Undressed To The Nines: A Thriller Novel (Drew Stirling Book 1)

by Jayden Hunter

  The same thing had happened with his girlfriend. His ex-girlfriend had said she still loved him, but she had to move on. He wondered for months if he’d done something wrong. Eventually, he realized that sometimes the scale tipped for reasons that weren’t good or bad, wrong or right. They were just reasons, unique to every couple, and yet, the same as well.

  His music stopped. He kept yelling out the words when the music was interrupted. His cell phone was ringing through the sound system. His mother was calling. Probably checking up on him.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Are you staying here tonight?”

  “Yes, but I’ll be late. I just left Dad’s.”

  “Oh, I hate you driving up there this late. Be careful.”

  “Don’t worry. Hey. Can you go into work late tomorrow? I’d like to take you to breakfast. You know? A farewell breakfast.”

  “Yes.”

  He could hear her unhappiness. She was disappointed he was leaving.

  “I love you, Mom. I…” They’d been through this before. “I need to do this.”

  “Where are you now? What time will you be in?”

  “I’m not even past Fallen Oaks yet. I’ll be late.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.

  ~ Henry David Thoreau

  Most of their lives, people are just waiting to be ambushed.

  ~ Brandon Hull

  Brandon Hull sat in his car. His leg was throbbing, and he had a headache. He needed a cigarette. He needed medical attention. He knew Boyd was going to be pissed. At least he wasn’t cold. She must be freezing. She could be lost.

  He would wait until morning. If there was still no sign of her, he would head back to the cabin. He’d make sure she hadn’t gone back uphill. Then he’d double back. If there was still no trace of her, he was going to have to take his chances and leave. The last thing he wanted to risk was falling asleep in his car and being found by a nosy cop.

  Hull got out of his car and stretched a little. Despite it being bad protocol in the field, he lit a cigarette. He hunched down behind the car to smoke it. Standing up was torture on his leg. He considered taking another painkiller, but he was worried about getting too sleepy.

  There was something feral about lying-in-wait to kill another human being, even if they were an enemy. Drew wasn’t someone he planned on robbing or hijacking. Hull had never robbed anyone in his life, not counting stripping the dead of useful items but that was in war. He had hijacked before, but that had only been terrorists. War had different rules. But this was part of that war, wasn’t it? The Global War on Terrorism.

  He questioned himself. Maybe he’d gone too far with the photographer? Marc’s body was only a few hundred feet away, still seat-belted in the driver’s seat. The water was so cold the body would stay well-preserved for months.

  He hoped the girl would show up. He hated the idea of killing her. He hated even worse the idea of explaining all this bullshit to Boyd if she got away. He’d be forced to retire. Perhaps he’d disappear himself.

  The best outcome would be to put her with Marc. Together, they’d be discovered months from now. A tragic accident to be mourned in a situation that nobody would question.

  He would tell Boyd that he’d never actually found the girl. People would speculate that she must have run away. Gone missing. Boyd would accept that even if he knew it was a lie. Especially if he knew it was a lie.

  Later, when the car and the bodies were discovered, it would look like two lovers had died together. It would look exactly like Hull wanted it to look: Two lovers had driven off the road while on a romantic getaway in the woods. Tragic, but it happened all the time.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Nothing concentrates the military mind so much as the discovery that you have walked into an ambush.

  ~ Thomas Packenham

  I didn’t become wealthy by being indecisive. Choose or perish.

  ~ Peter Stirling

  Drew Stirling snuck up to the bridge. She figured her stalker would be near. It was the logical thing to do. The most reasonable place to set up an ambush.

  She considered finding a shallow crossing and risk getting wet. She was a good swimmer, but the cold water could easily overpower her. She’d be vulnerable if she was spotted and very vulnerable being soaking wet. It wasn’t a good option.

  She considered her chances if she remained hidden. What if she covered herself with leaves and waited until daybreak?

  Left or right? That was what her life had come down to. A coin toss. A fifty-fifty guess.

  It was possible to cross the bridge on either side, hanging carefully on the railing, feet reaching from truss to truss. She’d be hidden from view, but only from the opposite side of the road. She was on the left side, so if he was waiting on the left, he’d see her at some point if she stayed to the left. However, the same thing applied if he was on the right.

  Drew knew it was time to move. Staying longer did not give her any advantage. She was about to move when she smelled a cigarette. She breathed in deeply. It was faint, but she was sure. Someone was smoking. She willed herself to look and listen like a deer avoiding a mountain lion. She required every one of her senses to be used to its maximum capacity.

  She thought for the briefest fraction of a second that she saw a small, orange glow. Up the road to the left. It disappeared and she sprung from her hiding place. Staying to the ground in a low crawl, she moved to the right side of the bridge. Once she made it to the trusses, she rested and caught her breath. If he’d seen her, he hadn’t moved or made any noise.

  It’s now or never.

  She made good time across the bridge. It wasn’t difficult to stay low below the railing and out of sight. She successfully reached the opposite bank and crawled into the trees.

  She was like the mountain lion now instead of the deer. Drew envisioned him as the prey. She had no intention of attacking him, but to find him before he found her was a victory. She could evade him by discovering his ambush position.

