Heavy: A Contemporary Romance (31 page)

Cali

I was able to tell immediately when we left the highway
. I moved from the bed and Thaddeus’ side, and went over to the window. During the trip, I’d arrived at two conclusions.

One, I could stand my ground and fight
. I instantly came up with a list of drawbacks to this idea. Most obviously the fact that I wasn’t a fighter, and I didn’t know if the kidnappers had a gun or not. I hadn’t seen one, but I couldn’t rule out the possibility that they did. This was closely followed by the fact that Thaddeus was cuffed to the bed and I couldn’t move him. I could make a ruckus and hope someone would hear, but I had no idea how populated the area was, and Josiah could just start up his car and move us.

So
, option one was out.

Option two was the one I
convinced myself might work. It came with its own different set of risks. This was the option where, as soon as the vehicle came to a permanent stop, I was going to slip out into the shadows and either get help or follow the kidnappers. They had to uncuff Thaddeus to move him. If my assumptions were correct, they would be moving him to a boat, and getting from the mobile home to any sort of water-worthy vessel would require some sort of walking. You couldn’t just pull a vehicle of this size right up next to a moored boat, could you? There had to be a marina or something involved. A marina meant other people, or an office and phone. It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it was all I had at the moment.

Sure enough, I saw we were appro
aching a large set of gates with a whole bunch of dry-docked boats of all shapes and sizes on the other side.

Definitely a marina
and boat repair place.

The car came to a stop, motor still running, and Mrs. Crazy got out
to open the gate. I couldn’t remember what Charity’s mother’s name was, and honestly, I didn’t care.

We’d definitely reached our final destination and
, as Josiah drove the car and its trailer through the gates, I ducked as we passed his wife when she stayed to close the gates behind us.

I could see there was a small parking area and
, with the wife on the opposite side from the mobile home’s door, I knew this was going to be my best shot to get out undetected.

I took a deep breath to clear my head
. This stuffy cabin had made my headache from the blow sustained earlier even worse. I considered that I might have concussion, or that my slight dizziness could be remnants from the drugs I’d tried to purge from my system. Either way, I’d spent the entire trip alternating between sitting with Thaddeus and pacing up and down the cabin so there would be no danger of me passing out.

I took one more look around the space to make sure everything was still as I’d found it, the cut rope was safely in my pocket and the knife grasped tightly in my hand
. After kissing Thaddeus softly on the cheek, I opened the door as the vehicle slowed down, and was already closing it quietly behind me as it came to a complete stop. I sprinted into a dark corner behind one of the dry-docked boats.

I held my breath, waiting for a shout that I’d been seen, but none came
. Outside for the first time in over an hour, I noticed the wind had picked up a bit and being so near to the water, the temperature had dropped considerably. My body trembled just as much from the elements as it did from the overwhelming fear for Thaddeus’ safety.

“Stay with the boy, Mary,” Josiah called out from the other side of the mobile home
. “I’ll come get you both once I’ve checked on the boat Sam left for us.”

Mary
. That was the bitch’s name.

I heard her mutter something in reply, and then I saw her come around and enter the caravan
. Josiah came into view briefly as he took off down the marina.

Over to the right
, I could see a small office building. I crept my way over to it, keeping a close eye on the trailer as well as the docks. The door was locked. I quickly and quietly went around to the back of the building, terrified to temporarily not have eyes on either of the kidnappers. There was a small window, the frame so rusted and old, I could feel one of the panes was loose. I took off my ABAS T-shirt that I’d put on over my camisole, shivering when the wind blew across my now-exposed shoulders. I wrapped it around my hand and punched the square of glass until it fell out into the room. I held my breath again waiting for a crashing sound of it breaking, but miraculously, apart from the small pop of the glass separating from its frame, there was silence. The place must be carpeted.

After throwing my T-shirt back on quickly for another layer of much-needed warmth, I slid my hand through the empty pane and unlocked the window
.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when a strong gust of wind blew over some empty paint cans
. Once I’d regained control of my breathing and convinced myself neither Mary nor Josiah were about to come around the corner and find me, I timed my opening of the rusty, squeaky window to coincide with the clamoring of the cans.

