Safe with You (34 page)

I open the compartment and pull out what he asks for, handing a set to him. Zack hands me the cuffs to place back in there. Once he has his on, he looks at me expectantly. The light turns green and he guns it, the force knocking me back against my seat.

“Put them on, Cassie. Now.”

A sudden chill creeps over my skin from his words so I one-handedly put them on.

As I feared, when Zack takes the ramp to interstate 65, he heads north. I slump back in my seat, feeling defeated. I know J is looking for me so I cling to the hope that he will find me.

After three hours riding in the car, I become hungry and I have to use the restroom again.

“Zack, I’m hungry.”

He looks at me out of the corner of his eye but doesn’t answer me.

For a minute, I thought he was going to make me starve until he exits the interstate. He pulls into the first fast food restaurant we come to and drives toward the drive thru.

“What do you want?”

I give him my order and he tells the girl our order.

When we get to the second window and the girl hands us our food, I immediately dig in. I feel like I haven’t eaten in a week.

“Thank you.” Being polite to him after he kidnapped me is not what I wanted to do, but I’m not sure what all Zack will do, and I’d like to eat again.

“You’re welcome, Cassie.”

Is it bad I am hoping he will turn back south on the interstate? Deep down, I know he won’t yet it doesn’t stop me from wishing I could go back home to Brilliant.

His phone rings just as we get back on I65 North.

“Yep,” he greets the caller.

I gaze out the window, pretending I’m not eavesdropping.

“What? No, of course not…Yeah, I’m heading back to Indiana now…because it’s a lost cause…No, I didn’t. When did this happen? You’re kidding me? Well if you need my help let me know…See ya.”

Zack ends the call, tossing the phone down in the console. His hands fist the steering wheel, obviously mad.

“Is everything okay?” I know it’s not, but I’m trying to be nice and not take a chance on getting strangled to death or whatever.

He doesn’t acknowledge my question, he just stares out at the road.

I sit quietly, taking note of my surroundings. I’ve been seeing signs for Nashville, Tennessee so we are close to it.

In Nashville, the interstate splits and Zack is heading in the wrong direction.

“Zack, I thought we were going to Indiana?”

“Nope, there has been a change of plans.”

I should have seen it coming. “Where are we going then?” Alarm bells are going off in my head. Whoever he was talking to a few minutes ago obviously isn’t someone he can trust anymore.

He ignores my question again as he veer onto Interstate 40 East towards Knoxville.

I scoot closer towards the door, resting my head against the cool glass. I need to come up with a way to get away from Zack. So far all the plans I’ve had, he has been a step ahead. I’m going to have to think long and hard about it as Zack drives us to our unknown destination.

Chapter Forty- Two

J

I’m lying awake in my bed, wide awake. I’ve got my jeans, shirt, and boots on in case something happens with Cassie. My phone is clutched tightly in my hand as I wait for a good night text or something positive from her. My guts telling me something is wrong.

As if on cue, I hear Dad’s police scanner go off. I’m up out of my bed in a flash. Cracking open my door, I listen for the page to come through. In the distance, I hear Dad on the phone. My worst fears are confirmed when I hear the page.
Gunshots. Cassie’s address.

Bolting out of my room, I grab my keys off the hook, heading for the door.

“J! What do you think you’re doing?!” Dad yells as he rushes into the room, dressed in his uniform.

“I heard the page, Dad. I knew she shouldn’t have gone home tonight!”

“Son, you are not driving there. I’d rather you not go, but I don’t have time to argue with you. Put your keys away, you’re riding with me.”

I do as he says and we run to the squad car. Dad flips his lights on and guns it up the driveway.

Please let Cassie be okay!

In no time, we arrive on the scene. I jump out and run as fast as I can in search of Cassie.

“Cassie!” I yell at the top of my lungs. I look around frantically trying to spot her.

“J!” Dad calls, motioning me over to him and another officer.

I stop short when I see a body cover up with a sheet behind Dad. No, no. It can’t be her, she can’t be gone!

“J, son, it’s not, Cassie. Her parents have been shot and killed.”

All the air rushes back to my lungs. Oh, thank God!

“Where is she then?”

“Son, Cassie isn’t here. We think Zack has kidnapped her.”

“Well, let’s go find her!” We have to find her.

Dad looks apologetic. “J, we already have police patrolling the area. We are working on getting an Amber Alert out and notifying the surrounding police departments. Right now, we are doing all we can.”

All this waiting around is killing me. I need Cassie in my arms so I can hold on to her and never let her go. Dad and the department are doing all they can, I know they are. I’m just worried that Zack has hurt her or worse. I swallow the bile that rises in my throat. I want Cassie back with me, safe and unharmed. Word has been spread all over on the news so I pray that someone will see them and call. It’s been ten long hours since I was told my whole world was gone. I’ve been alternating between pacing back and forth and praying.

By now we have returned home since the crime scene has been cleaned. Mom and Bo have been filled in and are just as worried.

I see Dad walk up to another officer and shake hands. I don’t recognize him at all. Dad is listening intently to whatever the man is saying. It seems important so I walk closer so I can hear.

“…and he said he was on his way back home to Indiana,” the man tells Dad. Indiana is where Cassie and Zack are from. This guy has talked to Zack it seems. Could he hear Cassie in the background?

“That may be his original plan, but now he may change course. Do you know of anywhere else he would go?” Dad asks the man.

The man pauses for a moment, thinking. “His parents own a condo in New York City since they visit there at least three times a year. You can try there.”

Dad shakes his hand again. “Thank you, Stan. You’ve been a great help. I will still make a call to the Indy Police Department to make sure they are on the lookout, just in case he is really heading there.”

