by Diane Moody
Annie buried her face in her hands. “Michael, please don’t.”
Max jumped up. She looked up in time to see white-hot rage rip across his face. He moved away from them, yelling at them, “Oh, now I get. I see what’s going on here. You lied to me, Mom! You said there was nothing between the two of you but now I can see that was a lie!”
“Settle down. It’s not what you think,” Michael said.
“You . . . you shut up!”
Annie started after her son. “No, Max. He’s right. It isn’t at all what you’re thinking. Please, calm down and listen to me!”
Max held up his hands, shielding himself from her. “Stay away from me. I don’t want to hear this! I don’t want to hear any of this.”
He turned, rushing toward the front door.
“Max, I’m your father!”
They froze, paralyzed by the raw shock of the words still hanging in the air.
Max stood bolted where he was, his hand on the doorknob. “What did you say?”
“I said I’m your father,” Michael answered. “But you don’t understand any of this. Please, come back and let us explain it all. It’s time you knew.”
Annie took a step toward her son. “Honey, please, if you’ll just—”
“No! I’ve heard enough. You think I’m some kind of idiot that I don’t see what’s gone on here? Geez, Mom. Give me some credit.”
“Max, no!” she sobbed. “You don’t—”
“Sure I do! But y’know what? I don’t WANT to know. I’m not gonna stay here and listen to a pack of lies from this guy. I’m outta here.”
Max threw open the door and flew across the porch then down the stairs. He stumbled, falling onto the snowy driveway. His breath came in heaving gasps as he grappled to get back on his feet.
Suddenly, a strong hand pulled him to his feet. “Wha—”
“Well, look what we have here!”
“Let me go!”
Max fought the unseen person who held him. He heard a car door open and looked up, realizing a huge black Hummer was parked just down the driveway. Out of the back seat on the other side, a stranger emerged in a dark coat with a fedora pulled down low. The hat tipped slightly, signaling Max’s captor to drag him to the other side of the car. Another passenger climbed out of the front seat.
“Marcus, you need some help?”
“Who are you?” Max shouted. “What do you want?”
“Nothing that concerns you, young man,” the man in the hat said. “But, then again, maybe you can help us out.”
Max struggled again, glaring at the stranger.
“Just who are you, young fella?”
“I’m not telling you anything. Let me go!”
“MAX!” his mother screamed from the porch. “Get your hands off my son!”
The accomplice grabbed Max’s other arm in a death-grip.
The man in the hat looked up at Annie. “My, my, my. Isn’t this nice? Quite a little gathering we have here, don’t we?”
“Who are you? What do you want with my son!”
“Now, now, don’t get upset. I’m sure we can all sort this out. We’ll just come up and have a little chat inside where it’s nice and warm.”
“Stay where you are and tell them to let go of my son!”
“Let him go, Elliot.” Michael limped onto the porch with Doc supporting him.
“Ah, yes. I was wondering when you’d show your face. Michael, you don’t look so good!” the man chuckled.
“Let the boy go, Elliot. He has nothing to do with this. Just nice and easy, let him go.” Michael had made his way slowly to Annie’s side and grabbed hold of the railing. Doc stepped back away.
Max watched the man called Elliot take off his fedora, tapping it against his coat as he looked around the clearing. He brushed a few flakes of snow from his coat collar then walked leisurely toward the front of his large vehicle.
“The way I see it, Michael, this boy here is my insurance card. I’ll be more than happy to hand him over if you’ll just get inside the car. That’s all. What could be easier?”
“Forget it. I’ve already passed along a whole packet of evidence implicating you in the murder of Christopher Jordan. By now it’s in the hands of the Attorney General.”
Elliot laughed as he placed his hat back on his head. “Oh, I doubt that seriously.”
“There’s a document that spells it all out. Every word of it. My written testimony will put you and Duke away forever.”
Max watched as the other back door of the Hummer opened. A tall, lanky man unfolded from the car’s interior, holding up a packet in his gloved hand.
“You mean this?”
