Authors: Kristen James
Alexander probably knew her father’s whereabouts, but she’d have to employ a game of her own to get it out of him.
The hostility outside her room became so thick she worried they’d turn to violence soon. Thankfully, Nick left the cabin.
She pulled herself up and looked around the wall. Alexander was leaning back, watching her way, puffing on another cigar.
“Cora.”
Her bravery slipped away as he stared at her. It was a glittering, assessing look, made more snake like by the lamp. She had to put all that aside.
“Can you tell me where my father is?”
Exasperation flickered across his face. He studied her another minute before answering. “I don’t know exactly where he is now, but he’s investigating friends of the Holloways.”
That was more than Nick could tell her. It gave her hope.
“What do you think about them?” she asked.
He leaned forward with more expression, maybe curiosity about her. “I doubt anyone will confess and give him the money.”
“Then why?” she asked. “Why did Keith send Jerry on such an impossible task? Why am I out here?”
It took willpower to stay there, looking at him, talking to him. And right now he looked smug.
“Keith gave him time to bring back the money he stole. No one believes someone else stole it.”
“I believe him.” Cora hid behind the wall, feeling faint. But she couldn’t give up when he was talking.
Me and you, dad.
She clutched the edge of the wall and pulled in a couple breaths. That steadied her a bit. Looking back at Alexander, and finding him waiting for her, she asked,
“Could you find him if you had to?”
“Of course, that’s my job.” He smiled and studied her face before adding, “If you want to find your father, I’m the only one who can help you. Nick left eight years ago and doesn’t have a clue who stole that much money from the Holloways. I’ve got the knowledge and the skills.” He tried to push compassion onto his face. “You’ll need me if you try to get out of here.”
She crept back behind the wall. Suddenly he was standing right in front of her.
“Don’t trust Nick, whatever you do. He’s got his eye on you, and I don’t know what he’s thinking. I’m not sure he’s involved in this to help his father.”
The wall blocked the light, leaving his face dark. She stepped back and ran into the bed. “That’s what he…” she stopped short, before she revealed too much. Why did Nick and Alexander both think the same thing about the other? “What do you mean?”
He stepped closer, so close she felt his breath on her face. She stared at his throat so she wouldn’t be looking into his face. With her legs against the bed, she couldn’t step away. He leaned in, tilting his head. “I know he worked too hard in law school to walk away from it, and that’s what he’s telling Keith.”
It felt like he was almost talking against her face. Cora shook her head and reached out, hoping to feel something, anything to steady herself. Her knees weren’t listening to her. “I really have to lie down.”
He step closer, right against her, and pulled her into him. “No, get away from me!”
“I mean it, Cora, ask for my help if you try to go after your father.”
It had to be seventy or eighty degrees in the cabin but her teeth chattered like it was thirty.
“Where’s Nick?”
“Hard to say.” His voice was flat, emotionless. That scared her more than his smug tone before. “He left his family before. Maybe he left you out here with me.”
With that, Alexander left. She rolled on her side and curled up, wondering how she could ever get out of the cabin with Alexander around. Worse than that, he could come back any minute.
Nick wouldn’t leave.
He couldn’t,
not after everything he said.
She realized she was rocking and stopped. She lay perfectly stilled and listened, wondering if Alexander had left without her hearing. But if she looked, he might be right there waiting for her. He made her skin crawl, and she was worried about what he was thinking. He didn’t hurt her or take advantage of her, yet. He could have but he had backed off. Suddenly she wondered if he was toying with her just for fun.
It might have been one hour, or several, when she finally heard a noise in the cabin.
There were footsteps and then Nick and Alexander talking, followed by noise in the kitchen. Finally Nick brought food to her and knelt by her bed.
“Sorry I had to leave. I tried to get a signal and see if I could find anything out.”
She sat up, trying to see him. “Well?”
“Keith said to sit tight.” He dropped his voice down to a barely audible whisper. “I asked him why Alexander was up here watching us instead of keeping tabs on Jerry, and that surprised him. At least, he acted surprised.”
Maybe Keith had told Alexander to tail Jerry, and instead he came out here. She didn’t say anything to Nick.
He rose to his feet. “I’ll let you eat.”
She had trouble forcing food down her throat, but she wanted to keep her strength up. One way or another, she would find a way to escape.
Her thoughts swirled around her in the dark that night. She guessed it was night anyway. Nick didn’t come to sleep in the other bed, and she didn’t hear them at all.
Everyone was lying to everyone else. She couldn’t trust Nick. Alexander had told her some useful information, but he clearly had some ulterior motives. Maybe he wanted to make Nick look bad, or get rid of Jerry, or both. She guessed he had included her in his plan.
She slowly made her way to a light sleeping state. Only minutes later, or what seemed like minutes, a touch pulled her harshly back into the dark, small room.
She smelled Nick and started to say his name when his hand gently covered her mouth.
“Cora, we have to get out of here.”
He wasn’t whispering. Where was Alexander? She pushed him away to say, “What will happen to Jerry if I disappear?”
“Do you want to know what will happen to you if Jerry doesn’t repay that money?” He leaned close. “That’s why Alexander’s here.”
