The path back to Marilyn’s cabin was full of potholes and blown-down limbs. He tried to avoid bottoming out in the craters, but several times the undercarriage smacked down in a deep dip. He’d tied up Marilyn, and she sat with a clenched jaw in the backseat without saying much.
She blinked when foliage scraped the side of the car. “Are we going to my cabin?”
“Yep. Seemed like a good place to hole up for a while.”
She lapsed back into silence and looked out the window. He glanced into the rearview mirror to try to decipher her expression. Was she planning on trying to escape? Her face was closed and her mouth set.
Alex was right behind him. “I want my mommy.”
He felt a pang. Maybe there was a way around disposing of them. If he could pull this off without them realizing who he was, he might be able to head for the airport and leave them to walk out of the forest on their own.
It was a nice dream, but in his heart of hearts, he knew it was unlikely he could spare their lives. Not and live in any kind of security.
He spied the cabin ahead and slowed the vehicle, then pulled it into what was left of the driveway overgrown with azaleas and pine trees. He stepped out of the vehicle into knee-high weeds, then yanked open the rear door. “Let’s get you both inside.”
When Marilyn struggled to maneuver because of her bound hands, he grabbed her forearm and hauled her out. She yelped, then clamped her lips shut.
He motioned to the boy. “Come on, kid.” Holding his stuffed bear, Alex climbed out and stood, blinking back tears.
The bolt cutter in the trunk should make short work of the door. He motioned to the porch. “Be careful. The floorboards are rotted, and you might go straight through.” He grabbed the tool, then walked to the door and cut the bolt. It fell to the buckled floor with a clatter, and he shoved at the door. It resisted opening, and he put his shoulder into it. With a squeal from the rusty hinges, it finally opened.
He stepped out of the way and gestured to Marilyn and Alex. “After you.”
She wrinkled her nose and didn’t move. “The place isn’t habitable. There isn’t even a bathroom, just an outhouse that is probably filled with black widow spiders.”
He hadn’t thought of checking any amenities, but he shrugged off her concerns. It wouldn’t matter soon. “Inside.”
She stumbled over the warped threshold and entered the cabin. He motioned to Alex. “After you, boy.” He waited until the kid entered, then stepped into the space himself. The furnishings had been nice once upon a time, but raccoons had evidently called the place home for a while. The leather sofa lay in shreds. Mice or rats had destroyed a rocker upholstered in orange by the window, and droppings of some kind littered the scratched walnut tables.
Sad to see it in such disrepair. He kicked a pile of rubble out of the way. “Why’d you leave this place for the animals?”
“Jack and I quit coming after my husband died. It was never the same without him.” Her voice trembled, and she bit her lip.
Alex grabbed one of her bound arms. “Grammy, I want to go home. This place is scary, and there’s nowhere to sit.”
“I thought of that. There are chairs in the trunk, and I’ll grab them. We won’t be here long, just until your mom gives me the key.”
“You keep talking about a key, but I have no idea what you are talking about. I doubt Shauna even has what you want.”
The stupid mask was making his face as hot as a furnace. “She has it. Clarence gave it to her.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You killed Clarence?”
He shrugged. “He was poking his nose in where it didn’t belong. I didn’t want to do it, but I had no choice.”
“There’s always a choice between right and wrong.”
Where did she get off lecturing him? She didn’t even know who he was. “I’ll grab the chairs.”
He went back through the creaky front door and grabbed the three chairs he’d packed in the trunk, then returned to the house. She had moved from the front window to the back door, which she was struggling to open with her tied hands. “I nailed it shut from the outside when I was here last week. You can’t get out that way.”
There was no way out at all. He unfolded the chairs. “Sit.”
Marilyn eased down onto the seat of the one closest to her. “I need to use the bathroom.” Her lips twisted with disgust. “Can you check the outhouse for spiders?”
“Yeah, fine. Come with me.” He grabbed a dilapidated broom from the corner and herded Marilyn and Alex out through the front and around to the back of the house.
He lashed her hands in front of her with the rope, then tied the other end to the handle of the outhouse. “Just want to make sure you don’t do something stupid like try to run off.” He didn’t think she’d leave her grandson, though.
The outhouse door creaked when he opened it and he peered inside. Tons of cobwebs crisscrossed the inside of the space, and several spiders scurried away. The webs looked like black widows had taken over the space, just as Marilyn had predicted.