“Grady!” Michael gasped. His knees started to buckle. Annie grabbed him, helping him stay on his feet. “Wha—what are you doing?”
Grady kept his head down, refusing to look him in the eye. “Michael, Michael . . . you just never know when you’ll run into an old friend, now do you?”
“What? I don’t understand. Why are you—”
“Oh, it’s really kind of amusing. Elliot here has been my mentor, I guess you could say.” Grady looked at the Congressman who nodded, noticeably pleased at the compliment. “He’s been a tremendous help to me for a long time, pal. In fact, I have you to thank for introducing us.”
Grady finally raised his eyes to meet Michael’s. “I met Elliot at your wedding. It wasn’t long after that I found myself in a rather nasty fix with a savings and loan company. If it hadn’t been for Congressman Thomas I would be in prison today.”
Grady made his way over to Elliot’s side. “But he was gracious enough to make a few phone calls and before I knew it, the whole thing just disappeared.” He cocked his head to look at Elliot. “After that, he took me under his wing. Helped me get back on my feet. Now and then he gave me an assignment or two, and I was always more than happy to comply.”
“Like the son I never had.” Elliot laughed, tossing a glance toward Michael.
“Amazing, actually,” Grady continued. “I’ve lived a good life, had a successful career. Then you showed up in Tulsa, spilling your guts about your mysterious ‘dilemma.’ I may not be a rocket scientist, but I figured it out almost immediately. I knew it had to be Elliot who was putting the screws to you. Nobody else ever intimidated you except for him. And hey, for the record, I felt for you, big guy. But you want to know something? Believe it or not, I’ve never been a member of the Michael Dean Fan Club.
“You always got all the breaks. From the day I met you, you always had it easy. With grades, with women, with baseball . . . My whole life—even since I was a little snot-nosed kid—all I ever wanted to do was play professional baseball. It was all I ever dreamed of. But when the scouts came to our games, they never saw me play. Why? Because their eyes were always glued to you. They fell all over themselves to get a piece of the mighty Michael Dean. I sat on the bench and watched my dreams vaporize.”
“But Grady—”
“—and then you married Amelia and it got even easier for you, didn’t it?” Grady droned on, strolling to lean against the front of the Hummer. “Big baseball celebrity marries wealthy Congressman’s daughter. But poor Amelia—she was just a pawn in your little game plan, wasn’t she? Like everyone else who ever crossed your path. And then your precious Sports Page empire came along. Never mind that it was handed to you on a silver platter. See what I mean? It was just one break after another, your whole entire life! And you know what? With all those breaks, with all those doors that kept swinging wide open for you, you never gave anybody else so much as a thought. You never cared about anything or anyone other than yourself. It never mattered who you trampled over, did it?”
“Grady—”
“How very interesting to find you here with Annie, of all people. Who knew? After you ripped her heart out and stomped all over it way back when, she’s the last person I’d expect you to be shacked up with here in your hideaway love nest.”
Grady turned his gaze to Anni
e. “You were such a fool for him, Annie. All those years I stood by and watched you. How could you be so stupid? Couldn’t you see that you were just another one of his conquests?”
“Stop it, Grady!” She looked helplessly at Max. He refused to look at her.
Grady burst into laughter. “Why? Am I embarrassing you in front of your kid? It didn’t used to embarrass you, now did it? You lived with this scum bag, Annie. And everybody knew it! Not exactly the image of a good little preacher’s wife, now is it?”
“SHUT UP! I beg you, Grady. For God’s sake, this is my son!”
A smirk drawn across on his face, he cocked his head at Max. “I bet you didn’t know your mother was a tramp, did you?”
An explosion ripped through the air. The windshield of the Hummer shattered. Standing in the doorway with a rifle aimed at the intruders, Doc Wilkins yelled at Michael and Annie. “Get in here! Hurry!”
Below them, Max wasted no time. With uncommon strength, he reared his elbows into the stomachs of his surprised captors, knocking the wind out of them. He was up the stairs before they knew what happened.
