“How? If you fire up the chopper, you know everyone will come running. You'd never make it out of the yard.”
“Kenney, I've got an idea.”
“What?” Kenney shuddered at the thought of what was coming.
“Where will they look if we start up one of the choppers?”
“They'll look out at Grumpy.”
“Exactly. Once they look out, they will just assume we're working on that one. In the meantime, I'll roll Gramps out of the yard.”
“We can't take that one, it's not ready. We haven't run any of the tests."
“I don't have any choice.” Fletch blew out a long, frustrated breath.
“Fletch, let's think this through. We can take Grumpy. What if we switch them? They're both on wheels. First thing in the morning, we could roll Grumpy out the gate while it's still dark and push Gramps into its place. They won't even notice one of them is missing unless they go out into the yard.”
“Kenney, you’re a genius. That just might work.”
Kenney gave him a big grin.
“Don't let it go to your head.” They both grinned and headed for the yard.
“What are you two up to?” came a voice from the top of the stairs.
“Hey, boss,” Kenney answered, “just going out back to lock up. Any word on Shannon?”
“Nothing yet. I'll let you know if there is any news.” Gary turned around and went back into his office.
“I don't understand how he can be so calm,” Fletch remarked as they went outside.
“You don't know Gary. When he's the way he is right now, he's beyond worried, he’s scared to death. Shannon is like a daughter to him. When she came here, he took her under his wing, or I should say, under his grizzly paw. I can't tell you how many times he sat up with her at night, calming her from her nightmares. He never mentioned it to her, she never knew.”
“Does Gary have a family?”
“He did, once. He doesn't talk about it and if you don't want your throat torn out, I wouldn't mention it.”
“That's good to know. Come on, we have work to do.” Fletch headed for the side gate. He opened it as quietly as he could, so they could roll the chopper Grumpy, out of the yard. The two of them quickly returned to move the other helicopter into the empty space. If the two helicopters hadn't been rigged with wheels, they would never have been able to pull off the switch.
“How are we going to do this?” Kenney inquired, getting nervous.
“Relax Kenney. If you want to change your mind about going, I'll understand."
“No, I'm good.”
“Alright. We'll fire up Gramps a couple of times, then we'll fire up Grumpy. Hopefully we'll be in the air before they realize what happened.”
“If we don’t survive this, it’s been a pleasure knowing you, Bradley Fletcher.”
“Have faith, Kenney. This is nothing compared to what I’ve been through. This is a piece of cake.”
“If you don’t mind, I’ll hold judgement until we land in one piece. When this is over, if you find a good job, keep me in mind.”
Fletch laughed. “I will. Let’s do this. Ready?”
“Nope, but let’s go. Wait!”
Kenney ran inside and grabbed the device that would pick up the signal from the tracking beacon. When he returned, he showed Fletch what he went after.
Fletch and Kenney ran their tests on the chopper called Gramps. As they expected, Stan looked out to see what they were up to. They gave him a thumbs up. As soon as the back door closed, Kenney ran to Grumpy and jumped into the pilot’s seat while Fletch closed the gate. The third test was on Grumpy, and as they planned, they were in the air and headed to Shannon before anyone knew what was happening.
Chapter 24
No sooner had she closed the door to her apartment, someone was banging on her door. She looked through the peephole and saw him. She opened the door, but before she could explain, he punched her. She buckled and sank to the floor. He had knocked the wind out of her.
“You bitch,” he screamed, “do you have any idea what I went through to arrange the perfect evening? You didn’t even have the decency to call. You couldn’t check your fucking phone once in a while?”
Shannon gasped, trying to recover her breath. She was so tired; she could have curled up and gone to sleep right there on the floor. She suddenly realized she didn’t know this man. Who was this person?
This wasn’t the sweet, kind man she had spent so much time with. Before she could think or react, he grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her around to look at him. His face was contorted in anger, he looked hideous. He was screaming at her. She couldn’t understand a word he was saying. Her vision blurred and unconsciousness shrouded her senses. Everything went black.
*****
Shannon was waking up to a splitting headache. She had the sensation she was moving. She felt sick and wanted to vomit. She was extremely uncomfortable. As the cobwebs in her brain cleared, she remembered everything. Her memories came flooding back, all of them. She knew exactly who it was that pounded on the door of the hangar. He was the same man that pounded on the door of her apartment two years ago; Weston Cruz.
She met Weston Cruz at a medical convention in North Carolina. He was handsome and smart. He charmed his way into her life. She enjoyed spending time with him when she could, but she was never head-over-heels in love with him. And she was never his fiancé.
Her military training and survival instincts kicked in; she knew Weston was extremely dangerous. The truck hit a pothole making her groan. She froze.
“Are you awake, my pet? Don't play possum with me, it will make me very angry.”
“Weston, what has happened? Where are you taking me?” She tried to move, but he had tied her up.
“It's our honeymoon, my pet. I’m taking you to our honeymoon hideaway.”
“Hideaway?” She needed clues as to where he was going.
“Well, it actually belongs to you, but after we are married, it will belong to me.”
“I still don't understand?”
“THE GOD DAMN CABIN YOU OWN IN MONTANA!” he screamed.
