Taken (26 page)

“Son?”

Dad’s voice snapped Josh out of his trance. “Huh?”

“Do you have enough money?”

“I think so.” He’d get a job once Channie’s family settled in a new town. He was going to be on his own. Might as well start now. Besides, taking Dad’s money after using magic on him felt like stealing.

“You’re really leaving?”

Josh nodded and leaned over to pick up his bag. By now, his bond to Channie was as fine and fragile as a strand of her hair. He still felt her panic but it was growing weaker, a mere echo of his own.
 

Dad grabbed his shoulder, spun him around and hugged him to his chest. “Call me if you need anything. And be careful. It’s a big, bad world out there.”

You have no idea.

~***~

As soon as Josh merged onto I-70 West and floored the accelerator, he felt his bond to Channie grow stronger. He breathed easier even though he could feel her emotional distress tugging on his heart. It meant he was gaining on that damn Lexus.
 

The first time Josh had to stop for gas, it nearly gave him a heart attack. He stood by the pump and swore as he waited for the tank to fill up. He only filled it half-way before he couldn’t handle the stress of their weakening bond and shut off the gas.
 

About an hour later, his bond to Channie pulsed with life and grew stronger by the second for ten minutes. But then it steadied off again. Her family must have had to stop too.

The second pit stop was much less stressful. Josh set the nozzle then went inside to use the bathroom while his car filled up. He splurged and bought a Double Big Gulp of Pepsi and a packet of No-Doze — in case the Pepsi didn’t have enough caffeine to keep him awake — then hit the road again.

Two hours later, Josh needed to pee so bad his kidneys hurt, but he still had over half a tank of gas. No way was he going to stop before he had to. He held out for another agonizing forty minutes, until sweat beaded his brow. He poured the last of his Pepsi out the window, set the cruise control to fifty-five, scooted to the edge of his seat and emptied his bladder into the plastic cup. Taking a piss never felt so good.

~***~

Josh’s bond to Channie had been growing exponentially stronger for the past forty-five minutes but weakened when he passed the exit for Green River, Utah. They must have stopped for the night.

He prayed he wouldn’t get caught then used one of the highway patrol’s speed traps to cross the median and turned around.
 

His bond worked like a homing device on the highway where route choices were limited, but once Josh got into the city limits of Green River, he felt like a rat in a maze. He focused on his desire to find Channie and tuned into the excitement, fear and love flowing from her heart to his. She knew he was close. He wanted to project love, hope and comfort back to her, but didn’t want to risk lighting up their bond on her end. He clamped down on his own energy, letting just enough trickle through to assure Channie that he was still there. “Hang on babe, I’m coming.”

When he spotted the Belks’ Lexus parked next to Diego’s tricked-out monster truck in the Motel 8 parking lot, his heart pumped the words,
she’s here, she’s here, she’s here
into every cell of his body.
 

He had no plan of action. No idea what he should do. But he knew he had to keep a safe distance from her parents. If they sensed his presence, they might think he was a tracker and take off again. And what about the trackers?

They’d taken a pretty straight route, so they must have lost them before they got onto I-70 West. Channie’s parents had escaped trackers before. Surely they wouldn’t have stopped if it weren’t safe.

Josh parked down the street in the La Quinta parking lot and cast a misdirection spell. He was in plain sight, so it wouldn’t keep hotel staff away if they really wanted to hassle him, but hopefully it would be enough to discourage them. He cranked his seat back a few degrees, but not so far that he couldn’t still see the Belks’ car and watch out for trackers. He didn’t trust Channie’s parents to keep her safe.

As time passed and the adrenaline left Josh’s bloodstream, it became more difficult to stay alert. He returned his seat-back to the full upright position but each blink of his eyes required a conscious effort to lift his lids. Twice his head jerked up as he drifted off. “Stay awake! Damn it!” Josh fumbled around in the console until he found the packet of No-Doze. He didn’t like popping pills, but he couldn’t afford to drift off to sleep. He knew there had to be a spell for situations like this but hell if he knew what it was, and he wasn’t about to experiment with wishful thinking when so much was at stake.