Michael and Annie pulled him into the cabin with them, slamming the door and bolting it.
Through the door they could hear Elliot shouting. “Stop them! Surround the cabin! Don’t let them get away!”
Michael panted. “We have to get out of here. We’ve got to get away from them!”
“Annie, go open the door to the utility room,” Doc ordered, handing the rifle to Max. “Max, get the flashlight over there on the counter. Hurry!”
Annie opened the door as Doc burrowed Michael under his good arm, hurrying him toward the back of the cabin. “I think I know a way out. Follow me! Hurry!”
They rushed through the utility room and opened the inside door to the garage.
“We can’t drive out of here!” Michael blasted. “They’ll kill us before we even back out!”
"We’re not driving out,” Doc answered. “Max, hold him up for me.”
Max stared hard at Doc before moving to take his place under Michael’s arm. The doctor rushed toward the side of the garage where a large worktable stood on an old braided rug. “Annie, help me get this moved.” They shoved the table off the rug, clay pots and garden tools clanging off onto the floor. Doc threw back the rug, revealing a large trap door.
“What is this?” Annie cried.
Doc lifted the door. “It’s an old mine shaft. The garage was built over it. Christine’s dad and I used to hunt together years ago and we used this shaft to get out into the woods instead of climbing down the mountain. Max, hand your mother the flashlight. Annie, you go ahead and we’ll send Michael down next. Let’s go, let’s go!”
They awkwardly made the descent into the dark hole below them. Before following the rest of them, Doc reached for a shovel leaning in the corner of the garage. He swung it above him, knocking the overhead light bulb out of its socket. Satisfied with the pitch black cover of darkness, he slipped into the shaft, pulling the door shut above him.
“Whatever you do, don’t let Michael get away,” Elliot stormed. “I don’t care about the others. We’ll take care of them later. Just bring me Michael!”
Still wheezing, Gus popped open the back of the Hummer. A large narrow box held a small arsenal of rifles.
Marcus shoved a rifle at Grady. “Take one. They’re all loaded. Should be plenty of ammunition in these babies. You go around that way. Gus, you go the other way. Mr. Thomas and I will check out the house.”
Gus and Grady took off in separate directions, circling the cabin. Marcus led the way as he and the congressman carefully rushed up the stairs, their guns aimed dead ahead. They backed up against the rough logs on either side of the front door. Marcus signaled his intent to kick the door open. Elliot moved away, inching along the wall.
Marcus shoved his foot against the door with all his might, screaming out in pain as it held intact. He moved back against the wall wincing from the pain shooting through his leg.
Elliot pushed him aside. “Can’t you do anything right?” he growled while aiming his shotgun at the door. He fired a single shot, splintering the entire handle off the door.
They moved inside, their rifles sweeping the scope of the room for any movement. Nothing. Marcus tiptoed toward the hall. Elliot headed past the kitchen toward the back of the house. With each step he grew angrier. He would not accept the possibility that his prey had escaped. He passed through the utility room, opening the door that led into the garage. He fumbled with the switch, cursing when no light came on. He stepped into the windowless garage, seeing only the dim outline of Michael’s Escalade. Yet, he was sure they had somehow slipped away. He stepped back, scanning the utility room. He pulled open a closet in search of a flashlight. Reaching for the mag light, he flicked the switch. Nothing.
He cursed again, hurling the heavy flashlight at Michael’s windshield and turned back.
“Marcus! Where are you?”
“In here, boss. There’s no one here.”
“They must have escaped outside somehow. There—” He pointed to the French doors opening out onto the large balcony. “Look out there!”
They scrambled to unlock the doors then thrust them open. The biting wind blew the doors wide open. They peered over the balcony but saw nothing but the bright mountain landscape and the sharp decline beneath them, a winter wonderland masking trees and brush in a blinding white mass.
