“This is it,” he said moments later, nodding toward the Exit 1 Mile sign. “Should I take it?”
He heard her inhale deeply. To his relief, she shook her head. Seconds later, they drove past the ramp. It looked like he wasn’t going to have to use those darts after all, which was just fine with him. He was tired and sore and more than ready to call it a night.
* * *
Well, this was it, Taryn thought, wondering once again if she had just doomed herself. There was no going back now. Either her instincts would hold true or she had just placed herself willingly into the hands of a psychopath. She’d already been there, done that, though, and this didn’t feel the same.
They continued on for quite a while. The highway went from four lanes down to two. Another hour and they turned off onto an even smaller road that led through a quaint-looking, sleepy town with a single stoplight and two stop signs. By the time they emerged on the other side, there was nothing. The two-lane road narrowed and deteriorated with every passing mile.
Eventually they turned off that, too – Taryn hadn’t even seen the gap in the trees – and they were on a dirt road. After about fifteen minutes, Taryn downgraded her assessment of the passage from “road” to “trail”. That explained the need for a big, four-wheel-drive vehicle.
For mile after mile the view never changed, but the occasional pop and pressure in her ears led her to believe they were climbing to a higher altitude. In her limited view, she saw pine trees and more pine trees, studded with huge outcroppings of mountain laurel, maple, and oak. The left looked like the right. The front looked like the back, except for the reach of the headlights. She gained a new respect for the man as he seemed to know exactly where he was going, maneuvering effortlessly as if on auto-pilot. She would have been lost ages ago, even with her GPS. She tried not to think of the implications should she find herself with a sudden need to escape, reminding herself that she’d been in worse situations.
The truck slowed down and the man – Kane - seemed to take particular interest in their surroundings. Taryn had no idea what he was looking at. She couldn’t see anything.
“Stay here,” he said, cutting the engine and dousing the headlights. He had an edge to his voice that she hadn’t heard before. As he slid out of the truck, she did as he said. She had no intention of going anywhere. She looked out the window. Two steps and he was gone, swallowed by the darkness.
Taryn wrapped her arms around herself and huddled in the truck, staying as still and silent as possible. The darkness all around her was palpable. She strained her ears, but heard absolutely nothing. It was eerie. She remembered that creatures tended to go silent before a big storm, even as she sensed the air pressure dropping all around her.
A shiver worked its way down her spine. She hummed a little to herself, refusing to give in to the urge to roll down the window and call out for Kane. The idea of revealing any sign of weakness chafed. Besides, doing so would break one of her cardinal rules: don’t depend on anybody for anything.
After what seemed like an eternity, he appeared again out of nowhere just as suddenly as he had disappeared. There was nothing, and then there he was, opening the door and sliding in, causing her to jump a good six inches off the seat. He didn’t even try to hide his amused grin in the dim lights of the dash as he started the engine and rolled forward again. Thankfully, though, he refrained from commenting.
A few miles later, Kane stopped again, but this time he seemed much more relaxed. Kiara strained to see out the windshield, barely able to make out a shape among the trees. If she was seeing it right, the cabin was much larger than the one or two room hunting shack she had expected.
Kane insisted she stay in the truck while he went in and checked the place out. It seemed a little unnecessary to her, but this was his cabin and she figured it would be rude to point that out. When he returned, he apparently had no qualms with her helping him unload the truck. With each arm load of provisions, Taryn wondered just how long Kane planned on staying.
Once everything was unloaded, he wasted no time in starting a fire in the main room, and she was glad for it. The temperature in the mountains was much colder than it had been in Pine Ridge. Taryn started storing canned goods and provisions in the cupboards, finding most of them already well-stocked with non-perishable items. She noted the contents as she did, creating a mental list of items to purchase for herself. Kane watched her out of the corner of his eye, but otherwise said nothing. He seemed to be keeping a safe distance, but whether it was for her benefit or his, she wasn’t sure. Either way, it suited her just fine.
