Power Play

by Warren, Nancy

  Jonah looked at him. From the second he’d heard about the situation he’d been calm and focused. And he approached the problem as though it was a battle plan. “You ever in the military?”

  “Army. Served in Vietnam.”

  “If you were trying to get out of here quietly tonight, how would you go?”

  He studied the map for a minute. “Easiest and safest would be a floatplane from the lake. Fly straight into B.C. and land on another lake or river, maybe even get to the coast.”

  “How many ways into the lake?”

  “The main road, which Buddy’ll have to take, driving that big Cutlass. But there are some secondary routes I can take in my 4x4.”

  “Okay.” He split the remaining volunteers into teams of two and assigned each team one of the locations Tim had identified as a possible escape spot. “Nobody approaches the vehicle. If you see the Olds, or hear or see a plane approaching, immediately call me or Sadhu on our cell phones. Everybody clear on that? This guy’s armed and dangerous and he has a hostage. Do not approach.”

  “Got it, Jonah.”

  “Tim, we’ll take the lake. Sadhu and I’ll come with you.” And they took the three rifles.

  He’d barely noticed that Kirsten was still with him until she spoke. “Tim, do you have any sweats or anything that Emily could change into? It’s cold out there and she has nothing on but that dress.” She hesitated. “Also, if you have a first aid kit?”

  “Good points. Thanks, Kirsten.” He’d thought of her as nothing but a party girl; he was pleased to find her levelheaded and competent in an emergency.

  “My son’s room is the third door on the left. He’s eighteen. Help yourself to anything he’s got. I’ve got a first aid kit in the truck.”

  “Thanks.”

  She was back in less than two minutes. She’d changed into jeans and a dark sweatshirt, she had a set of sweats in her hand. “I’m coming with you.”

  “But—”

  “Emily’s my friend and she might need me.”

  “It could be dangerous,” Jonah protested.

  “Bite me,” she said and climbed into the back of Tim’s 4x4.

  IT WAS HARD TO THINK WHEN your third cousin was pointing a gun at you and forcing you to drive down a country road in a too-big car you’d never driven before while wearing a too-big dress, too-high heels and too-big hair.

  But Emily was doing her best.

  What she’d begun to understand was that Buddy was a lot more dangerous than she’d believed. And that he was really enjoying having her at his mercy. There was an odd expression in his eyes that truly creeped her out. He seemed more than usually smug, as if he had a big treat to look forward to.

  She was no psychiatrist but she thought he genuinely wanted her to be frightened, was becoming aroused by her helplessness. This infuriated her, but she also thought it might give her some leverage when she needed it. So she acted more scared than she was. She even let him believe she might be thinking of going with him.

  As if.

  He might be enjoying toying with her, but her apparent willingness to go along with him, and her attempts to let him see her fear weren’t making him do anything convenient like put that damn gun away. She’d seen him stash the knife under the floor mat on his side of the car so he could reach it quickly, and she couldn’t.

  They’d been driving beside the lake for a while now. The only, lonely car on the road. None of the cabins showed light. Maybe it was too late in the season. The streetlights were few and far between.

  Once she stamped her foot on the brake and instead of throwing the gun from his hand, her action made him jam the gun into the side of her breast. “Do that again and I shoot.”

  She had no doubt he was telling the truth.

  “Something ran across the road,” she said, making her voice quake. “I didn’t want to hit it.”

  “Don’t stop again until I tell you to.”

  She tried to cry, but she was too angry to fake tears. He was nothing but an overgrown bully, worse for the fact that he must have been a geeky weakling as a kid. Now he was a what? Sociopath, she supposed, thinking he could take whatever he wanted regardless of society’s rules.

  She became aware of a second engine, and glancing up saw lights approaching from the air. A floatplane headed for the lake.

  Buddy noticed, too, and his self-satisfied air grew intolerable. “Excellent. Right on time.” He glanced at her. “Pull up at the public dock.”

  She did as she was told, the car wheels kicking up gravel as she turned in to the empty lot.