“Does Keith think you couldn’t do away with me?” she asked. He shook his head and started to say something. She interrupted. “Nick, I can’t leave. They’ll kill Jerry.”
“Alexander will kill you.”
If only she could see his face. Did he believe that? As much as Alexander scared her, she wasn’t sure he was capable of murder. Maybe eighty percent sure. That was probably eighty percent too much though. Nick said her name and waited. Alexander had made it sound like he could help her find Jerry… What if she couldn’t find her dad first, without Alexander?
“I don’t know…” It was ironic she was wavering now when he finally agreed to take her back to Eugene, if that was what he was offering.
“I’m sorry, Cora.”
“You say that a lot.” She started to roll over, away from him, but his hand stopped her.
He clamped something over her mouth and nose . . . There wasn’t a breath to scream with.
Seven
Nick placed his feet carefully as he walked over sticks and rocks on the forest floor, in the dark, trying not to jostle Cora too much. The trees blocked any moon or star light, so he made his way slowly while listening to the night, feeling his way through the overgrown path with each step.
Being out in the woods normally calmed him down and refocused him after a hard week of negotiating settlements, but not tonight.
His heart thumped harder than normal, hopefully from the extra weight he carried and not his nerves. He kept himself in shape, working out a few times a week and running in the morning.
This wasn’t a clear morning, but a black and bottomless night. He thought to glance at the glowing hands of his wristwatch. Right around three a.m.
Nick didn’t want to think about the things he’d just done, only his purposes for doing them. Finding the chloroform in Alexander’s bag had been the final and deciding factor in the case against him. He couldn’t simply stand by.
Cora’s head naturally cradled into his shoulder, so he couldn’t glance down at her face. She lay perfectly still. He had a real sleeping beauty in his arms, but she didn’t want anything to do with him.
Crack.
Nick crouched down with Cora in his arms and sat perfectly still and silent, listening to the night. He reached under his shirt and pulled out his Beretta. Pulling Cora closer against him, he decided to wait a minute.
If Alexander awoke any time soon, he’d take off after Nick in a rage. Nick kept hearing the awful
thunk
noise of the board slamming down on Alexander’s head. He couldn’t stand Alexander and knew he planned to hurt Cora, but that didn’t lesson the horror of seeing Alexander fall limp to the floor. Nick had tried to sneak up on Alexander while he smoked outside the front door of the cabin, but Alexander sensed him coming and threw a punch. Nick lost the chloroform saturated rag in the struggle. It’d been dirty and ugly, on the ground, with both of them crossing the line. Alexander had thrown a chop into Nick’s throat. He’d sensed it enough to block with his hand, saving his life. They’d both thrown sucker punches to the gut and knees to the groin.
For a few terrifying seconds, Alexander was on top, about to break Nick’s face in. Nick thought of Cora and found a new reserve, throwing Alexander backwards. He’d felt a board under him and grabbed it, swinging it at Alexander’s head with all his force. It had been an old two by four, strong enough to survive the elements, and deliver a knockout blow.
Nick firmly believed the end didn’t justify the means, not if that meant illegal activities. But in this case… he didn’t have a choice. Nick shut down any thoughts of what Alexander planned for Cora, knowing he couldn’t handle it.
Frogs and crickets sang together, but that was all he heard and he didn’t have all night. He put the gun away and started off again, pushing himself up to his feet with the extra weight. The trail from the parking shed to the cabin wasn’t long, and he had to be halfway by now, but this was dragging out in slow seconds. He concentrated on his balance and not on whether Alexander was waking up yet.
Alexander only had so many free days left before justice caught up with him. Nick vowed to make sure of that, for Cora and her father.
Alexander had hated Nick the first day he met him, simply for being Keith’s son and the one marked to follow him. Alexander wanted that spot, and wanted Nick out of the picture. He remembered the day he came home to tell his father he planned to go into law, so he didn’t want to be involved in running the family business. Alexander had taken great pleasure in fanning Keith’s rage. Nick had been able to live with that. He couldn’t live with himself if he let Alexander hurt Cora.
He felt certain Alexander embezzled the missing money, framed Keith, and planned it all to get his hands on Cora.
Finally at the car, he unlocked it and laid Cora in the passenger seat. He stretched and breathed in. Add the adrenaline to the workout of carrying Cora, and he felt like he’d gone twenty miles. It left him shaking. But he had her in the car and could get her out of here, and finally away from Alexander.
He inspected the tires and the engine and didn’t see any signs of tampering. He put his gun under the driver seat before starting the car, and pressed lightly on the gas and tested his brakes when he started out. Cora had yet to see that he carried a gun, and he wanted to keep it that way, since he kept it for protection and never to scare Cora into listening to him. Not in a million years. Nick prayed things wouldn’t go that far, because he’d let her walk away.
He drove the car over the tall grass and bushes and on their way. Nick guessed he had a good head start, and a few hours till daylight to put some distance between him and the cabin, where Alexander hopefully still lay unconscious. He’d hide them for a day or two, and form a plan while Alexander searched the city for them.