“No!”
“I got this. Get them out of here. We’ll take Nicole’s car.” I heard Dylan’s voice. He was here. “Get them to safety.”
I heard the banging sound as Dylan bashed in the front door. “Nicole!”
Steve cornered me. “You little bitch!” He pointed the knife at me. “You little whore.” Hurry, Dylan. Please.
Dylan picked up Steve and threw him to the ground. “Don’t you dare touch her!” Dylan turned to me. “Get out of here, baby.”
I rushed as fast as I could to the living room to grab the keys, but they were gone. “Dylan, do you have a car?”
“No, Brad took it. Get out of here, baby. Just get out.”
I limped out the door, making my way through the woods in the mud. The branches scratched my face as I dodged trees and bushes in my way. Pain shot through my legs, but I couldn’t give up. I had to make it to the house at the bottom of the hill. I had to ask them for help. Dylan, how is Dylan? I hated that he was alone fighting that monster. I arrived at the house. It was dark, it was empty. Should I hide inside? I checked the front door. It was locked. Will Dylan find me? I realized Steve hunted his victims and grew uneasy. I hid in the trees.
I heard footsteps crash through the branches. Did he kill Dylan? Where is Dylan? I sat in the darkness. I stayed silent until I heard his voice.
“Nicole? Nicole?” He had Steve’s laptop in his arm.
“Dylan!” I ran to him and flung my arms around him.
“He’s dead. You are safe, baby. He is dead.” I clung to him. “Baby, it is finally over.” He kissed my forehead. I held him tight, still shaking.
He whispered, “Let’s go get the car and find a safe place to stay tonight. We’ve got to call Brad and your folks and tell them you are alright. I don’t have any service here.”
“I don’t have the keys.”
“They’ve got to be in the house?” Dylan helped me up the hill.
I looked at the house. There was a dead body in there. Steve’s body. I hesitated, I didn’t want to go back inside.
“You wait here.”
“I don’t want to be alone.”
Dylan put the laptop on the porch out of the rain and we entered the house together to look for the keys. “They have to be in his pocket or something.” All was silent. The house was dark except one light that shined dimly inside.
I clung to Dylan’s arms as if something would pop out at me. We climbed the stairs to the room where Steve’s body lay. I knew he was dead, but the eerie wind seemed to be whispering. I held Dylan tighter, my nails almost digging into his arm.
“It was here, the body was here.” We turned around to search the dark room. Blood stained the floor, but there was no sign of the body. The wind slammed the broken front door shut. “He was dead, Nicole. I was sure he was dead.” He bent over to pick up the keys lying on the floor.
“We have to get out of here, Nicole. We have to get the hell out of here.” We didn’t dare go back through the dark halls. Dylan looked out the window. It was an eight foot jump. He could make it easily but he knew I couldn’t make it alone and he did not want to leave me in the house for a minute. There was no other way. He opened the window. Thunder echoed.
“We have to jump, baby.” We knew Brad had called the police, but we were not about to wait for them to show up.
“I’m scared.” I looked down to the ground below. It is too far.
“We have to get out of here. I’ll catch you. I promise.” Dylan squeezed out the window and jump to the ground.
“Come on, baby. You can do it.”
“I can’t.” Lightning flashed. I ducked back inside.
“Hurry, Nicole. You have to jump.”
I climbed out the window, it was wet. I slipped and clutched tighter to the frame. I hesitated. The cold raindrops smacked my face and the thunder’s roar, reminded me of the danger.
“Baby, hurry. You have to hurry. He could be inside.”
I closed my eyes and I held my breath as I fell out the window. His arms broke my fall. He put me in the car, running back to the porch to get the laptop.
“Dylan, no! Don’t go near the house again.”
He grabbed the computer, jumped into the car and turned the ignition. As he hit the gas, the wheels spun in the mud. We weren’t moving. He tried putting it into reverse to dislodge the car. The tires spun. My eyes focused on the house, then the woods around us. Steve could be anywhere. Chills went up my spine. Where was he?
Dylan tried again. “Come on, Damnit. Start!” He pounded on the dashboard and opened the door.
“Don’t go out there. Try again!”
He closed the door and put his foot back on the gas. The sound of the tires screeched as we skidded up the road. I stared out the rear window. Please don’t let him follow.
Chapter 76
*Dylan*
The windshield wipers sliced the rain as they traveled the windy back roads. Dylan kept checking the mirrors to make sure they were not followed. Taking the rings off her fingers, Nicole quickly tossed them out the window in case Steve had some other device to track her.
“A motel. There’s a sign.” She pointed.
Dylan grabbed the laptop out of the car, protecting it in his jacket and they rushed inside, shaking themselves off from the rain. He pulled the computer out and set it on the table.
Nicole nodded toward the computer. “There was some kind of tracking thing in that. When Steve showed me he could track the girl, there were two other dots on the screen. I think somehow he can track me and Jess too.”
He opened it up and called Chris, going through different combinations of passwords, finally finding a way to hack into the system.
“This tracking mechanism, what am I looking for?”
