“Who are you?” Emily asked again, but she didn’t expect an answer. “What’re we doing here?” The man just continued to stare at her. “Are you ever going to talk to me?” She hated the silence. It made the situation worse. But he was apparently never going to speak to her. He was probably just going to rape and kill her. “Are you going to kill me?” There was no reply. “Why are you waiting? Why not just get it over with?”
She looked out the window past him, hoping that something there would give away where they might be, or if help was close enough that she could find it if she got away. But she didn’t see anything except woods and thick trees. The complete doom of this situation was taking over her mind.
He stood and walked over to the bed, looking down at her. Fear started to build about what he was going to do. This was it—he was going to rape her. Bumps of gooseflesh raised everywhere on her body. She tried not to show the fear; rape was all about power and control and she refused to let him have it.
Slowly he reached down towards her thigh. Involuntarily she yanked it away, kicking her legs to the side and squirming as far as her cuffed hand would allow. He grabbed her thigh hard, then threw himself on top of her body. She screamed loudly out of fear and broke the promise to herself not to show any.
The scream seemed to stop him. He climbed off her and stood, moving nervously, looking around as if he was expecting someone to come running in. He regarded her for a long few moments and then hurried out of the room.
Emily shuddered in relief, her heavy breath slowed. It was the last thing she expected. She thought that was it. But by some miracle he’d stopped, for now. It hit her just how vulnerable she was. They could do whatever they wanted to her. All kinds of bad scenarios were playing in her head. Having an overactive imagination was sometimes a curse. This was one of those times.
There was some commotion outside. She looked at the door with anticipation and trepidation. A loud crashing noise was followed by a heavy thump. Then it sounded like there was a fight going on. Crashing and banging shook the cabin walls and increased her fears even more. She heard groaning, moaning, and huffing, a muffled voice, then a gunshot, and then three more in rapid succession. After several long moments, silence once again consumed the cabin.
Waiting for a noise, Emily listened intently. There were a few final muffled noises and then the door opened and a familiar face stood on the other side. It was her neighbor, Harry. She was baffled and excited, and was never more excited to see his puffy red cheeks and thin lips. “Harry?”
He hurried over to the bed. “Emily, are you okay?”
She nodded. “I’m fine.”
He used the key and undid her cuffs. “We have to get out of here right now.”
Emily rubbed her wrist after it was free. “What happened out there?”
“He got away, but he’s coming back. We have to get out of here fast.”
They scrambled out the door and she saw Harry’s familiar classic red Mustang in the driveway. Emily got in and Harry gunned the engine down the driveway. At the end of the lane, he cut the wheel so hard the car slid sideways and skidded down the asphalt at breakneck speed.
“How’d you find me?”
“Crap!” Harry looked in the mirror. “I think that’s them.”
“Them? How many are there?”
“Three. I followed them from your hotel, but I couldn’t get the drop until now.”
“What’re they doing? What did they want with me?”
Harry shook his head. “I don’t know, but it’s big. You’re still in danger.”
She looked behind them, but didn’t see anyone. “We need to get to the police.”
He sighed. “We can’t, they may be part of this.”
She looked at him, his dark eyes flickered away quickly back to the road. “I don’t understand.”
“We need to get away, lay low for a while until I get the all clear.”
“This is crazy. How can the police be in on it?”
“They can’t be trusted. There’s something you need to know.” He looked at her. “Your family is in danger, too.”
Emily felt her brain twisting into a knot. “What?”
“How do you think I found you? Your father sent me to get you to safety.”
“How…I mean…why? What’s this all about?”
“I told you: I don’t know all the details yet.”
Emily sighed and slumped back into the white leather seat. This didn’t make any sense. Why anyone would have some sort of agenda with her family seemed impossible. Her father was a computer network technician and her mother was title clerk at an auto dealership. They didn’t have any money for a ransom. “Where’re we going?”
Harry nodded ahead. “I’ve secured a safe house about an hour from here through my friend at the FBI. He’s helping me.”
“You have a friend at the FBI?”
He nodded. “He’s retired, but consults for my business.”
It made sense. Harry was in the Army for a long time, he’d worked as a security consultant in Afghanistan, and he currently owned a small company that made gun safes and weapons security devices for police stations and government offices. “What do they want with us? Who are they?” She knew she asked those things already, but it just begged to be asked again.
Harry had no reply at first, but then said, “I think it has something to do with your father’s work.”
“Huh? He’s a computer geek.”
“Exactly, he’s a network engineer. He’s a very smart guy.”
“He works for a perfume manufacturer.”
“It may not be what he does. It may be what he can do. Your father has some serious skills that bad people would love to have working for them.”
Emily thought about it for a while. There were thousands of computer geeks with the same skill set as Roland Bontrager. She couldn’t imagine what her father might know that would set him apart and make his entire family a target. “What did they want with me?”
“They may have taken you to get to him. They might have been set on forcing him to do something.”
“I want to talk to my father.”
“No, I can’t. He gave me strict instructions to get you to safety and not to contact him until he contacted me. I have my phone—he knows where to reach me.”