So far so good.

I climbed in as quickly as I could, letting my eyes adjust to the heavier darkness of the interior of the room. It was a storage room filled with boxes and junk – nothing that could help me.

The buildin
g itself was small and I hurriedly made my way to the front office, careful to stay away from the only window that had a view of the marina. I could see Josiah all the way at the end of the dock, readying a boat. I didn’t know much about boats beyond the couple of minor things Charlie had told me when we’d spent that day on the lake. From what I could see from the light given off from lampposts widely spaced along the dock, it was one of those fishing motorboats where the captain’s driving area was up high above the small cabin.

The desk was covered in papers and the computer looked older than me, but after a quick rummage, I discovered a phone
. A phone! Thank you, Jesus!

I picked
the receiver up gingerly, half-expecting there wouldn’t be a dial-tone. My heart leapt for joy when I heard the crackling buzz of a connection.

I glanced out the window again and saw Josiah walking back toward the mobile home again.

Shit!

I had seconds to make a call…seconds
! I needed to do it fast and be able to leave the absolute briefest of messages without having to go into extensive detail. But then my heart sank again as I realized, thanks to cell phones and the apps that came with them, if I wanted to call someone I usually just clicked on their picture. Who actually dialed numbers to call anyone these days? I couldn’t call the police, as not only would it take a few minutes to connect me to the right department, I could also already imagine how long it would take for ‘The Girl Who Cried Wolf’ to be believed when she called in a kidnapping. I didn’t know Thatch’s or the Solanos number. Hell, I didn’t even know my own father’s number, he changed it so often.

But I did know Bernie’s…
I thought. His had never changed over all these years. I must know it, right?

With trembling fingers, sitting on the ground behind the desk, I pressed the numbers that I thought might be Bernie’s
. By some utter fluke or pure dumb luck, the dial tone changed to a ring tone.

And went straight to voicemail.

Are you kidding me?

Bernie always answered his damn phone!

I could see Josiah and Mary leaving the trailer – Thaddeus slumped in Josiah’s arms.

I didn’t have time to call anyone else
!

I left a message.

“Bernie, it’s me. I’m at a marina and boat repair place on Lake Mead, I don’t know which one, but I think the guy who owns or runs it is called Sam. The kidnappers don’t know I’m here yet, and they’re about to get on a boat with Thaddeus. I’m going to try to follow or stop them. Call the police. Call Thatch. Call the fucking cavalry, Bernie!” I hung up and rushed to the front door, anxious to not let them leave with Thaddeus, but unsure what it was I could do to stop them.

Keeping to the shadows, incredibly with my damn kitchen knife still in hand, I crept along the narrow dock
, moving between storage boxes and staying out of the direct light of the lampposts.

The wind was bitingly cold, but it also caused the water to bounce and knock the moored boats and
, although we were the only people out here right now, there was a lot of noise happening.

The crazy duo did not even look back once
. They had no idea whatsoever of my presence. Fuck going to college, I obviously had the makings of a secret agent! Or so I thought, until I tripped over some rope moorings and fell flat on my face, narrowly missing stabbing myself in the eye with my knife. I stilled immediately, sure I was at last going to be discovered. I kept flat along the ground, shifting slightly so I was behind a storage container, and watched Josiah, who was much taller than his wife, turn slightly to look for the origins of the small noise.

“It was just a rat, dear,” his wife said, evidently anxious to get going.

He nodded at her and tightened his hold on the unconscious Thaddeus as they both stepped onto the boat.

They carried Thaddeus below deck and Josiah immediately appeared again
, heading up to the driver’s seat up top. This time, I was able to see clearly what he now carried in his hand. A gun. Just the sight of it knocked the air out of my lungs and paralyzed me with fear. The last time I’d seen a gun in person, it had been pressed to my head and had killed someone shortly afterwards. I struggled desperately to regain my composure. Josiah arrived at the controls and he started up the engine. The loud noise it made knocked me back to my senses immediately.

