Reckless (Wrecked) (30 page)

Sarah was sitting up in bed.  The light coming in the window from the moon outlined her sleepy form.  “What’s up?” she asked drowsily.

“A motorcycle’s coming up the road.  Jonathan told me to come in here and wait with you.  He’s going to see if it’s Kevin.”

“Of course it’s Kevin,” said Sarah, lying back down.  “Does he think a killer’s going to ride up making a bunch of noise and announce his arrival?  Hey, kids, I’m here to murder you!  Wake up!”  She snorted once and then quieted down.  Candi heard the deep breathing that told her Sarah had already gone back to sleep.

She stood at the door, wanting to be as sure as Sarah that everything was okay so she could run out and welcome Kevin with the fiercest hug she was capable of giving; but Jonathan was right.  It was better to be safe than sorry.  No one said the bad guys were always going to come with knives.  Maybe the next one would be riding a motorcycle and carrying an automatic rifle or handguns strapped inside of his jacket.  Anything was possible, and she had to be prepared for that.

The creepy sensation of being a mafia-manipulated puppet slithered over her body again, making her feel like the strings being pulled were slowly moving themselves into position to hang her with an invisible noose.  She had to breathe long and deep to move past the feeling of being strangled with fear.

***

Kevin used the flickering headlamp and the memory he had of the road to lead him back to the cabin.  It had been one hell of a long friggin day, and he was exhausted. 
Just another hundred yards to go and I’ll be home.
  The idea of home being a place he barely knew, temporary, a hideout from people like the one who’d dogged him for the last ten hours - either in reality or in his mind - would have been unbearable if it hadn’t been for the people waiting there for him.  Not only was it his twin sister, carrying his future niece or nephew in her belly, but his best friend Jon, and his girlfriend - Candi - the girl who’d turned his entire world upside down, shaken him out, and put him in a whole other universe filled with love and loyalty like he’d never known before.  He’d thought that the true love crap and soul-mates thing was just in the movies, but his feelings for Candi had taught him differently.  And he was damn sure not going to lose it if he had anything to say about it.  He’d already come close once during their escape from the island.  He was still working every day to convince her he should be forgiven for his three weeks of temporary insanity.

The first thing he saw was James, who came tearing out of the darkness to bark at his wheels.  “Hey, buddy!  James, it’s me!  Good dog!  Good dog to come out here and kick my ass.”

James’ growl went from vicious to happy, his short sharp barks replacing the hair-raising growly ones he’d used on his approach.

Xena came running out of the cabin as Kevin got closer, his headlight illuminating her boobs swinging from side to side under her legs.  She didn’t growl or bark, she just got close enough to trot next to the bike.  Kevin could tell she was withholding judgment until he stopped.  Clearly, it would only be when he fully identified himself and was accepted by one of the cabin’s occupants that he’d be safe to get off the bike, as far as she was concerned.  His heart swelled with gratitude for this ugly dog’s adoption of the people he loved.  Her tattered ears and beaten body took on a new beauty for him in that moment.  She was a survivor, and with girls like her on their team, maybe they could be survivors too.

He drew up to the bottom of the stairs, Jonathan coming down to greet him.  Kevin shut off the engine and pulled off the sweaty helmet, accepting the embrace his friend offered.  They stayed in that position, hugging each other for a few seconds, each of them patting the other hard on the back as they finished and pulled apart.

“Glad you’re back, Kevin.  You freaked us out being gone so long.”

“Where are the girls?”

“I made them stay locked up in Sarah’s room, just in case.”

Kevin nodded, angry at the idea of a murderer coming after his family while he was gone.  He looked down at the pit bull.  “Do I pass, Xena?  Can I get off the bike and come inside?”  He held his hand down for her to check out.  She sniffed at him, trotted around the bike once, and then came back and licked his hand.  When she was finished with her approval process, she left him to run up the stairs and go inside the cabin.

“I guess that’s an affirmative,” said Jonathan, taking Kevin’s helmet from him.  “Come on in.  Candi’s been having a rough time.  You should go see her.”

