Plain Refuge

by Dana R. Lynn

  Aiden spun around. “Does it still drive safely?”

  He wouldn’t get his hopes up, though a car would certainly help.

  “Yes, sir.” Brad pulled a key off the key rack hanging on the wall. Aiden had never seen so many key rings. How many vehicles did the man own?

  Five, it turned out.

  And one of them was a 2001 Jeep Cherokee. It might have been dark blue, but it was so dirty the color was hard to tell for sure. There were several dents and dings in it, but it looked decent enough for their purposes.

  “This just might do the trick. I can’t pay you for it now, but—”

  Brad waved that away. “Don’t worry about it. My kid got a new truck recently, and this was literally just taking up space.”

  Wordlessly, Aiden reached out and shook Brad’s hand. He wasn’t sure he was capable of speech at the moment. The man’s generosity overwhelmed him. Brad tossed him the key with a wink.

  Aiden held the back passenger door open. Levi stopped him.

  “I’ll drive.”

  “Huh?”

  “It wasn’t my face on the television screen.”

  Oh.

  “Aiden, do you think you and I should ride in the back?” Sophie asked.

  Shrugging, Aiden gestured for her to get in the back seat. “It makes sense. He and Celine will be less noticeable.”

  She didn’t look happy, even though it had been her idea. She probably didn’t like the thought of her sister being so visible. Her pretty mouth was pulled down in a frown. He admired how protective she was of Celine.

  Good grief. He needed to stop thinking about her before he got into more trouble than he was already in.

  Sophie slid in and he followed suit. Levi and Celine strapped themselves into the front seat. When Levi turned the key, the shriek that issued from engine was anything but comforting. Levi let the motor die.

  Brad scratched his head. “Yeah, there’s a trick to it. Hold down the brake and the gas at the same time.”

  Levi did. Sophie latched on to Aiden’s hand as the Jeep coughed and choked before catching. The engine roared to life. This car was inconspicuous? Maybe if they could avoid shutting off the engine.

  Brad knocked on the hood. “You’re all set.” He waved and sauntered back to the house.

  Levi turned in his seat. “Aiden?”

  “It’s fine. We have no other option.” His jaw hurt. He hadn’t realized he was clenching his teeth. It might have been humorous if they weren’t running for their lives.

  But they were. And every minute idle was one that they’d never get back.

  “We gotta go.”

  Levi nodded. Facing the front, he jerked the car into Reverse. Aiden’s head whipped forward. When the car was in Drive, he turned to look at Sophie. She was laughing and shaking her head.

  “What?” he whispered.

  She nodded her head at Levi, still chuckling.

  “Yeah, he learned to drive at a late age. Still learning, in fact.”

  “Funny, I heard that,” Levi called back.

  His hand was still joined with Sophie’s. He should pull away. But he didn’t.

  Instead, he held tighter. Her face was turned toward the window. What was she thinking? Her shoulders were tight, hunched. That wasn’t good. She was either furious, scared or both.

  He didn’t know what else he could have done to get them to safety quicker. He shifted in his seat. Was she blaming him for their current situation? A joking comment rose to his lips, his normal reaction when he felt uncomfortable. He swallowed it. Now was not the time for humor.

  In the front seat, Levi turned on the radio. A country music song burst through the speakers. Figured. Not a fan of that particular genre, Aiden rolled his eyes. When Levi began to sing along enthusiastically, Aiden squeezed his face into a grimace.

  Sophie smiled when Celine giggled.

  Aiden took advantage of the music and asked, “Sophie, how are you holding up?”

  She shrugged. “As good as you’d expect.”

  That wasn’t much of an answer, although he understood it.

  “I’m sorry we’re in this mess.”

  Her eyes widened. She glanced quickly to the two in the front. When she spoke again, it was in a low voice. He leaned closer to hear her. “You can’t be thinking any of this is your fault.”

  “Isn’t it? I led you and Levi right into a trap.”

  She snorted. “Because you’re to blame for my uncle being cruel and greedy? No.” She bit her lip. “I think if either of us is to blame, it’s me.”

  “How do you figure?”

  Her cheeks flushed. When she lowered her eyes, she appeared to notice that their hands were still joined. Turning the shade of a ripe tomato, she jerked her hand away from his.

  “It’s my fault because I let my career get in the way of my family. Maybe if I had been closer, maybe I would have been home and been able to help.”

  “If you had been home, you’d be dead. And Celine would be in foster care. Or in Phillip’s custody.”

  The idea of that vulgar monster having control of sweet little Celine churned his stomach. If he failed, the woman beside him and the giggling girl up front would pay for it.

  Not on his watch.

  He’d been focused on nailing Phillip Larson to avenge his partner. That remained important to him. But now he had another reason to see the man locked up.

  Make that two reasons.

  And they were both sitting here in the car with him.

  EIGHT

  “Aiden? Are you all right?” Sophie’s voice tugged him out of the darkness filling his heart. He shot her a grin he was far from feeling.

  She responded with a fierce frown. Apparently, it wasn’t a convincing grin.

  “I’m fine, Soph. Don’t worry about me.”

