by Reina Torres
Both women turned to look at him with the same open-eyed expression of shock.
Vicente laughed at him from the other side of the table. “Thanks for getting me off the hook.”
Sloane swung her gaze at her husband, and when it landed it seemed like it hit its mark. “Right. Don’t count on that saving you.”
Vicente’s phone beeped a warning.
Jake’s was right after it.
They looked at each other and pulled out their phones, but they already knew they were going to have to leave. Coordinated messages like that meant there was something big going on.
Opening the text, Jake read the message with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
CORRECTIONS OFFICER KILLED, ANOTHER WOUNDED IN PRISON TRANSPORT
Jake felt Hildie’s hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze. When he looked up at her she turned her gaze to Vicente.
“You two go. We’ll be alright here.”
Vicente hesitated while Jake stood and pressed a kiss to Hildie’s cheek.
“Tell me you’ll be safe.”
Hildie looked back at him and leaned up to kiss him on the lips. “That’s my line.”
“You know I will be,” he replied, “I’ve got you to come back to.”
He saw the way her smile wobbled a little, and her eyes were misty.
Hildie touched his cheek and blinked a few times. “Go, before I cuff you to the table.”
Sloane broke away from her husband’s kiss across the table. “Oh, that sounds like fun. We can try that later when you get home.”
Vicente’s laughter lightened the mood in the room. “As long as they’re not my service cuffs.”
Jake was on Vicente’s heels a moment later, leaving Hildie and her friend behind, where it was safe.
Hildie was playing sudoku on her phone when her phone rang. She muted the ringer and answered the phone in quick succession. Putting the phone to her ear she moved along down the hallway so she didn’t wake Sloane, who had fallen asleep on the enormous sectional that made up most of the living room.
“Hello?”
“Hi-Hildie?”
Her whole stomach plummeted. “Anne? What happened?”
“Joe.” She said the name as if it was going to conjure him if spoken loud enough. “He called me the other day. Told me he’d get out.”
Hildie wanted to deny the very idea, but she heard the caution in Anne’s voice. Heard the palpable fear in her voice.
“It’s on the news, Hildie. They’re calling it an accident, but it was a prison transport van. I know it was Joe.”
Hildie looked up at the clock on the main wall of the living room, still visible from her place in the hallway. To keep Sloane calm they had left the televisions off. The men would call if the women needed to know something.
Then again, with Sloane’s tension issues, they probably wouldn’t.
They’d been gone for almost a half an hour.
Hildie did a little mental math.
If a transport left the prison heading into town and a prisoner was set free, then how long did she have to get things in motion before the shit didn’t just hit the fan, but obliterate it?
Realizing that she had seconds to make a decision, she cradled the phone in her hands and asked Anne, “We talked about this. What do you want to do?”
There wasn’t a second of hesitation on Anne’s part. “Go.”
“All right. Have your bag ready. I’m going to come in my car because we don’t have enough time to do this properly. So be ready to go when I get there.”
Anne hadn’t balked at any of it. The prospect of Joe taking his anger out on her had overshadowed any other concerns.
When they pulled into the parking lot behind the rental car lot, Anne followed her unerringly.
Hildie had already called ahead and talked to Jonathon, the owner of the agency and the brother of one of their clients. He’d set a car up for them by the back exit and added some nondescript jackets and hats into the vehicle.
As soon as they were on the road again, the two women felt safe enough to talk.
Turning to look back over the seat, Anne had stared into the darkness with something akin to hope. “Do you think we got away with it?”
Hildie put a smile on her face remembering the admonition of one of her pageant coaches. “People can hear a smile, Miss Faraday.”
“I think we’re good, but I have another switch for us at a Buc-ee’s before I take you to the next person in the chain.”
“Will you know where I end up?”
There was no way to sugar coat the words. “Like I explained the other day, once I pass you on, I won’t know anything. You’ll be passed through at least three more hands before we stop.”
“That’s why you’ll put the code in the news when it’s safe for me to come home.”
Smiling again, Hildie nodded and switched lanes, keeping a careful watch on the other vehicles in the area.
“We can’t take enough precautions. Not with your safety. And once they find Joe and put him back in jail, it should be safe for you to come back.”
Anne lapsed into silence, and when Hildie looked over, Anne had her head down and her hands folded in her lap.
“Are you okay? Is there something I can do to help?”
Anne sniffled and a hiccup of a sob seemed to fill the space.
“I wanted to pray.” Her voice faded for a moment as she drew her arm across her face. “I haven’t been to church for years. Maybe since I was a kid, but I wanted to give my thanks. All these people. People like you and Sloane… and then people I’ve never met. All of you are helping me. Doing something for me that my friends wouldn’t. I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Anne. These people help because they can. And some of them have never suffered the kind of pain that you have, but they know someone who has been abused or hurt by someone who was supposed to love them.
“They give what they can to try and save people like you from suffering more.”
