by Jerry Cole
"Embezzlement, murder, borrowing from the mob..." Daniel, shaking his hanging head in disbelief, sounded awed. "Is there anything else you want to confess before you kill me?"
"Well," Donahue snorted, gesturing Susan forward, "now that you mention it, I also quite enjoy pirating music."
Susan pulled a compact snub nosed pistol as sleek and efficient as she was from underneath her dove gray coat and brought its barrel to bear on Daniel's head with a steady hand.
"Good bye, Mr. Carter," she said in a voice like cold silk.
Daniel looked up at her, a grin and Asher's blood on his face. "Good bye, Susan."
Chapter Twenty
"Just leave me alone!"
The cry rang through the forest, startling the birds from their branches. It was still late morning and Daniel, angry tears in his eyes, turned to leave Asher behind.
"Danny, stop!" Asher caught Daniel by the arm and Daniel swung around and punched him, full force, in the nose. Asher stumbled back for a moment, stunned and blinking, his nose pouring blood. Daniel looked as shocked as he was, but then an instant later turned, trying to hurry away. Asher lunged after him and caught him by the arm again.
"Let go!" Daniel demanded as Asher, blood draining down his face, dragged him closer. "Let me go, damn it!"
Asher held him tighter instead, crushing Daniel to his chest until Daniel gave up struggling. Slowly, the fight drained out of him, and Daniel pressed his face to Asher's shoulder as sobs shook him. Slowly, they sank together into the pine needles.
"I want this," Asher said, his voice rough past the blood. "I want to be with you. Yeah you're bitter and weird. But that's part of why I want to be with you. I saw you on that bus alone and I thought you were my type right away. And when we talked and you were so closed off, it was like a game. A challenge I wanted to beat. And then I saw under all that harshness, all your stiff awkward armor, and you were kind, and funny, and one of the bravest men I've ever met. And I thought, I'd better keep this one at arm's length, or I'm going to fall in love."
Daniel tensed in Asher's arms, not daring to look up in case he saw humor in Asher's eyes. If the man wasn't being honest Daniel didn't want to know.
"But I messed up," Asher's voice was soft with tenderness, his lips slick with blood as they pressed against Daniel's forehead. "I couldn't help it. I kept trying to remind myself of what was waiting in the real world. But then you'd smile at me and it would all go away. Please believe me when I say it's not because of you. I don't think I've ever fallen this fast for anyone, extreme situation aside. I just don't want to see you get hurt."
"You don't need to protect me," Daniel's hands tightened in Asher's shirt, fierceness in his voice. "I told you. I'm a man, I can handle it. I don't know what's going to happen or how I'll feel when we get out of here, but I don't want to lose this. I want to try, Asher. I want to at least give it a chance."
Asher squeezed him tighter, clearly tempted. "I can't make any promises," he said, and caught Daniel's chin, tilting his head back to look him in the eye. "I've never had a serious relationship before. I'll probably be awful at it. But you're the first person I've ever even thought about changing things for. And that's got to mean something."
Daniel felt a wild hope rising in his chest, overwhelming and elated. "I'd kiss you," he laughed, "But you're covered in blood."
"Shit," Asher grumbled, scrubbing at his face. "And whose fault is that? I think you broke my nose. Is it straight?"
"Sorry," Daniel grimaced, apologetic, and reached up to pull Asher's nose back into alignment. The other man swore loudly, kicking at the pine needles and squeezing Daniel tightly.
"So what do we do now?" Daniel asked, brow lined with worry as he pulled out a cloth to wipe Asher's face clean. "If we can't run, and we can't go for rescue without Donahue killing you, what do we do?"
Asher frowned in thought, leaning against a tree and holding Daniel against his chest. "I think you were on to something earlier," he said. "About going back to Donahue."
"What?" Daniel sat up, worried. "No, I wouldn't have really done that even when we were arguing. I wouldn't leave you alone out here."
"Glad to hear it," Asher laughed. "Plus, Donahue is totally planning to kill you too. The way he forced you to come on this trip and got you into that boat with me, he definitely has something planned."