He was still wired when the sun rose and Channie stepped into the parking lot holding her backpack. She looked right at him, mouthed the word “go,” and made a pushing gesture with her hand as if she were directing traffic.

Josh started the car with shaking hands then pulled around to the other side of the hotel. His heart hammered against his ribs as he waited for Channie’s family to load up and leave. He waited ten tortuous minutes while their bond weakened, then followed them.

He had another moment of panic several hours later when he felt their bond suddenly shift to the left. But he laughed out loud when he saw the highway sign with directions to stay left at the fork and take I-15 South to Las Vegas.

~***~

Josh followed closer than he should have, but he’d had a hard enough time finding Channie in Green River, Utah. He’d never keep track of her in Vegas. He parked a block away from the Bellagio Hotel where he felt Channie’s presence.

He woke with a start, his shield already in place. Hunter Feenie’s face was pressed against the window glass, inches from his own. “Jeeze, Hunter. What are you trying to do? Give me a freakin’ heart attack?” He rolled down his window and groaned as a furnace blast of desert air destroyed the last of his temperature control magic inside the car.

Hunter said, “Channie said you was close.”

“How is she?” Josh could still feel their bond, but it was an instinctive question.

“Better’n you. At least she has a place to sleep.”

“What happened? Why did they leave? Was it trackers?”

“Yeah, they found Channie and her daddy at the Ameristar in Blackhawk.”

“How?” Josh’s heart pounded so hard it made his ribs ache.

“Hell if I know. Nobody tells me nothing.” Hunter leaned against the car then yelped and jumped back as if it’d bitten him. “Dang. You could fry bacon on the hood.”

“Are the trackers still on their trail?”

“You think we’d have stopped if they was?”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“Channie’s momma made us all throw our phones out the window before we got out of Louisville. I ain’t got much time, but I wanted to tell you that her folks are looking to settle down somewhere close to the casinos.”

“I guessed as much.” Josh yawned and stretched. “Do you have an address yet?”

“We’re taking off after breakfast to go hunt for a place to rent. You need to back off though. I could feel you following us.”

Josh swore then said, “Does anyone else know I’m here?”

“Just Channie, on account of your bond.”

“How come you felt my presence?”

“My power-name’s Hunter, remember? After hunting you down in the blizzard back home and again when Uncle Rider was a chasing you, I got a permanent bead on ya now. I’ll be able to find you no matter where you go.”

“So, you’re sort of a tracker?”

Hunter narrowed his eyes and glared at Josh. “I ain’t no filthy tracker.”
 

“Whoa. No offense, dude. I was just wondering how it works. I thought maybe trackers used a bond similar to mine and Channie’s.”

“I wouldn’t wonder that out loud in front of her if I was you. She won’t like it. Even if it is true. A tracker-bond is a lot like a heart-bond except the tracker’s the only one that feels it. It don’t work both ways.”

“How am I going to find her?”

Hunter snorted. “Same way you been finding us, I reckon.”

Josh said, “It was hard enough finding Channie in Green River and Vegas is huge compared to that.” Panic’s cold fingers crept up his spine. “I can’t risk losing track of her.”

“Meet me back here at noon tomorrow. I’ll fill you in with any news.”

“How are you going to get here?”

“Me and Diego are supposed to go look for jobs tomorrow. He’s already agreed to drop me off at the end of the street so’s I can apply for any odd jobs at these here hotels. He’s gonna apply at all the McDonald’s in the area.”

Josh hated the idea of letting Channie slip through his fingers, but he didn’t want to spook her parents by following too closely. “You promise to meet me here at noon?”

“I’ll do my best. If I don’t make it tomorrow, I’ll try again the next day.”

“When you get a chance, beg, borrow or steal a phone and just call me.”

Hunter scratched the back of his head.
 

It was just a habit but it always made Josh wonder if the guy had lice.
 

Hunter nodded and said, “That could work.”

“And don’t wait until noon tomorrow. I want to know the minute they decide on a place to rent.”

