14
Jake and Bill helped Josie to her feet and began to walk her down through the passageway. It was a hidden tunnel that went all the way to the woods. The exit from the woods was covered in brush and thickets that was nearly undetectable. Josie knew that if they could make it that far, they could finally escape.
“How did you find me?” Josie asked when she got a moment of respite from her pain.
“You can thank Bill for that one,” Jake said with a note of appreciation in his voice.
“Well, I knew you were fond of those hiding spots in all the plans you made for people. I recognized one of the mock-ups you had made for one of the clients, so I just assumed you put your trademark trap door in somewhere. The tricky part was figuring out where the entrance was. It took us a good amount of time to do that without being detected.”
Josie laughed in relief. “I’m so glad I have you two on my team.”
Bill laughed, but Jake looked away while they helped her. She wanted to ask him what had happened after she left. How had he known where to find her? She wondered if someone had come to get him too. She was too distracted with the pain though.
“I don’t know how much longer I can last,” she breathed, holding her stomach. The baby was moving around inside, and it was now visible to the two men as well.
“Jesus,” Bill said, rubbing his neck. “That’s gotta hurt. What do you have in there—a gymnast?”
“A werewolf,” Jake said, rubbing his hand on her stomach. The baby seemed to calm somewhat from his touch, and Josie felt her muscles unclench. Sweat beaded her forehead, and her knees felt weak.
“I need to sit down,” she said. She tried to sit on the ground, but Jake held her upright by holding her firmly under her elbow.
“We need to get far away from here; we didn’t exactly cover up the trap door,” he said firmly.
She knew he was right, but she didn’t know how much longer she could carry herself through the tunnel. It was a little under a mile. When it was being built, she hadn’t seen a problem with that. Now, she wished she’d made it much smaller.
Without warning, Jake scooped her up and began to carry her through the tunnel.
“Jake!” Josie protested, wiggling a bit to get down. “I can’t let you do this.”
“The hell you can’t,” Bill puffed beside them. “He’s the father, and he’s going to do his job. You do yours.”
“Just hold on, Josie,” Jake murmured in her ear. She wrapped her arms around him and gave up the fight. It wasn’t worth it to argue; he was right.
They were nearly halfway when he started carrying her, and within minutes, they were out. Jake carried her to a soft patch of grass and set her down gently. He looked over at Bill, “Now what?”
“We wait,” Bill said. “Are you alright here, Josie? Do you think this is the real deal or a false alarm?”
“This is it,” Josie said, moaning. “I’m trying to time them, but they’re just getting closer together. It’s happening so quickly. I don’t think I’m ready.”
Bill put his hand on her hair and smoothed it down. “You’re ready, honey. If this baby is ready to come out, you’re ready to be its mom. And you got nothing to worry about. You have all the support you need and more. You won’t need to look far for help, I promise.”
“But it’s…I don’t have anyone. I don’t have any family….” Josie trailed off, and tears began to spill out of her eyes.
“You have a family,” Bill said gently. “I think of you like my daughter, just ask Jake, I was just telling him that. And Lucy feels the same way. Jake here, well, he can speak for himself, I suppose.” He gave a Jake a long look and stood up after he saw her sniff and nod at his words.
“It’s too far to get to the car, but I can go get it so it’s closer at least,” Bill said to them.
Jake nodded. “If we have to move, I’ll call you. Or we can meet back at the spot where we were last night. It’s not far from here.”
Bill agreed and left quickly after one last worried look at Josie.
Josie felt comforted by Bill’s words. He did feel like a father to her, more like her own had ever been. She appreciated all his kind words to her, but while he was speaking, she couldn’t help but wonder why Jake wasn’t comforting her the same way. He was usually so tender with her; she was surprised that he was acting aloof at a time like this.
He did pick her up and carry her through the tunnel, she thought. She was probably overreacting. Another stabbing pain coursed through her, and she clenched the grass around her to ride out the pain. Jake fell to his knees then and held her hands.
“What can I do?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I just want you to be here with me.”
“I’m here,” he said. “I’m right here.”
“I know, but you don’t feel like you’re here. It feels like you’re somewhere else—owwww!” She grabbed her stomach with one hand and gripped his hand with the other.
“Wow! Okay, that’s some super-human strength right there,” Jake said.
Josie would have laughed at the look of shock on his face if she wasn’t in so much pain. Once it passed, she slumped against the tree. “I think they’re about two minutes apart,” she gasped. Can you watch the time?”
Jake nodded, “It’s less than that, actually. One and a half minutes apart. We should get you ready to push.”
“Do you know what you’re doing?” Josie asked him as he took off his shirt to lay it down, making her space more comfortable.
