending shadows away for the night.
Crunch.
A heavy foot fell on the loose gravel at the narrow mouth of the passageway near their abandoned car. Kenzie grabbed Myles’s hand and squeezed his fingers until he had no feeling there, but she remained silent, save her shaky breathing.
“Davis!” a man’s voice hollered. “Get over here! I think I found the car.”
A second set of footfalls joined the first, these lighter, more graceful. A woman’s voice joined the man’s. “Looks like you’re right. See that gash on the front bumper? It matches the mark on the barrier in the gas station. You really think it was Myles Parsons?”
“The man we were chasing matches the description of Parsons perfectly. I can’t believe our luck to pull alongside an escaped convict and then give chase. I don’t think I would have recognized him if he hadn’t taken off running.”
Myles cringed. But it was too late to take back the chase now. He’d done what he thought he needed to to protect Kenzie.
“Too bad he got away,” the woman mocked.
The sound of tape ripping off of metal reached Myles in his hiding place. They were looking for fingerprints.
“Do you think the governor’s granddaughter is still with him? And what are they doing in Evergreen? Shouldn’t Parsons be in Canada by now? Why would he stick around here?” Davis said.
“Maybe he’s stashing the girl’s body in the woods…” Kenzie gasped loudly at the same moment that a bird screeched and Myles offered up a silent prayer of thanksgiving for crazy birds “…and came into town for supplies or to meet up with an accomplice, which accounts for the one driving the car while I chased Parsons on foot.”
“Well, we better call the U.S. Marshals on this. They’re after Parsons and will never forgive us if we don’t call them in right away.” The heavier steps walked away, while the lighter footfalls circled the car several times. Finally, the woman seemed to follow her partner.
“How long do we have to stay here?” Kenzie breathed.
“A while longer,” Myles answered equally as soft.
Kenzie sighed and rested her head on the green cotton covering his shoulder, her hand still holding his, much more gently than before. It was almost dark enough to make a dash for it. But he couldn’t risk it with police so near. They would wait here as long as they needed.
Kenzie couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corners of her lips as she snuggled close to Myles. The stars above reminded her of the twinkling lights from her high school prom so many years before. Tonight there were no starched tuxedo shirts, but the cotton of Myles’s secondhand shirt was soft as a baby’s skin. Crammed between a trash Dumpster and a rough wall definitely was not the Radisson, and there would be no swaying to love songs, but the solid muscular shoulder under her cheek was the most perfect feeling in the world.
His breath ruffled the hair on top of her head, and she leaned into him just a little closer. For a moment a breeze lifted Myles’s scent to her nose, and she relished his musky aroma and the relief from the odor of rotting garbage.
Clouds danced in front of the moon, pitching the alley into almost complete darkness. The two police officers seemed set on inspecting every inch around the car, and their voices still carried, if somewhat indistinguishable.
“See anything?” the man asked.
“No. It’s getting too dark, and the batteries in my flashlight died.”
“I’ve got some extras in the trunk. Be right back.”
Both cops moved farther away, and Myles breathed, “Get ready. When the next cloud covers the moon. Stay light on your feet. Hold my hand, and don’t let go. Whatever happens, we stick together.”
Kenzie squeezed his hand in response and watched a lone cloud float toward the white orb. And then it was covered, and Myles tugged on her hand, pulling her toward the far end of the Dumpster and the open alley.
Scraping along the cement, her back arched away from the pain, and she shuffled as silently as possible. They broke into the open air, free of the oppressive odor that made her eyes water and exposed for the entire world to see. Myles’s feet hit silently on the ground as he ran in front of her, his left hand holding her right one in a vise grip.
She strained for any sound near their abandoned car, but all was silent except for the echoing of her canvas shoes hitting the gravel with each step. The sound exploded in her head, bouncing from ear to ear, certainly alerting the cops to their presence.
But Myles kept running, and no noise came from the other end of the alley. A stitch in her side tried to stop her, but Kenzie kept flying after Myles’s silhouette, his hand holding hers a calming force. Heart beating double time, she saw the end of the alley. Fifty feet to go…twenty-five.
“Hey! Who’s there?” A single light beam flashed across Myles’s back, but he never stopped running. In four seconds they were around the corner, running at top speed down a smooth sidewalk. The change in surface was both strange and welcome.
Heavy steps fell in the gravel, just around the corner behind them.
“In here.” Myles heaved, yanking Kenzie into a doorway to a run-down motel. He tore open the door and said, “Got a bathroom for the lady?” His head jerked in her direction.
The girl behind the counter couldn’t have been much out of high school. She popped a large bubble of gum and mumbled, “It’s for paying customers.”
Myles dug a twenty of out his pocket and tossed it at the girl, who pointed down the dingy hallway. The flickering light halfway down the hall exposed the peeling wallpaper and matted carpet.
When they were out of earshot, Kenzie whispered, “You don’t really expect me to use this bathroom, do you?”
Myles didn’t bother to answer her, he just pushed her past the door marked “Women” and followed her into the tiny room, closing and locking the
door behind them both. Apparently the answer to her question was negative.
The bathroom was as disgusting as she had expected, given the state of the rest of the building. Rust stains littered the linoleum floor next to the base of the toilet. Cracks in the wall at the baseboards looked like the perfect place for mice and other unspeakable creatures to sneak in and out of. A tiny speck of white on the sink next to the faucet showed what color the entire counter had once been. It likely hadn’t been that color in years. Even more likely, it hadn’t seen a sponge in almost as long.
A small brown cockroach crawled up from the drain, causing Kenzie to shriek. “Can we get out of here?” she whined, nodding toward the creepy bug. Myles followed her line of vision and cringed.
“I’m on it,” he said, and followed with quick action. He slammed the lid down on the toilet seat and quickly stood on it. Lifting the tiny window above the tank with one hand, he reached out with the other. “Come on.” He pulled her to his side and then quickly swept her up into his arms, like she weighed nothing.
Suddenly the door handle jiggled.
Then again, this time with some force. A hip or a shoulder crashed into the decaying wood. Any minute the police would be in the tiny room with them, but all she could think about was the curve of Myles’s lips and the deep blue of his eyes.
On the run from the police and in the most disgusting bathroom she had ever seen, this was the wrong place and the worst time. But in the split second that Myles held her to his chest, she knew that she could not pass up this opportunity. By sleeping in the car, by protecting her, caring for her, he had more than earned a repeat of that toe-curling kiss he’d given her for her birthday. Had it really only been two days before?
Who cared that this wasn’t the perfect time or place? It would have to do. And when she focused on the blue of his eyes, the crook of his nose, and the pink of his lips, the rest of the room disappeared. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned in until she was just inches from his lips. “Thank you.”