Burn to Ashes

by Brynn O'Connor

  I come to a grinding halt. I ran so hard and so long I actually ran till it got a stitch in my side and then ran until it disappeared. Now I’m bent over yacking in the gutter.

  “Hey lady, are you okay?”

  I stop mid yak, and look over to my left. Standing in a driveway holding a basketball is a kid about 10 years of age. He’s a handsome little devil with wavy shoulder length blond hair and the bluest eyes I have ever seen. His little face is golden brown and layered with a fine sheen of sweat. He’s gonna be a heartbreaker in a few years; that kid.

  “Yeah…I’m okay…just out…for a jog…”

  “Where’s your sweats?”

  “I look down at my tee shirt and jeans. Not exactly dressed for jogging I guess.

  “Where’s your basketball uniform?” I ask him.

  “My mom’s washing it.” He replies.

  “Yeah…well… my mom is washing mine.”

  “Aren’t you kinda old to have a mom?” He asks with a dead serious expression on his cute little face.

  “That’s… my problem…I still… got one.”

  “Jake, who are you talking to?” Comes a man’s voice from the front door.

  The man, presumably Jake’s father has come to see the crazy lady who is talking to his son. I guess it’s time to move on.

  “Ma’am, are you okay?”

  Geeze…do I really look that bad?

  “Yeah…fine. Just…out for a…jog.” I say, still panting from my exertions.

  “Do you always run until you vomit?” The man asks.

  “I’m making an exception today.

  “You should wear sweats,” Jake’s father advises. “Or shorts. Skinny jeans like that, they bind on the thighs.”

  No shit! I look at my watch for effect.

  “Whoa…time to go home. Bye.”

  Without waiting for a reply I force myself to jog until I get to the corner of the block. Soon as I round it and am out of sight I stop again. This time I look around to make sure I don’t have an audience this time when I puke. The coast seems to be clear. I wait till I catch my breath before pulling out my phone. Automatically I dial Jenny’s number before I remember she’s dead. So much crap has been piling up on me I haven’t had time to process it. Jenny died in a car crash and I wasn’t even able to go to her funeral. In fact, before today I haven’t even thought about her. We grew up together, played doctor together (not the kind your thinking of), and went through puberty together. We shared a dorm room in college and did our internships in the same ER. We were basically inseparable until we got hired by different hospitals. Still we remained very close despite our insane working schedules.

  I’m just putting my phone away when it begins to ring. It’s Adam.

  “You okay?” I ask immediately.

  “Yeah fine…we’re both fine, but we can’t go get you.”

  “That’s fine,” I reply, despite the fact I feel far from fine.

  “You’re just going to have to stay out of sight until we can come get you or send help. I’ll try to arrange for a place for you to stay, but in the meantime, don’t get caught.”

  Easier said than done.

  “Fine I reply. Call me when you can. But are you sure you guys are okay?”

  “We’re fine. Gotta go Kari, bye.”

  “Bye!”

  Chapter 11

  Frenemies

  Stay out of sight, right. I’m not so good at hiding… or anything else that has to do with my life lately. I really wish I was back in the ER. At least there, there were some things I could actually control. This is leaving me far too vulnerable.

  Ten minutes later I realize just how vulnerable I really am. I’m in the middle of a long block when a police car rounds the corner and starts heading in my direction. Looks like my luck has run out. My first impulse is to just turn and run but that would surely make them come after me even if they haven’t recognized me yet; but I have no other choice than to run. I’m right in the middle of making my very bad decision when a black SUV of some sorts pulls up beside me. For a split second relief floods through me as the darkened widow rolls down. Doctor Mike has come to my rescue after all! He has a black SUV so it’s gotta be him and not Adam. The big Ford comes to a stop as the passenger door comes even with me. The door opens and I take one quick look behind me as I climb in. The police car is about fifty feet behind me.