"So why do you want me to go back to him?" Daniel asked, confused.
"Because I don't think he'll kill you if he thinks you can lead him to me," Asher stroked his stubble in thought. "Making sure I disappear is definitely his biggest priority. So if you go to him alone, tell him you can lead him to me, you can guide him around in circles for hours."
"While you get to the trail head and the phones?" Daniel guessed.
"Exactly," Asher nodded, "I'll call in some back up while you keep Donahue preoccupied. And keep an eye on his radio in case I get spotted. I know he'll have someone watching the trail head that I'll need to get around."
"I'm pretty sure I can keep him going in circles till sundown," Daniel agreed, frowning. "He's not the brightest. Susan might be a problem though."
"Sundown should be long enough," Asher was frowning in thought. "When you can't delay him anymore, bring him to the meadow we camped in this morning. I'll figure something out and be there for you."
"And you're sure splitting up is a good idea?" Daniel asked. "We can't just run away together?"
"Even if we could, would you really be okay with letting him go after what he's done?" Asher asked. "I don't know about you, but I want to see him dealt with."
Daniel nodded, still worried, but accepting that this was the best plan. "Alright," he said, taking a deep breath. "Go over the details with me one more time."
Instead, Asher kissed Daniel warmly. Daniel was surprised, but not the least bit displeased, returning the kiss fondly.
"What was that for?" he asked when Asher pulled away.
"I'm just really glad that, if I had to get lost in the woods with someone, it was with you," Asher smiled and brushed Daniel's hair back from his cheek, "I don't think I could have made it with anyone else."
Daniel blushed and looked away, embarrassed by Asher's frank confession and too shy still to state his own feelings out loud. "Right," he mumbled, red faced, "Let's go over the plan again..."
"Goodbye, Susan."
Susan stared down at Daniel, wrinkling her nose in confusion, only to jerk her weapon up as lights flared on in the dense thicket surrounding them. An armed police officer in a vest stepped forward, his gun trained on Susan.
"Drop your weapon and step back."
Around them, more officers were coming out of the trees, surrounding the clearing, their weapons trained on Susan and Donahue. Susan narrowed her calculating gaze down the sight of her little pistol at the nearest officer.
"Susan," Donahue's voice was sharp, then more casual, laughing, "do as the officer says. There's no reason to get defensive. We haven't done anything wrong. This is all just a misunderstanding."
"I've got a verbal confession here that says you did a lot of wrong, Donahue."
Asher sat up in Daniel's arms, holding up the police issue body camera he'd had trained on them during the entirety of Donahue's little speech.
To Donahue's credit, he only looked shocked for a moment to see that Asher was still alive. Then he merely looked disgusted.
"I should have guessed you were faking. That seems to be most of your personality."
"I'm a complicated guy," Asher said with a roguish grin. "You figured it out pretty fast, Daniel. What gave me away?"
"I've been eating those MREs for days," Daniel laughed. "I'd recognize the smell of that spaghetti anywhere."
Asher shrugged and wiped a gob of sauce off of his shirt.
"We were working under a bit of a time crunch. Luckily it's pretty hard to tell spaghetti sauce from blood in the dark like this."
"Hey! Stop!"
Asher's head whipped around as one of the
officers shouted. Susan darted for an opening in the men surrounding them and, reluctant to fire on her, she vanished past them into the tree line. There was a quick exchange of orders and several men went after her, the rest remaining behind to put cuffs on Donahue. Daniel watched her go, worried, but Asher just shook his head. Susan was only a hired gun. With Donahue out of the picture, she was harmless.
"That will never hold up in court," Donahue was cool as a cucumber, calmly allowing himself to be arrested. "My lawyers will tear you apart."
"I think it'll be enough," Asher replied, standing up and helping Daniel to his feet. "Especially once we add the proof of embezzlement Daniel found. Not to mention all the evidence I collected on your work with the mob."
Donahue began to look nauseous. He eyed the way Susan had run off, considering, but the police only tightened their grip on him and began to pull him away.