She was therefore startled when he suddenly appeared behind her, holding a stack of blankets in his arms. No man that large should be able to move so quietly, she thought. His eyes sparkled as if amused. He really seemed to enjoy her reaction when he snuck up on her like that. If that was the worst he did, she reasoned, she could handle it.
“We’ll finish that tomorrow,” he said, placing the bundle in her arm. “You can stay in there.” He pointed to a door on the left. “If you get too cold there’s a fireplace, wood and kindling, too. Bathroom is there.” He pointed to another door. “No hot water until I get the generator going, though.”
Kane crossed the living space, pausing at another door across the room. “I’ll be in here. I strongly suggest you not go wandering. You’re twenty miles from the nearest ranger station and there are cliffs all over this mountain.” Without another word, he disappeared through the doorway, closing it behind him. The room suddenly seemed much larger without him in it.
The room he’d indicated for her was on the small side, at least compared to the large, open living area. There were three sets of military-style bunk beds with just enough room to walk in between. It was cold and dark. There was a fireplace and wood, just like he’d said, but suddenly the thought of building a fire seemed like way more effort than she was capable of in her current state of near exhaustion.
Carrying her blankets back out to the main room, she fixed herself a little nest on the sofa in front of the fire. There she stared at the flames until sleep finally came sometime later.
Chapter Sixteen
“Finally,” Kane mumbled when Taryn’s breathing became deep and even. Even then, he waited another thirty minutes, just to be sure.
Tired as he was, Kane was feeling better about this mission every minute. He had expected a lot worse. She’d jumped right into his lap, literally. She had barely uttered a word over the last several hours. She seemed very appreciative of his coffee and donuts. And so far, she had done everything he’d told her to, without question. A cynical voice in the back of his head piped up, reminding him of the proverbial ‘calm before the storm’.
He wondered again, not for the first time, what was so special about this girl. Yeah, she was attractive, especially when she pinned those big violet eyes on him. And when the flickering lights of the oil lamps he’d lit danced across the gold and red streaks in her hair, it appeared as though it was made of living flames. The effect was striking.
Otherwise, she really didn’t seem like much to him. But what the hell did he know?
He dialed the secure number, not surprised when it was picked up on the first ring. “Package received.”
On the other end, Jake’s voice held obvious relief. “Tell me she’s safe.”
“I said I’ve got her, didn’t I?” Kane said, annoyed.
“How is she?”
Jake was as much of a hard-ass as Kane was when it came to a mission. The fact that he’d inquired about her as if she was something more than a job sent an uncomfortable tingle through his gut. But how much more was she?
“I’d say pretty hot overall, but a little on the small side for my taste. I’ll have to let you know.”
“Kane.” The response was immediate and surprisingly strong.
“Quiet. Non-combative. Obedient.” The silence on the other end was profound. “Jake?”
“Are you sure you got the right woman?�
� Jake asked suspiciously. “That sure as hell doesn’t sound like Taryn.”
“Taryn?” Kane questioned. “She said her name was Kiara.”
“Son of a bitch.” Kane heard Ian say something in the background, followed by Jake’s muttered response: “No, she gave him her real name.” Kane couldn’t help but smile a little. She’d given them a fake name but him the real thing?
Jake, on the other hand, did not seem in the least bit amused. “Kane, no matter what you’re thinking, you’re wrong. She’s clever and stubborn as all hell, not to mention she managed to pin Ian and had a knife to his throat.”
Kane chuckled as he heard Ian trying to amend Jake’s last statement. “I like her already.”
“I’m not kidding, Kane. That’s Kiara Fitzpatrick you’ve got there.”
Kane’s smile immediately vanished. “The Senator’s daughter? Quit fucking with me, Jake. They pulled her out of the quarry ten years ago.”
“Are you sure about that? Because the prints I pulled from her car a few days ago say differently. We think that’s what triggered the sudden interest.”
