Hunted, A Romantic Suspence Novel (27 page)

“Oh, I’m not a Marshal, Mr. Pike,” Luke announced from the library’s doorway. “You’ll have to contact my boss separately.”

Frank wanted to hit him.

“And who are your superiors?” Pike seated himself in a leather chair, and motioned them to take a seat.

Luke gave the man a movie-star smile and handed the lawyer his ID case. “The Treasury Department. IRS investigator Edgars at your service and I’ll be looking into all your finances from this moment, back to the very first dollar you ever made. Unless of course you’d like to cooperate with my friend the Marshal here.”

If possible, the lawyer paled further.

Castello reconsidered decking Luke. Instead, he went to the side bar, located the whiskey and poured Pike a tumblerful. “Here. You’re going to need this.”

The lawyer took the glass in his shaky hands. Drinking the whiskey a little too fast, he coughed and sputtered a few times, then set the glass aside. “What is it you want from me, gentlemen?”

“You’re Jacob Strict’s lawyer, correct?” Frank asked, flipping open a pocket notepad.

“You know I am, or you wouldn’t be here.” Pike seemed to relax. “And you also know that anything said to me by him is privileged information. So you have wasted your time coming here, and cost me valuable sleep.”

Frank leaned forward. “And you also know that as an officer of the court you’re obliged to divulge to the authorities any information Strict may have given you of future crimes he’s planning.”

Still holding onto his bravado, Pike gave a shaky laugh. “In twenty-four hours the man will be dead. Where is he going to commit these future crimes from? The grave?”

“That’s actually what we believe he has planned.” Frank flipped a few pages in his notebook. “In fact, we believe he has already sent a hit man after his stepdaughter, Sarah Strict, in the hopes of silencing her before he dies. Is this true?”

“I have no knowledge of this rumor.”

“How is Strict financing the hit on his stepdaughter?” Luke asked from where he lounged on the corner of the leather sofa. “Are you dispersing the funds for him?”

Pike took another sip of whiskey, his hands shaking slightly. “It would be illegal for me to pay out funds to finance a felony, gentlemen.”

Frank flipped another page in his notebook. “We also have information that Strict is planning an act of terrorism against the United States Government, scheduled for some time after his execution tomorrow night. Is this true?”

The lawyer blinked. His calm facade cracked slightly.

Frank smiled. “You didn’t know we knew that, did you?”

“Again, I have no knowledge of this alleged plan.”

“If you did, you’d be honor-bound to report it, wouldn’t you, Mr. Pike?”

“Of course. I am an officer of the court and know my duty.”

Castello fought the urge to gesture he’d just scored a touchdown. Instead, he pulled out his pocket tape recorder.

“What’s that?” Pike gripped the tumbler of liquor tighter.

“Just a little something we picked up on our way to see you.” Castello set it on the table. “Are you sure you don’t want to change your statement?”

Then he hit play.

“With the stroke of midnight, this false government will cease my physical existence. But my immortality will be etched in the history of the world forever…”
Jacob Strict’s voice filled the room.

* * * * *

The misty gray light filtered through the bedroom curtains as dawn inched its way onto the horizon. Katie stood across the room, dressed in her jeans and hiking boots, watching Matt sleep beneath the quilts on the honeymoon suite bed.

Already she missed his warm body pressed against hers, the subtle spices of his cologne and the feel of his lips. Her body and soul screamed for her to climb into bed with him and never come out.

But her heart and mind knew she couldn’t come to him as half a person. Until she dealt with her past demons, they’d haunt her future forever. Matt taught her that. He’d helped her learn not to hide from her painful memories. His great patience was one of the things she loved about him.

The idea surprised her, then warmed her.

She did love him. She loved him with all her heart.

How had she come to love this man in such a short time? From the moment he’d offered her that steaming cup of hot chocolate on the roadside almost two weeks ago, he’d laid siege to the concrete walls surrounding her heart. Like a knight of old, he’d stormed the citadel and finally found the maiden trapped in the ice tower.

God, now I sound like some medieval troubadour.