The man nods. “Just let me know if I can be of more help.”

When the guy walks away, I jog up to Dad. “He’s talked to him, hasn’t he?”

“Yes, J, he has. Stan is a family friend of his parents, one whom Zack has been staying with. Zack apparently has been raving to Stan about how he and Cassie have been a thing for some time. He knew their history so he didn’t think much about it.”

I want to know more about the made up story, but first I want to know about Cassie. “Did he ask how Cassie was?”

Dad sighs heavily. “Son, Zack is claiming he knows nothing about it. He said the reason he is going back home is because his relationship with Cassie is a lost cause. Stan didn’t hear any background noise at all.”

I am trying to stay positive, but negativity is slowly taking over. The hope I have of Cassie being in my arms again is slowly dwindling each minute that ticks away.

“J, I will be leaving soon with Officer Stan to go to New York to try and retrieve Cass-”

“I’m going with you,” I say, cutting him off mid-sentence.

“No, J, it’s too dangerous.”

“Dad, I’m not going to sit here and do nothing while Cassie is with that lunatic! I feel helpless, Dad! I should be doing something to bring her home to me, safe and sound.” If something were to happen to her, I’d never forgive myself for not trying to save her.

“J, let me do my job, please. I know this is hard for you-”

I look Dad straight in his eyes. “I’m going with you or I’ll go alone. Your choice.”

I turn and run back to the house to pack an overnight bag.

Mom is sitting on the couch, crying softly with Bo by her side comforting her.

She looks up at me with tear filled eyes. “Anything?”

“We have a lead that he might be heading to New York. Dad and I are going up there.”

“J, it’s too dangerous for you to go! What if you get hurt?”

“Mom, Cassie is with some crazy psycho, and I have no idea if she is okay or not. Like I just told, Dad, I’m either going to New York with him or I’ll go alone. Either way, I’m going.”

I get my parents are concerned with my safety, but Cassie is in a lot more danger than I am right now.

“Mom, let him go. If it were me, I’d be doing the same thing,” Bo says softly.

I give him a hard nod, thanking him then walk over to Mom to hug her. She latches on to me for the longest moment until I pull away. I kiss her cheek and tell her I love her before running to my room and showing a change of clothes into a bag.

When I return to the living room, Mom is begging Dad not to let me go while Bo is trying to get them to see it my way.

Finally, Mom gives up and hugs me hard once more. “Please, be careful,” she says in a shaky voice.

“I will, Momma, I promise.”

She cups my face in her small hands. “Go bring Cassie home.”

“I will, Mom.”

Dad and I hurry up and finish our goodbyes and head out the door.

“Are we drivin’ the whole way or are we flyin’?” I ask Dad and Stan as Dad drives away from the house.

“We are going to have to fly, son or otherwise we will never catch them.”

Thank God. I thought I was going to have to explain to them how at least twenty hours in a car will be pure hell. We’d never get to them at that rate.

Two long hours later and we are boarding a plane to New York City. I close my eyes to try and get a nap in before we land. It’s been a long twenty- four hours.

The moment we land we rush out of the terminal straight to the exit. We hail a cab and Stan gives the driver the directions to the condo Zack’s parents own. Dad and Stan are immediately on their phones figuring out a plan.

While they are doing their thing, I gaze out the window at this huge city. Tall skyscrapers line the road, making it hard to see the beauty of the sky. No stars are seen in a city like this. The lights are too bright for it. And there is way too much traffic for my liking. We are barely moving and I’m getting impatient. I am seriously contemplating just walking to our destination.

When Dad and Stan are off their phones I wait expectantly for their plans. “So, what is the plan?”

Stan speaks first. “We have a lead, a strong one. They were seen walking into his parents’ apartment building. The police are surrounding it now.”

My heart is pounding in my chest so hard I feel like it’s going to burst. I know Cassie has to be scared out of her mind right now. Please, let her be okay. She’s my world, I need her. My life is brighter with her in it.

Dad looks to me. “J, I know it’s going to be hard, but you have to stay out of the way. Promise me, son, that no matter what you see or what is happening you stay back and let us and the NYPD handle it.”

I force a nod, but I can’t fully promise him that if the lunatic is hurting Cassie I won’t intervene. I’m won’t be able to stand there and watch it unfold in front of me.

I hope and pray this ends tonight with Cassie safe with me, my arms around her, crushing her against me. I love her and I know I have told her already, but I will remind her of it every day, ten times a day. Saying “I love you” will never get old and I will never get tired of hearing it fall from her beautiful lips.

She may think she needs me, but by God I need her more. I need her love more than she will ever know.

I’m getting my girl back tonight, one way or another.

Chapter Forty- Three

Cassie

“Zack, I’m tired of riding. Are we close to where we are going?” My butt hurts, my legs are going numb, and my back aches. We have been on the road going on sixteen hours now. We have only stopped for food twice and to use the restroom about three times. I couldn’t ditch Zack at the bathrooms because he would just follow me in like a creeper and stand outside my stall. One lady even asked him why he was in the women’s bathroom and he claimed I had been puking my guts up so he was concerned about me. The crazy lady accepted the lie and left the bathroom. I swear people are idiots!

“Almost there, babe,” he assures as he reaches over and pats my hand.

I push his hand away and shoot him a glare. “Don’t call me that, I’m not your babe, Zack.”

This journey has been the longest of my life. Zack’s hand either has tried to hold mine or he has tried to rest his hand on my leg. I’m getting tired of denying him. It’s like he isn’t hearing a word I say. It’s really pissing me off.