Kevin’s throat closed up, thinking about how he must have put her through the wringer being gone so long.  He got off the bike, pulling the keys out and handing them to Jonathan who was standing by silently.  “Take care of these, would ya?”  Kevin was shaking, either from the evening cold or his nerves, he wasn’t sure.  He’d driven maybe a hundred miles today, getting away from the town and hiding in places he was sure no one would ever look.  He tried to be visible in the next town over, letting several police officers see him driving out of town, headed away even farther from the cabin than he already was.  And then he’d backtracked, avoiding being seen as much as he could.  Anytime he thought a cop might have seen him, he turned around and made sure they saw him going the other way.

It was exhausting because of the effort, but also because the whole time he was doing it, he had no idea if it was helping or hurting them.  There’d been no one to bounce ideas off of or share in the responsibility.  He used to pride himself in going his own way and being the leader of everything he did.  Today he learned that he much preferred the team approach and letting other people who might be more analytical help make the decisions.  It was just another reminder for him of how much Jonathan and Candi Buckley had changed his life for the better.

He strode across the wood floor to the door leading to Jonathan and Sarah’s room, tapping on the wood.  “Candi, it’s me.  Open up.”

The door flew open, and he was immediately tackled by a spider monkey of a girlfriend.  It threw  him back a few paces, but he steadied himself quickly and gripped onto her as tightly as she did to him.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” she cried into his neck.

“I promise … I won’t,” he said, crying a little into hers.

***

They ate a breakfast of oatmeal together at the table.  Candi and Kevin’s chairs were touching.  They hadn’t let each other out of their sight since Kevin had come back last night.

“Thanks, Kevin,” said Jonathan.  “I know what you did yesterday was difficult and stressful, but I have to think it had some positive benefit.  At the very least, you were seen over in that other town by  a few cops, so if any of them put together all the pieces of us being together, they’ll hopefully assume we’re staying somewhere over there and not here.”

“Yeah, well, you’re welcome; but it’s highly possible I was just running from my own shadow.  I mean, yeah, I took off on that cop when he was in the middle of busting me, so I’m sure I’m a wanted man now.  But all those other cops I thought I saw?  Who knows.  Maybe they were so busy eating donuts they never even noticed me.  I just had to be sure I wasn’t leading anyone back here, you know?”  He shoved a big scoop of oat cereal into his mouth.

Sarah nodded, waving her spoon at him. “I get it.  Totally.  You did the right thing.  I just wish you’d had a phone so you could have called us and told us what was going on.”

“One phone isn’t enough,” agreed Candi.  “Next time we go into a town, we need to buy a second one.  I don’t know why we didn’t before.  I mean, we should all have one.”

“Too expensive,” said Jonathan, shaking his head.  “Plus, there would be a big problem if any of us were ever taken into custody.  They’d confiscate the phone, trace the numbers it had called before, which would be all of our numbers, and then pinpoint the location of the other phones using satellite technology.  We’d be found within an hour.”

“Oh,” said Candi, sounding deflated.  “That would be bad.”

“So, one phone it is,” said Kevin, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his full stomach.  “And whoever gets caught with the phone has to eat the chip inside before anyone can get to it.”

Sarah laughed.  “What are you talking about?”

“The little chip thing under the battery.  Pull it out and eat it.  It’s the only way.”

Candi frowned at him.  “The only way to what?  I’m not eating that plastic chip.”

“Yeah, you’ve got to.  It’s the only way to keep them from tracing our steps.”

“But we haven’t called anyone from here, so we’re safe,” said Jonathan.  “But, you bring up a good point.  Where’s the phone?”

Sarah pointed to the kitchen.  “In that drawer over there.”

Jonathan got up and went to the drawer, taking out the only thing linking them to the outside world.

Sarah watched as he pulled the back cover off, took the battery out, and removed the chip underneath.  “What’d you do that for?” she asked.

“As long as the phone isn’t sending power to this chip, they can’t trace it to find us.”