  “For a rescue that’s cutting it awfully close don’t you th-”

  One look at my rescuer and my blood freezes in my veins. Sitting in the driver’s seat is neither Adam nor Doctor Mike; it’s Marco! As he hits the gas I go with my first instinct; jump and run. I grab the door handle and pull up, but it won’t budge; it’s locked. I reach over to unlock it but he has managed to override my door’s controls. Since flight is no longer possible I have to go with fight. I pull a nail file out of my purse and stab Marco in his well- muscled upper shoulder. His face doesn’t even register the attack and he continues to drive. My next jab goes into his right forearm; this time I get a reaction. He pulls over to the side of the road and stops the car.

  “Stop!” He yells. “This is not a kidnapping. You’re free to go as-”

  I don’t need any further encouragement. I grab the door handle again, but it won’t budge.

  “You’re free to go after I have made my little speech.”

  I take a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. It’s working. A moment ago I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. Now I just feel a faint knocking against my sternum. Could he really be telling me the truth? I guess it won’t hurt to hear him out, seeing how I can’t get out of here anyway.

  “I want to help you.”

  “Sure you do. How could I ever trust you? Oh I get it, there must be a sign on my forehead; something like sadist for hire, is that it?”

  The sign’s not really my style but it gets the job do-”

  Marco stops midsentence and winces. “Too soon?”

  “You tried to kill my sister. It’ll always be too soon! What the fuck are you doing Marco?”

  What does he expect of me? He tried to kill my little sister. Am I supposed to be okay with that?

  “Self-defense!” Marco shouts. “You broke into my fucking room. I’m supposed to fucking wait for introductions first; before I defend myself? You had a gun; I only had a kitchen knife!”

  “Seriously, that’s how you’re going to rationalize almost killing my sister?”

  “It was a misunderstanding…”

  “You still haven’t told my why you’re helping me…allegedly helping me.”

  “You were about to be picked up by the fucking cops. I’m already helping you!”

  “Who are you protecting me from and why do I suddenly need your help?”

  “Look behind you.”

  I do. There’s a black SUV…no, there are several black SUV’s behind us. But then in this town, SUV’s, black or otherwise are not so uncommon. I turn back around and say as much to Marco.

  “Lady you are thick? Three SUV’s following us can mean only one thing. Question is, are you going to accept my help or not?”

  Marco slows down and the gap between us and the cars behind us narrows to about fifty feet.

  “I still don’t know why you’re protecting me; if you really are protecting me.”

  Marco sighs then starts again, like he’s lecturing a child or something. “If I was gonna turn you I’d get like…twenty thousand dollars; maybe more. You got any idea how fast I can spend twenty grand?” He doesn’t wait for me to answer. “Pretty fucking fast, that’s how quickly I can spend that amount of money. Now if I were to save you from Ripper and his boys, well Adam would owe me big, and just having someone like that owe me a huge favor; that’s like the gift that keeps on giving! You can’t put a price on that.”

  What he’s saying does make a certain amount of sense. I twist around and look behind me again. The SUV’s have closed the distance even more. Now there are only two cars between us and the
m.

  “So are you going to accept my help or not? You’re running out of time. Those fuckers are gonna make their move soon and if I don’t make mine first, were fucking dead.”

  “Let me call Adam. If he says it’s okay then I’ll stay with you.”

  “Adam doesn’t know what I’m doing.”

  “Well that’s convenient.”

  Marco suddenly makes a hard right nearly spilling me out of my seat. I grab for anything I can find that will keep my out of Marco’s lap.

  “What the hell?”

  He swerves again; this hits the gas slamming me back into my seat. I’m about to begin screaming again when I notice he’s fixated on his review mirror again. I look back behind us. There are no longer any cars between us and the front SUV that’s tailing us. I squint my eyes and it brings thing in a little clearer. The face of the man who’s driving is a blank slate. The passenger is a different story all together. That guy is wearing a mask of rage that’s hard to look at; even from this distance. That man means to kill me. I am looking at my killer right now and I am freaking out. Logic flies out the window as panic settles around me.

  “Faster!” I shout. “Faster!”

  But instead of going faster Marco slows down.