I moved nearer and crouched down behind the storage box assigned to their boat
. I was only five feet away, but not sure what I could do now that I was there.

Mary came out
carrying a life vest, which she threw up to Josiah. She had also put one on herself, too. How sweet, she was following safety precautions – at least where she and Josiah were concerned. Then, the evil bitch began to untie the moorings. She got the ones nearest to me first, and then made her way to the front of the boat to untie the remaining ones. With both their backs to me and the engine so loud, I didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t hesitate.

I quickly made my way up the ramp and stepped gingerly onto the boat, careful not to rock it in any way that would
alert them to my arrival. I immediately ducked down next to the cabin, keeping an eye on where Mary was going to go next. She was either going to join Josiah up top, or head back in this direction.

Please, please, please, let her join her husband up top.

The boat began to slowly pull away from its berth and it looked like my lucky streak was about to run out.

Mary was definitely heading back towards
me.

I quickly and carefully went down into the cabin and desperately looked around for a place to hide
. Thaddeus was lying in the lower bunk, but I didn’t have time to check on him as I glanced around the tight space. There was nowhere except for the tiny bathroom, so that’s where I went, praying that Mary wasn’t intending to use the facilities. The boat began to pick up speed and I’d barely closed the bathroom door when I heard her enter the cabin proper.

She hummed a tune as she pottered about
. Yes, the delusional bitch was actually humming a fucking tune as she prepared to murder an innocent little boy. I felt the pinch of pain before I realized the knife had slipped a little in my hand and I was now gripping the handle and some of the blade so hard, blood was dripping onto the floor.

I took a deep, quiet breath and
forced my hand and body to relax. There was no way these people were going to harm Thaddeus. Not a chance in hell. Over my dead body. And any other damn cliché I couldn’t think of right at that moment.

Thatch

It was well after two in the morning when the group of us
that were packed into Tony and Zak’s living room noticed some sort of commotion happening outside. Detective Johnson was standing on the front lawn, talking on his phone and barking out orders to his men. Cop cars began to leave and it left no doubt in my mind that there had been some sort of vital update.

Ignoring the calming hand my dad laid on my shoulder, I ran outside to find out what was going on.

“We got a lead, Mr. Reston,” the detective said before I could even ask.

“Do you know where they are?”

“We believe they’re somewhere near or on Lake Mead. We’ve alerted the authorities in the vicinity, and I have units already on the way there.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, sir. The best thing you can do is stay here with your friends and family.”

Fuck that.

Before I could actually say the words out loud, a stretch limo pulled up to the front of the house.

The door opened and Brock and Bernie stepped out.

Behind me and through the still-open front door to the Solano’s house, I heard Zak say, “Honey, I think Brock Huntington is on our front lawn.”

I vaguely remember my dad saying he’d contacted California’s family a few hours ago
.

“How are you holding up, Thatch?” Brock asked.

Detective Johnson didn’t even blink at the fact he was now in the presence of a superstar. Good for him.

“I’ve just been told there’s a lead,” I managed to say in a controlled voice
. I was anything but calm on the inside.

“Yep, I had a call from Cali on my voicemail from about
forty-five minutes ago and I called it in as soon as I heard it,” Bernie said, looking between me and the detective. “I didn’t realize my phone was set to airplane mode until after we landed.”

“If you will excuse me, gentlemen,” Johnson said
. “I have to go. Thank you for forwarding the message to us, Mr. Solomon.”

“
Of course. God speed, detective,” Bernie replied as he shook hands with Detective Johnson.

“But
—” I said angrily, making a move in the direction of the detective.

“Let him go do his job,” Brock said in a low voice, his hand gripping my bicep to prevent me from following.

“I can’t sit around doing nothing, Brock,” I snapped. “If Thaddeus and California are at Lake Mead, then I want to get over there right now.”

“Oh, don’t worry, son,” Brock smiled
. “We don’t intend on sitting around at all. Bernie?”

“Everything is confirmed
. The helicopter is picking us up about five minutes from here. It was the closest area where they could land safely. You ready to go find our girl and your son, Thatch?”

Fuck yes
, I was.