Chapter 4
1008 Words
***
Present Day
“Hold on!” Marcus shouted, fighting the wheel as the car fishtailed across the dark highway.
This wasn’t real.
An hour ago she’d been shelving books. Now her life was falling apart
Marcus jerked the wheel hard right. The car lunged onto an exit ramp, tires shrieking in protest.
The SUV followed.
“Who are they?” Her voice barely made it past her throat.
“Kozlov’s people,” Marcus said.
“Where are you taking me?” she said, louder now. The road narrowed, trees closing in on both sides.
“Marcus?” she said.
"Somewhere safe."
"That's not an answer!" She twisted in her seat to look at him. "For all I know, you could be…"
"Leading you into a trap?" Marcus took a sharp turn without slowing down. "If I wanted you dead, I would have left you in that parking lot. Or better yet, I wouldn't have shown up at all."
He wasn’t wrong.
That didn’t make this any less insane.
Headlights crested the curve behind them, close enough now that they filled the rearview mirror.
“They’re gaining,” Beth said. She barely recognized her own voice.
Marcus pushed the accelerator down. The speedometer climbed past sixty. Seventy. Eighty. The road narrowed, black and twisting, barely wide enough to breathe.
The SUV surged closer. She could see two figures inside now. The passenger leaned out the window.
“Gun!”
Marcus yanked the wheel left. Gunshots cracked through the night. The rear windshield exploded, glass bursting inward. Beth screamed and folded, hands over her head.
“Stay down!”
Another shot. The headrest beside her jerked violently. Too close.
The smell hit her next; burnt metal, gunpowder. This wasn’t happening.
Marcus cut the wheel hard. The car lurched onto a dirt track, bouncing violently. Branches screamed along the sides, scraping paint, snapping against glass.
“What are you doing?” Beth gasped.
“Breaking line of sight.”
Behind them, the SUV tried to follow. It clipped a tree, spun, blocked the trail.
They burst onto another road. Marcus floored it.
“Did we…”
“Yes?”
"Rest stop ahead," Marcus said. "Fallback position. Scouted it last week."
"A fallback position?" Beth's laugh came out wrong. Too high. "How long have you been planning this?"
"Since I found you." He didn't look at her. "Came to warn you. That means contingencies."
"Well." Her voice shook. "Things definitely went…"
The rest stop materialized out of the darkness. Boarded windows. Empty parking spaces. Dead and forgotten.
Marcus killed the headlights.
"Out."
He was already moving before she could respond. Trunk popping. Beth stumbled out, her legs not quite working right. Everything was trembling; her hands, her breathing, something deep in her chest that wouldn't stop shaking.
Marcus yanked a duffel bag from the trunk. Black. Heavy.
"This way." His hand found hers and pulled.
"Your car…"
"We're leaving it."
Headlights swept into the rest stop behind them.
No. No no no.
They crashed through underbrush. Branches grabbed at her hair, her clothes, scratched her face. Behind them, car doors. Shouting. The sounds getting closer.
"How far?" Beth gasped.
"Half mile."
"To what?"
"Another vehicle."
"You have another.." She wanted to laugh. Or scream. "Of course you do."
"Told you. Contingencies."
They burst onto a narrow road. And there it was; dark pickup, tucked under the trees like it had been waiting.
Marcus unlocked it. They climbed in. He started the engine but kept the lights off. Navigating by moonlight alone.
Insane.
"Where now?" Beth asked.
"North."
"To?"
"Safe house."
"They'll find it." Her voice came out flat. Dead. "Just like they found me. Just like they'll keep finding me until…"
"This one's different." Marcus's jaw was tight. "Not in any database. Bought it two years ago under a shell company. No one knows."
She wanted to believe him.
God, she wanted to.
They drove. Silence pressing in from all sides. Beth's eyes locked on the side mirror. Waiting for headlights to appear. Waiting for the inevitable.
Her mind kept circling back. Three years ago. David's voice: "If anything happens to me, you run. Promise me."
"David mentioned you," she said quietly. "Few days before the trial. Said his partner would take over my protection after we testified." Her throat tightened. "We were supposed to meet."
Marcus's hands went white on the wheel.
"Why didn't we…" she asked.
"Not now."
"Then when?" Her voice cracked. "You want trust but you won't tell me anything. David trusted you. Said I should too. But David's dead and I don't… I can't just…"
"After David died, I got pulled." Marcus's voice was sharp. Rough. "Removed from the case. Then fired."
Beth stared at him.
"Took me two years to get reinstated and find you." He wasn't looking at her.
Two years. While she'd been hiding in Maine, pretending to be someone else, he'd been.. what? Fighting his way back?
"Why?" The word came out smaller than she meant it. "Why come for me at all?"
Marcus was quiet for so long she thought he wouldn't answer.
"To avenge David’s death."
His voice was barely there.
A phone rang.
Marcus pulled it out. Stared at the screen. His face went pale.
"Answer it," Beth said. Her stomach was already twisting, already knowing this would be bad.
Marcus's thumb hovered over the button. Hesitated.
Then he pressed the speaker. "Kane."
Then a voice; distorted, electronic.
"Hello, Marcus."
"Who is this?" Marcus's voice came out harder than before.
A low chuckle. "Still playing hero?" the voice continued. "Still think you can save her?"
"What do you want?"
"I want you to know something." The voice lost all humor. "She dies tonight. Nowhere you can hide." A pause. "We'll find you. We always do."
The line went dead.
Silence. Beth couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.
"Marcus." Her voice came out as a whisper. Broken. "What do we… what do we do now?"
Nothing.
He didn't answer.
And somehow that terrified her more than anything the voice had said.
- Writer
