Identity Crisis (Rocky Mountain Novella Series) (7 page)

     After what felt like an eternity in the car, Julie felt Jason slow down before turning on what she assumed was a gravel paved road.  She readied herself mentally for what was about to come.  She knew it was a risk, but it was one that could very well save her life. 

     As the car slowed, Julie took her chance.  Like lightning, she quickly flung the car door open and leapt from the car.  The road was pitch black, with the exception of the parts illuminated from the car’s headlights.  Any other time, the complete and utter darkness would be something to be feared, but Julie didn’t have time to be afraid.  She had been living in fear all day. 

     Without pausing to look around, she ran away from the side of the car.  She assumed they were in the country, and most country roads were lined by trees.  She knew that the quicker she could get into a wooded area, the harder it would be for her to be found and recaptured. 

    
Jason didn’t know what had happened.  He was almost to the shack when the back door of the car went flying open.  At first he thought that maybe he didn’t close it properly.  But, as he looked behind him, he saw the woman he thought was unconscious making her escape.  “Damn it!” he yelled and slammed on the brakes.  The road was too narrow to turn the car around, so he ran to the trunk.  “Come on…where are you?” he impatiently asked as he looked for a flashlight. 

     Julie was afraid to run too fast since she couldn’t see what was even two inches in front of her face.  As she glanced back, she could see that
Jason had stopped the car and was searching for something in the car’s trunk.  She began to panic.  Just as she turned back around, her foot hit something, sending her pummeling towards the ground.  Julie could feel the skin on her knee and elbow had been rubbed raw from the contact with the ground.  She couldn’t waste any time worrying about that, though.  She quickly got to her feet and kept moving…only her ankle was sprained.  It wasn’t so bad that she couldn’t apply pressure to it, but it did slow her down some.

     “You shouldn’t have done that!”
Jason yelled as he shined the flashlight all around.  His voice was filled with anger and frustration.  He didn’t know where she had run to, and his flashlight wasn’t very powerful. 

     Julie could hear
Jason.  He wasn’t that far away, but at least she could see his flashlight.  He didn’t seem to know which way she had run.  Her hope was that she could find a main road and get someone to stop for her before he caught up to her.  Suddenly, Jason stopped yelling and his flashlight went off.  Julie made a mad dash, thinking that was her chance to widen the gap between them. 

    
Jason listened closely after shutting off his flashlight.  He had no idea where the woman had gone, but as he listened, he could hear the branches breaking beneath her feet.  He took off in the direction of the sound, and then listened again.  He could tell he was getting closer.

     Julie began to panic as she heard
Jason’s footsteps approaching.  He clearly had figured out where she was running and was almost on her.  She froze, hiding behind a tree and trying to be completely quiet. 

     Jason paused and listened but heard nothing.  Either the woman had gotten away; though he didn’t know how that was possible, or she had figured out he was tracking the sounds of her movements.  He flipped the large flashlight he had been carrying back on and shined it around.  On his first pass, he didn’t see anything unusual, but as he made a second pass, something caught his eye.  It was something that he barely noticed…a shimmering near the base of the tree.  It was pink.  That’s when it hit him.  It was a piece of the woman’s dress. 

     Julie held her breath as the flashlight’s beam searched the woods.  She gasped when it stopped at the tree she was hiding behind.  She had been discovered.  She had no choice.  She needed to run…run for her life, literally. 

     Jason watched as the woman took off running as fast as she could.  He was faster, though.  Within seconds he had caught her and was dragging her back to the car. 

     “Let me go!” Julie screamed as she tried to pry Jason’s grip from her arm.  It was no use.  His fingers were like vices.  She wasn’t going to go without a fight, though. 

     Jason should’ve been relieved to have found the woman but, as he drug her back to the car, all he felt was rage.  Maybe it was because she really did look like Kristen, or maybe he was just fed up with all the trouble she had already caused him.  Either way, he was about to blow.  As the woman kept yelling and fighting him, Jason stopped and looked her in the eyes.  “Shut the fuck up!” he yelled as he drew his arm back and forcefully slapped her across the face, almost knocking her unconscious.