“He’s a cocky S.O.B, so he may not even have the programs hidden on the computer. Search for something that says maybe Hisler or Grentage.”
“Got it. It’s opening.”
“Did he have a pet name for Nicole or anything?”
“He better not have.”
“Sometimes it would be under some sort of…”
“Here it is….Nicole, shit. There is a link that says ‘Nicole’.”
He got to a screen, clicking a couple icons to pull up four quitrents of apps. “This must be where the telescope was connected.” He pointed to the blank screen. “Sound--what does this do?” He clicked on it. There was a dot on the computer and he enlarged it zeroing in on the location. “Shit, it shows you are right here. Shit.” His voice was amplified on the computer as well. “Dylan, I hear your voice.” Nicole pointed to the screen noticing her voice played as well.
“Chris, it is listening to us. Whatever we say is being played through the computer. It shows she is here. What could it be? What are we looking for?” Dylan’s words continued to play over the computer. He pressed the sound key off.
“He’s been bugging you as well.”
“He’s been listening to everything?…” Dylan put his hand over Nicole’s.
“Is she wearing anything? Does she have a cell phone? Jewelry? A Watch?”
“I have the cell you bought. Oh, and I wear this locket you gave me.” Nicole lifted the locket off her chest.
“I didn’t give you that. You had that before we were dating. It had a picture of Jess in it.”
“It has a picture of you and Brad inside. I thought the two of you gave it to me. I found it when I got back from the hospital. It was in my room with a note welcoming me home.”
“I didn’t give you that Nicole. Maybe Brad did.”
“Turn back on the volume on the app. Take Nicole’s cell and talk into it. See if the volume changes.”
“It didn’t.” Dylan put the phone down.
“Try the necklace
, Nicole, take the necklace off.” Chris instructed through Dylan’s phone. “Talk into it. Does the volume change?”
When they confirmed it was the locket, he closed out of Nicole’s screen and Dylan noticed a link that said ‘Jessica’. He pointed to it, clicking it to open the program. “Chris, there is one on Jess, too. It is showing me exactly where she is right now. I’ve got to call Brad.”
“Dylan, there is a small chance he wanted you to find the computer. It is possible he wanted you to take it in case you found out about the lockets. It could be bugged too. What I want you to do is stick it in the trunk of the car with the locket, with your cell phone, and anything else that could have been compromised. Then you will have to,” Dylan turned off the speaker and put the phone to his ear. “I know you’re not going to like this, but it is the only way to be sure he doesn’t track you. You are going to have to take a car.”
“You want me to steal a car?” Dylan enunciated his whisper into the phone.
“Borrow, I want you to borrow a car without asking first. We know he has connections with the police force and it would be easy for him to hack into a cab’s GPS and dispatch. You have to go undetected. You can’t leave a trace. Leave the car there.
Create an email using what we talked about in the past and I’ll contact you there tomorrow and give you a new number to reach me. Buy a pay-as-you-go phone. Don’t use your cell, your credit cards, anything that can be traced. Dylan, be careful. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Dylan dialed Brad’s number.
“Brad, are you staying at The Legacy Hotel on Rockville Pike?”
“Yeah, Dylan. How do you know?”
“Who’s with you?”
“Everyone. They’re in the next room.”
“I need you to go over there now.”
“What’s going on?”
“Just do it, Brad. Get Jess.”
Dylan turned up the sound app on the computer for Jess.
Brad knocked on the door and Mr. Carlisle let him in. “Excuse me, sir. I need to see Jessica.”
“Uncle Bradley.”
The computer amplified their voices.
“He’s been bugging them too.”
“My baby!” Nicole called out.
“Brad, you know that locket you gave Nicole?”
“I never gave her a locket. I thought you did.”
“Jess has one too, doesn’t she?”
“Jessica, where is your locket, angel?” Brad asked Jessica.
“Right here. Mr. Steve gave it to me.” She showed the locket around her neck. “Look, there’s mommy.” She opened it to show the picture of Nicole.
“Honey, can you give it to me. It’s really important.”
Nicole was listening to the conversation on the computer. She took the phone from Dylan. “Let me talk to her Brad.”
“Baby,”
“Mommy!”
“Are you okay angel? Are you doing okay?”
“I’m fine. I miss you.”
“I’ll be there tomorrow, okay? I will see you tomorrow. I need you to give Uncle Bradley the locket, okay angel?”
“Okay, Mommy.”
Nicole smiled, touching the screen of the computer, listening to her baby’s voice even louder than the phone.
“I love you, angel.”
“I love you too, Mommy.”
“Bradley, thank you. Thank you so much for saving my baby.”
“How are you? Are you okay?”
“Just a little wet and muddy from the rain. Give my parents a hug for me okay.”
Nicole gave Dylan the phone and Dylan told Brad they had to change hotels. “I’m going to call you from a strange number when we arrive at the new place. Make sure you use cash. We should have a meeting place, in case we have no way to contact each other tomorrow. Get a pay – as-you-go cell and create the email Chris talked to us about years ago. Do you remember, Brad?”