Hunter said, “I gotta go fill this here thing up with ice,” then leaned over sideways and grabbed a styrofoam cooler off the ground. “Old man Kerns is grumpy as a bear what’s been woke up in the middle of winter and I already been gone too long.”

Josh reached out and grabbed Hunter’s arm. “Belks. Their name’s Belks.”

Hunter grinned and nodded. “The old man’s boxed my ears more than once for slipping up. You’d think I’d remember.”

“Yeah, well, just make sure you remember to call me.”

~***~

It felt like three days, but only three hours had passed when Hunter called Josh from a stranger’s phone and gave him Channie’s new address. He also gave him some news that stopped his heart.
“Channie’s daddy’s giving me three days to find a job and then he’s kicking me out.”

“Why?”

“When I came back with the ice, he was waiting for me outside. He asked me who Kassie was.”

“How did he know about Kassie?”

“Since he only rented two rooms last night, I had to sleep with the trips in Abby and Diego’s room. I must have talked in my sleep last night when I was dreaming about Kassie. Diego took it upon hisself to go and tell Channie’s Daddy when I went to go get ice. I tried to tell him me and Kassie was only friends, but he didn’t buy it. Didn’t really surprise me. It was a pretty good dream.”

Josh felt like a jerk. He’d been so focused on finding Channie, he hadn’t considered what this must be doing to Kassie. “Have you called her?”
 

“No point.”

“Just because you can’t tell her where you are or why you had to leave, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t call her. She’s going to be worried sick about you.”

There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone.
“She told me not to call her no more.”

“Why? What happened?” They hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other at the restaurant three nights ago. Something must have happened after they went back to their room.

“I asked her to marry me.”

“Why?”

“I ain’t quite sure. I think I just got carried away, what with you and Channie being so happy and all. I thought Kassie’d be grateful. Ain’t too many men willing to marry a woman with another man’s bun in the oven.”
 

“Please tell me that’s not what you said.”

“She tried to tell me we was too young to get married. I told her if she was old enough to get knocked up, she was old enough to get married. She got downright huffy about it and told me she didn’t need no husband. I think that’s when I might of mentioned that her baby was gonna be a bastard if she didn’t marry someone before it was born. After that, she said we was through. Didn’t even want to be friends.”

“Do you want me to talk to her?”

“She made it pretty clear that it weren’t never gonna work out between the two of us.”

“Man, Hunter, I’m really sorry.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“I don’t mean to be insensitive, but I’m really worried about Channie. She needs your protection. Do you think you could apologize to her Dad?”

“I already did. He told me to go get a job and think about whether or not I was ready to settle down. I spoke my own concerns about Channie’s safety. He seems to think Mrs. Belks is getting better.”

“Is she?”

“Well, she ain’t hit or cursed nobody in a while so … maybe.”

“What are you going to do now?” According to Channie, Hunter had dropped out of school in the sixth grade. He had magic and a fake I.D. but he was so far out of his element there’s no way he was going to survive on his own.

“I was wondering if maybe I could bunk with you in your vehicle until I get me a job and a place of my own.”

“You wanna stay in Vegas?”

“I cain’t go home, so it’s as good a place as any.”

“As soon as I get enough money to travel, I’m grabbing Channie and getting the hell out of here. I have no idea where we’ll go, but you’re welcome to come with us.”

It was quiet on the other end of the phone for a long time. Hunter cleared his throat, but his voice was still tight and shaky.
“Thanks, buddy. I sure do appreciate it.”

~***~

Josh applied for every job he could think of. Fry cook, pizza delivery, dishwasher, busboy, waiter, dog walker and landscape maintenance worker. No one would hire him. So he was shocked when Hunter called him — from yet another stranger’s phone — at three o’clock to tell him he’d landed a job and wouldn’t see him until tomorrow morning.

“You got a night job?” With his fake ID, Hunter could work in the Casinos, but he didn’t have any skills. “Doing what? Bussing tables?”
 

“Nope. Dancer.”

“Dancer? Wait … are you telling me you got a job as a
stripper
?”