Nowhere to Run (16 page)

Suddenly, something crashed into the other side of the blanket and knocked her backward. The men were right there! Close enough to touch. What should she do? Seth had ordered her to stay hidden, yet this changed everything. Or did it?

Of course it did. What kind of heroine stayed in hiding and let her hero take a beating when she might be able to prevent it? Seth might not be the kind of man she should spend the rest of her life with, but he was still her champion. She had to do something.

Slipping out from under the pitch dark of the blanket with a last, firm warning for Patty, she blinked to try to hurry her eyes' adjustment to the change in the amount of light.

She didn't have to see well to be awed by the intensity of the men's struggle. They were lunging, swinging, staggering around so rapidly and covering so much ground, it was impossible to tell who was who.

Marie edged cautiously out of the way, hoping she'd discover some way to help Seth. There must be something she could do, some way to tip the balance in his favor.

One of the men rose up and hit the other on the head with something small, probably a rock or the butt of a gun. The sharp, cracking noise brought bile to her throat. As she watched in horror, the victim slumped back onto the forest floor and didn't move.

Marie froze. She wasn't sure whether anyone had noticed her and didn't want to call attention to Patty's hiding place by making noise.

Squinting, she tried to see better. Both men were relatively the same size. They had both been dressed in dark clothing and were now equally camouflaged with mud and leaves from their battle.

One was standing over the other with his back to Marie. She saw the glint of a gun in the moonlight. That could be Seth, she reasoned. Or he could be the man lying prostrate on the ground. Surely, if Seth were the victor, he wouldn't shoot a man in cold blood, no matter how much he hated him.

The click of the armed man cocking his pistol sent shivers up Marie's spine. That wasn't Seth. It couldn't be. Not if he was half the man she thought he was.

A broken branch lay among the forest litter at her feet. Bending slowly, she hefted it as well as a small rock.

The fighter who had remained standing laughed maniacally and raised his pistol, affirming her conclusion.

Marie threw the rock as far as she could to one side, then grabbed the broken branch with both hands.

The man whirled and fired at the crash of the rock.

Marie lunged and brought the branch down on his head as hard as she could.

The blow wasn't enough to knock him out. Stunned, he faltered and started to swing his pistol toward her.

She reared back like a baseball player, swung with all her might and batted him out of the ballpark.

 

Seth regained consciousness just in time to see Marie's bravery. He could hardly fault her for leaving her hiding place when she had clearly saved his life.

He raised on one elbow. “Nice aim, lady. Remind me to recruit you for the Serenity All-Star team.”

“Oh, Seth!” She fell to her knees at his side. “I was afraid he'd killed you.”

“He would have, if you hadn't conked him the way you did. Where did you learn to hit like that?”

“Girls' softball in high school.” She eyed their enemy with trepidation. “Did I kill him?”

“I doubt it.” Seth started to rise, letting Marie assist him. “Let's get him tied up just in case he comes to. Is Patty okay?”

“She's fine,” Marie said through tears of joy. “Judging by the way that blanket is moving, I think she's got your dog under there with her.”

“Probably. I was afraid Eccles would shoot Babe, too.”

“Then that is the man you thought it was?”

“That's him,” Seth said, rubbing the knot on his head. “He's still dangerous. But now it looks like I'll be able to prove my innocence. He has to have lied to his superiors in order to have arranged this mission to kill me. That alone will give them reason to listen to my side of the story for once.”

“I wish I could say the same,” Marie said sadly. “Even with Roy dead, I still have those old partners of his chasing me. How am I ever going to prove I'm innocent?”

A strange voice echoed from the distance. “Tell me where you are and what the blazes is going on out here, and I'll believe anything you say.”

Seth immediately pulled Marie into his arms and turned sideways to shield her.

“This is the Fulton County Sheriff,” the voice explained, drawing closer. “So don't shoot. I'm one of the good guys.”

“So are we,” Marie shouted back at him. “So are we.”

B
y the time the sheriff's men had hauled the stunned Eccles to a waiting ambulance and had guided Marie and the others back to the campground, it was nearly midnight.

She gladly climbed into the back of the sheriff's car with Patty and cuddled her close.

Seth leaned in. “Are you warm enough?”

“I will be,” she answered, her teeth chattering. “Right now, all of me is numb, even my brain.”

He nodded toward the sheriff. “Harlan here says I can drive my truck back to town myself. Do you mind?”

“No,” Marie said. “Just be careful, okay?”

“I will.” He started to reach for her hand, then stopped, so she tucked it beneath the blanket and he withdrew farther.

As he closed the car door, Marie was struck by an immense sense of loss, of loneliness. Had she come to rely so strongly on Seth's sustaining, strong presence that she missed him already, even though he was standing right outside the car? Apparently so.

Well, you'd better get used to it,
she told herself.
All the excitement is over. He has no more reason to hang around and baby you.

