by Noelle Adams
Blake appealed to her father. “Dad, there’s no way I’m letting you stay. You’ll be perfectly safe at home, and I’ll be fine here. I know how to defend myself, and besides Caleb’s here…”
But William was no help. “Don’t even try it,” he said. “Don’t you realize that there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell you’re going to get us to leave? You have Caleb to help you, fine. But now you also have us. And there’s no getting out of it.”
Frustrated, Blake turned to Caleb. But she could see from his face that he wasn’t going to be of any assistance in this particular case. I’m not getting in the middle of this one, she could almost hear him say. If your parents want to stay and lend support, that’s their call.
Blake sat back, outrun before she’d even left the gate.
“Well, that’s settled,” Elaine said briskly. She gave Caleb a stern-eyed but twinkling glance. “Let’s go get those bags, Caleb. You and I need some alone time so I can rake you over the coals a little. Now that I’ve got my daughter back, I’m not going to give her up to just anybody.”
Conversation over lunch was all about catching up. Blake was filled in on the news about some of her old friends: who had gotten married (told mildly) and who had gotten divorced (told with relish). Of course she also got the rundown on who had had babies. This last was disclosed with a speculative glance toward Caleb, who didn’t seem to mind.
When lunch was over, Elaine once again recruited Caleb to help with the clean-up. Blake invited her father to a game of chess and he accepted, with little outward sentiment but much inward feeling, as was his way. They set up the board on the coffee table in the living room and played quietly, with the fire going and the radio on low. Blake lounged contentedly on the old rug that she had so recently scorned to think of, while her father sat on the ancient polyester sofa. Sampson had settled himself comfortably on the hearth and he watched their game with mild interest. Every now and then, they could hear Elaine laughing in the kitchen.
“I haven’t heard your mother laugh like that in ages,” William said, peering over his glasses at Blake.
“I’ve never heard her laugh like that. I think you may have some competition, Dad.”
William smiled a small smile as he moved his bishop. “By the way,” he said, “don’t let Elaine fool you. She has every one of your magazine pictures, every article that was printed about you. They’re all in an album. She brags about you to anyone who’ll listen.”
Wonders never cease. It was all Blake could do not to burst into tears.
Afternoon gave way to evening. They had a light supper, and before they knew it, their eyes were closing and it was time for bed. Sleeping arrangements were made quickly and with a minimum of discussion. Elaine and William took the “grown-ups’ room,” where Blake had decided not to sleep with Caleb the night before. Blake returned to her bed and Caleb said he would take the couch.
“It’ll be better this way,” he murmured to Blake as he grabbed an extra pillow from her closet. “I’ll be more on alert out there, and besides, I don’t know if I would feel comfortable sharing a bedroom with you while your parents are in the house!”
“Old-fashioned cowboy,” she whispered fondly.
“You better believe it.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Sleep tight. And don’t worry. Nobody knows we’re here.”
But he was wrong about that.
Nineteen
Outside in the darkness, two figures crouched low in the bushes beside the road, their patience wearing thin. They had been in position since the sun had gone down, waiting for the final light to be extinguished inside the cottage. Anticipation mounted as the last window went dark, but still they did not stir. They were professionals, after all, and they knew their business. An hour after the last light had been turned off – just long enough, they figured, for everyone to be asleep – they made their move.
Across the road, into the shadow of the little house, traveling swiftly, silently. Two men, dressed in black. One was tall, and one was short. They circled the structure and surveilled the inhabitants from the slivered openings in the curtains.
On the sofa in the living room, a man slept. Uncovered, arms crossed, he looked like he had just dozed off. In the larger of the bedrooms, the old couple was asleep, each facing an opposite wall, the soles of their feet touching under the covers. A small dog slept soundly in a basket on the floor, nose tucked under its stub of a tail. At the sight of the animal, the taller man touched the shorter one on the arm. Would the dog be a problem?
But the short one shook his head slightly. Worst case scenario, the dog was a noisemaker who would have to be silenced, and they had the equipment for that. But if all went to plan, they would be in and out in a matter of minutes. The old boy probably wouldn’t even wake up.
It was in the smaller bedroom that they found what they’d come for. A woman slept in one of the beds, her long blond hair spilling over the pillow. The two men stood at the window, watching her sleep. Their eyes met, and each knew the other shared their thoughts. This was a beautiful woman. They could have a lot of fun with her, if time permitted.
But time did not permit right now. Their instructions were simple but inflexible – get the woman out of the house. No one was to be hurt. If necessary, single shots to the feet or kneecaps could be used.
The men in black preferred to leave everyone asleep. If they could get this girl out of the house without waking a single soul, it would be a real feather in their caps. And in their business, a job that goes smoothly is an invitation to more jobs. Word gets around.
The window latch was loose and easily displaced, the sash was raised with the utmost care. Once inside the house, they moved discreetly and with purpose.
The two of them had their system down pat. The taller man stood by the woman’s feet, ready to grab and bind them as soon as she woke. The shorter man stood by the pillow. He would gag her, then secure her hands. The taller man would tie her feet, then they would wrap her in the bedspread and take her out the window. A van was waiting down the road. In twenty minutes they would be miles away, and no one the wiser.
