Now what was he supposed to do to make sure they didn’t escape while he got to an area with cell phone service? Marilyn had been subdued after he brought her in from the toilet break, and Alex sat on his grandmother’s lap with his bear clutched to his chest. All he really had to do was make sure Marilyn couldn’t get away.
Ah, he knew what to do. “Alex, come here.”
The boy looked up and shook his head. “I want my grammy.”
“You’re going to come with me for a little while.” He stepped to the chair where they sat and dragged the kid from the old woman’s lap. The boy cried and reached for his grandmother.
“Stop it.” He yanked the kid back. “Marilyn, I’m going to lock the door. You better not try to climb out the window or escape in any way. If you’re not here when we get back, you’ll be visiting a fresh grave beside Jack’s.”
Her hazel eyes widened and her mouth trembled. “Don’t hurt him.”
“It’s all on your shoulders, lady. Do what you’re told, and he’ll be on your lap in half an hour. I won’t be gone long. I just need to call Shauna and arrange to exchange you and the boy for the key. This will be over soon if you cooperate.”
She gave a jerky nod. Her auburn hair was a tangled mess, and her blue sweater had smears of mud on it. The gray slacks had a tear where she’d caught it on brambles in the woods. A pang of pity surprised him, and he shoved it away.
He’d grabbed her purse on the way out of her house so he dug around in it until he found her cell phone, then took Alex’s hand. “I’ve got a candy bar in the glove box for you.” The boy kicked and screamed, but he ignored the kid’s temper tantrum and dragged him out the door to the vehicle.
He opened the rear door and pushed the kid inside. “Buckle your seat belt, and you can have the candy bar.” He had a satellite phone he could use, but he wanted to make sure Shauna would answer the call.
Alex sniffled but buckled his seat belt.
It was a little ironic to even care about the seat belt when things were likely to take an unpleasant turn in a few hours. He got the candy bar from the glove box and tossed it into the back. “There you go. We’ll be back in a jiffy.”
“You’re not really Spider-Man. You’re not nice at all.”
“So I’m told. Just shut up and eat your candy.” He drove off along the bumpy road and kept checking Marilyn’s cell phone. No bars.
He finally got one bar and pulled onto the shoulder to call Shauna’s number. The call rang, then stopped. He cursed and drove back onto the road. A better signal couldn’t be too far down the road.
He glanced the rearview mirror and saw Alex’s mouth smeared with chocolate. “Pretty good stuff, huh?”
Alex swiped the back of his hand across his lips. “Grammy says she knows who you are. The sheriff is going to put you in jail for pretending to be Spider-Man and kidnapping us. You need to let us go before you get in more trouble.”
He froze. Marilyn knew who he was? How could she know? He was using a stolen SUV and wearing a mask. She couldn’t possibly identify him.
“Who did she say I was?”
“She didn’t tell me, but she knows. I want my mommy!” Alex wailed and hugged his bear.
Great, he would have to listen to that caterwauling until they got back to the cabin. “Cool it, kid.”
But Alex cried even harder. Gritting his teeth, he drove farther down the road. There had to be a cell tower around here. Maybe he should climb a ridge and see if he could pick up a decent signal. The kid would be a problem, though. He’d be better off driving until he got a couple of bars.
He watched road signs, but they were in the middle of wilderness. It had taken over an hour to reach the cabin, and it might take that long to find a signal. He spotted a high ridge with a fire tower poking out of the trees. Maybe he could get a signal there.
He parked in a scenic overlook and got out, then opened the rear door. “Let’s go, kid.”
“Where are we going?”
“We’re going to see a fire tower, up there.” He pointed.
“Cool!” Alex scrambled out. “My friend Brandon climbed one once. I’ll be able to tell him I got to climb one too.”
The climb up the ridge would take a little time with a kid in tow. He set his hand on Alex’s head and steered him toward the path. “Let’s hurry so you can see your grandmother soon.”
“Okay.” Alex scampered up the pine-strewn path and paused several times to make sure he didn’t get too far ahead.
This kind of hike was for kids. He was huffing and puffing, and Alex still had enough energy to pick wildflowers and examine a caterpillar or two. They were nearly to the top of the ridge. If the coverage was still poor, he’d have to head for town, but that would mean removing his mask. The kid would be able to identify him.
It probably didn’t matter. He would have to do whatever it took to escape.
The small hairs on the back of Shauna’s neck stood at attention as she walked between her dad and Zach. Someone was stalking them, but he’d failed to shoot or make his presence known in any way. Zach took point, and her dad paused often behind her to check out the landscape, but neither of them seemed to feel the alarm dogging her steps.
She checked her phone. “Still no signal.”
“And you won’t get one for quite a distance,” her dad said. “Probably not until the clearing where you landed your bird.”
She stopped and looked back at her dad, who seemed sprier by the minute. “I can’t believe you stopped your phone service. How am I supposed to call to check on you?”