  She stalked for a short distance and found the car. Enough light from the newly risen moon bounced off the windshield of his car that she could tell it was him.

  The man in the car wasn’t wearing a ski mask. He was too far away to make out his face, but she could tell it was him. It was definitely him. It was the same car.

  She moved deeper into the trees, far enough to be hidden from the road. She could hear the creek again, but she knew it flowed away from Fallen Oaks. The place where it crossed the main highway was a half mile from the turn-off into the trailer park. She didn’t consider following the creek because she knew the terrain was impassable even in the daylight. The creek cut into the mountainside. There were steep cliffs and sudden, hidden drop-offs.

  Drew still felt a sense of victory despite the fact she wasn’t safe yet. She’d come this far. She wasn’t going to freeze to death. She might still get shot but that was preferable, quicker than dying from exposure. She was only a few minutes walk from Fallen Oaks. People, a phone. Help. She moved with confidence but kept to the trees.

  Her face broke into a smile when she saw the first trailer. She had to pick the best course to take. Should she wake a resident and ask to use the phone? Try to find an old Ford pickup and grab the keys from the visor? No. That only happened in the movies.

  She didn’t want to scare an elderly person by waking them up in the middle of the night looking like she’d lost a bar fight that took place in a dirt parking lot. While she explained she needed to use a phone, her stalker might show up. If someone trusted her because she looked like an innocent, hurt, high school girl, how would they feel if he showed up the next instant with a gun? How would she feel?

  She didn’t want to get anyone else hurt or killed, but she knew she needed help. She was confident that everyone here owned guns. It was simply a matter of explaining herself quickly and with a believable life-and-dea
th urgency.

  She left the trees and headed towards the closest trailer when the dogs started. It sounded like an entire kennel of dogs was barking. Once they started, they set off another pack across the street. Then dogs were barking everywhere. The entire community of dogs was barking like they were under attack.

  Drew decided to go up to the first door and knock. Everyone in the whole town was probably awake by now. She heard tires kicking up dirt and rocks, and she turned to see her stalker driving straight at her. He turned on his headlights, then the high beams. She was momentarily blinded in the middle of the road. She froze like a rabbit. He’d heard the dogs barking too, and he’d come to check it out. Now she was trapped again.

  She didn’t want to get another person killed. She had seen the violence her attacker was capable of unleashing. She had no right to bring an unsuspecting person into her drama. She ran.

  She hoped while she was trying to escape that a good Samaritan would come outside and help. An armed and dangerous good Samaritan. She imagined he’d ask her if she needed any help. Yes, please, she’d tell him. A madman is chasing me.

  She was thinking all this while running at a full sprint between trailers. She headed for the main highway. Nobody came to her rescue.

  She had the advantage of being able to cut across the trailer park. Her pursuer had to drive to the end, stick to the road, and then come back towards her. At least he couldn’t pursue her on foot, not with whatever damage she’d done to his leg. She couldn’t outrun a bullet, however, so she planned to cross the main highway and drop back into the trees for cover.

  There were no signs of life other than barking dogs. Apparently, this was a normal occurrence around here. Of course. With deer, raccoons, skunks, and other wildlife, the dogs probably did this all night. The old folks took out their hearing aids at nine and turned up the volume on their cable television.

  Drew knew she didn’t have time to wait for someone to answer the door if she stopped and started knocking. He’d be right on top of her before someone had time to get out of bed, answer the door for an unannounced stranger in the middle of the night, and ask her what she wanted.

  Drew ran up an embankment. She was out of breath and ready to give up when she ran onto the highway. She nearly got run over.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.

  ~ Ernest Hemingway

  Falling in love is sudden, easy, and fun. It’s like a child going down a playground slide. Falling out of love is slow, difficult, and painful. It’s like watching a child die of cancer.

  ~ Ben Davis, Sr.

  Ben Davis slammed on his brakes and swerved. He just missed hitting a young girl running across the road in the middle of the night. His heart raced. He took a deep breath of pure relief when he came to a stop. He turned around and drove back.

  “God. That was close. Are you okay?”

  He realized she wasn’t a little kid. She was a twenty-something blonde that must have gotten into a real knock-down-drag-out fight with her man.

  “Can you get me out of here fast? Please?” She didn’t wait for an answer. She ran to the passenger’s door.

  Ben noticed that she was very pretty underneath all that dirt, sweat, and dried blood. She’d been scraped up. She was in trouble and scared, but wasn’t a threat to him. Unless she was carrying a gun. But carjacking? Here, outside of Glenley? Never. Nobody would be stupid enough to come here to carjack. Everyone carried guns in their cars up here.

  Ben decided he’d at least get her off the road. He clicked the unlock button, and she jumped in. He looked up and saw a car come flying out of Fallen Oaks. It was being driven way too fast, and it skidded across the highway. After it came to a stop on the other side, the driver lit up the tires. He was headed towards them.

  “He’s dangerous. Please, drive.”