  She huffed out an exasperated breath. “Don’t worry about you? You lost all color. What is it with men? You know, there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging something’s wrong.”

  Being lumped into the category of all men didn’t sit well with him.

  But he wasn’t ready to talk about his feelings. He nearly snickered as he thought of how the guys back at the police department would razz him about getting sentimental. Not happening.

  “Seriously. I’m good.”

  She shook her head and faced the window again. He could tell he’d offended her by his answer, but what did she expect? They barely knew each other.

  He glanced out his window.

  “Levi! Pull into this mall!”

  Without hesitation, Levi obeyed, spinning the wheel so fast that Sophie slid into Aiden’s side.

  “Oomph!” She knocked the breath out of him. He couldn’t tell if it was the collision or her sudden closeness. He was probably better off not exploring that line of thinking. She shifted back to her side before he could finish his thought.

  Levi had neglected to flip on his blinker. The car behind them leaned on the horn. Aiden couldn’t blame him. Levi stopped the car in a parking space and switched off the radio.

  “Okay. Why are we here?” Sophie asked.

  Aiden pointed at the Super Center ahead of them. “Perfect place to pick up a couple of pay-as-you-go phones. We can contact my chief. And we can also contact Brad, see if he noticed anything on the radio or television.”

  “But what if Phillip’s men are listening in to their phones?”

  He reached out and squeezed her hand, releasing it before she could pull away.

  “These phones are really hard to track. We’ll buy an extra one, just in case, but I think we should be safe.”

  “That’s an awful lot of money to waste.”

  He nodded. “It is. But I’m sure when this is over, the department will reimburse the expenses. We’ll have to use cash. We don’t wa
nt a trace on credit cards.”

  “How will we buy them?” She pulled the band out of her hair, fluffed it and then smoothed her hair back into a ponytail, quickly securing it with the band. The sight of her hair spilling around her face momentarily distracted him from the conversation. “Our pictures have been all over the news.”

  “Huh? Oh, yeah. Well,” he said, meeting his buddy’s eyes in the mirror. “Wanna go shopping, Levi?”

  “No, but I will.”

  Honest to a fault.

  “Let’s see how much cash we have.”

  Sophie pulled out a rectangular object from her pocket. Looking closer, he chuckled. Instead of a wallet, she had dollar bills wrapped around her driver’s license and several other cards, which were secured with a rubber band.

  “I have forty-eight dollars,” Levi called back from his seat.

  Sophie unraveled her bills, counted them and handed them over. There was no hesitation on her part. The trust she showed left him humbled and awed. “I have almost two hundred.”

  “You normally carry around that much?”

  “Nope.” She flicked her gaze toward Celine. “I was traveling.”

  “Ah. Got it.” He counted his own cash. “I have another hundred and sixty.”

  He handed the money to Levi. “Get the three cheapest phones and plans—”

  “Wait!” Celine shouted. “I have some money.”

  The girl pulled out a wad of bills and shoved them at Levi without counting them. “I was saving for some new jeans, but you can have it.”

  His vision blurred. Clearing the sudden obstruction from his throat, he tapped her shoulder. She glanced his way. “Thanks, kid. It will really help out.”

  No one commented on how rough his voice was.

  Sophie was fighting her own battle with tears. He pretended to be really focused on putting his wallet away to give her time to recover her composure.

  “Right. I’ll be back,” Levi said, pocketing the money and then heading for the store, whistling as he went.

  “You know,” Sophie commented, “that man is completely off-key.”

  “He knows.” Aiden leaned back against the seat, keeping low. “I sometimes think he does it on purpose.”

  She snickered, and the soft sound made him smile.

  “I’m hungry,” Celine announced.

  “We have those granola bars. Or do you want a sandwich?” Sophie rooted around inside the backpack, then held out her hands for Celine to choose.

  “A sandwich. Of course.”

  “You want one?” Sophie held one out to Aiden.

  “Sure.” As he took the baggie with the sandwich inside, their fingers touched. This time, he expected the jolt of electricity that sparked between them. Was it his imagination, or did her fingers linger against his?

  He pulled back, dropping his eyes to his food as if he was starving. For a few minutes, chewing was the only sound in the car.

  When they were finished eating, they sat in silence waiting for Levi.

  Ten minutes later, the front driver’s-side door opened and Levi joined them. He pointed at the empty sandwich bags. “Save one for me?”

  “Nah. We ate them all. Of course, we saved you one.” He tossed a sandwich to his friend. Levi handed him the bag with the phones in exchange. He wasted no time in dumping them out of the bag and using his pocketknife to tear open the packages.

  “Need any help?”

  He handed the phone he’d freed to Sophie. “If you can start setting that one up, it would help a lot.”

  “No problem.”

  It took them almost twenty minutes, but they were able to get all the phones programmed. Aiden sighed. Now they were in business.

  “What’s in the other bag?” Celine asked.

  “Other bag?” Aiden looked up at Levi. He’d been so focused on Sophie he hadn’t noticed that Levi was carrying more than one bag.

  Levi hefted the plastic bag up so they could see it. “I thought it might be a good idea to buy a few more snacks. It was a gut idea, right?”