     Julie’s head spun as Jason slapped her.  Up until then, she hadn’t been hurt.  For the first time, she truly believed that she might not make it back home in one piece.  All hope drained away and she and Jason emerged from the wooded area and she saw the car with its headlights still burning into the night.

     The shack was only a few yards ahead on the gravel road, so Jason walked the woman there.  He would go retrieve the car after he had her all tied up. 

     As Jason tied Julie to the chair inside the cabin, the light allowed him to get a clearer look at her face.  He could see how Derek had made the mistake of grabbing her instead of Kristen.  Both women had the same hairstyle and she was wearing a fancy dress, though it wasn’t a wedding dress.  He studied her face, trying to ignore the tear streaked makeup and purple bruises that were quickly spreading over her eye and cheek to see if she really looked like Kristen.  She didn’t.  The main resemblance was in the hair style. 

     Julie began crying hysterically as Jason used his thumb to gently brush over her cheek.  She was sore, and his touch burned her skin.  “Please don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me,” she blubbered through her tears.  She was having a meltdown and the words were barely recognizable. 

     Once Julie was securely bound, Jason left the shack to get the car.  He only hoped the battery hadn’t died.  The last thing he needed was someone spotting the car on the gravel road.  Luckily for him, the car started up fine.  He still needed to formulate a plan to get Kristen to come to him.  He knew he was going to use the woman Derek kidnapped as bait, but he needed to think out every possible scenario before proceeding.

    
Jason fought back his yawns as he snapped the picture.  The shack was shabby and dark, but the sunlight coming in through the window helped.  He took a few shots to make sure he had one really clear one.  The phone he was using was a burner phone and didn’t have the best camera.  It would do, though.  He was planning on destroying the phone after sending the picture anyways. 

     He had stayed up all night formulating his plan.  It wasn’t perfect, but he still would have time to tweak it.  The first step was to get the picture taken and sent.  He input the number carefully and took his time hitting the SEND button.  Once he hit that button, there was no turning back.  He replayed his plan in his mind to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything.  When he was sure he had taken all of the appropriate precautions, he sent the picture. 

     There was still so much to do, but first Jason needed to take a short nap.  He checked on the girl to make sure she was tied up tightly and she was.  She seemed to be sleeping finally.  She had spent several hours crying and screaming before finally becoming drained. 

     Steel woke up to the rays of sunshine coming through the hotel suite he had booked for his honeymoon.  He had only been asleep for a couple of hours, but felt energized and refreshed.  There was something about having Kristen in his life, as his wife, that gave him new life. 

     Making sure not to wake Kristen, he carefully removed the sheet from around his waist and put on some shorts.  The view from their suite was spectacular.  He imagined staying in Hawaii forever.  He and Kristen could enjoy the beaches and tropics during the day, and make love all night.  It sounded perfect, but he imagined part of the reason the place seemed so magical was because it was something he didn’t have in his life on an everyday basis. 

     After brewing a pot of coffee, Steel opened the French doors and sipped his coffee on the balcony.  It was still very early, so there were only one or two people on the beach.  Steel didn’t mind the quiet, though.  Staring out at the sunrise glimmering and reflecting over the ocean water was soothing.

     From the balcony with the sounds of the crashing waves, Steel didn’t hear the tone from Kristen’s phone, signaling that she had a text message.  The soft harp ringtone of her phone did wake Kristen from the dream she was having.  At first she just rolled over, but by the time the phone sounded a second time, she opened her eyes.  “What time is it?” she asked as she yawned.  She didn’t wake nearly as refreshed as Steel but the scent of coffee in the room was getting her attention. 