She didn't dare question him again. Suddenly she remembered. It was her parent's cabin and it was rented out in the summertime. She received a small sum in her bank account each time it was rented. No one would be there right now.
“I'm sorry, Weston, please forgive me. I had forgotten all about the cabin my parents bought. I've never been there.”
“Good, then it will be new for both of us. It will be my private hideaway.”
“That was odd,” Shannon thought to herself. “First it would be his, after they were married, and now it was his hideaway.” She got the distinct feeling Weston Cruz had no plans of leaving her alive for long.
“But we haven't been married yet, and we don't have a license.”
“A minor detail, my pet. It's nothing more than a piece of paper. I tell you what; I'll write our names on a piece of paper and it will make it official.”
“But I'd like to have a wedding, and a white dress.”
She knew the team would be looking for her. She tried to write his name on a piece of paper, but he picked her up before she could finish writing and shoved the paper under the mop bucket.
“Sorry pet, you missed the boat for that one. If you had answered your phone, we could have been happily married for some time by now.”
“Answered my phone?”
She tried to reach the back of her head, but she couldn't, it hurt and felt wet.
“Why wouldn't I answer my phone?”
Maybe if she played dumb and pretended to have no memory of the last couple of years, it might confuse him.
“I know I've been busy at the hospital and I apologize for that. You said you understood how important my job was.”
“You disappeared for over two years.”
He quickly looked over his shoulder and almost went off the road, just the reaction she was looking for.
“Don't be ridi
culous, we went to dinner on Thursday. We went to Frank-O's, don’t you remember? Really Weston, you tied me up, are you kidnapping me? Isn't this a bit dramatic?”
He pulled to the side of the road and slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop in the gravel. He turned to look at her.
“Shannon, that was two years ago.”
“Why are you calling me that, my name is Donna. Only my mother calls me Shannon, and she's dead."
“I'm sorry, Donna. Back there at the Air Rescue, you said you didn't know who Donna was?”
“What are you talking about? You came to my apartment. You were pounding on my door. I'm sure you scared my neighbors half to death. Poor Michelle.”
Weston stared at her as if she had lost her mind.
“Why am I tied up? Please Weston, untie me, I have a splitting headache and I'm lying on something sharp; it's sticking me in the side.”
Weston had dumped Shannon on top of the packages that were strewn on the floor. The whole time they were talking, she searched for something, anything, that she could hit him with.
“I'm sorry, pet. I thought the packages would give you a bit of cushioning. Softer than the floor.”
“In that case, I wish someone had ordered a mattress,” she said with a sigh. She didn't know what was beneath her, but it seemed to have a long handle.
“That would have been nice,” Weston said with a chuckle as he climbed into the back of the delivery truck. “Let me help you to sit up.”
He pulled her up into a sitting position.
“Oww, ouch.”
“You have a nasty bump on your head, my pet.”
“How did that happen? Did I fall? I don't remember.”
She didn't dare look at him, he'd know she was faking.
“I found you unconscious on a wet floor. You must have slipped and hit your head.”
“Shit, I don't remember.”
Now that she was upright, she could take in her surroundings.
“Why am I tied up? Weston, please untie me.”
“You promise you won't try to run away.”
“Runaway? Why in the world would I run away from you? Weston, I've never seen you like this, what is the matter with you?”
She didn’t dare say he was acting crazy; it might set him off.
“I'm sorry, I didn't want you to hurt yourself. Please promise.”
“I promise, Weston.”
He untied her hands. He didn't understand what was happening, he was confused. He watched her; she was like her old self.
She shook out her hands and arms, they were numb. She knew they were going to hurt when the circulation returned.
“Where are we?”
She couldn't see out, but she could tell it was getting dark. She kept rubbing and shaking out her arms. She straightened her legs and rubbed them as well. Her ankle throbbed, but it would have been much worse if she hadn’t been wearing the protective boot.
“I told you, we're going to the cabin your parents left you. I thought it would be nice to have some privacy. I was trying to surprise you.”
“But what about my work? I have surgery first thing in the morning.”
“Not this time, my pet, you're on leave.”
“Did I arrange that?” she questioned.
“Of course, you did.”
“Oh, I don't remember.”
She finally figured out what was underneath her after she moved her legs around, it was a shovel.
“Weston, my love, I'm thirsty, do you have any water?”
“I have some in the front of the truck. Stay right there, I'll be right back.”
He got up and stepped around the boxes.
“I have some sandwiches, are you hungry?”
“I'm starving.”
She quickly positioned herself so she could swing the shovel, there wasn't much room. When he returned, she swung the shovel as hard as she could. She hit him over the head and down he went. She grabbed the sandwich and bottle of water, jumped out of the truck and ran for her life.
Chapter 25
Shannon needed to get as far away from Weston as she could. She didn’t know how hard she hit him, but she was sure it wasn’t hard enough to kill him. She ran along the side of the road as fast as she could. She stopped for a moment to get her bearings. Panting, and trying to catch her breath, she needed to get off the road. It was almost dark, and she could barely see where she was going.