  It was cold and her bridesmaid dress wasn’t keeping her very warm.

  “Get out,” Buddy said. “And you can stop shivering. I’m not going to kill you here. You’re coming with me. When we get to Canada, we’ll see.” He ran his gaze over her body. “If you make yourself useful enough, I might take you with me after all.” He ran his finger down her throat, settling his hand over her breast. “But you’ll have to work at it. I’m very demanding.”

  She wrenched the door open and got out. She tried to take the keys with her, but with a chiding laugh he grabbed them away from her.

  The plane dropped and landed smoothly in the middle of the lake. Buddy got out leisurely. He didn’t seem worried that she’d run and, really, where would she go? They were in the middle of nowhere. If she tried to run, in these heels, he’d simply shoot her.

  He went round to the trunk of the car and popped it open, retrieving a bag. Inside was a large flashlight. He flicked on the strong beam and held it up, then collected Emily and urged her toward the dock.

  Her heels were treacherous on the gravel and it was dark so she could barely see anything. The wind was whipping up off the lake and she knew her skin was covered in goose bumps.

  “Are there any clothes in that bag? I’m freezing. I’d really like to change out of this dress before I get on a plane.”

  He sighed. “Emily, be a good girl and come with me quietly.”

  And just like that, something in Emily snapped. All these years she’d been the good girl. The reliable one. If there was a family chore, call Emily.

  She’d picked up cakes and china and bouquets, she’d dressed in an orange tent and worn these terrible curls without complaint, but being dragged along as a hostage was it. The proverbial straw.

  They were halfway up the dock by this time and the floatplane was almost alongside the upper edge.

  “No,” she said calmly. “No. I won’t. I’m sick of being a good girl.”

  He was already juggling his bag, the flashlight and the gun. She stumbled into him, and as he turned to her, trying to get control, she stamped her ridiculous high heel into his instep with all the force of her pent-up anger.

  He grunted with the pain and dropped the bag, but not the gun.

  Before he could steady the gun on her, she yelled, “And I’m not going anywhere with you,” and while he was off balance, she shoved him off the dock.

  The flashlight wheeled in a crazy circle as it fell from his hand. The gun discharged, an explosion in her ear, and then Buddy was falling off the dock.

  As his empty hands scrabbled to save himself, they grabbed the fabric of her huge skirt.

  “No.” She kicked at his hands, but he hung on grimly and when he went over the side, she and the dress went with him.

  The water was cold. So cold it took her breath away.

  The plane, which had slowed almost to a stop beside the dock, didn’t cut its engine.

  Buddy yelled and started to swim toward it.

  All she wanted was to get to the dock and climb up onto dry land. Buddy could fly as far away as he pleased so long as he didn’t take her with him.

  She heard the roar of the plane’s engine increase and vaguely realized it was spinning away from them, and she watched it turn and glide away from her. Buddy’s shouts grew frantic, but the plane kept going, taking off in the night like an impossibly large sea bird.

  She tried to swim
for the dock but her dress hampered her. She managed to kick off her shoes, but when she tried to move forward the dress acted like an anchor, pulling her back. And down.

  She heard another engine, saw lights coming crazily toward her. She wanted to call out, but she was so cold, and the waterlogged fabric was getting heavy.

  She fought the pull of the dark lake, but she was tiring.

  Jonah’s voice sounded. “Emily!”

  He yelled for her, over and over. “I’m here,” she managed to shout once, weakly.

  Stomping feet. “Damn it, it’s too dark. Emily, where are you?”

  “Here,” she said, her voice but a whisper. Her legs were trying to hold her up but the water was over her chin.

  “Hold on, I’m coming.”

  She heard a splash. Not very near her, but it was nice of him to come looking for her. She tried to move toward where she’d heard the splash, but she didn’t think she’d moved at all. She tasted lake water and coughed.

  A light. The flashlight. Somebody had found the flashlight.

  She watched the beam bob over the surface, then blinked when it struck her. “There she is.” It was Kirsten’s voice. “Look, the orange dress.”

