Nothing Is Negotiable (18 page)

“Yes, sir.”

When the man stepped out he left the bathroom door open. Little John quickly tied his cross-trainers and left the bathroom. For the next minute she could hear them walking through the cabin and finally, a door slammed. It wasn’t the front door.
Another door
?

Bonnie got out of the shower and peeked out the open bathroom door. It was clear. She grabbed a towel and dried off just enough that she wasn’t dripping, grabbed her clothes and ran naked back to the bedroom.

A small table along the wall held a kerosene lamp and the key. Quietly she unlocked it, returned the key, and stepped inside.

She was shaking all over. Never in her life had she been so scared. And it wasn’t over. While she put on her clothes she thought about Little John and how scared he was. Something about his involvement didn’t seem right. She sat in the chair by the window to put on her shoes. And then she remembered.

Her watch and scrunchie were still in the bathroom.

She had to get them. Immediately, she cracked the bedroom door and confirmed no one was inside. Remembering how the wind slammed the door, she pulled the door closed and padded quietly to the bathroom and just when she stepped inside, she heard the latch on the front door. There wasn’t enough time to go back. She’d have to get back into the tub.

Quickly she climbed in and as she crouched to hide, she remembered—her watch and scrunchie.

The scrunchie was close enough and she reached out and grabbed it, but as she started to go for the watch, she heard the front door close and steps sounding like they were coming her way. All she could do now was stay where she was and hope the creep wouldn’t come in the bathroom.

“I’ll go get the bathroom cleaned up right now,” Little John said as they started back.

The man turned toward the kitchen, giving Little John time to lock the bedroom door and just before he dropped the key on the table, the man stepped into the hallway.

They locked eyes, and not meaning to, Little John nervously glanced back at the door lock.

The man gave him a
What are you doing?
look.

“Just making sure it was locked.”

The man shook his head and muttered to himself as he walked back into the bathroom.

Little John came behind him as he stopped in the open door. The man noticed a puddle of water on the floor and the crooked bath mat. He said, “I want this room cleaner than it was when you took a shower. Look at this shit,” and pointed to the towel lying crumpled next to the sink.

That’s when Little John remembered Bonnie’s watch was under it. His heart raced as he tried to cut in front of him to grab it.

“Not now,” he scowled, pushing him away. Little John stumbled back against the shower curtain, dragging it slightly open. Inside, an unusual shape caught his eye. He glanced down and saw Bonnie crouching at the faucet.

He tried to stay calm as he pulled the curtain closed. Stuttering, he suggested, “Wh-why don’t you go pee outside and I’ll clean it up right now.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, dipshit. Now get the fuck out of here.”

Little John backed out of the bathroom and went out onto the front porch. It was up to Bonnie now.

***

Bonnie wasn’t expecting them to come into the bathroom, but when she heard steps coming her way she scooted close to the faucet and squatted down.

She heard the unmistakable sound of a zipper going down, and then he started to piss.

He was less than five feet from her, separated only by a thin plastic shower curtain. She was in an uncomfortable position, crouching and holding onto the faucet with her hands. Not a position she could hold for long.

His peeing into the commode sounded like a garden hose filling up a water trough. When he finished, he flushed the toilet and then she heard the water in the sink come on. She couldn’t believe it. Out here in the middle of nowhere, he’s washing his hands.

Then panic set in when she remembered, there was only one hand towel... and her watch was under it. Frozen in place, she held her breath.

The water went off and she waited.

Clunk.

It sounded like a meteorite hitting a barn.

“What the...” she heard him say under his breath.

She was sure she heard him bend down and pick it up.

But now, there was nothing she could do. He had to know she was there. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited.

When she heard him move, she expected the shower curtain to be ripped away. But instead, the footsteps left the bathroom and went out the front door.

Relieved, she took a deep breath and silently climbed out of the tub to peek through the curtains. It wasn’t the best angle to see the front door because of big plants just outside the window. All she could see was the back half of Little John’s red pickup that was parked in the driveway, about twenty feet away from the cabin. And next to it was another truck, a white one.

They were in the driveway talking, but the conversation was muffled, impossible to understand. It sounded like the guy was on Little John’s ass about something. She grabbed the windowsill and maneuvered her body closer to the window just in time to hear Little John say, “I took it the other day when we brought her out. I was going to give it to my girlfriend.”