  Ben didn’t pause. He assumed they were a feuding couple. A domestic dispute. Now, he was in the middle of it. He turned the wheel and punched the gas. “Hope you don’t mind going to Bristol.”

  “Nope. And thank you. Can you drive a little faster?”

  Ben felt a surge of excitement. He was a better than average driver, at least in his mind. He’d taken lessons at an indoor karting club. He felt he understood how to cut through the turns to shave distance and how to best work the gas and brake to gain on other racers. Ben fantasized about racing all the way to Bristol.

  Well, Officer, you see, I was saving this young woman from her abusive boyfriend. So, you understand, I don’t deserve a ticket. I was just being a good citizen, after all. An emergency. You know how crazy domestic issues can be?

  A license to drive fast. What good fortune.

  The woman kept looking back. Ben could see in the rear view mirror that he’d put a decent distance between himself and the pursuer. Eventually, he lost sight of him. He slowed down to merely speeding.

  “Looks like we lost your boyfriend.”

  “What?”

  “Your boyfriend, I said. It looks like he gave up.”

  “Not my boyfriend.”

  “Oh, well, you aren’t wearing a ring. So I just assumed, sorry. Your husband then?”

  “No.”

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to assume anything. I just figured, a woman running out into the street at this hour with a man chasing her. OH GOD! I’m so sorry. Should we call the police?”

  “No, don’t. They wouldn’t believe my story. Really, it’s okay. If you can just drop me in Bristol, I’ll be fine. Honest.”

  “You okay? You look pretty beat up.”

  “Yeah, I made it out of there. I’m great really. You wouldn’t believe. I’m Drew, by the way.” She stuck out her hand.

  Ben took it and introduced himself. He told her he had been up there in Glenley visiting his dad. He gave her the basics of his life: his parents recent divorce, the fact that he was single, he was moving to California and that he was committed to starting a new life. “Maybe I’ll learn to surf.”

  Ben asked her where she was from. What she did. Was she seeing anyone. Where’d she go to school. “I don’t mean to pry. But are you really okay? Who was that guy?”

  “I can’t talk about it. It’s complicated. I made some bad friends. I think I got a good friend killed.”

  Ben noticed she had tears running down her cheeks. “You sure we shouldn’t call the police?”

  She started talking, slowly at first. After awhile she started opening up more. Ben listened to her. He could tell it was cathartic. Once she started talking, it all came out. Her story was crazy. Nuts. Conspiratorial. If she had seemed like a druggie or an alcoholic, Ben wouldn’t have believed her. But she talked to him with a straight face and with heartfelt empathy for her friend who she assumed was probably dead.

  She explained to Ben about the missing reporter. After her encounter with the crazy guy at the cabin, she believed the reporter must also be dead. She told him she was lucky to be alive. “You saved my life, thank you. I can’t believe I’m telling you all this. I just feel like I can trust you.”

  His ex-girlfriend had said the same thing. He knew he was a likable guy. But it had been years since he’d been single. Well, not counting the last few months. Okay, eleven months. But that was different. He was in mourning. He decided to be himself with her. Hell, he was going to be leaving for California tomorrow. So there was nothing to lose.

  Ben told Drew about his life. He explained how his parents’ divorce had effected him, his decision to leave, how he knew he’d miss his younger brother and sister, but how he knew he needed to get away from it all. He told her about his plans to do bioengineering graduate work in California, probably at UC San Diego. He hadn’t opened up and talked to a woman in over a year. It felt really good.

  “Do you think it’s trashy of me? Doing nude photos and using them? I mean, as revenge and all?”

  “Not necessarily. I guess it depends on…
This is awkward. I mean, are they tasteful? Like Playboy? You know, artsy? Or, are they like Country Jugs?”

  “Country Jugs? You subscribe to that?”

  He liked her sense of humor. He liked that she was able to laugh and let her guard down. Considering all she’d been through in the last couple of days, she must be a strong person. A good person. She certainly was beautiful.

  “You said you were in a commercial during the Super Bowl? I think I recognize your face now.” He knew she was beautiful enough to be a model. He imagined her as she might look if she weren’t covered with bruises and dried blood. He could tell she was telling the truth about her profession. Her qualifications were right there sitting next to him. And Hell’s Bells, he was leaving for California in less than twenty-four hours.

  “I think we’ll hit a gas station in about fifteen minutes. I don’t need gas, but if you need to get anything, use the restroom, get cleaned up a bit, get some coffee, I’ll stop.”

  They stopped. He bought snacks and coffee. She cleaned up in the restroom.

  “I haven’t got any money on me,” she said, “my purse, wallet, cell—“

  “Don’t even think about it.”

  They ate junk food, drank coffee, and talked all the way into Bristol.

  “Such a crazy story.”

  “I know. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t believe me.”

  “I believe you. I have a good sense of people.”

  Ben thought about his weird luck meeting a great woman the day before he was leaving. It was just like fate. Now that he’d decided there was no reason to stay in Bristol, that he needed to move on with his life, that he wanted to try something new, that’s right when he meets someone special. No. He wasn’t going to let this change his plans. As nice as she was, as beautiful as she was, as needy for help as she was. No. He wouldn’t alter his journey.