"Uh, speaking of that," Daniel cut in, looking at the police around them, "when you said backup, I wasn't really expecting the police."
"Yeah," Asher looked away guiltily, "I may have been stretching the truth a little when I said I was just a thug. I am. Because I was placed there undercover by the organized crime unit. I really wasn't kidding when I said my life was dangerous..."
Daniel laughed, a weird kind of relief rushing through him.
"Thank God," he sighed, leaning against Asher's side. "Don't get me wrong. I was willing to try this thinking you were a criminal. But I'm very glad you aren't."
Asher smiled, and Daniel wished he could kiss the other man. Neither dared while there were so many people watching. But Daniel's heart sped up at that smile, knowing as soon as they could be alone he would have all he wanted. He'd been genuinely terrified for a minute there, seeing Asher on the ground like that. Once he'd figured out what was going on, he'd done his best to get Donahue to confess to as much as possible. It wasn't difficult to get someone as self-absorbed as Donahue monologuing. But seeing Asher that way, even for a second, had made him all the more certain he didn't want to be without the other man, ever again.
Chapter Twenty-One
A police ATV carried Asher and Daniel out of the forest and back to the Cow Creek Trailhead. They sat in the parking lot under the bright light of police flood lamps, wearing stress blankets and waiting for an ambulance to arrive. They both gave statements, and Daniel was as honest as possible while glossing over his relationship with Asher. He still wasn't sure he'd completely come to terms with being gay himself. He certainly wasn't ready to start announcing it to the public and Asher's coworkers. Some of them, he felt, guessed. Or maybe he was just being paranoid.
They stayed close to each other throughout everything, each reluctant to let the other leave his sight. Now that it was all over, Daniel felt the beginnings of a kind of numbness creeping over him. Shock or something, probably. The worry of how he would survive was easing away, and soon the worry of how he would live would take its place, and between them a dull void where he simply existed and was glad. In celebration of the achievement of surviving, he allowed himself the risk of leaning against Asher's side, resting his head on the other man's shoulder. Asher smiled down at him, checked to make sure no one was looking, then pressed a kiss to the top of his head. Daniel wanted this to last forever.
It was taking awhile for the ambulance to arrive, presumably due to the remoteness and the fact that neither man was in critical condition. The squad car carrying Donahue to his justice had long since left and things had quieted down. Only a small escort remained, keeping an eye on the two injured men and cleaning up a last few details of the scene.
"Investigating this is going to be a bitch,” Asher confided. I do not envy the guy who gets stuck with that job."
Daniel nodded, eyes half closed. He was really looking forward to the 'sleep for a week' portion of the plan. Asher shifted and Daniel sat up, blinking the sleep from his eyes.
"Want to, uh, go look for the bathrooms with me?" Asher suggested, waggling his eyebrows in a salacious fashion.
Daniel snorted. "Shouldn't we stay put?" he asked. "The ambulance."
"Just for a minute," Asher insisted. "They won't even notice we're gone."
Daniel grinned, unable to resist, and the two men slid off the hood of the cop car they'd been sitting on and slunk together towards the shadow of a ranch house.
The building was unlocked, the police having used it to plan their rescue, but the interior was dusty and eerie with a sense of abandonment. The house dated back to the 1800's, but even in the busier season its little museum was not a huge draw. Its rooms were cast in deep, sepia shadow, timeless shelter of secret romances. The two men did not go far in before Asher pinned Daniel to a wall and kissed him hard, as though they'd been separated a week rather than a few hours.
"You still smell like tomato sauce," Daniel laughed when Asher broke the kiss. "I think you're going to need a shower before I can go much further with you."
"I think I can change your mind," Asher teased, dropping kisses down Daniel's throat, knowing how that ruined Daniel's willpower. "Who knows? It might be so amazing you can't eat spaghetti without thinking of me ever again."