“How could I forget?”
“We shouldn’t use the cells. I’ll call you once we arrive at the new spot from someone else’s line. I hope that will work. Then don’t use your phone anymore after that, get rid of it. I’ll call at ten tonight.”
Nicole had a memory strike her and grabbed the phone from Dylan again. “Brad write this down for me.” She paused while he got the pen. “Give this to my mom and she will know where we should meet. ‘Believe me, no pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an unchartered land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.’ If we can’t get in touch with each other tomorrow, meet here at twelve o’clock. Mom will know where to go. We’ll see you tomorrow. Brad, take care of my little girl.” As she hung up the phone, Dylan closed the computer.
“So, you are going to love what we have to do next.”
“We have to leave right?”
“That’s not the best part.” He snatched a hanger from the closet and picked up the locket and laptop from the table.
She followed him out into the rain as he put everything in the trunk. Nicole went to the passenger’s side to get in. He ran around the car, and grabbed her hand.
“You didn’t think it would be that easy did you?”
She raised her eyebrow in question.
He leaned in and whispered, “We’ve got to steal a car.”
“What?”
“We’ve got to commandeer a vehicle.”
Her eyes widened.
Chapter 77
“My body has craved your body,every minute, of every day,since you last made love to me.”
Obsession and Sacrifice
Tiffany Carmouché
*Dylan*
Once they were in the warmth and safety of a ‘borrowed’ vehicle, Dylan turned to Nicole.
“You had a memory?”
“My mom, I remember she would use positive quotes to remind me I could do anything. I love Helen Keller, she’s so inspiring. I loved that quote because it’s true. Only optimists get to ‘discover the secrets of the stars, or sail to an uncharted land…’ We will somehow get through this, Dylan. We will. Do you know where Helen Keller is buried?”
“No, I have no clue.”
“The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. If we can’t get in touch with them tomorrow, my mom will know to meet us at the Cathedral tomorrow at noon.”
“Look at you, quick thinking.” Dylan started the car. “So, you ready to sail to an uncharted land?” He leaned over and gave Nicole a kiss. “We will get through this, baby.”
As he sped down the road Dylan’s mind became consumed with this monster and all he had put them through. He thought about Steve’s car still parked at the farm house and the fact that Steve had been injured. I can get him. I can kill him and this all will be over. The roads were baron. Finally they found a cluster of cabins in a town nearby and rented one. Dylan gave the attendant five hundred dollars for his cell phone.
“Brad, we’re safe. I’m going after him. He’s really hurt. He’s gotta still be in that house. If I can find him, I can end this.”
“No! Hang up that phone.” Nicole took it out of Dylan’s hands. “You’re not going anywhere,” she scolded.
“Bradley, he’s not going anywhere. Listen, you need your rest. You’re supposed to be in the hospital. I’ll see you in the morning.” She hung up the phone and turned to Dylan.
“Nicole, the longer I wait, the harder it’ll be to find him. I have to go.”
She grew furious. “I can’t believe you are even considering going after Steve. You can’t expect me to let you walk out the door. I may never see you again, never hear your voice again. You ask too much of me. I need you, Dylan. I need you here with me, not hunting a monster. I love you.” She pulled his mouth to hers, kissing him so passionat
ely she let out a gentle moan.
“I can’t stay, baby. I can’t rest till you’re safe. As long as he’s alive, you won’t be safe.”
“I feel safe in your arms.”
“That’s an illusion; you won’t be safe till he’s gone.”
“Dylan, I need to be with you.” She pulled the collar of his shirt toward him so she could enjoy his lips again.
“You know. I have. To leave.” He said in between each kiss. He lifted her up and set her on top of the table, outlining her beautiful mouth with his fingers. The longer he stayed, the harder it would be to go.
“You can’t leave me. I am safe with you. I need you to hold me, Dylan.”
He pushed her wet hair away from her face and stared into her eyes. “I won’t let that monster touch you again.” He put his arms around her waist and leaned in to kiss her one more time.
Her hands touched his chest. “You’re soaked.” As the passion grew, she unbuttoned his shirt.
He couldn’t make love to her. He had to hunt the beast, and he knew once he gave into her arms, he wouldn’t be able to walk out the door. He stopped kissing her and again looked into her eyes. “Nicole, he’s weak. I have to go back.”
She pounded on his chest. “Don’t you leave me!” Tears filled her eyes as she grabbed hold of him putting her head on his chest. “Don’t you want me?” Her voice broke as she let go of him, lowered herself off the table, taking a few weak steps from him.
It was not his intention to insult her, just to protect her. He walked up behind her, pulling her hair from her neck, gently kissing her. “It’s not that at all. He is weak. I can end this.” Tasting the salt from her skin incited a hunger he tried to suppress, yet he couldn’t stop savoring her flesh once he’d begun.
“Mmm,” she relaxed into his kiss. He slowly turned her body around, gently kissing her ripe, pouty lips. He held her face, each kiss cherished.
Obsession and Sacrifice (Alaska #2) Page 31
