Sun Storm

by Marlow Kelly

  Her eyes flickered open. “Are we there yet?”

  “No, sweetheart, we’ve only been driving for twenty minutes. Go back to sleep.” He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight so she wouldn’t bump around.

  Jake’s smartphone gave an electronic trill. He placed it on the dash and pressed a button, answering it on speaker.

  “Jake this is Al. The police have asked us to get in touch with all our drivers. They want to know if you’ve seen a man and a woman? The man has long, shaggy hair, a beard, and a scar down the side of his face. His name is David Quinn. It’s believed he kidnapped a woman by the name of Marie Wilson.”

  David’s heart raced as his breathing hitched. Thank God he was seated because his knees had turned to spaghetti. Kidnapping? He stared at the phone and then at Jake. This couldn’t be happening. Maybe they’d get lucky and Jake wouldn’t put the pieces together. Yeah, right. He was never that lucky. He gently released Marie’s legs, freeing his left hand.

  The truck driver paled and glanced at David. “Is he talking about you?”

  The voice on the phone said, “Who’s with—”

  David pressed the disconnect button. “I didn’t take her. We’re traveling together.” He shook Marie. “Wake up.”

  Marie blinked and rubbed her eyes. “Is it time to go?”

  “Yes.” He straightened his left knee, which lowered her legs to the floor. The isolated highway lay between a stretch of forest on one side and a hill on the other. David was familiar with the area. They were still in Elkhead County. There was a turn off a few hundred yards ahead, a trail that curved north to the small town of Hopefalls. There were no other cars on the highway. Not surprising given the weather warnings.

  Jake steered the rig onto the shoulder and applied the brakes. “Let’s call the police and let them sort this out.” He reached for the phone.

  “That’s not a good idea.” David shoved Jake hard. The trucker jerked to the side, his face connecting with the driver’s door.

  “Why?” Jake held his arms up in a position of surrender.

  “We’re being chased.” David slipped the phone into his coat pocket.

  “Yeah, because you’re a sick bastard who—”

  “I did not take her, and I will not hurt her,” Then he gave Marie a quick hug. “You need to get off my lap.”

  “You go. She stays with me.” Jake dove for Marie, grabbing her wrist so she was bent over the center console.

  She gaped at him. “No.”

  “Is he forcing you?” Jake yanked her closer.

  Marie tugged back. “Forcing me to do what?”

  “To go with him?”

  She blinked, and frowned. “No, our car… We—”

  “Why are you protecting him?” Jake jerked her arm again.

  “Stop pulling on my wrist. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She scowled, and with her free hand grabbed at his fist, trying to release her arm.

  Using the distraction, David sprang forward and punched the trucker hard on the shoulder knowing the blow would numb his arm. Jake released his grip. Then David stood, his head bent so it wouldn’t hit the ceiling, and placed his body between Jake and Marie.

  Marie tried to push David out of the way, but tripped on his foot and slammed against the passenger door. “Will someone tell me what’s going on?” She pounded the window, clearly at the end of her patience.

  David’s pulse quickened as panic bubbled, threatening to overwhelm him. He inhaled a calming breath. Deal with the immediate, and form a plan later. That was how he’d coped in Afghanistan. He’d lived in the now. “While you were asleep, Jake got a call about a woman who was kidnapped.”

  The trucker clutched his injured appendage as his nostril’s flared, and his lips curled into a sneer.

  “That’s not us. I trust David with my life. In fact, he has saved my life,” Marie explained.

  Jake lowered his other hand, reaching under the driver’s seat.

  David sprang on the trucker, ramming him against the door, and then pinned his hands, restraining him. “Don’t do it.”

  Jake shoved, trying to shake free. “Do what? I wasn’t doing anything.”

  “You were reaching for the weapon under your chair.”

  The trucker’s eyes widened, telling David his guess was on target. The cab of the truck was so small it was hard to imagine no one would get hurt if Jake managed to fire a round. “We’re too close. You’ll hurt—”

  “I watch the news. I know what sick bastards like you do. You’re going to murder her, aren’t you?”