He backed out. “I don’t think you’ll want to use this. No amount of knocking down cobwebs is going to clear out that nest of spiders.”
She blanched and looked away. “I-Is there a bucket or anything like that around?” Her voice held an edge of desperation.
He spied one half hidden by weeds near the back door. “There’s one.” He knocked out the bugs inside and took it around to the back of the outhouse. “I’m going to untie your wrists, but I’m keeping Alex with me. If you try to run away, I’ll have to hurt him.”
She bit her lip and nodded. “I won’t run.”
Lewis’s junker truck wouldn’t start no matter how much Zach fiddled with the battery cables. He resisted the urge to kick the tire and yell with frustration. He had to get Shauna to safety. He rummaged in the lean-to shed for tools to work on it but found only carpentry items like a rusty saw and a hammer with a cracked grip.
Now what? He listened to the chirping birds in the trees and considered the options. One last time he climbed in the truck and turned the key. Nothing. They would have to hike out of here, and dread curled in his gut at the thought of a sniper stalking them.
He walked back to the house. Shauna still plied her father with coffee, and Lewis looked a little more alert.
He stopped by the recliner. Shauna appeared to be cooler and more collected than Zach felt. “The truck won’t start.”
Her dark brows winged up. “Did you try cleaning the cables?”
“Yep. The engine won’t turn over. We’ll have to walk out of here, and we don’t know if that sniper is still out there.” He slapped his palm against his forehead. “I’m an idiot. I should have called the sheriff as soon as I got here.” He lifted the phone beside Lewis from its cradle and held it to his ear. “No dial tone.”
“I told them to shut it off. I was tired of getting sales calls,” Lewis mumbled.
Shauna rose from the chair and carried the coffee cup to the kitchen. “We need to find a cell signal and call the sheriff.”
“We haven’t had a signal since we landed the helicopter.”
“So we’re back to square one and walking out on foot.” She turned to her father. “Pop, you’re going to need to come with us. Can you walk?”
“’Course I can walk. I’m not an invalid.” Lewis wasn’t slurring his words any longer, and his rheumy eyes looked a little clearer.
“Wait here a second.” Zach went down the hall to the gun cabinet in the bedroom and selected two more rifles and two more pistols. Lewis was a crack shot when he was sober, so all they could hope for was that he was coherent enough to help. In spite of his flaws he’d want to protect his daughter.
Zach grabbed boxes of ammo too and returned to the living room, then handed Lewis and Shauna a rifle and a pistol. He stashed the ammo in the backpack. “We’d better get going if we want to reach the helicopter by dark.”
Shauna loaded a rifle, then shouldered it before tucking a pistol into the waistband of her jeans. “I’m ready. Come on, Pop.”
Lewis lurched out of the chair and reached for the rifle. His hands steadied as he loaded both weapons. “Tell me again what’s going on.”
Did he even remember Shauna asking him about the building? Zach went through the sequence of events again. “Any idea who is shooting at us, Lewis? Who would want to keep us away from that building?”
Shauna touched her dad’s arm. “You said something about it being your fault. What did you mean?”
A truculent expression settled on his face. “I don’t know what I said. I don’t remember. Let’s go.” He set off for the front door and let it bang open behind him.
Shauna looked at Zach and sighed. “I think he knows something, but I’m not sure what it’s going to take for him to tell me.”
“Maybe when the bullets start whizzing, he’ll spill it.”
“Maybe.” But she didn’t look convinced. “He’s a stubborn old man.”
Zach embraced her with one arm and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I’d much rather you stayed here where there’s a little bit of protection, but I can’t fly the chopper out of here for help. I don’t want anything to happen to you, Shauna.”
She laid her hand on his cheek. The soft feel of her skin made his pulse jump, and he turned his head to kiss her palm. Her smile came then. “Nothing’s going to happen to me.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” He reached over and opened the door all the way for her. “Stay alert.”
“Alert is my middle name.” She gave him an impish grin and went out the door.
He let his gaze linger on her sweet curves as she walked away. Now that he’d finally admitted to himself how he felt, the thought of losing her was a knife in his guts. He stepped onto the porch and closed the door behind him.
He’d do everything in his power to protect her.