Kane thought back, trying to remember as much as he could about the case, one of his last before he went completely off the books. It had been huge. A prominent American political family executed in their wealthy home in Vermont, except for one daughter, who had seemingly vanished without a trace. Kane had just been pulled in on the case when the body was discovered, burned in a fiery crash, then waterlogged in a quarry hole swollen by spring floods, mangled beyond all recognition.
Beyond all recognition. The phrase repeated itself in his head. The body had been whisked away to a special facility, where a team of some of the nation’s top forensics men declared it to be that of the missing girl. Senator James Howard, close personal friend of the Fitzpatricks, had overseen the investigation personally. If what Jake was saying was true – and he knew Jake would never say it otherwise – the implications were staggering.
“Best guess is she witnessed the execution of her entire family,” Jake continued somberly, “before being abducted and ...” his voice broke off briefly before starting up again.
“We think she somehow managed to escape and go deep underground with the help of an ex-SEAL that found her. She’s been going by the name of Taryn Malone, and she’s playing it as if she’s just a regular girl passing through. She’s running scared, Kane.”
There was another possibility that jumped to the forefront of Kane’s mind. “Or she orchestrated the whole thing to begin with.”
“We’ve considered that,” Jake said. “But all of us – Dad included – believe she’s a victim here.”
“Then why run? Why hide? If you were in the same situation, wouldn’t the first thing you did be to go after the bastards that wiped out your family?”
“Hell yes. But she was just a kid, Kane. And God knows what kind of condition she was in. Something else, too. Ian’s been using his secret decoder ring and x-ray vision.”
Kane almost smiled at the familiar reference to his brother’s mystical and magical digital skills. “Nothing concrete, but enough little things are not adding up. He thinks – and I have to agree - that whoever was behind the Senator’s death was pretty high up. If Taryn – Kiara – can finger them, it might really shake up the snow globe, you hear what I’m saying?”
That was an understatement, Kane thought. James Howard was the favored nominee for the next presidential election. His son, Gavin, had been Fitzpatrick’s personal bodyguard, grievously injured during the attack. As bad as his physical injuries had been, though, the mental trauma had nearly destroyed him. Kane remembered that interview like it was yesterday; Gavin Howard had been a mess, hopped up on painkillers with a shitload of guilt-based demons. The guy blamed himself for not being able to stop the assassinations, and had “retired” shortly afterward to a desk job in a small county office somewhere up in the northwest. Oregon, if he wasn’t mistaken. If Howard was involved, well, shit.
“Hang on,” Kane said suddenly. “I heard something.” It was just the softest of utterances, the slight rustle of fabric, but his senses were on high-alert. He muted the phone and stepped quietly into the other room to check on Kiara/Taryn. She was still asleep, but had turned slightly, burrowing under the covers a little more.
“Everything okay?” Jake asked when Kane resumed the connection.
“Yeah, just checked. She’s really out. Got her face buried in a man’s blue shirt. Wouldn’t be yours by any chance, would it?”
Jake didn’t answer him. “Listen, Kane, Ian spotted a leech on his system today. He’s letting it go for now, we don’t want anyone to know we’re on to them yet. Plus it’ll give us a chance to run a backtrace. For now, keep all communications secure. Shane thinks he was tailed a few hours ago when he did a test run, and I’ve seen more non-locals in the pub today than I should have. Might just be coincidence with Homecoming and all, but we’re not willing to bet Taryn’s life on it.”
“Someone got into Ian’s system?” Kane didn’t know a whole hell of a lot about the situation, but this raised a lot of red flags, especially the leech. Ian was a genius when it came to computer security. The fact that someone could get even that far certainly lent credibility to Jake’s theory that Kiara/Taryn was in pretty deep.
“Yeah, but not deep enough to do any real damage.” Jake hesitated, and Kane could guess what was coming next. “I know I said I’d be up to get her tomorrow, but can you handle things on that end for a few days? If any of us disappear it’s going to draw more attention right now, and I want to check out some of these new faces, see where they are coming from. If we can eliminate the threat from here, all the better.”