Bonnie gave a sigh of relief. He was covering for the watch.

The rest of the conversation was inaudible except for Little John’s ‘yes sirs’ and ‘no sirs’, until she heard their footfalls crunching in the gravel as they moved toward the trucks. Half a minute later she heard the engine of the creep’s truck roar to life. Hopefully he was leaving.

That’s when it dawned on her—this was probably her only opportunity to escape. But the second thing she thought of was Little John saying he’d kill her if she tried to escape.
But was staying here any safer?

Bonnie had to make a decision, and she had to make it now.

She stepped over and peeked out the bathroom door. This was the first chance she had to see anything other than the bedroom, bathroom and hallway. Now, she could see an open living area with a sofa and several chairs. She took several steps in that direction. The entire back wall was windows, with a deck across the back. There was a door on the left side to the deck and another door on the right wall. Back to the right she could see part of the kitchen. The side door was her best way out.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes while she tried to decide. But she knew she had no other choice.

Outside the engine revved again. It sounded like he was leaving. She had to hurry.

She ran through the living room to the side door and yanked on it.
Crap.
The door was locked. The one to the deck might be locked too, but she had to try. She ran between the chairs and sofa to the door and twisted the handle. It opened.

While she ran toward the other end of the deck she looked over the railing. It was like looking over the edge of the world. There was a huge drop off, probably a hundred feet straight down, just like the bedroom. She held the railing tightly as she ran, wondering,
why would anyone want to live in a cabin in such a dangerous location?
At the end of the deck, about ten steps took her down to solid ground where a rising rock formation guided her away from the cliff. She turned and ran along the side of the cabin to the corner and slowly peeked around it. From there scattered native bushes and trees blocked her view back toward the front of the cabin. About fifty feet away she saw a dark brown building with no windows. It had to be the garage. Crouching, she ran from bush to bush until the front of the cabin came into view. Peeking between the branches she could see the pickups in the driveway. Little John was standing beside one and appeared to be listening to the man in the driver’s seat. The glare on the windshield made it impossible to see the man inside. Bonnie slipped over behind the garage and paused to catch her breath.

Now she had to decide where to go from here. With canyons and cliffs on two sides of the house, her choices were limited. Behind the garage the forest was thick with dense underbrush and the rocky terrain made it look impenetrable. She eased over to the other side of the garage and surveyed the meadow and forest beyond. It would probably take her about thirty seconds on a dead run to get from the garage to the forest. As long as she had a fifteen second head start, she knew she’d be okay. She knew he was a quarterback, but that meant he could run fast for short distances. But, she was training for a marathon and knew she could outlast him. Once she got away, she could run for fifteen or twenty miles without stopping. Little John would come after her in his truck but she could hide in the forest.

This was her only real chance and she knew it.

Once the guy in the pickup left, she knew Little John would go back inside the house. By the time he discovered she was gone, she’d be halfway to the forest.

The white truck was idling, which meant the man was probably about to leave. She went back to where she could watch when the pickup left. At the corner of the garage, she dropped down on all fours, crawled between the bushes over behind a stack of firewood, and waited.

A minute later she heard the transmission slip into gear. The white truck made a quick U-turn then hastily headed down the drive, leaving a trail of dust as it tore across the meadow. Little John watched until it entered the forest, and then went back to the house. As soon as he went inside, Bonnie slipped around the woodpile and with heart pounding, started running down the driveway. But when she passed Little John’s Dodge pickup, she saw something she didn’t expect. The keys were in the ignition.

New plan.

Bonnie opened the passenger-side door and slid across into the driver seat. She turned the key and with a vengeance, it roared to life.

The dashboard lit up with a constellation of flashing lights and was accompanied by an annoying alarm that chimed ping-ping-ping. She yanked down on the gearshift to put it in reverse.

It didn’t move. She tried again. The son of a bitch wouldn’t come out of park. It was stuck.

Hurry
, she told herself as she shot a glance toward the front door. There was no doubt that Little John heard his truck start up. She had to get out of there before he came out.

She pulled on the gear shift again. And again, and again with such force she was afraid she’d break it. But, it still wouldn’t budge.

Her hands shook while her eyes scanned the blinking lights on the dashboard, looking for something to tell her how to get the fricking gearshift out of park. But there was nothing.