  “What are you doing?” I scream. “I believe you. You’re helping Adam, I get it. Now can we get out of here already?”

  But instead Marco comes to a complete halt at a red light.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Look over there,” He says, pointing to his left.

  I do look, and see a police car sitting there and he appears to be looking at us.

  “I am going to make it impossible for those SUV’s behind us to follow.”

  “How?”

  “Were about to have the entire Cave Junction Police force chasing us. Those guys behind us aren’t gonna be able to come within five hundred feet of us.”

  “That’s because we’ll be sitting in a jail somewhere.”

  “Relax! I can lose the police. Those guys behind us…not so much. So grab on to your ass missy ‘cause you just boarded Mr. Toads Wild ride.”

  “How do you know about Mr. Toad?” I ask, totally surprised.

  “Hey, just because I’m an outlaw biker don’t mean I never been to Disneyland.”

  “Apparently not.” I’m about to say more but he chooses this moment to affect our escape. Abruptly we rocket across the intersection narrowly escaping a nasty collision! Like he predicted, the police car to our left shoots across and is now in hot pursuit. Even though I can’t see it, I’m sure that cop is on his radio calling for backup. I glance behind us and the SUV is still there but he’s falling behind.

  We shoot down Howard Street to 39th and low and behold, we pick up another cop who was waiting in the intersection.

  “Isn’t it time we lose the cops too?” I ask.

  “Soon…very soon. I just want to make sure we lost the ones who are trying to kill us first.”

  Marco speeds up a little more as we approach the section in the road where Howard splits off into two roads; two lanes going in each direction. I look back behind us and there is a third car following. I also notice that the black SUV’s that were after us have fallen way back behind the cops.

  “Marco…don’t you think we better lose our escort before the choppers join in?”

  “Yes!”

  Suddenly I wish I’d have put on my seatbelt instead of complaining about being kidnapped. Marco hits the breaks causing me to fly out of my seat and my forehead hits the windshield with a muted thud.

  “Fuck, fuck…fuck, that hurts!” I swear above the din of sirens.

  Marco swerves to the left and my head strikes the passenger door window hard enough to make me see stars. Frantically I scramble to get back into my seat and to fasten my seatbelt before Marco’s next move sends me to an early grave. I hear the satisfying snick metal claps locking together in my seatbelt just in time.

  Marco hits the breaks again and I close my eyes tight.

  I can’t believe I’m in another car chase. I even recognize the area we’re in. Not so long ago in this very same area Adam and I were running from Marco and Ripper after they spotted us outside that bar. They chased us right to the end of the pier and Adam just drove right off and we landed on a garbage barge. What a fucking night that was.

  As I sit in my seat swaying side to side and back and forth the sirens, the sounds of screeching tires and the smell of overheated brakes begins to fade away. They’re soon replaced by…by Adam’s leathery, manly scent; a heady combination that never fails to drive me out of my senses when we’re together. What an extraordinary man he is. Sure he’s an outlaw biker, but he’s so much more than that. I remember Christine in the dive bar and her story of how Adam helped her. Doctor Mike would have never done anything like that. He wouldn’t have set foot in that bar for starters and the closest he comes to helping those less fortunate than himself is by helping his patients in the hospital. Adam has taken countless people…families off the streets. How could I have even compared Dr. Mike with him? All my life I have been attracted to bad boys and I have finally found a bad boy who really isn’t bad after all. And I have to go fucking it up by sleeping with Dr. Mike! When will I stop making bad decisions?

  Abruptly the sound or our engine redlining and our tires screeching bring me back to the reality of our situation.

  “Can you swim?” Marco shouts.

  “Yeah but…no way! You’re not driving us into the bay! No fucking way.”

  “I’m driving alongside the docks and you’re going to jump into the bay while I keep driving.”

  “You’re crazy! You’re freaking cr—”

  “Yeah I think we’ve established that. Soon as we round that corner up ahead we’ll have about 4 seconds before the cops come around and can see us again. I’ll stop, you jump off the pier and I’ll continue on. Don’t worry, it’s like a three foot drop to the water and it’s not even that cold this time of year.”