  “Hi, Kirsten,” she said, but when she opened her mouth more lake water flowed in and she coughed again, this time going under.

  She heard splashing and suddenly strong arms were pulling her up. “Hang on, hang on, baby. I’ve got you.”

  “Jonah,” she sighed, and hung on.

  Kirsten kept the flashlight trained on them and when Jonah hoisted her up, Sadhu and Derek’s uncle Tim hauled her up to the dock surface. She wondered what Tim was doing there but was too cold to ask.

  She was so cold. Sadhu stripped off his team jersey and wrapped it around her, Tim yanked off his jacket.

  Jonah appeared beside her, dripping and shivering. “You okay?”

  “Yes.” She managed around chattering teeth. He took her face in his hands and then kissed her, his lips almost as cold as hers, but she felt all the warmth behind them.

  “Let’s get you warm.”

  “Where’s B-Buddy?” she asked.

  “Bastard got away.” He gestured angrily to the sky. “When I heard that shot, and then the plane took off…”

  He gulped. “If I ever get my hands on that son of a bitch…”

  She shook her head. “He’s n-not on the p-plane. I pushed him off the d-dock. He’s in the water somewhere.”

  She heard the sound of sirens. Two of them, which meant Elk Crossing had its full force of law on board. Two squad cars squealed to a halt and Jonah said, “Perfect timing, they can help us haul Buddy’s sorry ass out of the water. I’d be too tempted to drown him.”

  “You’re shivering your ass off,” Kirsten told him tartly. “Take Emily and get in Tim’s vehicle. I cranked the heat up. Emily, I brought you some fresh clothes. I had a feeling you might need them.”

  “You’re an angel,” she said but her teeth were chattering so hard she doubt anyone could have understood her. Jonah didn’t let her totter to her feet, he scooped her up and carried her.

  Of course, her fingers were too stiff to get out of the dress by herself, so Jonah helped her, peeling the wet silk from her clammy skin and dressing her swiftly in sweats that mysteriously said Elk Crossing High.

  “You don’t have any dry clothes,” she said to him.

  “That’s okay. I wasn’t in the water as long as you. I’ll dry off on the way home.”

  They didn’t talk after that, simply held each other while more vehicles arrived and an odd collection of aging hockey players, four police officers, Kirsten and Tim searched for Buddy. They found him.

  He’d tried to swim for shore, but the cold had slowed him too much.

  The last Emily saw of him, he was being escorted to the squad car. His glasses were missing as were his shoes, so he blinked owlishly and limped on the gravel. His skin was as pale and wet as raw tuna, his lips were blue and he shivered violently.

  After he’d been taken away, a police officer came and knocked on the window and Jonah rolled it down. “I’m going to need statements from both of you.”

  “Tomorrow,” Jonah said. The officer looked at the pair of them and nodded. “First thing in the morning.”

  Tim got into the driver’s seat looking very pleased with the night’s work. She had a feeling he’d be a local hero for some time to come. In a town like this where people worked hard their whole lives, went to church, paid their taxes and probably worked overtime to get their kids’ teeth straightened, nobody would have any sympathy for a guy like Buddy who ripped off decent people. The fact that Tim wasn’t related to Buddy would also help.

  Sadhu and Kirsten grabbed a ride with Kevin Lus, so there were only the three of them. Jonah filled them both in on the background of Buddy, most of which Buddy had already told her. When he got to the part about the murdered nurse, she gasped. Jonah’s arm tightened around her. She understood then how close she had come to dying tonight.

  They asked to be dropped at the hotel. Tim met her eyes in the rearview mirror. “Your mom will be worried about you.”

  “Tell her I’m okay, will you? I need a hot shower and bed. It’s been a crazy night. I’ll see everyone at the present-opening brunch tomorrow.”

  He nodded. “I’ll tell them.”

  Jonah gripped the man’s hand as he got out. “Thanks. It was good working with you.”

  “Likewise.”

  Tim eyed the mound of wet orange bundled on the floor. “What do you want me to do with that dress?”