“That’s why I wanted to pray. I know I’ve made a lot of bad decisions, and I’ve done bad things. I just wanted you to know that is never going to happen again. I’m not going to waste this chance you gave me.”
Hildie saw the exit sign for the Buc-ee’s they were looking for and left her turn signal off.
“Then you’re doing the right thing, Anne. Make something better of your future.” The words struck home for Hildie.
She too had the opportunity to make a change. Hildie’s had come from her connection to Sloane. But she’d always been the second. The one who took care of stuff while Sloane shouldered the majority of the burden.
And now, Sloane was on the verge of a new part of her life. She deserved to enjoy this new chapter of her life and not worry about the Center and their satellite offices.
It was something she could do for her friend who had literally given her the chance to make a difference in the world.
She was going to give Sloane the gift of time to relax and experience the joys of late-night feedings and squishy diapers.
Hildie turned down the back road leading up to the service station and roadside Mecca. “Okay, remember what we talked about.”
Nodding, Anne kept her eyes on the road ahead. “Head up, eyes down. Straight to the car.”
“If you need to use the bathroom-”
“Nope,” Anne was set on that answer. “I want to get away from here. I can wait until later for a bathroom.”
“Okay, then. We’re coming up on the gas station.”
Anne’s nod was jerky and stiff. “We don’t have to gas up this car, do we?”
She was reaching into her bag for her wallet when Hildie reached out and took her hand. “It’s fine, Anne. Now, focus.”
They were parked and out of the vehicle moments later. Together, they walked through a row of cars in the parking lot and got into a nondescript dark sedan. Hildie lowered the sun visor, and the keys fell i
nto her lap.
“So far, so good.” She gave Anne an encouraging smile. “Let’s get going.”
The car turned over, and Hildie turned on the lights. A quick look out through the windows and using the mirrors to check their surroundings, they pulled out of the lot and headed for the on ramp.
Hildie let out a breath when they easily merged into the center lane and set the cruise control. “It’s going to be okay, Anne.”
“You can’t promise that.”
Hildie nodded. “You’re right. I can’t. But I can promise you that I’m going to do everything I can to make it work. Do you believe that?”
Anne’s hands lowered into her lap and her shoulders lifted. “I believe in you, Hildie.”
Hildie had to blink back the tears that sprang into her eyes. “I believe in us. We’re going to get through this.”
When Hildie got back to San Antonio, she reached into her purse at a stop light and pulled out the dark packet that she’d stored there when she left Sloane’s house. The instant that she shook the Faraday bag, her phone dropped out and immediately chimed.
She could almost hear the sheer number of messages that must be on her phone. She’d been gone almost three hours and knew that Sloane must have noticed that she had left. She didn’t want to wake her with a call if she was asleep, so she called Vicente.
The phone picked up on the first ring. “Where are you?”
His voice was heavy and dark.
“She’s okay, isn’t she?”
There was a moment of silence before he spoke. “Well, that’s the question. Isn’t it?”
Her heart slammed against her ribs and Hildie pulled the car over to the curb. “Did something happen to Sloane?”
“Sloane?” Vicente’s voice raised and Hildie winced. “No, she’s fine, but you’ve been missing for hours and we haven’t been able to get a hold of you.”
She lifted her hand and pressed her fingers against her forehead, trying to ease the headache that was trying to explode in her head.
“I left a note to explain.”
His answer was mercifully muted as her phone registered a second incoming call. Jake.
“Is Jake there with you?”
Vicente sighed and she felt horrible. He sounded exhausted. “No. He was starting to upset Sloane, so he went to the traffic center to look for you on the cameras.”
“Okay. As long as Sloane’s okay. I’m going to talk to Jake.”
“She‘s fine. Nervous, but her pressure is good. She trusts that you know what you’re doing.”
He hung up and she realized that Vicente hadn’t echoed the sentiment.
She’d missed Jake’s call. Almost a dozen of them since he started calling about an hour ago.
Before she could touch his speed dial number, the phone started to vibrate again.
She swept her fingertip over his smiling face on her phone and tapped the button for speaker. She didn’t want to hear him yell directly into her ear.
“Jake-”
“Are you okay?”
The hard edge of his tone mixed with relief made her want to cry. She was still wound so tight. “Yeah, yeah. I’m back in San Antonio.”
Another pause, like the one from Vicente.
“Where are you? Right now?”
She looked out the windshield. “About twenty minutes from my apartment.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
“Jake,” her breath rattled in her chest, “I need to get my car.”
The curse that flew from his lips blistered her ears.
“I’ll take care of your car, Hildie. Just go to your apartment.”
His tone was hard. His volume was ridiculously loud in the little car. She just didn’t have the energy to argue with him.
Not about this.
Not at that moment.
“Fine.” She was about to hang up when she let loose a few choice words. “If I get there before you, I’m not going to wait.”
He huffed into the phone. “You won’t.”
“Yeah?” Shifting the car into drive she looked back over her shoulder to see what was coming up on the road. “How do you know?”