The side of the road had a sharp drop off, but not so steep she couldn’t maneuver her way down. Just as she started down, a rabbit jumped out of the bushes, causing her to slip and start an endless tumble down the hillside. When she finally came to a stop, she hurt from head to toe.
“Ooowww. Fucking rabbit.” She stood carefully. Luckily, nothing appeared to be broken. She had cuts and scrapes on her arms and face. She could feel several good scrapes on her back, and a serious cut on her leg that hurt like hell. The only thing that was okay was her ankle.
“I can’t stop now; I’ll fix myself up later. Right now, I need to get out of here,” she said to herself. She glanced around looking for an animal trail, or a path. She was surrounded by forest.
“I must admit, this is nothing like being in the desert of Iraq. Come on Shannon, you can do this, you’ve survived worse, I think.”
Suddenly she remembered the search beacon. She reached into her pocket and it was gone. Her pocket had torn in her tumble and the tracking device must have fallen out. She had also dropped the sandwich and bottle of water.
“Damn it! So much for that, I’ll never find any of it in the dark.”
She started her trek through the forest, tripping over roots and twigs as she limped along. “I need my team to come and find me. Hurry, guys, please come and get me.” She tripped and fell when she heard Weston.
“YOU BITCH! YOU PROMISED!” he screamed. “I'LL FIND YOU. I'LLLL FIIINND YOOUUU, BIIITCH! Arh-Wooooooo!” he howled, “Arh-Wooooooo!”
“I'll never be able to escape his wolf.”
She picked herself up and kept going.
“If I climb up a tree, he’ll just shift back to a man and climb up after me. He can track my scent; how can I throw him off my trail?”
She kept going, even though she could barely see where she was going in the dark.
“Arh-Wooooooo! Arh, Arh, Arh-Wooooooo!”
Shannon tripped again and lay were she fell, catching her breath. She tried to determine how far away Weston was. She listened to everything around her. She could hear animals scurrying around in the underbrush, an owl hooted, and she could hear water; rushing water. She crawled on her hands and knees towards the sound. The closer she got, the louder the sound became until she came to a rocky cliff.
“Thank god I wasn’t running through here; I could have been killed. Wait, maybe I can make him think that is exactly what I did.”
It was a clear night, and a sliver of moon gave off just enough light for her to see the river far below. It looked deadly. She looked for a way to climb down the cliff. If she went to either side, he would know it, he would smell her. She had to make it look like she went off the cliff, and into the river. As she looked over the edge, she could hear him getting closer. She backtracked and used a branch to rip off a piece of her shirt, she left it hanging there.
There was a ledge about ten feet below her, it wasn’t very wide. She could make it if she jumped. She had no choice and prayed she didn’t miss; over she went. When she landed, a sharp pain went through her leg. She stifled a cry.
She lay there, waiting for the pain to subside. When it did, she checked her leg. She didn’t think it was broken, but what she found made her want to cry even more; she had impaled herself on a piece of wood. She must have done it when she fell off the side of the road. She didn’t dare try to pull it out now, she couldn’t see how bad it was.
She looked over the ledge, there was nowhere to go. She either had to climb back up or jump into the river. In the dark, she couldn’t do either. Shannon pulle
d the walking cast off her leg and threw it over the edge.
“I hope that floats.”
She hugged the cliff and prayed Weston wouldn’t be able to see her from above.
“Arh-Wooooooo!”
The wolf was right above her.
“Donna! Donna! Where are you? Please come back.”
Pebbles and rocks fell from above. She covered her head and didn’t make a sound. Weston had shifted and almost went over the cliff. He had followed her scent to this point.
“Oh, no! Please don’t tell me she fell. Donna, are you hurt? Call out, I can help you.”
Weston shifted back to his wolf and headed for the river. If she fell in the river, he had to find her.
Shannon could hear him moving away through the woods. She had been holding her breath and slowly let it out. She almost gasped for air but inhaled slowly and quietly. Now, all she could do is wait for dawn and hope Weston didn't return.
She slumped against the rocks and thought about NY, her life had been perfect. Dr. Donna Stevens. She had a great job, a nice apartment, dated occasionally, but nothing serious. She met Weston at a medical convention. He was charming, soft spoken, extremely handsome and she liked him. They started to date, but Shannon always seemed to be at work or on call. She warned him from the very beginning about her demanding job.
After six months of dating, the shit finally hit the fan. Her perfect man had made plans for a special dinner and Shannon didn’t show. There had been a major accident, all medical personnel at the hospital were on duty for three days straight.
Weston had sent her dozens of text messages. He wanted to know where she was. They had a date and she had stood him up. At first, he was concerned, but his messages became mean and ugly, to a point she finally turned off her phone. She decided it was time to end the relationship and planned to tell him the next time she saw him; she never had a chance.
Now she was crumpled on a rocky ledge, in the dark, heaven-knows-where. Her hopes and dreams would probably be dashed against the rocks below, along with her body, when she tried to leave at dawn. Her leg burned, but she didn’t dare try to remove the large sliver of wood impaled in her thigh. She tried to stretch out to rest, but she was cold and wanted to curl up in a ball.
Haunted by the Wolf- Shannon Page 13
