KIDNAPPED, A Romantic Suspense Novel (20 page)

“You look funny, Big Partner,” Nicky giggled, snapping Jake out of his mental fog.

He winked at Nicky, then rubbed his own chin. “Did Sami do a good job, little partner?”

Nicky laughed and held up a mirror. Jake looked in it and realized, she’d gotten his hair quite short, but overall it looked good. Now he resembled a businessman, instead of the street-wise loading-dock worker he’d been for three years. More importantly, he barely resembled the sketch of the wanted man in the news picture.

* * *

Jake stood at the kitchen window. The full moon hung high in the dark clear night. He scanned the forest just beyond the path to the door.

Nothing.

Samantha had just finished putting more of the medicine-smelling ointment on his wounds. She and Nicky sat in front of the fireplace bundled in their coats, playing checkers in the only light still illuminating any part of the cabin, a flash light.

In preparation for their departure, Jake had closed down all the lights and turned off the generator. His truck was parked in the trees out back, so that anyone just driving by would think the cabin was empty again. The plan was for them to leave as quietly as possible in one more hour, then travel north to an empty house near Matt’s home. Once they were safe inside, Jake would contact his old partner, Doyle.

He turned to look at Sami and Nicky. After his shave and hair cut, she’d cut Nicky’s, too. Her dark head bent next to his, the pair giggled as they shared a secret joke. She’d make such a good mom for the boy.

Jake ground his teeth in quiet frustration. If they all lived long enough to get them out of this mess, maybe he could convince the social workers to let her be the kid’s foster mom. She deserved to have kids.

A vision of her with a brood of his kids filled his mind. He shook his head and turned to keep watch at the window once more.

Who was he kidding? His life hadn’t changed in any way. He still had a job that put a family at risk. No matter how deeply she touched him, he could never ask her to put her life, and their children’s lives in danger daily. That was one lesson he’d learned as a kid.

With determination he fought this sudden urge to have things he’d long put out of his own reach. His mission was to get the Kreshnin organization and whomever worked for them put away before either Nicky or Samantha got hurt. Then he’d walk away. No promises, no regrets.

A flash of moonlight on metal out on the approach road caught his attention. It flashed again. Two vehicles moved slowly through the night. They turned off their headlights as the turned onto the gravel road.

Dammit!
That hunter, Ralph Jones, must’ve contacted someone in Columbus’ police department the minute he got home. The hairs on Jake’s neck stood up. These guys weren’t approaching like police. It felt more like an ambush.

“Samantha, get Nicky into the back room, and stay low!” He watched her obey his order without question, taking Nicky into the back room, both crouching beneath the bedroom window.

He pulled his Glock out of its holster, cocked a round into the magazine, then focused back on the two cars that stopped about fifty feet from the cabin. Car doors opened, and six men climbed out. Dressed in dark clothes they carried weapons in their hands that looked like assault rifles in the moonlight.

Uttering a few curses, he crawled toward the back room. That was enough for him, he was getting Samantha and Nicky out of here.

Jake crawled faster, landing in the backroom, and shutting the door. Samantha had her hand over Nicky’s mouth, both their eyes huge with fright.

“Quick, out the window,” he quietly ordered, as he stood and pulled out the screen and opened the window.

“You’re coming, too?” she asked as he boosted her up and onto the window frame, then held her hands as she swung out the window and down to the ground.

“Get Nicky to the truck. I’ll be right behind you.”

Next came Nicky. Just as Samantha grabbed him from below, a loud burst of gunfire sounded at the front of the house.

Glass shattered.

Bullets ripped into the cabin walls from three feet off the ground and higher.

God, he prayed no one had circled the cabin and was waiting for them back there. If so, he could be sending Samantha and Nicky to their death.

Once Nicky had joined Samantha on the ground, and they were running toward the truck, Jake fired a few shots into the back room’s door just to keep the hit-squad’s attention focused inside the house and away from the woods. Then he hauled himself up onto the window ledge.

The front door crashed open. Heavy footsteps sounded on the main room’s wooden floor.