His tone growled out of the speaker. “I’m already on the road, babe.”
Chapter 12
When she pulled into the parking lot in front of her building, it was obvious that Jake was upset. She knew that from the phone call, and really, she had expected it, but there were reasons why she didn’t call before she returned to San Antonio. She knew that Jake was going to be livid.
She could understand why. She really could, but that all fell to the side in her head when she focused on the most important thing.
Anne’s safety.
The look in his eyes said he was fighting to hold onto his emotions, before she even got out of the car and that’s why she didn’t fiddle with anything or even worry about turning off the radio. She grabbed her purse and stepped out into the warm night air.
Hildie walked up to him and then continued, knowing that he’d fall in step with her. “The car is borrowed.”
He nodded, and she had to look up to see it.
“One of our volunteers lets us use his vehicles for these kinds of operations.”
She didn’t look up to see his reaction, but she could feel him seething beside her. Still, he opened the door for her before following her inside the building. Lifting her hand in a friendly greeting to the guard at the desk she continued straight to the elevator. In the mirrors she could see Andy turn and watch her as she went. Later, she’d have to give him a hug for being concerned for her. He knew Jake and that he carried a badge, but Andy was a gentleman and a dad of three little girls. He was always looking out for the people who lived in the complex.
The elevator arrived quickly, and she found herself staring straight ahead during the silent ride up to her floor. Jake stood beside her like a granite statue. Unmoving. His expression set in stone.
He didn’t even utter a word until they were inside her apartment and she’d set both locks.
“Hill-”
“No.” She leaned toward him with her pointer finger aimed at his chest. “No. You’re not going to scold me.”
His laugh was a short spurt of sound. “Do you have any idea what I felt-”
“No! And we’re not going to get into this right now, Jake.” She tossed her purse on the counter and it fell over, spilling its contents across the granite surface. “Come on!”
She reached for her phone, but it slipped from her fingers and nudged the dark colored package laying at the edge of the counter.
“What’s that?”
Jake reached for it, and before she could snatch it up, he had it between his fingers.
Shaking her head, she started picking up the items from her purse.
“Hildie? Is this what I think it is?”
She continued picking up, throwing her lip gloss into the open maw of her purse. “I don’t know, Jake. What do you think it is?”
She reached out for her gel-pen and was pulling it back when he slapped the bag down on it. “Hey!”
“It’s a Faraday bag, Hildie! Is that why I couldn’t get you on the phone?”
She looked down at his hand and stared at it for a moment.
“Yes. It was blocking my phone while I was out. I carried a burner with me. Okay?”
She couldn’t help the soft hiccup of sound that escaped her control.
“Hildie,” he sighed, “do you have any idea what could have happened to you while you were out there?”
Her laugh was high-pitched and scratched its way out of her throat. “You think I don’t know?”
“Joe Merrel escaped tonight.” He looked over at the clock on the wall. “Last night. Two guards were killed and their guns were taken. You didn’t see how vicious…”
She heard the words and understood the concern he felt, but she couldn’t listen to any more of it.
“Stop.” She let go of her purse and ignored the
way things rolled right out a second time as she moved deeper into her apartment. “I knew Joe was out. Anne called me after you and Vicente left. I knew that you two were dealing with him. I had to get to Anne and move her.”
“Where?”
She stopped in the hallway and turned back to look at him. “I can’t tell you.”
“Bullshit, Hildie.”
“No, Jake.” It struck her at the core that she couldn’t tell him. “I can’t. That’s the way these things work.”
“This is different, babe.” He advanced on her and stopped a few inches away. “You can’t tell me that you had this whole thing set up, ready to go.”
“I can’t. Not in the way you mean. We had the structure in place. We always do, but you’re right. Normally we plan ahead further than this, but with Joe in jail we thought we had time.”
“Hildie, look,” he took hold of her chin and leaned in, his mouth hovering bare inches above hers, “we can protect her. Bring her back, we’ll put her in witness protection and-”
She shook her head and pulled her chin from his fingers. “The last time that happened, we lost one of our clients. The marshals ran out of funds, they put her up in a place nearby and her husband found out.”
Hildie could see by Jake’s expression that he remembered the case. It had been all over the news.
“So, when you talk about how horrible the scene was with the guards, understand that I know what you’re talking about. Helen’s family couldn’t have an open casket because of what her… her husband did to her face when he found her.
“No, Jake. I was the one who promised Anne that we’d do everything we can to keep her safe. And I’m going to follow through on that promise. You just find him and put him away with the rest of his people. We’ll have her back for the trial if you need her, but until then,” she gasped in a breath, “we’re keeping her safe.”
With that said, she turned and headed for her bedroom.
Jake stopped her just inside the door, wrapping his hand around hers. “Hildie, be reasonable.”
She couldn’t even manage an outraged gasp. She jerked her hand out of his grasp. “Jake, don’t. Stop right there.”