The tall man looked at the short one, waiting. The short one struck.
He reached down and pinched the woman’s nose shut. Her mouth opened automatically, and her eyes opened at the same moment, wild and full of fear. The gag was stuffed in her mouth, muffling the screams which they heard in her throat. Her feet were bound, then her hands. She thrashed wildly, but to no avail.
The short man – the stronger of the two, lifted her onto his shoulder, while the tall man raised the window. But the shorter man was tiring. He shifted the woman a little, re-settling her on his shoulder, and in that moment, her feet, kicking like a mermaid’s tail, made contact with a vase on the dresser. It hit the floor with a shattering crash.
“Blake!” A man’s voice roared through the house, and bare feet pounded hard on the floor. Before they knew it, the man who had been sleeping on the sofa was in the room, launching himself across the small space.
They clung to their thrashing package as they tried to fight him off. The short man reached for his gun, but the tall man got in his way, blocking his shot as he tried to hold back their unexpected attacker.
Barking erupted from the next bedroom, and they knew this job was blown. Rule number one in any job: don’t get caught. Without a word between them, the men dropped the woman to the floor. In a flash they were out the window and gone.
By this time, Blake’s parents had tumbled into the room, the dog close on their heels. Elaine rushed to her daughter, pulling the blanket from her head, untying the ropes around her hands and feet.
Caleb dove through the window. Sharp gravel dug into his bare feet as he chased the men around the house and out onto the cul-de-sac. Gunshots exploded into the air. He changed course and dove for the bushes by the side of the road. When raised his head and lifted his weapon, trying to get a line on where they were, he was rewarded by a flash of muzzle fire, and
he took aim, firing twice in return.
Two more shots rang out, then he heard yelling. Doors slammed and gravel scattered. Caleb broke cover and ran, hoping for a glimpse of the vehicle, the license plate if he were extremely lucky. But by the time he rounded the corner of the road, all that was left was the deep grooves they’d left in the gravel when they’d sped away. He turned and limped painfully back to the cabin, cursing furiously into the cold night air.
Twenty
How could he have been so careless? Caleb stalked through the house, checking all the rooms and closets, double-checking the locks – in short, doing all the things he should have done before they went to bed. Goddamn it! He clenched his fists as he walked the perimeter for the third time. He had been so concerned about facilitating the reunion between Blake and her family that he’d become unforgivably casual about security. Steve was right, as usual. Caleb was way too emotionally involved, here, and it had almost gotten Blake killed.
Cold anger seized hold of him as he remembered her, cocooned and being carted away by those two bastards, as if she were nothing more than an old carpet. When he’d returned to the house after chasing away the would-be kidnappers, Blake had been in the living room, clutching Sampson to her chest like a safety blanket. There were tears on her cheeks and her eyes were wide with fright. But the first thing she’d said when she’d seen him was, “I’m all right. It’s not your fault.”
Her voice had been surprisingly calm and steady as she reassured him, but her words had only stoked the fires of his guilt. Her parents said nothing, which was both a blessing and a condemnation. Elaine held Blake in both arms, and William talked grimly on the phone to the police.
It didn’t take long for the local authorities to arrive. The flashing lights of red and blue added a feeling of unreality for those who were inside the house. Things like this happened in the movies, right? Not to ordinary people. Not to them.
William and Elaine greeted Sheriff Ted Ogden by his first name. Caleb’s heart dropped another notch when he realized that the sheriff was also an ex-military man, like William and himself. Ogden would know, better than any civilian, how badly Caleb had failed in his attempted protection.
Caleb let Blake and her parents explain the situation, fading into the background while they said their piece. He moved restlessly around the room, poking the fire that William had built, peering out the windows. When the sheriff asked him to sit down and tell his part, he repeated the story that he’d already told to the Sera family: he was in town to see an old friend, he’d met Blake on the beach, they’d become involved, and as the events in her life had unfolded in a dangerous direction, he’d found himself here.
The sheriff scratched his grizzled chin and consulted his notes. Since his arrival, his manner had been casual, unworried, as if they’d been discussing nothing more serious than some local boys playing mailbox baseball on a summer night. But Caleb didn’t let the sheriff’s laid-back attitude fool him. Anyone with a half-ounce of sense could see that the lawman was sharp as a knife and just as dangerous to anyone who caused trouble in his jurisdiction. “So you don’t know this Rube Jefferies character personally?”
“No.”
“Never met him?”
“No.”
Ogden’s light blue eyes rested calmly on Caleb’s face. “And is there any particular reason that you undertook to see to Miss Sera’s safety yourself, rather than contacting the police?”
Caleb hesitated. If ever there was an opportunity to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but, this was it. Ted Ogden seemed like a trustworthy man, but Caleb was reluctant to say more than he already had. Not until he talked to Steve. “We weren’t exactly sure that the police could help us,” he said truthfully.
The sheriff nodded his understanding. “Like as not, they’d have taken her statement and then sent her on her way. Until a crime’s been committed, there’s not much they can do.”