His grizzled jaw jutted, and he narrowed his eyes at her. “Don’t need anyone checking on me. I’m a grown man, Shauna. Can take care of myself.”
She bit her lip and didn’t answer. Going over all the ways he failed to take care of himself was a waste of breath. “Someone’s out there.”
He shrugged. “Sometimes in these woods you can get the heebie-jeebies, and there’s no one there at all.”
She heard the snap of a broken twig. “Get down!” She threw herself to the ground at the same instant a shot rang out. The bullet dug into a tree near where she’d been standing.
Zach turned and fired. She heard the sound of someone running away, and Zach rushed after the sniper. Shauna turned to check on her dad and found him jogging after Zach, so she joined in the chase as well. They came to a stream running through a small clearing and stopped.
Zach tipped his head and listened. “I don’t know which way he went. The dude is fast.”
Her dad stopped and examined the ground. “I think we made a wrong turn. I don’t see any recent tracks through here.”
Zach’s hand came down on her shoulder, and she welcomed the warm reassurance with a smile. “You weren’t hit, were you?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I think he ran off because he realized we were all armed. Three against one. He probably thought he could pick us off easily, then abandoned the idea when you returned fire.”
“Probably, but let’s play it safe and get to the helicopter as soon as possible.” He took her hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
She curled her fingers into his warm grip, and they turned back toward their destination. Something major had shifted between them today, and it was going to take some time to adjust to these new, crazy feelings.
Her dad eyed her, then stared at Zach. “What’s going on with you two?”
A surge of color ran up Zach’s neck, but he held her dad’s gaze. “We’ve always been good friends, and we realized maybe there could be more than that between us. You okay with that?”
Her dad shrugged. “She’s the one to make that decision.”
The laconic disinterest in his voice pierced her. He’d long ago given up any desire to be part of her life, to voice any opinion about what she did or where she went. She’d hoped for that to change, but it was never going to be any different.
Zach’s fingers tightened on hers, and she clung to the gentle encouragement in his grip. He and her father were polar opposites. Zach would always be a steady influence on her and Alex. He’d always have an opinion on anything that concerned her. She and her dad were strangers and always would be.
They were within five hundred yards of the helicopter when her cell phone rang. She stopped. “Looks like we have a signal!” She glanced at the screen. “Hey, Marilyn, sorry we’re late. I’ll tell you about it when we get back.”
“This isn’t Marilyn, so listen carefully.” The man’s voice was pitched in a way to disguise his identity. “I have Marilyn and your boy. If you want them back, we’ll make an exchange.”
Her heart seized, and she gripped Zach’s hand. “Who is this? What do you want?” Zach’s expression had gone somber. He stood close to her, and she held the phone out from her ear a bit so he could hear.
“Clarence gave you some stuff, and I need one item back immediately. If you don’t do exactly what I say, you’ll never see your boy and Marilyn again.”
“Don’t hurt them!” Terror roughened her voice and squeezed her chest. “I’ll do whatever you say. But the sheriff has all that stuff.”
“He doesn’t have it all. He gave an item back to you.”
Realization washed over her. “The necklace, you mean? I have it. Where can we exchange it for Alex and Marilyn?”
“Take it to the lookout point at Rainshadow Bay. There’s a plaque on the point. Tape it to the back, then call me when you’re done. Once I have it, I’ll release them.”
“That’s not good enough! I want to meet. I’ll give you the necklace, and you can give me Alex and Marilyn.”
“You have one hour to deliver the necklace there, or the deal is off. Don’t call the sheriff, or you’ll never see them alive again.”
“How do I know you really have them?”
“Hang on. Here, Alex, tell your mommy you want to go home.”
Her mouth went dry. “Alex? Talk to me, baby.”
“Mommy? Spider-Man isn’t nice. He tried to make Grammy use the outhouse with the black widows. I want to come home.”
“I’m coming to get you, Alex. Stay strong, sweetheart.” She could barely force the words past the tightness in her throat.
The distorted voice came back on. “Satisfied? Do what I ask if you want to see him again.”
The call ended, and her fingers went numb. The phone would have fallen to the ground, but Zach caught it. Her eyes burned, and she struggled to hold back the sobs. Crying wouldn’t get her boy back. “I have to do what he says.”
Her dad sidled closer. “Someone has my boy?”
She nodded and told him what the man had said. “I’m so scared.”
“I always knew it would come to this,” her dad said. “I’m the only one who can fix it.”
He plunged off into the forest, and she quickly lost sight of him. Zach pulled her into an embrace. “We have to call the sheriff.”
She buried her face in his shirt. “We can’t! He’ll kill them.”
“We don’t have a choice. This gets bigger by the minute. We have to protect Alex and Marilyn, and we can’t do that by walking into a trap.” He kept one arm around her as he called the sheriff on her phone.