  David straightened his elbows while holding Jake in place. He wanted to see the man’s face. “No, it’s not what you think.”

  “You bastard,” Jake spat, his voice shrill.

  “I’ll let that one go because you believe you’re doing the right thing, but trust me, I’m not kidnapping anyone.”

  “Then why would the police be looking for you?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m not going to hurt her.” David made sure he had a good grip on Jake and then called over his shoulder. “Marie? Honey, are you all right?”

  “Y-yes,” she stuttered, her voice shaky. She sat in the passenger seat, curled in a protective ball.

  “Was that your dispatcher on the phone?” he asked Jake.

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay, so he’s going to be looking for you.” At that moment, Jake’s phone rang again. They all seemed to hold their breath as the electronic trill continued. Finally it was silent.

  “It doesn’t matter where you dump my body, they will find you.” Jake was pale, frightened, and desperate.

  “Dump your—? I’m not going to kill you. I don’t do that, not anymore.”

  “How very noble,” Jake sneered.

  “I try.” David said dryly. “Marie, look around. See if you can find some rope. Check the bunk. There’s bound to be some duct tape lying around.”

  Marie crawled between the seats, opened the curtains, and disappeared into the back.

  David shoved Jake into the driver’s seat. “Now listen carefully, as I said, I don’t want to hurt you. You’re a father, and you want to go home to your boys. I’m going to tie you up because we need a head start. I’ll leave the truck running so you won’t freeze to death. Do you understand?”

  Jake nodded, his lips trembling.

  “Is this truck LoJacked?”

  Jake nodded again.

  “Don’t lie about this. I’m asking so people can find you. I don’t want you dying out here.”

  “No, they’ll be able to find me, but…”

  David sat in the passenger seat and leant over the console so he was close enough to grab the trucker if necessary. “But what?”

  “Why do you want them to find me?”

  “I just explained, so you don’t die.”

  Marie appeared with a roll of electrical tape and some string. “I don’t think we should tie him up.”

  David ignored her. “Get behind him and throw the rope around his chest and pull it tight.

  She didn’t move. “No.”

  David couldn’t believe his ears. “No?” He was trying to protect her, and she was arguing with him.

  “We need to think this through. There’s going to be a storm. What if no one finds him in time?”

  “What if he calls the police?” David said.

  “Of course, I’m going to call the police,” Jake spluttered.

  Marie slapped Jake’s shoulder. “You know your attitude isn’t making this easy.”

  Jake’s mouth fell open. “My attitude?”

  “Yes, now be quiet.” She moved so she was standing behind the center console and retrieved the phone from David’s pocket. “Call Agent Callaghan? Maybe he can help?”

  David pointed at Jake. “I’m faster and stronger than you, and it’d be easy to hurt you. If you move, I will tie and gag you. Understand?”

  Jake nodded and raised his arms.

  The agent pi
cked up on the first ring. “Hello.”

  The line crackled. “Hello. Finn, can you hear me?”

  “Dav—” Electrical static crackled down the line.

  “Finn can you hear me? Finn?” The line went dead.

  “Damn, he must be in a dead zone. What’s the point in having a Federal Bureau of Investigation if you can never get them on the phone?”

  “The FBI? Why would you call them?” Jake tilted his head as his eyes narrowed.

  “Cause we’re the good guys.” David locked his jaw. He needed help, the type of help that could only be provided by law enforcement. He hated the idea of leaving Jake stranded with a blizzard bearing down on them. Abandoning someone to die from the elements was worse than putting a bullet in their head.

  “Maybe we should wait and try Agent Callaghan again,” Marie said.

  “I don’t know that we can. Jake’s dispatcher has probably called the police. They might have tracked us down, which means we don’t have much time.”