Katie shook her head then slid her hand in Matt’s coat pocket. Without jangling them, she eased his car keys out, along with his cell phone.

With a last glance back at the bed, she wished one more time her life could be different. She really hated doing this. He’d probably never forgive her. But she wouldn’t let him put himself in danger for her. If anything happened to him, she’d never survive it. He’d come to mean that much to her.

An hour earlier she’d written him a letter explaining where she was going and why. Now she set the envelope on top of his boots. Then grabbing her backpacks, she slipped out the door and away from the one man in her life who’d stood by her.

Outside in the cold, Katie eased the SUV into gear and headed back onto the road. Matt had been right. It was much easier to face your nightmares during the light of a new day instead of in the dark of night.

She smiled and felt her cheeks heat remembering all he’d shown her the night before. In the intimate confines of their suite he’d replaced all her fears of the dark with images of love and sharing.

Five miles down the road, she flipped open his cell phone and punched the call list. Finding the number she wanted, she hit speed dial.

“Luke? This is Katie.” She turned the SUV around a series of curves. A few more miles and she’d be at the right turn.

“Katie? Man, I’m glad to hear from you. You two okay?”

“Yes. We’re both fine.”

“Did you make it to Strict’s compound okay? Have you got the stuff?”

Through the static on the phone, he sounded a little worried. God, she hated cell phones.

“No, we didn’t make it there last night. But I’m getting the papers today.” She watched the road up ahead. The road to the compound should be after the next bend. “I need you to do something for me. Pick up something, actually.”

“Sure, whatever you need kid. Put my brother on first. I need to talk to him a sec.”

“Um, that’s what I need you to do for me.”

“What, Katie? I can’t hear you through this connection. What do you need me to do?”

“Pick up your brother. He’s at a bed and breakfast on Farm Road 544 heading west from the state route. If you leave Columbus now, you should get there in about four hours.”

“Katie…not in…trouble.” Luke’s voice faded in and out as she headed under power lines.

“No, Matt’s not in trouble. Just go get him for me.” She slowed for the turn onto the snow-covered, gravel road. “This connection is breaking up, Luke. Tell your brother…tell him I’m sorry.”

She tucked Matt’s phone in the seat next to her amid the wires she’d stolen from the truck at the bed and breakfast. Lord knows she had plenty to apologize for this morning.

Shifting into a lower gear, she turned onto the unplowed road that led her back to the hell of her youth. The passing years since she’d hiked her way along this path, through the dark night, fearing each second that someone would find her and force her to return, had taken their toll on the landscape. The oaks and maples, now devoid of their leaves for the winter, towered higher than four stories. The evergreens spread like giants among the bushes and underbrush.

Would she be able to find the place? People depended on her memories, the memories of a frightened teenager, to find the missing piece to the crazed mind of a maniac.

She maneuvered the SUV along the deepening forest’s winding curves. Then an electric security gate appeared out of nowhere. Startled, she slammed on the brakes. The front wheels skidded on the ice and snow. The car fishtailed. Without thinking, she spun the wheel the opposite direction, eased her foot off the brake, downshifted, and prayed. The vehicle straightened, and she pumped the brakes. The SUV stopped, sideways, right next to the gate.

Panting, she slumped in the seat, her arm and head resting on the steering wheel.

“Well, that’s one lesson Strict taught me that came in handy.” She inhaled and exhaled deeply to help calm herself.

Silence. She shook her head. In all the years she’d lived in the Family’s noisy confines, she’d learned to fear the silence in these woods. It always meant trouble.

“This is an army, and you are all soldiers. You’ll spend the next forty-eight hours in this forest, learning to survive. You will hunt your own food, make your own fire, and conceal yourself at all times from the enemy.”
Strict’s voice rang in her ears.

The ten other teens he’d ordered into the forest that freezing morning thought they were preparing for some revolution against the government. They believed Strict’s claim that the government was their enemy.

But she’d known the truth.

The enemy was Strict. If she failed at one step of the exercise she would’ve been disciplined in front of everyone. Humiliation had been his favorite weapon.