He swung one leg over the window frame, then the other, holding onto the ledge for one moment before dropping to the ground.

In that one moment, the bedroom door was riddled with bullets. Shattered glass peppered Jake. Pain seared through his left arm and the right side of his head as he released the window and dropped to his feet.

Crouching for only a moment, his vision blurring briefly, then cleared. He hurled himself toward the woods.

“They’re out back!” one gunmen shouted in a thick Slavic accent, as he riddled the ground at Jake’s feet.

Throwing himself behind a tree, Jake took a calming breath then aimed his gun at the window, letting off several shots. The gunfire stopped.

Then two men rounded the cabin to his left.

Jake dropped to his stomach and fired rapidly at the dark figures. One never got off a shot. The fire from the other hit the branches above Jake’s head, then stopped as Jake’s bullet found its target. Russian curses filled the night.

Movement to his right caught his attention. Jake rolled a few feet in that direction, and let off a serious of shots, then dashed further into the trees weaving his way toward the truck.

Samantha had the passenger door open and the engine running. The minute he slammed the door shut, she threw the truck in gear.

Jake clenched Nicky against his side with one arm, and gripped the door handle with the other hand as Sami wove the Suburban expertly through the forest. Bullets ripped into the trees surrounding them. A brief glance out the back window, showed three dark forms perusing them into the woods.

Jake prayed no bullets reached the car as Samantha concentrated on maneuvering through the trees, heading who knew where. The headlights flashed off one tree after another. Each time they nearly crashed into one, his heart slammed into his chest.

Samantha missed one particular tree that popped out of nowhere by mere inches. Jake let out a curse and clenched his eyes shut. The nose of her truck plummeted, then careened back upward.

He looked up in time to see them speeding toward a ditch separating the countryside from the highway.

“Hold on tight, Nicky.” Jake released his grip on the door handle and wrapped both his arms around the little boy, turning toward Samantha, his body virtually blocked the space between Nicky’s body and the dash board.

Samantha stepped on the gas. The truck dove over the ditch. Time seemed to stop as they flew through the air. Then suddenly, the front tires slammed down hard on the pavement, followed just as hard by the rear ones.

With superhuman effort, Jake fought to keep both himself and Nicky from bouncing all over the front seat. Somehow, Samantha managed to maneuver the vehicle safely onto the highway, speeding back in the direction of Columbus as Jake and Nicky righted themselves.

“Good, Jake! We do again, no?” Nicky’s eyes twinkled with excitement.

God, he hoped not. Jake shook his head, willing for his heart rate to slow to somewhere near the speed limit. “Not now, little partner. I don’t think I could handle it.”

“Besides, I don’t think my insurance is up to it, either,” Samantha said, all her attention on speeding them out of the area.

Jake stole a glance at her. Her knuckles were blanched white where her fingers gripped the steering wheel. Despite the dark, he could see the rise and fall of her breasts as she panted for air. She took several glances at the rearview mirror. Although she might give the appearance of cool, calm and collected, he suspected if he felt her pulse right now it would match his own.

“Are they behind us?” she asked as she glanced out the rear window again, straining to see anything moving in the dark behind them. “Is it a good sign no one is following us?”

“With luck, they’ll take a few minutes to get in their cars and circle back around the long way. Cutting through the forest bought us some time.” His ears rang and the road ahead wove oddly in front of him.

“And if they catch up with us?”

“They won’t do that.” He covered her hand where it held the wheel in a death grip. Her voice sounded strangely muffled to him.

“You don’t know that.”

He gave her a sheepish grin. “Hopefully they’ll have flat tires when they get back to their vehicles.”

“Those nails you asked me for earlier? I wondered what you wanted those for.”

“A little added security never hurt.” Jake loosened his hand on hers, leaning against the far door. He just needed to close his eyes. The throbbing in his head grew stronger.

Sami slowed down to just over the speed limit. “Where are we going?”

“We’re supposed…to go to a house…near Matt’s place,” he paused, leaning his head against the passenger window.