Daniel laughed, breathless and hushed, afraid to be overheard and caught. His laughter became a moan as Asher's teeth grazed the sweet spot where his throat met his shoulder. The other man's hands ran down to catch Daniel by his thighs and lift him, pressing him against the wall. Daniel hooked a leg around Asher's hip, eager for the friction it brought, while his hands clawed at Asher's shirt, pulling it up to run his palms over the powerful muscles of Asher's back.
Asher squeezed at Daniel's ass, pulling the smaller man's hips against his. They rutted against each other in their rush to be as close as possible, to touch each other as much as they could. As Asher kissed him again, Daniel began to really hope for the first time that this might really work. Before, the hope had been so wild and distant, he might as well have been hoping for his fairy godmother to appear and make his dreams come true. Now it seemed actually possible. Not just a beautiful dream, but a reality he could actually see taking shape as his lips moved against Asher's. They could really be together. The thought made him so happy he thought his heart would leap right out of his chest. He wondered if this was what love felt like.
He heard a creak behind Asher and froze. Before he could react any further than that, an awful crack resounded through the old house. Asher's eyes widened in front of Daniel, then rolled back in his head. He slumped, revealing Susan standing behind him with a pistol and a police baton. Daniel caught the other man, staring at Susan in wide eyed shock.
"Grab him." Susan ordered, her pistol pointed at Daniel. "And follow me. Move!"
She didn't look the least bit flustered by her flight from the police, still as sleek and dangerous as ever. Daniel, terrified, obeyed, wrapping his arms around the unconscious Asher and pulling him along as Susan led them deeper into the house.
"The police are right outside," Daniel reminded her. "You should be focusing on getting away. Just let us go and run for it while you have the chance."
"They aren't even looking for you yet," Susan said with utter, unflappable confidence. "I have plenty of time."
She led them back through the house to a set of stairs, descending down beneath the house. She removed a chain and sign warning visitors to stay out. She gestured with the gun for him to go down. Daniel felt an anxious pit growing in his stomach, opening up like a sink hole.
"Why are you even doing this?" Daniel asked as he pulled Asher down the stairs. "Why bother?"
"Revenge, mostly." Susan replied, calm and almost disinterested as she followed them down into the basement, flipping a switch that illuminated a bare single bulb down below. Its faded orange light was not comforting. "I really liked that job. Donahue was a greedy idiot, but he was a useful greedy idiot. I was taking millions out from under him while he took all the risk. It was a fantastic set up and you ruined it. On top of that, those records you found could reveal my acc
ounts as well. If you're dead, it will take the police longer to find them. I'll have time to clear out my accounts and set myself up somewhere new, with another greedy idiot to use."
The basement was mostly empty concrete and a set of washing machines. Just a storage area for the maintenance people. There was no way out through here.
"I told Donahue not to borrow from the mob," Susan sighed in frustration. "I told him this killing you in the mountains thing was stupid too. He should have just let me handle it. You would have quietly committed suicide in your apartment and Price would have disappeared for a while, then turned up dead under an overpass with a needle in his arm. Much more efficient. Next time, I'll get a more easily manipulated idiot."
Daniel pulled Asher into the center of the dimly lit room, beneath the bare orange bulb with its baleful red glow. He stared up at Susan and her gun, searching for a way, any way, out of this.
"Don't you think killing a cop will just make things more difficult for you?" he tried. "They'll come after you with everything. You could still just leave now and get away."
"Don't be ridiculous," Susan scoffed, checking her pistol for how many rounds she had left. "I'm going to make it look like you did it, of course."
Daniel's blood felt like ice water in his veins. "I'm the only one you need to kill, right?" he said, voice shaking as he stood over the unconscious man. "In order to get away like you want to? So just leave Asher. You don't need the extra heat. Just kill me and leave."
Susan rolled her eyes.
"Very brave," she commended, checking her watch, "But in case you forgot, I'm also looking for revenge. Now go and stand by the stairs. I want to make it look like you lured him down here and shot him in the back."
Daniel did as he was told, stomach turning with panic. He had to find some way out of this. He stood in front of the stairs as Susan calculated the angle she needed to shoot Asher at.
