Megan's Cure (10 page)

Chapter 20

MURPH MURPHY SPOTTED the Escape as it passed him going the other direction just after he made the turn down the small road that led to the lake house.
 
He had driven more than seven hours from Knoxville to get there.
 
It was a long haul but beat the hell out of waiting a day and a half to finally get a physical street address. Damned bureaucrats.
 
It had taken them forever to finally establish the chain of connections and figure out where Novak had been when he logged into the computerized database at Merrick & Merrick.

He waited for the Escape to drive past the next curve before he turned around.
 
No matter how easy the target, Murphy knew the element of surprise was an advantage worth preserving.
 
This was particularly true when the goal was a quiet disappearance without witnesses, evidence or drama.
 
He knew Novak would be worried about being pursued.
 
Why else would he have left his cell phone in California other than to eliminate tracking him through the device?
 
But there was no reason for the scientist to suspect that danger was only a few seconds behind him.
 
Novak and the kid probably were just running an errand – heading into the nearest town for supplies.

As long as they kept to country roads with little traffic, Murphy was content to hold back more than a quarter mile.
 
He didn’t want to stampede his quarry.
 
He could afford to be patient.
 
Maybe an empty parking lot at a supermarket would be the place.
 
He could force Novak to drive the Navigator until they found somewhere isolated.
 
It looked as if they could take almost any of these side roads and be totally alone within a few minutes. Or, he could wait and follow them all the way back to the lake.
 
That was probably the best choice.
 
Take his time in the lake house.
 
Disposing of the bodies would be the hardest part.
 
He could work out that step at his leisure.
 
He knew mountain reservoirs were deep.
 
Hundreds of feet.
 
Good places to drown secrets.

That was it then – the lake house if they led him back there.
 
Now that he had them in sight, Murphy was in hunting mode.
 
On high alert but patient.
 
He was confident he would recognize when to strike and be ready.
 
Some people thought this was easy, particularly when the targets were amateurs.
 
But, he knew better.
 
The one thing you had to expect was the unexpected.
 
An extra person at the scene.
 
Someone who fights instead of runs.
 
Or runs instead of fights.
 
Making the right decision in those frantic seconds, managing the situation, doing the right thing to stay in control and bring the job home.
 
That’s what made him a pro.

* * *

They had packed and were loaded within 20 minutes after Novak opened the email warning.
 
They left the fish in the freezer.
 
Before they loaded the car, he went out the front toward the lake and slowly circled around the back to the car.
 
He stopped and listened.
 
All he heard was the gentle lapping of the water.
 
He saw no cars, no lights.
 
He had to assume no one was there, that they had gotten the word in time.

Once on the road, he was immensely relieved.
 
He invited Megan to find a station on the radio.
 
He tapped his fingers to the music and rested his arm on the rest between them.
 
He had only told her that they needed to pack and be on the road in 15 minutes.
 
Novak hadn’t said why.
 
He didn’t want to freak her out.
 
He was trying to put her at ease now.

Then he saw the blue Navigator drive past.
 
It was too coincidental.
 
It had to be the same one he had seen at the motel through the window of the Waffle House.
 
Novak used the mirrors to watch behind them and saw the SUV follow them onto the larger road from the small street that led to the lake.
 
It stayed pretty far behind.
 
He assumed they were taking their time, waiting for a good opportunity.
 
He was thankful for that.
 
He could imagine the big SUV running them off the road and then being stuck in the car while they finished the job.
 
They were being patient.
 
Novak tried to think of something, some kind of plan.

He knew the area, Novak thought.
 
That was his advantage.
 
He knew it from his many summer trips here.
 
Where was he heading?
 
What could he reach in 15 minutes?
 
Not much.
 
Unless…maybe.

Novak knew there was a turnoff coming shortly.
 
It was a road that ran off on the right.
 
It eventually hooked up with another highway after a few miles.
 
But, halfway there, it crossed a railroad line.
 
There was a railroad yard near that intersection.
 
It wasn’t large.
 
It was a strip of land maybe 400 yards long with two extra sets of tracks that ran parallel to the main tracks.
 
A dead-end asphalt roadway ran next to it until it ended in a pile of gravel.
 
The yard was used to store extra equipment and freight cars which sat empty until needed.
 

As a kid, Novak had tagged along with his cousins who rode their bikes there, drawn irresistibly to the huge empty train cars like moths to a flame.
 
He watched while they played on the empty cars, climbed up the ladders to the top and jumped around trying without success to make them boom like giant drums.
 
As far as he knew, the grownups had never guessed what they were doing.

Novak also recalled that past the end of the storage tracks was an open field that led to a big farmhouse a half mile away.
 
When he was a boy, the farmhouse had always had cars and a pickup or two parked there.

It was all he could think of other than driving on until the people pursuing them got tired of it and decided to stop them.
 
This way, he thought, perhaps he could at least keep Megan alive if he got lucky.

Novak made the right turn.
 
In another three miles, he saw the railroad crossing sign reflected by his headlights.
 
Instead of crossing the tracks, he turned left along the dead-end service road that paralleled the extra tracks in the yard.
 
His headlights enabled him to see the line of empty cars sitting at the far end of the yard.

He drove down the road until it ended at the gravel.
 
The line of empty cars was further down the tracks.
 
He quickly turned the Escape around to face the way they had come.
 
He turned to Megan.

“You need to get out here,” he said, urgency in his voice.
 
“Run down next to these railroad cars.
 
When you get to the end of them, you’ll see a farmhouse in the distance across a field.
 
Go there.
 