Emily was just having such a hard time coming to grips with all this. But she trusted Harry. He’d been a family friend for fifteen years and her father trusted him with his life.
The Mustang sped down the country road, whipping the scenery into a blur. She leaned her head back into the seat.
Chapter 7
Emily got out of the car and looked around. The small log cabin was very isolated. It had an A-frame style roof with large windows at the peak. There was a wide porch, which spanned the entire length of the front.
Thick pines and tall oaks crowded the house, giving it almost no yard at all. A gravel sidewalk led up to the steps away from the dirt driveway and wrapped around the house on both sides. She could see some space behind the house where the sun splashed on the sloping yard that led up to a hill.
Harry walked around to the back of the car and removed a couple bags from the trunk. “This place has no electricity, but there’s a propane generator and stove.”
“Where are we?”
“We’re in Virginia, near the Appalachian trail system.”
Emily hugged herself. This place had a creepy feeling to it. “What makes you so sure they can’t find us here?”
“If they do, I’m ready!” He held up an assault rifle.
They entered the cabin. It had tall ceilings and dark wood throughout. It was only one room and a bathroom. A small kitchenette sat to the left, with a tiny table. A bed was pushed up against the wall on the right and there were two fabric covered chairs, one of which was folded down into a sleeper.
Emily stepped lightly on the creaking floor. “Whose place is this?”
Harry dropped the bags on the floor. “It’s my
friend Calvin’s. He told me no one would ever find us out here in the middle of the woods. He comes here only about twice a year in spring and fall. We’re a good fifty miles from anything, so we should be safe.” He stepped into the kitchen area. “This place has a pump well and a hydraulic pressure basin, so we have to pump it up every day to get fresh running water. The pump is down that trail a few hundred yards away, towards the lake. I have enough food for several days. There’s a stove with two containers of propane so that will last us a long time.”
He walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Hey, I know you’re scared right now, but we’ll get through this. We just need to stick together and be smart.”
Emily studied his face. “Are you okay? That looks painful.”
Harry wiped his nose and looked at the back of his hand. “Eh, he got a couple lucky shots in, but the guy was a punk. I used to eat his type for breakfast in my youth. He’s lucky I’m a little out of shape or he would’ve never gotten any upper hand.”
She sighed. “Thanks, Harry. I don’t know how to thank you.” She gave him a hug and he patted her on the back.
“Hey, what are neighbors for?” He stepped back and smiled. “I’m going to gather some firewood just in case the temps drop tonight. Maybe you want to get some rest. You can take the bed, I’ll take the sleeper.” He turned and went back outside and down the wide wooden steps, angling towards a trail that led left and into the woods.
She stepped outside onto the porch and listened to the wilderness. This was probably the most remote place she’d ever been in her life. Being outdoors was something she loved, but in general, she loved the beach and well-populated lakes or trails that were maintained by parks officials. This was not her type of getaway. The woods scared her a little bit. She’d never been camping for real and never wanted to. Sometimes, when they were young, she and Renner would camp out in their yards. But it was never scary unless they spooked themselves with ghost stories or urban tales about a man with a hook-hand who roamed the railroad tracks looking for his severed limb.
Going down the steps, she looked up to see the sky in the spaces between the tall trees. It was crystal-clear, that perfect deep blue that she always wished her eyes were, like her mother. But she got stuck with her dad’s sort of hazel, gray, green mixed colored mess. Some days they looked gray, some days they looked brown, but they never really looked like anything cool. Ren had nice eyes. They were a cool green. The thought that she’d never see them again made her want to cry, but that same something inside wouldn’t allow it. Maybe it was that intrinsic human fight or flight instinct keeping her focused and on edge.
Something drew her attention to the woods. It felt like eyes were upon her. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Walking around the side of the house, she saw a small backyard with nothing much to speak of other than a tree-stand. She didn’t know much about hunting, but she knew that hunters used those to watch for deer.
Something stirred behind her. Turning quickly, she saw Harry coming out of the woods with a pile of logs wrapped in a nylon carrier. He strode up quickly, struggling with the weight of the load. “There’s lots of wood around here. That will save us the propane so we don’t have to waste it. We need to conserve where we can.”
She frowned. “How long are we supposed to be here?”
He climbed the stairs and dropped the pile of wood next to the door. “No way to know. It might be a few days, a week, longer.”
“A week?” Emily screeched it louder than she wanted to. “There’s no way! I have to leave for school and I have so much to do.”
“Why so early?”
“Because I have to take my physical for tryouts, hockey starts, and I have pre-credits to earn. I told you I’m graduating in three years so I don’t have any time to waste.”
Harry shook his head. “I’m telling you—don’t be in such a hurry. Why such a hurry to grow up? Life happens fast, whether you plan it or not. You should enjoy it.”
She shrugged. “I will enjoy it. I don’t want to hurry, but I don’t want to waste time and money, either. Yale is very expensive. The longer I stay the more it costs.”
“You’ve got money. Your dad has told me how much you’ve saved.”