  Her eyes shot to her backpack, which sat on the floor of the truck. She straightened, as if preparing for a fight. She glanced at Jake and then turned her gaze to him. “I want to call Portman. If I agree to hand over the prototype and the plans, he might call this whole thing off.”

  David didn’t like the idea. The call would be traceable, especially for someone with Marshall’s resources, but they were in an untenable position. The accusation of kidnapping upped the ante. It wasn’t a case of leaving Granite City and lying low until Finn could investigate. Now, police from all over the state, hell, all over the country, would be hunting them. Their odds of getting out of this alive had nosedived to zero because once they were captured, it would be easy to engineer their deaths. She was right. Negotiation was their only option. He passed her the phone. “Go ahead.”

  Marie placed the phone on the center console. “I’m going to put this on speaker. Jake, I need you to be quiet. I don’t want him to know you’re here.”

  “Why the hell should I be quiet?” Jake’s hand lowered toward his weapon again.

  David pointed at him. “Don’t be stupid. Don’t think because I’m in the passenger seat, I can’t move fast enough to break your arm.”

  “Bastard.”

  “Yes, I am. I’m also trying to keep you alive. If Marshall Portman knows you’re involved, he will kill you.”

  “How can I believe you?”

  David groaned. How did he explain something he didn’t understand? Marshall’s reasoning was a mystery, his reaction so bizarre it bordered on the insane.

  Marie cleared her throat. “Jake, the way I see it you have two choices. You can get out of the truck and walk away or you can stay and be quiet while we make this call. You’re also free to take your gun out and have it handy. I just ask that you don’t point it at anyone.”

  David heard the words, but could not believe she’d just told a frightened man that he could hold a weapon. He grabbed her collar, forcing her to stoop, until her face was just inches from his. “Have you gone insane? You can’t make people—”

  “Look, we both know that you’re not going to hurt Jake. We can’t tie him up and leave him here, so we need him to listen.” She poked David’s chest. “And he’s not going to do that unless we give him some control.”

  “There’s control, and then there’s a freaking gun.”

  She inched closer so that her nose was a hair’s breadth from his. “He’s not going to shoot us.”

  “No, he’s not going to shoot us. He’s going to shoot me, sweetheart. I’m the one accused of kidnapping, remember?”

  She cupped his face with one hand and kissed his nose. “Don’t worry. We’re the good guys. It’ll work out.”

  He closed his eyes, unsure how to react. On the one hand, he enjoyed the comfort of her touch, but believing they would get out of this unscathed because they were the good guys was irrational. The world sucked, and he had the scars, emotional and physical, to prove it.

  “Besides, if Jake shoots you, I’ll kill him.” She grinned. “And unlike you, I haven’t sworn off killing.”

  He couldn’t help but smile, despite his concern. He liked the idea she would kill for him, although his common sense told him they were just words. He was almost certain she had never taken a life, otherwise she would know that talking about it was a lot easier than actually doing it.

  He leant back in the passenger seat and slanted his gaze to Jake. The trucker hadn’t reached for his weapon. He’d had plenty of opportunity while they were arguing and he hadn’t taken it. If their roles were reversed, David would’ve grabbed the sidearm and kicked them out of the truck.

  Wind rocked the cab. The storm had picked up, blowing snow across the highway.

  Jake nodded toward the phone. “Make your call.”

  David dialed the number. He knew it by heart, had known it since he was sixteen. Once again, his gut twisted with the memory of hearing Marshall order his death.

  “Marshall Portman.”

  “This is Quinn.”

  “Hello David, I take it I’m on speaker phone. Who else is there?”

  David ignored Marshall’s question. “Why are you hunting me?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew it was the real reason he’d decided to call. He needed to know why his friend and mentor had turned on him.

  “It wasn’t personal. You were just in the wrong place at the right time. I had to blame someone for her death, and who better than a burned-out soldier who shot his own man?”

  Jake gasped.

  Marie put a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror.