  “A very good idea. Most of the food we have is already gone.” Sophie reached for the bag and put the contents into the backpack she was holding. “We have no idea when we’ll be able to buy more food.”

  “True.” Aiden handed one of the phones back up to the front seat. “Why don’t you call Brad and see if anything is happening?”

  Levi took the phone and punched in a phone number. “Speaker?”

  “Yeah, you better. It would save time.”

  Hopefully, Brad wouldn’t say anything that would scare Celine.

  The phone rang. “He might not pick up if he doesn’t know the number. I wouldn’t,” Sophie mused.

  She was right. It went to voice mail.

  “Leave a message,” Aiden told him reluctantly. As much as he didn’t want to, if Brad wouldn’t answer, there wasn’t really a choice.

  Doubt flickered over Levi’s face before his expression smoothed out. “Hello, Brad. It’s me—”

  The phone was abruptly answered. “Don’t say your name!” Brad yelled into the receiver.

  Aiden shot up in his seat and grabbed the phone from Levi. “What’s happened?”

  The command in his voice seemed to have a calming influence on Brad.

  “My son came home early. I was in the shower and didn’t hear him come in until it was too late.”

  “Too late? Too late for what?” Impatience bit at him. He ground his teeth to keep from barking at the man.

  “He went out to the garage and saw that his car was gone. No one drives that thing. Not since he bought his truck. I didn’t think he’d pay any attention to it. I came downstairs to hear him on the phone. He had called the cops to report it had been stolen.”

  Sophie’s jaw dropped. Levi lowered his head into his hands. Aiden stared at the phone in horror. The urge to bang his head against the top of the seat came and went. It would serve no purpose.

  “Have the police connected the missing car to us?” he grated out.

  “Man, I have no clue. I made myself scarce when they came. Made up some kind of errand. I couldn’t lie to them, and I was afraid if I said that Levi had the car, they’d have his picture up on news, too.”

  A few seconds later, he disconnected the call.

  “Now what?”

  Aiden cast his gaze at Sophie. She was so calm, so trusting. A man could live for a week off the look she gave him.

  He shook his head, trying to shake the attraction that continued to dog him despite the horrific circumstances. Then he took a moment to consider their next move. He sighed. No one was going to like what he had to say.

  “Ditch the vehicle. We go on foot from here.”

  * * *

  On foot? Sophie blinked, hoping that he wasn’t serious.

  “Do we just leave the car here?” she asked cautiously.

  “No. It’s too obvious here. Besides, we’d be vulnerable if we started walking around here. Let’s drive and find a more secluded spot to leave it.”

  Any hopes that he was kidding died right there. Still, she didn’t protest. He was doing what he could to keep them safe and alive. She wasn’t sure why it had happened so fast, but her trust in him was absolute.

  Lord, thank You for providing a protector like Aiden. Please keep us safe and help him to heal from whatever wounds he’s suffering from.

  It was so clear to her that he was suffering.

  If they had time, she’d try to talk with him about it. As it was, they barely had time to breathe. They drove to a park and ride near the edge of town, one that had not been taken care of very well. There were only two other vehicles parked in it, their drivers nowhere in sight.

  “We’ll leave the car here. Let’s not dawdle, folks.” Aiden took the backpack and slung it over one sho
ulder. He pulled out a map that was stuck in the driver’s door pocket. “Which way to your relatives’ house, Levi?”

  Celine snuggled up to Sophie’s side while the men held a brief discussion about the route they should take. She pulled her sister close and kissed the top of her head.

  “Will we be okay?” Celine signed to her.

  Biting her lip, Sophie considered her answer. As much as she wanted to comfort her sibling, she didn’t think lying to her was the way to deal with her fears. Her eyes slid to Aiden. Warmth drizzled down her spine and filled her with a sense of peace.

  She knew how to answer.

  “I don’t know what will happen,” she signed to her sister. “What I do know is that God is on our side. He sent us Aiden to get us safely away before Phillip could hurt us.” She deliberately skipped calling him uncle. The less they dwelt on their relationship with that monster, the happier they would both be.

  “Do you believe He hears us?”

  “Absolutely.” She’d ignored Him in her pursuit of her career. That was the wrong thing to do, but her faith was reawakening, burning quietly inside. She might have left Him behind when she went in search of success and independence, but God had been faithful and hadn’t abandoned her. He wouldn’t do so now, either.

  “Sophie, Celine, are you ladies ready?” Aiden asked.

  She nudged her sister forward.

  The small group moved out at a brisk pace. Without any conscious planning, they realigned themselves until Celine was walking up near Levi and Sophie was striding beside Aiden. For a while, no one spoke. Partly, she mused, because they were vulnerable and didn’t want to draw attention to themselves.

  She tripped on a root and would have gone flying were it not for the strong hand that snatched her back to an upright position.

  “Thanks,” she murmured to her silent companion.

  He nodded once, a small crooked smile playing about his mouth.

  That was another reason not to talk. The terrain was anything but smooth. They needed to pay attention to where they were setting their feet down. After half an hour of walking, however, she was willing to risk a few bruises. The fear screaming inside her made the silence almost unbearable.