But this time you won’t win, you bastard.

She shrugged off her memories and pulled her weapon from her pocket. Checking the magazine by rote, she slipped the gun back into her pocket.
Never hurts to be prepared.

Standing in front of the padlocked gate, she shivered in the cold. For years she’d dreamed of leaving these gates. Never in the past decade had she dreamed she’d need to scale her way back into this place.

Now she had to go through this hellish place one more time. On the other side lay the woods she’d trekked through and the cliff she’d climbed down in order to hide Strict’s precious papers. If she couldn’t stop him, no one could.

Better get on with it. An unpleasant task is best done quickly.
Wow, she hadn’t remembered her father telling her that in years.

Katie glanced back at the car where his picture remained safely nestled in her backpack, then smiled. If Dad was talking to her after all these years, then maybe he was watching over her again. Or maybe he always had been, and Matt helped her open her heart enough to listen.

Years before, the gate in front of her had sizzled with electricity when locked each night. Strict told them it was necessary to keep out the enemy. But she knew it was to keep them inside as prisoners. Every inch of remaining fence was topped with barbed wire.

Again she heard her Dad’s words. “Always check for danger before crossing the street.”

Bending, she gathered a handful of snow and packed the material into a tight snowball. She took a step back and hurled the white ball at the gate. The cold missile hit a bar then fell to the ground in pieces, without a single spark or crack of sizzling electricity.

“Good. At least I won’t end up like fried chicken.”

She grasped the bars to begin scaling. The rusted padlock caught her eye. Perhaps the metal had rusted through in the past ten years. It couldn’t be that easy to get into the place, could it?

Oh hell, why not?

Bracing herself in front of the padlock, she grabbed the bars on either side, and pulled hard. The lock hinge snapped, and the gate opened in front of her. She stumbled back a few steps and laughed. “Well, that worked. Strict was right about one thing. The government hasn’t paid much attention to maintaining the security here.”

Taking a deep breath, she opened the gate and took a step inside the grounds. Slowly, she exhaled, willing her heart to slow to a normal pace.

Nothing happened. What had she expected? To be transported back in time, like some time-warp thing?

She headed along the path to where the main buildings were. On her right stood the vacant dog kennels. Out of habit, she moved to the path’s far left side.

“What’s a matter, girl? Scared of some dogs? Never met a bigger coward than you.”

Katie shook her head once more to clear her mind of Strict’s voice. Was he going to haunt her every footstep in here?

She stepped into the compound’s main circle known as the common. Some would’ve compared it to an old town square. The main meeting hall sat in the center. Strict’s office had been inside. Surrounding it were the mess hall, the barracks for the single men on one side, and the single women and teens on the other. In the rear sat the munitions hall. Her bomb-building shack lay nearly fifty yards to the left and rear.

Slowly, she moved around the circle to her left. It was like walking in one of those Western ghost towns. Everywhere she looked, she expected to see someone from the past step out and walk across the common. The eerie feeling left her sweating in the cold.

Once she passed in front of the main meeting hall she froze. There it was. The object of many of her nightmares.

To the casual observer it was simply an abandoned flag pole. But if you looked closely, you could see the fine lines where the whip had curled around her body and dug into the pole’s wood.

She began to shake again, fine tremors that gradually increased until she couldn’t stand. She fell to her knees, her arms wrapped protectively around her body. She keened, rocking back and forth, a low moan filling the air around her.

Then she curled into a ball, lying on her side in fetal position. The pain was so great. Pain she hadn’t allowed herself to feel all those years ago. It swept over her like a tsunami.

Darkness closed in on her as her wails bounced off the compound’s silent walls surrounding her, echoing into a giant symphony of despair.

* * * * *

Feeling better than he ever remembered, Matt stretched in the bed, his hand reaching for the warm body on the other side. He met only the cold linens and pillow.

“Katie?” He sat up in bed, and scanned the room in the dim early morning light. It was empty. Her bags were gone. She’d taken everything. She’d gone on without him.