Knock on the door.
 
Tell them anything.
 
Say you were kidnapped and need the police.
 
Just do anything to get them to call the police.”

“What about you?” asked Megan.
 
The fingers in her right hand were wrapped around the door handle.

“I’m going to slow them down,” said Novak.
 
“Get out.
Now
.”

Megan stepped out of the car and hesitantly turned and headed toward the empty train cars.
 
She looked over her shoulder at Novak.
 

Even if Megan got home safely, Novak knew the people hunting her would try again.
 
They couldn’t afford to let her live, not with the story she was carrying.
 
But he couldn’t worry about that now.
 
He was only worried about her survival tonight.
 
It was the best he could do.
 
He saw the blue Navigator turn off on to the dead-end road, following him.
 
The big SUV stopped after the turn, its headlights shining in his face.
 
Waiting.

Chapter 21

MURPH MURPHY WAS puzzled when the Escape turned off just before the railroad tracks.
 
It hardly seemed like a road.
 
It certainly didn’t look as if it went anywhere.
 
He slowed the Navigator.
 
Then he saw the headlights of the vehicle turning around.
 
Maybe they knew he was there.
 
He started worrying that they were going to leave the car and run for it.
 
He made the left turn down the dead end road so he could use his headlights and see what was happening.
 

The Escape started moving.
 
It was heading toward him.
 
He flipped his headlights on bright.
 
He thought he saw something moving behind the Escape.
 
The girl.
 
It must be.
 
Novak had let her out and was driving back out to the main road.

Well, Murphy wasn’t going to let that happen.
 
He wasn’t going to chase Novak while the girl ran off.
 
He would block the Escape and keep everything in front of him in one place where he could use the headlights to see.
 
This was as good a place as any.
 
There was no one around.
 

He moved the Navigator slowly toward the Escape which still was heading his way.
 
Murphy scanned the area in front of him to see how Novak might try to evade him.
 
There wasn’t much room unless the Escape left the asphalt and went into the field to the left.
 
The main railroad tracks to the right were on a bed of gravel.
 
That would be hard to negotiate but it might be possible.
 
Either way, the Navigator ought to have as much traction as the smaller vehicle.
 
Murphy would cut him off.

What was it now? Damn.
 
The son of a bitch was speeding up and heading straight toward him.
 
Christ.
 
Was he really doing this? Was he trying to get Murphy to take evasive action so he could dodge the larger car and get back to the main road? No way, thought Murphy.
 
I’m not getting out of the way until you make a move. Try and get through me, mother fucker.
 
See who wins.

“Okay,” Murphy said aloud.
 
“Let’s do this!”
 
He pressed down on the accelerator.

* * *

Walter Novak took a last look in his rear view mirror and saw Megan moving down the track away from him and brought his focus to the pair of headlights that faced him.
 
He hit the accelerator and started rolling forward.
 
He squinted sharply when the Navigator’s bright headlights switched on but he knew exactly where he wanted to go.
 
There was nothing in his way.
 

He let his speed increase steadily.
 
The Navigator seemed stuck in place, just waiting for him.
 
When he got close, he saw the headlights of the opposing vehicle dip down and bounce back up into his eyes again.
 
It was moving straight toward him, not trying to get out of his way.
 
Novak jammed the gas pedal to the floor.
 
He was breathing heavily now as if he was sprinting instead of sitting.
 
He gripped the steering wheel so tight his arms shook.
 
He felt ready to explode.

“Give me the strength…give me the strength…give me the strength,” Novak murmured as he gained speed and closed on the other car.

When the headlights were so bright and close he thought they would pass through his eyes and smack the back of his skull, Novak let go of the steering wheel, put his arms at his sides and closed his eyes.

* * *

Megan walked quickly in the darkness down the line of train cars.
 
She could see the lights from the farmhouse far in the distance.
 
She could hear the car accelerating behind her, moving away.

Suddenly, she heard the horrible sound of the collision.
 
First, the noise of metal crashing together and glass breaking followed a split second later by a thud as the Escape nosed up at the moment of the collision and then came back to earth.
 
She turned and saw the wreckage.
 
The Escape rolled back a few feet before coming to a stop.

Megan didn’t know what to do.
 
She started walking toward the cars and then stopped.
 
He had told her to go to the farmhouse.
 
But what if Walter was hurt?
 
What if he needed help?
 
She stood transfixed, staring at the two smashed cars…waiting.

* * *

The airbag stunned Murphy.
 
It felt like getting hit flush in the face by someone chucking a basketball at point blank range.
 
He hadn’t seen it at all.
 
When his vision cleared, the bag already was deflated, hanging in his lap from the center of the steering wheel.
 
The smell of rubber surrounded him.

Murphy rubbed his face.
 
It felt numb.
 
He could feel some blood on his upper lip draining out of his nose.
 
He knew without touching it that his nose was broken again.
 
As he opened the door of the Navigator and twisted to get out, he felt a pain in his chest as if someone had taken a bat and whacked him there a couple of times.
 
He was shaky on his feet at first and still a little groggy.
 
He left the driver’s door opened as he moved forward to the Escape.
 
The windshield was broken and the front was crumpled.
 
Novak was still in the front seat, his head hanging limply to the side.
 
He looked unconscious or dead, certainly not going anywhere soon.

Murphy stumbled forward past the Escape heading toward the empty train cars in the distance.
 
The girl had to be down there.
 
He needed to stop her before she got away.
 
He felt steadier with each step.
 
He soon broke into a lumbering jog down the road even though every step made his head ache.
 
Where the hell was she?