“I know where Matt lives. Where exactly is the house?” Sami glanced at him, then back on the road. “Jake?”

It took a minute, but finally he answered. “I…don’t…remember what…your brother…said.”

“Jake, is something wrong?”

“Find…a place…to stop, Sami.” The sound of him sucking in air filled the truck’s cab. “I don’t…feel too…good.”

“Jake? What’s wrong?” She tried to concentrate on the road and look at him. “Jake?”

When he didn’t answer, she reached over Nicky’s head to grab Jake’s arm. Her hand settled on something sticky and wet.

“Jake?” Panic welled up inside her. “Jake, were you shot again?”

Oh God, what did she do now? She needed to get him someplace where she could stop his bleeding. What she wouldn’t give for a tourniquet and a sterile OR room right now. But hospitals were out. They couldn’t go back to the cabin. All her relative’s homes were being watched. And they’d get caught for sure if they went to her apartment.

Besides, she needed some place now, not an hour away. She glanced at Jake’s pale face. The quicker the better.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Big Partner is sleeping, Sami?” Nicky asked in a small voice beside her. Fear edged his words. He’d already lost everyone in his life.

She wrapped her arm around the boy’s shoulder and gave him a brief hug. “I think Jake got hurt in the gun battle, Nicky. But I’m going find a place somewhere so you and I can help him get better, okay?”

Nicky nodded beside her.

A road sign popped up in her headlights ahead marking a county road turn off. She had no clue if there was a place to stop on it. It didn’t really matter. They had to get off the highway before Jake bled to death or their attackers caught up with them.

Time for an executive decision.

At the county road she turned left. Traveling slowly into the dark countryside, she glanced from side to side, looking for any building that looked abandoned. It didn’t have to be fancy. Even a barn or old gas station would do right now.

“It is dark here, Sami,” Nicky whispered beside her.

“That’s just because it’s night and everyone is asleep now, Nicky,” she tried to reassure him, although she felt a little creepy, too. “Why don’t you watch the road and see if you can find an old house for us to stay in?”

Nicky liked that idea, and sat forward on the truck’s seat. That was one person’s fear relieved.

Unfortunately hers only grew worse. When she glanced at Jake, the dark cab prevented her from seeing him. She laid her hand on his chest. It rose and fell easily, although a little fast for her taste.

“I’m…still…here, Samantha,” he whispered.

Was he having trouble breathing now? God, she hoped not.

For the first time since Aimee died she prayed.
Please God, find us a hiding place
.
Her heart couldn’t take losing Jake. Not now. Not after just finding him.

“There Sami!” Nicky pointed to a drive, just as Sami drove past it.

The kid must have eagle eyes. Vegetation had grown over the entrance, almost blocking it out. No wonder she’d missed it. She put the car in reverse, backed to the entrance, and turned in, slowly moving along the grass and gravel drive. Ahead lay a small cape-cod type house. No cars in sight. Good.

Please don’t let there be anyone home.
Ten feet from the door, she stopped the car and studied the house. The porch looked to be crumbling from dry rot. Loose shingles slid off the roof’s left side. And the upstairs window had a hole in it, a thick tree branch lay through it.

Sami amended her prayer.
Please don’t let there by anything living inside
.

“Nicky, you stay here with Jake,” she ordered as she reached into the glove compartment for the flashlight Matt always insisted she keep there. Having an over protective brother on the Highway Patrol force meant she’d been drilled repeatedly about roadside safety, as well as always keeping an emergency kit available and ready. For once she appreciated Matt’s obsession with preparedness.

Taking a deep steadying breath, she climbed out of the truck and walked to the front door, careful to step over the crater in the left side of the porch.

Wonder what fell through there?

Better not to ask. You might not like the answer.

The doorknob didn’t budge with her first attempt. Holding the flashlight with her teeth, she gripped the knob with both hands and tied again. It finally turned with the extra effort. As the door creaked open, Sami flashed the light inside, sweeping the main room from one side to the other.

Cobwebs filled the ceiling’s corners and window frames.