“I think so,” he said assuredly. “I started watching some videos on birthing and the process as soon as I found out you were pregnant. I wanted to be involved in everything.”
“Can you be involved in the actual pushing?” Josie moaned.
“I wish I could,” Jake said apologetically. “But I promise to do any nighttime duty. Whatever you need. Diapers, the works.”
She didn’t get a chance to respond as another pain wracked her body. This time it lasted longer, causing her to clench and contort in ways she’d never done before. She found the most comfortable position was not on her back but on her knees, gripping the tree trunk for support.
Jake circled around and helped her through the next one, and then the next three that came in quick succession. “Josie,” Jake said soothingly. “I think it’s time you laid down and got ready to push. Your water broke a long time ago, and you’re only about thirty seconds apart. I lost track of exactly how much because of how much it’s sped up.”
Josie was murmuring prayers, and her head was tossing left and right. “Please, Jake,” her eyes filled with tears. “Help me onto my back.”
Jake complied quickly and adjusted her so that she was lying mostly on his shirt. He eyed her cardigan and quickly sat her up to draw it off as well and balled it up as a makeshift pillow.
“Thanks,” she huffed. Then she began to push. In a matter of minutes, she was on the verge of pushing the baby out, and wondering if she would make it out of it alive. She looked at Jake in wonderment. She’d sought him out to rescue her from her situation, and he’d followed her back here to help save her, even after he’d found out who her father was.
With a final heave, she felt the baby come out, and she collapsed on the ground.
“Ah, can I use the sweater?” Jake sounded nervous. He helped her drop the front of her dress down lower so she wasn’t as exposed.
Josie looked up to see Jake cradling the baby covered in its after birth and looking for something to cover it with. “Here,” she said handing him the cardigan with a small laugh.
“We need to clear his nose,” Jake said, looking around.
Bill jogged up to them at that moment. “Dear God!” he said loudly at the baby mewling against Jake. “Here,” he said, handing Josie a large printed bag.
“What’s this?” she asked. “It’s not mine.”
“It is now. From Lucy. She packed a diaper bag for me to take before I left. Said it would come in handy.”
“The woman is a genius,” Jake said, digging into the bag. Finding a suction, he began to clean up the baby and found a container of wipes that he used to give the baby a sponge bath. While he busied himself with that, Josie tried to sit up to clean herself as best as she could. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Lucy had thought to include personal care items for her as well. She would have to remember to thank her profusely for all her help when she got back home. Home. Josie smiled a little at that. It felt good to call someplace ‘home’ and mean it.
Jake finally handed her the baby, and she felt overwhelmed. Maybe it was too early to tell, but he looked just like a miniature version of Jake. His fists were balled up next to his face, and his rosebud mouth was puckered. Aside from a few peeps of protest when Jake was clearing his nose and mouth, he’d barely made a sound. “He’s an angel,” she whispered, looking at Jake. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She hadn’t realized how cold she was until he did that.
“I hate to hurry you both along,” Bill interrupted, “but that’s just what I’ve come to do. There’s a guy who seems like he’s heading out this way. Is there something else out here?” Bill asked looking at Josie.
“No,” Josie said firmly. “Do you think he saw the trap door?”
“Doubtful, or he would have come out of it,” Jake said.
“Then they probably think you’re still in there,” Bill said thoughtfully. He got a gleam in his eye.
“Jake, you go take care of that guy, and I’ll stay here with Josie and the baby.”
Jake handed the baby to Bill with no arguments. “Will do. Where was he coming from?”
Bill pointed the way, and Jake leaped into action to track the man down. He turned back quickly to give Josie a firm kiss on her lips, and she held his face with both of her hands to make the kiss linger more. It felt like forever since he’d kissed her last. Breaking free, he kissed her forehead and disappeared into the line of trees.
“Now, I have a job for you,” Bill said quickly. He withdrew a wire from his pocket, his other arm firmly holding the baby.
“A job?” Josie was confused.
“I didn’t want to tell you while Jake was here because he’d never agree. But I think the only way to clear his name is to get Caster to admit that he made everything up. I have a wire here. How can you have a conversation with him without getting trapped again?”
Josie’s mind raced. “I can go back to the room. He’ll come soon, most likely when David comes to have lunch with me.”
“No, absolutely not. You can’t go back there,” Bill said. “Maybe if you called him on the phone?”
“He won’t talk to me on the phone,” Josie protested. “He’s extremely paranoid, and he always thinks that phone lines are tapped.”
Bill shook his head. “Then we’ll think of another plan.”