Although she had known that from the start, the thought still struck her like a dagger in her heart. It was essentially over, wasn't it? Oh, there would be plenty of details to iron out and lots of explaining to do, but if the sheriff was right about her pursuers being either dead or out of commission, she and Patty were probably quite safe. That was a relief.

Slamming the driver's door, Harlan glanced back at her. “Ready to go, ma'am?”

“As ready as I'm going to get,” Marie replied. “I don't think I've ever been this cold before.”

“I put the heater on high,” he said amiably. “You'll warm up soon. And I'll take you and your little girl by the hospital so you can be checked out, just to make sure you're both okay.”

“Is that really necessary?”

“It's standard procedure,” he answered. “Sorry about your car. You were lucky you got out of it when you did.”

“There's no sign of it yet?”

He shook his head as he turned the car around and started back along the muddy road to the highway. “Not yet. But we'll find it. The creek narrows about three miles out of town. It didn't sink upstream, as far as we can tell, so it's probably snagged down around there somewhere.”

“I don't know how to thank you. Any of you,” Marie said, fighting back tears of weariness and despair. “I don't know what I'm going to do now. Everything I owned was packed in that old car.”

“Don't you worry,” Harlan said. “We take care of our own. After we finish at the hospital, I'll see that you both get clean, dry clothes.”

“You will?”

“Of course.” His smile was reflected in the rearview mirror. “Seth tells me you're acquainted with Becky Malloy. She's in charge of the community pantry. We keep both food and clothing available there for emergencies like this.”

“I guess it is an emergency,” Marie admitted. “I hate to be a bother, though.”

“No bother. Serenity is like a big family. We have our local stinkers, sure, but we also have plenty of good folks who'll look out for you.”

Meaning I won't need to bother Seth anymore,
she added to herself. That figured. He had his own problems. Boy, did he. If that man she had hit over the head was any example of the kind of dangerous people who were after Seth, poor Roy had been a piker by comparison.

“Did—did the man you said was shot say anything about me?” she asked, dreading the answer.

Harlan nodded. “Sure did. Seems he and his buddies were chasing you because they thought you had money that belonged to them.” He chuckled. “If they'd stayed in Baton Rouge a little longer, they'd have known that the ransom had been recovered. All of it. They were on a wild-goose chase. Two of them died for nothing.”

“What about the other man? Is he still out to get me?”

“Nope,” the sheriff said. “He's been told he made a big mistake. Besides, by the time the law gets through with him, he's going to prison for a good, long time.”

Marie gave a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”

“Sure enough, ma'am. Looks like the good Lord is takin' fine care of you and your little girl.” Pausing, he added, “So, what are your plans from here on out?”

“I don't have a clue. I suppose I'll try to get my car repaired, providing the water hasn't ruined it, and then go back to Louisiana.”

“Um, not right off, okay? I imagine I'll need your testimony, and it would be much easier if you were close by, at least for a while. If you don't mind.”

“No. I don't mind.” Marie was secretly relieved to have found a plausible reason to stop running, to stay in Serenity for a little longer. She was tired of feeling disconnected and homeless. It would be good to spend a few more days or weeks among the friendly folks in the little Ozark town.

And beyond that? She was so weary, so emotionally drained, that she didn't want to have to plan any further. Later, she'd make plans. Right now, all she wanted to do was cuddle up with her daughter, praise God for their deliverance and close her eyes for just an instant.

Before the sheriff's car reached the highway, she was sound asleep.

 

Seth was deep in contemplation as he followed Marie and the rest of the cars back to town. Eccles had regained consciousness long enough to boast about his subterfuge, meaning that Jonathan wasn't alive after all. That had been a blow. Seth felt as if he was having to bid his friend a final goodbye for the second time. It didn't hurt as much as it had initially, but it was still painful.

And now what?
he wondered. When he saw Harlan turn and lead the way to the emergency entrance of the tiny county hospital just off the highway, his breath caught. Was there something wrong with Marie? Or with Patty?

He whipped into the parking lot and leaped out of his truck, intending to follow them inside. Instead, he was grabbed and held fast by several men clad in black clothing and bulletproof vests.

“Let me go!”

“Easy, man,” one of them said. “We just want to talk to you.”

“Not now. I have to go inside,” Seth insisted.

“In a minute. First, I'd like a few answers.”

Seth's head whipped around as he recognized the man's voice. “Mac? Is that you?”

“Yeah, it's me. Now settle down and tell me what in blazes has been going on around here. Eccles has been acting like some kind of a madman.”

“He
is
crazy if he thinks I'm going to let him get away with it this time,” Seth said firmly. “He's been trying to kill me ever since I found out he was behind the theft of military secrets from some of our best clients.”

“What about your wife?”

“He killed her, too, or had her killed,” Seth insisted. “I could never prove it, but I know he was responsible. Jonathan Biggs had been trying to help me prove my innocence—until he was murdered. After that, I figured the best thing to do was go into hiding, so that's what I did. I wouldn't have tipped my hand and gotten in touch with the agency again if I hadn't felt I had to.”