     When Steel didn’t answer, Kristen turned to her side to see if he had fallen back asleep after starting the coffee, but he wasn’t there.  For a second, she wondered if the wedding was all just a dream, but the sheer curtains blowing from the breeze entering the room caught her eyes.  She saw Steel sipping his coffee on the balcony.  She thought about joining him, but wasn’t quite ready to get out of bed.  After another huge yawn, she reached over to the night stand and grabbed her phone.  She figured the text was from Julie. 

     Steel’s peace and quiet was shattered when he heard a sharp and painful scream from the room.  He turned to see what was wrong and saw Kristen sitting up in the bed with a shocked look on her face. 

     “What’s wrong?” he asked as he ran to her side. 

     Kristen was speechless.  She couldn’t believe that within twenty-four hours of getting everything she ever wanted, she was having to once again deal with something so foreboding.  She handed her phone to Steel.

     “What is this?” he asked.  It was a picture of Julie.  Her face was bruised and make up smeared.  She was tied to a chair. 

     Kristen found her voice, though it was shaky.  “I do…don’t know.  I just got it.  Someone sent it to me.”  She wanted to be strong, but her eyes quickly teared up. 

     Before Steel could even reply, his phone rang.  It was Kawoski.  Steel quickly answered the phone, but didn’t get a chance to speak.  His jaw clenched as he listened to what his friend had to say.

     After Kawoski relayed everything that had happened since the wedding reception, he prepared himself for a barrage of questions.  Steel didn’t seem surprised though.  “Did you hear me?” he asked. 

     “I heard you,” Steel answered.  “In fact, Kristen just got a picture text.  It was Julie tied to a chair.  She looks like she’s in bad shape.”  As he and Kawoski talked, Steel forwarded the picture from Kristen’s phone to Kawoski.  Maybe there was something in it that would clue them in to Julie’s location. 

     “There’s something else,” Kawoski said before hanging up.  He didn’t know if he should tell Steel, but he had a right to know.  “The guy hired to do the kidnapping said that Julie wasn’t the intended target.  He just grabbed her by mistake.”

     Steel didn’t understand what his friend was getting at.  “Well, if she wasn’t the target, who was?”

     “It was supposed to be Kristen,” Kawoski answered. 

     It all came back to Steel.  Kristen was called to the phone, but Kristen took the call.  The call was a trap.  Someone was trying to get Kristen away from the crowd.  If Steel wasn’t fired up before, he certainly became so after hearing that Kristen was in danger.  “We’re coming home!”

     Without saying a word, Steel grabbed his and Kristen’s suitcases and laid them on the bed.  He half-hazardly began throwing clothes in them.  “What is it?  What’s going on?” Kristen asked.  There was only so much she could piece together from hearing only one side of the conversation.  She knew Julie was in trouble and that they were going home, but there was something else…something Steel wasn’t telling her. 

     He didn’t want to tell Kristen what Kawoski had said, but he knew her well enough to know he couldn’t hide anything from her.  So, against his better judgment, he told his new wife that whoever had taken Julie had really meant to kidnap her.

     “Me?” Kristen asked.  “Why would someone want to kidnap me?”  It was true that she had inherited a large sum of money from her birth family, but it was something she rarely even thought of.  She hadn’t let the money change her life even the slightest over the last year.  The good thing about having it, though, was that she could use it for added security and protection. 

     Steel and Kristen remained under the impression that the kidnapper was after
her money until she received a second text, this time from a different number.  It read:  IF YOU WANT TO SEE UR FRIEND ALIVE, MEET ME AT THE CABIN WHERE WE HAD OUR THIRD DATE.  COME ALONE.  $500K.  TOMORROW 2PM.

    
Our third date?  Kristen didn’t know what the text meant.  She had only been on one date to a cabin.  It was with…Jason.  “It’s my birth cousin!” she shouted to Steel in the cab on the way to the airport, causing the cab driver to give an angry look at her through the rear-view mirror. 

     “Jason?” Steel asked to clarify. 
“I thought he was locked away in prison?”  The question was rhetorical.  He was saying it more to himself than to Kristen.