Annie stepped onto the cold damp ground, careful to light their descent with her flashlight. At the bottom of the stairs an open landing spread around her. She reached up to help Michael off the last step feeling his gasping breaths against her hair. Max hopped down, helping her set Michael on the ground. Doc moved quickly, reaching for a lantern hanging from a hook in the rough log beam on the low ceiling above them. He dug in his pocket for matches and lit the wick. A soft glow mushroomed through their hideout.
“There. At least we can see where we are.” He rubbed his hands together and looked around.
“Will we be safe here, Doc?” Annie whispered.
“Only for a moment. If they find that door up top, we’ll be sitting ducks. Can’t risk it. We’ll take a moment to catch our breath then keep moving.” He knelt beside Michael. “You okay?”
Michael shuddered, still trying to catch his breath. He nodded. “Where does this lead? We can’t just waltz out in the open, y’know.”
Doc turned around and pointed down a dark tunnel. “That leads on down the side of the mountain. Empties out onto an open cave that’s tucked under a sizable overhang. It’s well covered so they won’t find it right away.”
Annie moved close to Max and tried to put her arm around him. He avoided her embrace by bending over to stretch out his legs.
“We better get moving,” he muttered.
“Max, how about you carry that lantern for us,” Doc asked. “I’ll bring up the rear with the flashlight.”
“Sure.” Max swapped the flashlight for the dusty old lantern. They followed his lead down the gradually descending slope of the tunnel.
Annie breathed a silent prayer. Oh God, please help us. Protect us from those men. And from Grady.
Though it seemed like an eternity, their journey through the tunnel ended in less than twenty minutes. Doc brushed away the cobwebs and debris from the rustic door and tried to unlock it. The stubborn latch held tight.
Max moved closer. “Here, let me try.” He handed the lantern to Doc and gave the latch a shove. No luck. Max took a deep breath and tried again. This time the rickety old handle broke free. He turned around to face the others. “Now what?”
“Let me take a look.” Doc handed the lantern back to Max. He leaned against the door pressuring it slightly to open. The blast of cold air took his breath away. Annie stood behind him, watching as he stepped out to observe the landscape outside. The echo of a distance voice froze them in place. No way to tell which direction it came from.
He pulled back inside. “I think
they’re still a good distance above us,” he whispered. “But once we’re outside, no talking.” He motioned for them to follow, holding his index finger against his lips warning them again to keep silent.
One by one they stepped out of the tunnel into the open cavern. The wind whipped through the exposed cave, sending tremors up Annie’s back.
Doc motioned for them to sit down. Max hunkered down in a corner, wrapping his jacket tighter around him. Annie helped Michael inch down the earthen wall. The overgrown brush hid them safely from sight. She stood close to Doc, wishing his courage would somehow rub off on her.
Minutes passed. The frigid air pressed down on them like strangling fingers. Annie couldn’t stop shivering. She was freezing and miserable, but nothing could compare to the dagger she felt in her heart. Would this be how it ended? Would their enemies find them frozen to death on the side of this mountain? Would she never have the chance to explain everything to Max?
She found a spot and sat down, burying her face in her arms. She pulled her knees up tight and tried to stay calm. When she thought she couldn’t bear the cold and the heartache a second more, she felt someone move in beside her. Max wrapped his arms around her just as she raised her head.
“We’ll be warmer if we stay close together,” he whispered, his cheeks flushed from the bitter cold. She saw a flicker of compassion in his eyes, if only for a moment. With a guarded smile, she snuggled closer to him, burying her face against his strong shoulder.
Her silent prayers continued in the agonizing minutes that crept by. After an eternity, she felt Max tense his muscles. She looked up. Doc held up a hand in warning, his head cocked at a strange angle as he listened for something in the wind.
Suddenly the air split with the distinct crack of a rifle locking into position.
“Drop the rifle, old man. Nice and easy.”
They followed the sound of Grady’s strangely calm and commanding voice until they spotted him behind the barrel of a shotgun. His towering frame hovered only a few yards away just to the right of their hollow. Annie and Max stood together in one motion. Doc backed up to stand in front of them, his arms extending back to protect them. Michael remained seated, unable to stand.