Josie felt like their only opportunity was now. “I want to do it now. Trust me, nothing is going to happen to me right now. They don’t even know I escaped. If I try to do this later, they’ll be on high alert, and he won’t admit to anything!”
Bill looked uncertain.
“Please, Bill!” Josie pleaded. She was already sitting up and getting ready to walk. She felt steady enough and knew she could walk gingerly and make it there with a little time to spare if she left now.
“Alright. But Jake is never going to trust me again.”
“You just take care of the little guy,” Josie said, bending to kiss the baby. “He’s a good sleeper. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“No one has ever said those words and come back that easily,” Bill warned. “You have a baby now; don’t take any unnecessary chances.”
Josie nodded and began to walk back toward the mouth of the tunnel. “Wait, what about my sweater? They might notice that I don’t have it on anymore.”
“They’ll be more curious about why you’re not pregnant anymore,” Bill said dryly.
“Oh no! You’re right!” Thinking quickly, Josie grabbed her cardigan and tried to clean it up as much as she could. “I’m lucky this is black.”
She slipped it on and found Jake’s t-shirt. “I’ll have to stuff this under my dress to make up for not having a bulge,” she said. She grabbed some of the items Lucy had put in the bag for her and left for the tunnel.
***
Once Josie was inside the room, she arranged the wire under her dress and covered it with the cardigan. It felt a little damp after having been used as a towel with the baby moments earlier, but she hoped the men weren’t observant. Then, she formed a loose ball with Jake’s shirt and placed it under her dress. She didn’t have a mirror in the room, but from her vantage point, it looked round enough to look like her pregnant stomach.
Careful to leave the same door open that David had left open earlier, she went through her routine of locking the door and got back into the bed. She felt a chilled to the bone and proceeded to wrap herself up with the blanket. When she left next time, she was taking it with her. Just as her eyes were closing, she heard a familiar series of clicks and footsteps. Father.
“Hello, Josie. Where is David? He said he’s meeting us here for lunch.”
“I don’t know,” Josie said hesitantly. “He said he was coming for a late lunch, but I haven’t seen him.” She wondered if this was a trap. Maybe he already knew she’d escaped and he was just toying with her. She wouldn’t put it past him to do something like that.
“Let me call him,” Caster muttered. He held the phone to his ear and waited. Josie heard the ringing in the quiet room and then an automatic response. “No answer,” Caster said, hanging up.
“I’ll say, that man has been acting pretty high-handed with me lately. I don’t like it.” He paced back and forth in front of her bed. Josie was glad for the distraction. At least now she wouldn’t be the focus of attention. He was also easier to talk to once he was distracted by something.
“Father,” she began slowly.
“Hmm,” he said, flipping through his phone.
Josie wondered if he had a tracking device on David’s phone. He used to do that with people he didn’t trust, and if he had a reason to be suspicious of someone, he kept tabs on them.
“Why are you after Jake, anyway?”
Her father looked up to give her a sharp look. “What are you talking about now?”
“I mean, why are you chasing him? What did he do? And what good is he to you?”
“He didn’t do anything,” Caster began, then he corrected himself. “He was useful for me for a time, until he became a nuisance. All he had to do was follow orders, and he could have had a cut of what I was getting. But he thought he was too good for it.”
He snorted. “He wasn’t too good for it. No one is too good for it. He just had a higher price. Remember that. Everyone has their price. His was just too high for me, and he left talking about morals and why he joined the military. As far as he knew, they were missions. He did something illegal by digging into my paperwork, and that’s how he found out I was using him to take care of…other business.”
“What business?” Josie interrupted. She wanted to keep him talking, but she also needed more details. He was always being vague and a little coy about the things he did. She was sure there was some paperwork on the things that he did; he was the type of person who would keep detailed accounts of someone’s death to relish over later. Or to reassess and try a different approach next time if something went wrong.
“You don’t need to worry about that,” her father said, glaring at her. “You certainly are curious about him. Are you missing him? You need to get over him fast. David’s not going to like sharing you with anyone. I already promised you to him, and it’s too late to back out now. Anyway, you might not have to be married to him for long. His son, you know, Sam? He and I have been talking, and I think we might have found a way to cut his father out of his deal. But it will have to wait until after you marry David.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Josie practically shrieked. “What kind of father are you?”
The emotions of the day began to catch up with her. She needed Jake. Even if he was being slightly distant with her, she would still prefer him over this any day. She couldn’t believe how her father was talking to her. It was unfathomable. She was nothing more than a ticket, and he would pass her around as a bargaining chip until she was no longer useful. It was disgusting.
Suddenly, the door was thrown open by one of the guards. “David said to send help!”