Bonnie and Luke had a Ford truck at home. How could a Dodge be so damn different?

On the verge of hysterics, she pounded on the steering wheel then pulled herself closer to get more leverage. Out of the corner of her eye she caught movement. She looked up and saw the front door swing open and Little John fly through it.

Then for some weird reason, she remembered—you’ve got to push on the brake before it comes out of park.

Quickly she applied the necessary pressure to the brake and it slipped into reverse.

She mashed the gas pedal to the floor and the tires spun, throwing rocks forward, against the garage door. But, the big snow tires couldn’t get a grip in the loose gravel and the truck only inched backwards.

Little John was almost to the truck when Bonnie saw his arm stretch for the door handle. She jabbed wildly at the electronic controls on the door, hoping to hit the power door locks.

Too late.

He pulled the door open and reached for Bonnie. She jerked her arm away and leaned out of his reach just as the big tires got the traction they needed. The truck catapulted backwards, slamming the open door into Little John’s chest, knocking him backwards. But as he fell, he managed to grab hold of the steering wheel.

To stay out of his reach, Bonnie was laying almost flat on the seat of the truck, but she kept her foot on the gas pedal and the truck raced backwards. Little John was now half in and half out, and he pulled himself in more, holding onto the steering wheel. This caused the truck to veer off the driveway and careen through the grassy yard.

Panic washed over Bonnie when she realized the new course was taking them toward the cliff at rapidly increasing speed. For the last three days she’d had a view of that cliff out the bedroom window. She knew that if the truck went over, the fall would kill them both.

She tried to turn the wheel but Little John’s grip was too tight, and he was now almost inside the truck. She spun her head around and saw the cliff approaching.

There wasn’t time to consider her options. She closed her fist and smashed it into his nose as hard as she could. Cartilage crunched as his head flew back against the door. Obviously he hadn’t expected that. He lost his grip and he fell away.

It was too late to turn the truck so she jammed both feet onto the brake and locked her knees. The truck went into a slide and Bonnie closed her eyes and braced herself for the fall.

The truck slid across the grass like it was on ice, but finally came to a stop. The driver’s side door was still open and before she could breathe she looked out. Another three feet and the truck would have gone over the cliff.

She took a deep breath and pulled the door closed as Little John got to his feet. His nose was bloody and when he tried to come toward her, he bent down and grabbed his knee. It must have been injured when he fell from the truck. He limped toward the truck, but the pain was obviously too much and he dropped to the ground.

That was fine with Bonnie. She locked the doors and lowered the stick shift into drive. She could feel electricity firing through every synapse in her body as she stomped the pedal to the metal. The truck flew forward and as she went past Little John, he jumped up waving his arms. He screamed something as she blasted past him, but she didn’t want to hear it. Undoubtedly he was yelling for her to stop, but she thought she understood one phrase. It sounded like “kill your husband.”

It didn’t matter what he said, it was probably a lie anyway. All she had to do now was get back to civilization and report him to the police. And end this nightmare.

As she hit the dirt driveway and sped toward the forest, his words echoed in her brain.

Bullshit. He’s lying and I’m not buying it
, she thought.

She looked back at Little John in the rearview mirror and thought about what she knew. Earlier he’d said he knew nothing about Luke. But, now, did he say they’d kill Luke? What if he wasn’t lying? She had to know.

As far as she could tell, he was unarmed and barely able to walk. If she went back and kept a distance between them, there was no way he could get to her. She turned the truck around and slowly went back, stopping about thirty yards from where he limped along in the open field.

With the push of a button the window went down. “What did you say about my husband?”

“I said they’ll kill him,” Little John said as he stopped and held his knee, undoubtedly in pain.

“Bullshit,” she snapped. “You said you didn’t know anything about my husband.”

“I didn’t until ten minutes ago.”

“What do you know now?”

“I know they have him and I am supposed to take you to them. And if you don’t show up, they’ll probably kill him because they’ll have no use for him.”

Bonnie gnawed on her lip while she considered this. It didn’t make sense. But, none of this made sense. “What do you mean no use?”

“I don’t know. But the man said they have him now and I’m supposed to take you to them.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“That’s what they told me,” he said with pleading eyes.

“You keep saying they. Who are they?”

“I can’t tell you. And besides, it’s best you don’t know who anyone is.”