“That money has to sustain me for life. It’s a safety net for the just-in-case. I’m not going to have time for a job while I’m in school. And my parents can’t afford to give me any. Adam is going to need money for school and he isn’t getting any scholarships. He doesn’t have a big fat bank account, either.”
“Your dad makes more than you think.”
“I know exactly what he makes. He makes ninety thousand dollars a year. My mom makes thirty-six. Between their mortgage and cars, and what they’re saving for Adam, there’s not a lot left over.”
Harry sat on the steps. “Sometimes I forget how smart you are. You’ve always had it so together. I still think of you as a kid, but you haven’t been a kid in a long time. In my mind it seems like you just turned sixteen last year.”
“I’ll be nineteen in three months.”
“I always forget you have one of those birthdays where you’re too young to be in the class behind you but too old for the class ahead of you. You’re only four years younger than Cheryl, and she missed an entire year.”
Emily nodded. “I always wanted to know: why did she miss a year?”
He shook his head. “It’s a long story. But after the fire, she needed some therapy.”
“The fire?”
“Yeah, at our old house.”
“I didn’t know about any fire.”
“Your dad never told you?”
“No.”
He turned his palms up and then clasped his hands. “Well, Cheryl went through a bit of a pyromaniac phase. We grounded her and tried to get her to stop, but she kept playing around. One day she was playing with some matches; it started a fire that got out of control. It ruined the house almost completely. We all got out okay, but unfortunately, our dog didn’t make it. Cheryl took that pretty hard.”
“I didn’t know.”
“It was a hard time for everyone.”
“How’s she doing?”
He sighed. “Cheryl is what she is. My daughter hates me, always has. She’s struggling all the time with on and off depression, but she’s smart and she’s done with school, so we hoped she’d come back to Jersey. She’s my baby and I’ll always love her. I just wish she’d understand that instead of always thinking I’m disappointed in her.” He shook his head slowly. “I wish you two had been better friends. She needed a good influence like you. You’re smart and level.” He waved his hand. “Ah, it’s a mess with everything going on.”
“Can I ask you what happened with Arlene?”
Harry looked up to the sky. “What can I say? It’s a long story, but I guess she fell out of love with me.”
Emily softly kicked some gravel. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too. But it’s been coming for a while. The last few years haven’t been good. She blames me for Cheryl being so screwed up, she blames me for the business not doing what it should be.”
“It must be hard.”
“It is.” He stood. “But I’m here helping my friends, and that’s what’s most important. My problems are not the issue right now. This is life and death and I will keep you safe.”
Emily nodded.
He opened the door. “Let’s get some food.”
They went inside.
Chapter 8
Zack nearly lost his footing on the rutted trail, but managed to hold his balance after a few stutter-steps.
“Whoa there!” Rick joked. “What’re you drunk? You been sipping the whiskey behind our backs?”
Zack smirked. “No, I slipped on a rock.”
Javier finally caught up to the others. “Damn, you guys walk too fast. This trail is nasty.”
“Ha!” Rick looked at Javier. “It’s not nasty, it’s just your Cuban ass can’t handle the outdoors.�
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“Bullshit, leprechaun, I can hang.”
“Guys,” Zack said, stopping them before they ended up in one of their usual racially motivated insult games. It was all in good fun and never turned into anything but laughs and eventually shots of tequila or Irish whisky, depending on who won. “We’re almost at the end here, which way are we going?”
They all looked to Donovan Young, a blond-haired, six-foot-three-inch beanpole who constantly had flushed cheeks flanking his long nose. He took out his phone and studied the screen. “Well, if this trail app is still accurate, five miles past nowhereville. We need to stay left.”
“Left is good.” Zack nodded.
“What’s to the right?” Javier asked and then took a swig of water from a large blue bottle.
Donovan pushed his razor lips up toward his nose. “Looks like about five miles to a small lake.”
Rick O’Reilly, short, muscular, with black hair and dark eyes, had been Zack’s best friend since day one at Princeton. He came from a huge Irish family that operated a farm in upstate New York. He looked at Zack and asked, “Why aren’t we going to the lake?”
Zack stretched his arms above his head. “Maybe that’s not a bad idea. We can camp there tonight.” He adjusted his backpack. “I don’t know about you guys, but I wanna set up camp before dark tonight. Last night was ridiculous.”
“Yeah,” Rick agreed. “That’s what I’m saying.”
Donovan shrugged. “The lake is totally off our path, though. It’s not north at all. But Lenape Point is another few hours away, that won’t give us time to set up camp.”
“Then it’s settled,” Zack said. “We’ll go to the lake tonight.”
Rick nodded. “Is that an executive decision?”
Zack pursed his lips and nodded. “Damn straight.”
They headed down the trail. They always looked to Zack to be the decision maker since in general he made the right ones. He decided he’d pull up the rear for this leg of the hike. They’d been hiking for three days up the Appalachian Trail. They weren’t covering the entire trail, but they were doing a pretty solid third of it. And they were taking the alternate route, not the popular marked trails that most people chose, but the true old trail that no one used anymore because of its remoteness and roughness.
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