“Well, a crime’s sure as hell been committed now, Ted.” Elaine spoke up sharply from the kitchen doorway, where she and William were listening as Caleb gave his statement. Blake had been buffered between them, positioned deliberately that way by her parents, as if whatever danger she was in would have to go through them before it could get to her. Blake’s eyes were dark, her face numb and pinched. Elaine groped for her daughter’s hand as she spit out her next words. “Attempted kidnapping is still illegal isn’t it?”
“That it is.” Ogden’s face as he looked at Elaine was sympathetic but noncommittal. “Unfortunately we don’t have a lot to go on in terms of investigation at this point. No description of the perpetrators, no license plate, no fingerprints, no legible tire tracks – “
“No help, no use, no escape!” Elaine’s voice cracked with the fury of her frustration. “These people break into our house, bundle my daughter into a quilt and try to make off with her, and there’s nothing you can do about it?”
“I wouldn’t say ‘nothing.’ What I am going to do is call a friend of mine who works for the FBI. I’m sure they’ve got a file on Rube Jeffries that’s as long as my arm and then some. I’m going to find out the name of the agent who’s in charge of the investigation, tell him what happened and see if he has any idea who might have pulled this little stunt here tonight. Guys like Rube tend to hire the same operators again and again, so there’s a good chance that our two men are listed somewhere in his known associates.”
“You’re saying the FBI will be investigating this themselves?” William asked.
“If they don’t jump on this like starving men on a steak, I’ll be much surprised.” The sheriff flipped his notebook closed decisively, bringing the interview officially to an end. “Feel better, folks?”
“No.”
Caleb jumped as the word was said, afraid that maybe he’d voiced his innermost thoughts out loud. But it was Blake who had spoken. Her eyes traveled wanly around the room, into each of the four concerned pairs of eyes looking back at her. “I don’t feel better at all.”
She turned, breaking free from her parents’ protective maneuvering and headed for the bedroom where she’d been sleeping peacefully an hour before. Elaine started to follow her, but William stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm. Elaine resisted the restraint, then gave in when she saw William looking at Caleb, who had risen to his feet. William nodded to Caleb, giving him the okay to go after his daughter.
Caleb shot William a grateful glance as he brushed passed by them. Then, heart in his throat, he went to find the woman he loved.
Twenty-One
He found her in the back bedroom, stuffing clothes furiously into her duffel. He leaned against the door jam and affected a casual attitude. “For what it’s worth,” he said, “I don’t feel much better, either.”
Blake didn’t stop packing. “I’m not going to take this lying down. I’m going back to LA, I’m going to find Rube, and I’m going to – to – beat the hell out of him with my biggest pair of chunky boots!”
“Stiletto heels might be more effective in this situation.”
She threw him a look that said she was not amused.
He put up his hands defensively. “I’m just saying, is all. The right tool for the right job has always been my motto.”
Blake plopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling with livid intensity. “First I drag you into this, and now my parents. It has to stop.”
Caleb sat on the opposite bed, facing her. He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands loosely together. More than anything, he wanted to pull her into his arms, to promise her that everything was going to be all right. But he knew she’d had enough of that. She was tired of platitudes; she wanted to fight, she wanted to end this. He had to tread lightly here or risk losing her altogether.
“I think you should come home with me to Iowa,” he said. Her lips parted in a stubborn, instant-argument position, and he held up a hand to quiet her before she spoke. “Now just hold on a minute and let me talk.”
>
She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for him to say what he had to say. “Come home with me,” he repeated. “Chances are good that Rube’s goons won’t follow you all the way to Iowa. If what Greg said is true, then Rube is desperate to get out of the country. Desperate men make mistakes. Stay with me. Give the authorities some time to do their job and catch him.”
“I don’t want to give anyone time to do anything.” Blake pressed her lips together as if to calm herself. When she looked at him, it was with steady, flat certainty. “I’m going back to LA, and I’m going to face this. No matter what the consequences may be.”
“Consequences?” Caleb was on his feet before he knew it. Anger surged through him like a tidal wave, sweeping away any thoughts of gentleness or delicacy. “The consequences are going to be death, princess, and don’t you think otherwise! These people are killers, Blake! They end people’s lives. Don’t you get that?”
She jumped up to face him, standing nose to nose. “Don’t you take that tone with me! I was the one being hauled out a window an hour ago, remember?”
Hot guilt rushed forward, galvanizing Caleb’s anger. He swung around and smacked the wall with the flat of his hand. “Goddamn it! I swear to God, I will kidnap you and take you to Canada if I have to! This is not some movie, you know. This is real life. And in real life, people run when their lives are in danger!”
“I’ve been running as long as I can remember! I ran away from home to go to Paris. I ran from Paris to go back home. Then I ran away from home again and into Rube’s world. And now I’m supposed to run from Rube… where? To Iowa?” She dropped back onto the bed, as if the muscles in her legs had given way. As if she had no more strength left. “I can’t run anymore. I have to learn to stand.” She slumped forward and her head fell into her hands. “For once in my life, I have to stand up.”
Caleb wanted to yell. He wanted to shake her. He wanted to force her to listen, to make her understand, to throw her over his shoulder and carry her away to safety. But he did none of those things. Instead, he just stood and looked.