  She shuddered.

  Jonah said, “I’ve got it.” He scooped the silk up and staggered across the lot with it in his arms. The dress looked like a half-deflated life raft. She had no idea what he was planning until he went around the side of the lodge to the industrial Dumpsters. She took great satisfaction in watching him stuff the last of Big Orange into the trash.

  THE WATER STREAMED over her skin, hot and pumping steam. She absorbed the heat into her body any way she could, breathing the steam, letting it enter her open pores and be rubbed in by Jonah’s gentle hands.

  “This is not how I planned our first shower together would go,” he said, their naked bodies resting gently against each other while the water warmed them both. His eyes were tender, the dark lashes spiked with water droplets.

  She couldn’t help herself, she reached up and kissed his wet mouth. “I know. I figured our last night together would be wild, but not I-almost-got-murdered-by-a-killer-orthodontist-who-also-happens-to-be-my-third-cousin wild.”

  “I’ll make it up to you when we get back to Portland,” he promised her, turning her gently so he could soap her back.

  “That’s the first time you’ve ever said anything about seeing each other when we got back to Portland.”

  His hands stilled. “Are you kidding me? You think after a week with you I could ever let you go?”

  She smiled at the white ceramic shower tiles. “Personally, no, I do not.”

  21

  “OH, EM, I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE all right.” Her mother rushed up to her and threw her arms around her. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to my little girl.” Emily hugged her back tightly. That was the thing with family. They drove you crazy, but who else loved you like your mom?

  They were in the front entrance hall of Leanne’s parents’ house where relatives and close friends had been invited for the present opening and a final brunch before the wedding was finally and officially over.

  “I’m fine. Really.” But she couldn’t help teasing a little. “Good thing I didn’t let you set me up with Cousin Buddy, though.”

  “Oh, don’t even talk to me about that little shit,” her mom said. Emily was so shocked her mouth fell open. Her mother had never used an expletive in her hearing. Never.

  “You look beautiful, dear. Are you feeling all right? You should have gone to the hospital.”

  “I’m fine. A hot
shower and a long sleep were all I needed.”

  She was wearing one of her own outfits today, a pale green two-piece with large buttons by a designer not carried in Wal-Mart. She’d left her hair hanging free. Beside her, Jonah wore the slacks and blazer he’d brought for the hockey banquet he’d skipped so he could be with her. He kept her hand in his as much as possible and she let him, understanding some part of the fear he’d felt when he thought he’d lost her.

  Maybe they’d been too tired and traumatized to do more than hold each other last night, but this morning when they’d woken, they’d made love with a sweetness and intensity that told her louder than any words that she was loved.

  “Well, come on in and make yourselves comfortable. You’re the last ones here, but I explained you’d be a little late because you had to give the police your statements.”

  The party was in full swing when they got into the living room, and after demanding her story, everyone let the focus shift back to Leanne and Derek.

  Kirsten came out of the kitchen, followed by Sadhu, both bearing casserole dishes for the dining table. When Kirsten saw her she came over for a hug and Sadhu did the manly fist-touching thing with Jonah.

  Kirsten was wearing the smoking-cessation patch; in typical Kirsten fashion, she’d chosen to stick the thing not in some inconspicuous place under her clothes, but on her chest like a tattoo or a piece of jewelry, as though daring anyone to comment.

  As far as Emily could tell, no one had. Any more than they were taking issue with the fact that Tyler had been replaced on her arm with Sadhu. Altogether a much more appropriate choice.

  It felt strange not to be bringing out the casseroles and fetching forgotten condiments, but she supposed that a near death experience was a good excuse for getting the day off. As she collected her plate from the stack at the brunch table, she started and left the line to find her mother. “Mom, I never returned the dishes to the rental place.”

  “Of course not. When Kirsten and Sadhu got back last night I asked them to take care of it for you. Kirsten’s a lovely girl, she’s so helpful. She reminds me of you that way.” Her mom beamed at her. “Well, let’s get some food.”