  By the time I think of a suitable reply, we’re at the corner, then around the corner and he’s screeching to a halt. Fuck!

  I throw the door open and jump out. I trip, roll to my feet and then jump blindly over the side.

  Marco was wrong about two things. First of all, the drop is more like ten feet, not two; and the water is as cold as fuck! When I come up to the surface I can already hear the sirens fading away in the distance. Well, he did as promised. He got me safely away from the bad guys following us and the cops. He did alright for a frenemy. The cops would have had me way back if he hadn’t picked me up. Now I just gotta find Adam and Dr. Mike. Actually, the hell with the doctor. I need to find my boyfriend!

  Chapter 12

  Housesitting

  The dock ladder is only a short swim from me and I make it there in record time just before hypothermia sets in. Now I just have to find a place to dry off, then a taxi back to that place we were squatting in. I look around for a bit but there is no where I can just hang out and dry off without being noticed. Thanks to my swim I no longer have my phone. I did manage to keep hold of my much waterlogged purse but somewhere between the jumping and the swimming my phone ended up at the bottom of the bay. I can’t even call for a taxi.

  “Hey lady, you okay?”

  I turn around and there’s a guy standing outside a small bait and tackle shop looking at me. He looks like some old grizzled fisherman; a kindly old fisherman. I walk over to him as he seems pretty harmless. I’m sure I can take him in a fight if it ever came to that.

  “Can I use your phone?” I ask as I walk up.

  “Sure, come on inside.”

  I follow him into a tiny shop and he hands me a cordless phone. I think for a minute but I can’t think of any numbers to local cabs.

  “Hey…what I need is a taxi. Do you have the numbers to any local ones?”

  “Yes ma’am.” He replies and directs my attention to a well- used peg board.

  There is a business card
for AAA taxi service. That will do nicely so I call them.

  “Hi,” I say when someone finally answers. “I need a taxi ASAP at…at Busters Bait and Tackle on pier 43.”

  “A cab will be there in twenty minutes.”

  “Can’t it be sooner?” I complain.

  “Sorry ma’am, that’s the quickest we can offer.”

  “Fine, I’ll be waiting.”

  As I’m disconnecting the phone a huge warm towel gets draped around my shoulders. I turn around and the old man is watching me with his kind old eyes.

  “Thank you,” I murmur.

  “Bad day?” He asks, stating the obvious.

  “Yeah…one hell of a bad day.”

  He points to a chair. “Sit there and try to dry your hair at least. You lose most of your heat through your head.”

  “Thanks.”

  So while he goes about his business I dry my hair and wait for my cab. A few minutes later he puts a cup of hot chocolate in my hand.

  “This’ll warm your insides.”

  Grateful I accept his kindness and sip the hot brew while I wait. Ten minutes later my ride shows up. I think the old man and am on my way. Since I’m not entirely sure where the house is that Adam and I shacked up in, it takes nearly an hour to find. So as not to arouse any suspicions I direct the cabbie to a house a couple doors down; one that doesn’t have a for sale sign in front of. I mutter something about it being my friend’s house and pay the driver generously; but so much so that he’ll remember me. I don’t need him seeing my picture on the news and returning here with the police.

  After the guy leaves I walk to the house we stayed in and go around to the back door where I encounter my first obstacle; the door is locked. I don’t even try to pick the lock; that hadn’t been on the itinerary when I was going through Adam’s survival training. Instead I select a nice sized rock and break the little viewing window on the side of the door. I take great care to remove any glass shards. No point in leaving a blood trail behind me. After the glass is gone I reach in and unlock the door; it all is surprisingly easy. I’ll have to remember this when I go back to my own home; if I ever do that is. Once inside I remove my clothes and put them in the dryer and for the next forty minutes I pace around the laundry room shivering. It’s a good thing the realtor isn’t showing the house this afternoon. I don’t know how I’d explain my naked presence to prospective buyers; without them assuming I don’t come with the deal that is.