Kane thought about the woman currently sleeping soundly on his sofa. If she really was Kiara Fitzpatrick, and if she had information that could implicate a US Senator and quite probably other high-ranking officials in one of the most heinous crimes in recent American history, then there were those who would stop at nothing to silence her and everyone with whom she had come in contact.
He sighed heavily, pinching the skin between his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. He was not operating at one-hundred percent, physically or mentally. Putting her in his exclusive care at the moment was not in her best interest, or his. “I don’t need this shit, Jake.”
“I know, man. The timing sucks. But there’s no place safer in the world for her than up at that cabin with you right now.”
Kane didn’t respond; he heard Ian speaking softly in the background. Jake exhaled heavily, then murmured in agreement.
“You know what, Kane? You’re right. You shouldn’t have to do this right now. Just keep her safe tonight. If I leave now, I’ll make it there by dawn.”
“What about your audience?”
“Fuck them,” came Jake’s immediate reply. “We’ll make sure there are enough distractions. No one will even realize I’m gone.”
Kane’s gut tightened. Jake sounded confident, but it was risky, and they both knew it. Even a few days could make all the difference in the world. He thought again about the meek little thing out on the sofa. Even with him in his current condition, how hard could it be?
“No, give things a few days to cool down. I’ve got this.”
Seconds ticked by in silence. Finally Jake said, “The second they’re off the radar, I’m there, Kane. Before, if you need me to be, got it?”
Kane blew out the breath he’d been holding. “Yeah.”
“Oh, and one more thing,” Jake said, almost as an afterthought. “Chances are she’s going to try to bail and head north. Don’t let that happen.”
Before Kane could respond, a loud clap of thunder split the silence, lighting the place up like midday. “What the fuck was that?” Jake asked.
“Storm,” muttered Kane.
He quickly ended the connection, shoving the mobile into his pocket. Kiara was sitting up, wide-eyed when he strode into the living area. “Big storm. Help me secure the shutters,” he said
gruffly, cursing himself for not thinking of doing so earlier. Before the horizontal rain and seventy-mile-an-hour winds.
Without hesitation, she jumped up from the sofa. She watched him do one, then mimicked his actions on the far side of the cabin, throwing open the windows to grab at the heavy-duty shutters. Even injured, he moved much faster than she did, pulling the shutters against the heavy gusts with his greater strength. The wind was fierce, but he had to admit, she gave it her best effort, sometimes going as far as leveraging her feet against the wall to pull them closed. By the time the last one was secured, they were both soaked through from the driving rain.
Kiara moved toward the fire, her body shivering against the cold wetness of her clothes. Clothes, Kane noted painfully, that consisted of a man’s shirt and little else. It hung down to mid-calf. Against the glow of the fire, he could see every curve silhouetted. Damn it! It was not what he wanted to see.
“Here,” he said gruffly, tossing her one of his flannels. She eyed him carefully. “Go on,” he barked. “Put that on and then we’ll see about that hand.” Kiara looked down at her hand where red was once again seeping through the bandages. She pushed it behind her back, as if to hide it from him.
Kane glared at her. His eyes narrowed when she made no move to do as he said. “Let’s get something straight right now,” Kane said, his voice nearly as booming as the thunder all around them, though he hadn’t raised it. “My cabin, my rules. Rule #1 is listen to Kane when he’s trying to help you.”
She tilted her chin defiantly, but Kane didn’t budge. Hands on hips, he stared her down with a glare that had made grown men wet themselves. The spirit was there, he could see that. Too bad she was shaking so hard.
“I don’t like that rule,” she said bravely. “I have my own. And my Rule #1 is don’t follow anyone else’s rules.”
Kane raised an eyebrow. It was the most she had spoken at one time in the last eight hours. The sound of her voice surprised him; it wasn’t high-pitched and girly like he would have expected, but low and soft, whiskey-smooth, even when she was clearly riled. He shuddered to think of what she might sound like if she actually tried to be charming. Not that it would do any good with him. There was a reason they called him the Iceman.
Dangerous Secrets: Callaghan Brothers, Book 1 Page 14