Mac nodded understandingly. “I figured it had to be something like that. We've had our eye on Eccles for months now, ever since there was another breach of internal security. If you hadn't come back into the picture and stirred things up, we might never have been able to pin anything on him.”

“What about Alice's murder? Am I still a suspect?”

“You won't be. Not after we get all this straightened out. We will need you to come back to Philly for a bit, though. Think you can get away?”

“If it means I'll be free from then on, I'll make it happen. When?”

“As soon as possible. How about tonight?”

Seth eyed the emergency entrance, then nodded. “All right. Let me make sure the woman and child are okay first?”

“Sure.” Mac stepped back. “As far as I'm concerned, you're not under arrest. Do what you have to do. We'll wait out here.”

“Thanks,” Seth said, smiling. “I will be back, you know.”

The other agent grinned at him. “I don't doubt it for a second, man. You always were so honest it made the rest of us look bad even when we were behaving ourselves. Just make it snappy, okay?”

 

The first person Seth saw when he burst through the door was Logan Malloy. Judging by the serene look on the pastor's face, all was well.

Seth shook Logan's hand. “Are they okay?”

“Fine,” Logan assured him. “Only a few bruises from your little adventure. The doc wants to keep them here overnight, just to be sure, but he says there's nothing to worry about.”

Shoulders sagging, Seth sighed. “Good. When I saw Harlan pull in here, I started imagining the worst.”

“Speaking of worse things,” the pastor said, “when were you going to tell me about your past problems with this guy Eccles? I might have been able to help you get justice, you know.”

“I know. And I was going to confess everything, eventually. But after Marie came to town and I started trying to protect her, I didn't want anything to happen that might pull me away. Not when she needed me so badly.”

“What about now?” Logan asked.

Seth gestured toward the parking lot. “The men who were with Eccles are out there, waiting for me.”

“And?”

“And, I suppose the fairest thing to do is to go with them now and get it all over with.” He glanced down the hallway, hoping to catch a glimpse of Marie. “I just wish I could talk to her before I leave.”

“And tell her what?”

Shrugging, Seth shook his head. “Beats me. I'd like to be able to say I've been cleared of all charges, but I can't know that for sure until I go back to Philadelphia and face the music.”

“Then maybe that's what you should do.”

“But what if she leaves Serenity? What if I lose all track of her?”

Smiling, the pastor patted Seth on the shoulder. “I wouldn't worry about that. Harlan has already told her he wants her to stay in town indefinitely, as a prosecution witness. It looks to me as if the good Lord has the whole situation well in hand.”

Seth's brow knit and he stared at Logan, incredulous. “Stay here? Isn't the case against Roy Jenkins's cohorts based in Baton Rouge?”

Logan's smile broadened into a grin. His eyebrows arched. “Could be. Don't you think we should obey whatever the sheriff tells us in this case instead of questioning him?”

“Yes, I do,” Seth said, sharing a chuckle with his clever friend and pastor. “I always did say Harlan was the best sheriff this town has ever had. If he says Marie has to stay, then he must have a very good reason.”

“I think so, too.” Logan laughed. “Just hurry back, will you? If your Marie asks me directly, I'm going to have to tell her the truth, and I'd hate for you to miss your big chance to tell her you love her.”

“Who said I…?” Seth's relief and good humor were impossible to deny so he let himself laugh again. “Okay. You win. Look after her while I'm gone?”

“Like a member of my own family,” Logan said. “Come to think of it, she's a believer, so she is family.” He shook Seth's hand. “Keep us posted?”

“Will do.” He eyed the door beyond which his former comrades waited. “Guess I'd better go before they decide I'm not as innocent as I'd claimed. Oh, and Babe is out in my truck. Will you take care of her, too? Let Patty have her if she wants.”

“Sure. See you soon,” Logan predicted, waving goodbye.

Seth turned and straight-armed his way through the swinging doors. He hoped with all his heart that Logan was right. Walking back into the fray and trusting Corp. Inc. to get it right this time was more frightening than ever, because this time there was someone on the outside whom he cared about. Someone who might actually be waiting for him once he was cleared.

And if he wasn't cleared? Seth gritted his teeth. If he went to jail after all, it was better that he had not had the chance to tell Marie how much he loved her. The last thing he wanted was for her to put her life on hold while he rotted in prison.

For Seth, the worst thought was not that he might be incarcerated. It was that he might never see Marie—or Patty—again.

 

Marie had not intended to hang around Serenity once all her legal problems were settled, but the sheriff kept insisting that he needed her as a witness, so she had stayed. She didn't know enough about the workings of the law to argue, and since he and his staff had managed to clear her of any wrongdoing in connection with Roy and his former criminal partners, she felt she owed him her willing cooperation.