  David’s mind flew back to that cold, moonless night in Afghanistan, listening to the screams of his friends as they lay bleeding, dying. He was a monster, a freak who had reacted in the moment, and now he had to live with the consequences of his actions.

  “I was given an honorable discharge.” David’s stomach rolled, and he suppressed the urge to vomit.

  “You’re grasping at straws, Portman,” Marie snapped. It didn’t seem to occur to her that there might be an element of truth to the allegations.

  “Hello, Dr. Wilson,” Portman said.

  “We’ll give you the solar panel if you call off your men, retract the statement about me being a kidnapper, and leave us alone.” David guided the conversation back to the topic at hand, not wanting to be sidetracked by his background or the events that had ended his military career.

  “Why would I want to do that?” Portman’s tone was honey-smooth, controlled and calculating.

  “Your men created quite a stink at the airport. Everyone has a smartphone these days. Someone is bound to have recorded them trying to snatch Marie and put it on YouTube. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was all over the six o’clock news.”

  “Then you’d be wrong. I have someone in place who controls that kind of thing. Don’t you know the man who runs the media commands the power? No one will ever hear about Dr. Wilson’s little solar panel, and if they do, I’ll make sure it’s discredited.”

  Something didn’t add up. They were missing a piece of information. “Then why kill us? We’ll just walk away and pretend—”

  “You should have done that last night.”

  “You mean when you planned to shoot us and call it a murder-suicide? I couldn’t do that.”

  “Pity.” Portman sounded amused.

  “Why didn’t you just buy her project and stop it from being developed? Isn’t that what you industrialists do when someone invents a technology that threatens your monopoly?” How had it come to the point where the only option was to kill Marie?

  “She’s created an independent energy source. Within twenty years, the electrical grid will be obsolete. There are people, powerful people, who won’t let that happen.”

  Marie frowned. “But—”

  “People don’t realize that without power and oil, there would be a domino effect. The loss of employment will cause homes to be repossessed, banks will fold, and gl
obal money markets will crash. The world as we know it will end.”

  Marie’s eyes narrowed. “But my work isn’t even well received.”

  “Yes, we managed to discredit you, but people are starting to listen.”

  Marie stared at the phone, her face pale. “You killed Professor Hargreaves.”

  “No, I wouldn’t do a thing like that. He died in a car accident.” Marshall’s voice was steady with no indication that he was lying.

  “Why did you offer to fund my research?” Marie asked.

  “For control, of course. The minute you signed the papers, I would’ve shut you down.”

  “You can still do that. We’ll give it to you, the prototype, the plans, everything,” Marie choked.

  “That was my first plan before I investigated you. How much do you know about her, David? Did she tell you she was a child prodigy? She’s only twenty-six years old. She graduated from university at eighteen with two PhDs.”

  “She’s smart, so what?”

  “She’s a brilliant scientist. Her focus has always been on solar energy, and she’s independently wealthy.”

  “B-b-but I’m broke. I was coming to see you to ask you to—”

  “Liar. You have eighty million dollars.”

  “We’re getting off topic. Is there any chance of a resolution?” Whether or not Marie had money wasn’t pertinent because she couldn’t access it without disclosing her location.

  “I don’t think so. There are people, important men, who want her dead. Now they know she exists, there’s no going back.” Portman’s voice had a cold, hard edge.

  “Thanks for the head’s up,” David said.

  “If it’s any consolation, I’m sorry you’re involved. It’s just one of those things. I needed a patsy, and you were perfect for the role.”

  David disconnected the call. None of what they’d heard should surprise him, but it did. For most of his life, he’d believed that Marshall Portman was a good person. Yes, he was rich and powerful, but he was also generous. He had plucked David off the streets and given him a life, and a future.

  David needed time to come to terms with this new reality. At his core, Marshall was a businessman, which meant his reactions were based on profit and loss. Shareholders were his concern, not people. Marshall judged David to be a throwaway, someone who was no longer a benefit and was therefore expendable.