“I’m lost,” said Candi, sighing loudly.  “What’d I miss?  Apparently I haven’t watched enough spy movies or whatever.”

Jonathan came back to the table with all the phone parts in his hand, looking at everyone as he calmly explained.  “If they figure out where we went after we left the FBI’s safehouse, it will be fairly easy to trace our steps to the cell phone place.  If they get there, they could find out what cell phone we bought and what the chip identifier is, and then it’s just a simple matter of putting that information into a tracking program.  If the chip is live and sending a signal, they’ll be able to latch onto it and determine our location.  I’m not sure how accurate the location is - maybe it’s only to a few-mile radius.  But it could be within feet.”

“Great.  So we have a phone, but we can’t use it,” said Candi, disgusted.

“It’s for emergencies only.  And I suggest that we don’t use it from here when we do.  Only from that other town.”

Sarah stood up and went into the kitchen, opening up cabinets.

“What are you doing?” asked Kevin.

“Looking for something … this,” Sarah said, grabbing the small plastic container she’d put away yesterday when she and Candi had been cleaning to get their minds off Kevin being missing.  She carried it over to Jonathan and set it down on the table.  “Put all the parts in here and then put it back in the drawer.  That way if we ever need it, it’ll be easy to find and put together.”

Jonathan put everything in the container and sealed it up tight.  He stared at it for a long time, making Sarah smile.

“What are you thinking right now, babe?  That hamster in your head is out of breath.”

Jonathan looked up in confusion.  “What hamster?”

“The one that runs on a treadmill in your brain, keeping it powered with hamster energy for all that analyzing you’re always doing.”

“Hamster energy.  Hmmm … an interesting concept.  I wonder how much energy they could generate running on a wheel in an average amount of hours a day.”

Sarah stood, picking up her empty bowl and his.  “Sounds like a really fun experiment for a much different day.  Or not.  Speaking of which, what are we doing today?”

“Security detail,” said Jonathan firmly as he stood, the box full of telephone pieces in hand.  “We have to get this place ready for intruders.  I drew up all of the plans last night.”

“Where are they?” asked Kevin, moving to the sink to do the dishes.  “I’d like to check ‘em out.”

“They’re in my head,” said Jonathan.

Sarah leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, taking the sugar off the table so she could put it away in the kitchen.  “Of course they are.”

“Just read it to me out of your superbrain, then,” said Kevin, sudsing up the sponge.  “It’ll help keep my mind off this woman’s work.”

The sound of a wet rag snapping on his arm echoed in the room, followed shortly by a very girl-sounding scream.  “Aaach! 
Shit! … 
Candi!  I’m gonna get you back for that, you little punk.”

“No, you’re not,” said Sarah, coming up to stand next to her little red-headed friend.  “You have to go through me, first.  And you deserved it for that comment.”

Kevin looked over his shoulder and shot them both a glare, but they just laughed at him.

Candi held up her hand for a high-five and Sarah happily obliged, declaring, “Kickin’ butt and takin’ names.”

“Taking names but not prisoners,” added Candi, smiling and looking like her old self - or at least, her island self, which was the very best version of Candi as far as Sarah was concerned.

“Is it safe for me to come over there?” asked Jonathan.  “I’d be happy to help with the dishes, but I’m not really a big fan of the wet-towel-in-the-locker-room game.”

“You have a free pass,” said Sarah, waving him over.  “You know your place in the man-woman hierarchy, so you have nothing to fear.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow as he walked over cautiously, setting the box down on the counter.  “I’m afraid to ask, but my curiosity won’t let me sleep tonight if I don’t.”  He picked up a dry towel and took the rinsed dish that Kevin handed to him so he could wipe it down.  “Please educate me on this concept of man-woman hierarchy.  Is that from sociology class?  I don’t remember it.”

“Gender equality in chores.  There’s no such thing as women’s work or men’s work.  But there are some things we might be more suited to than you, and in those cases, we have veto power.”

“Ha!  And what areas would those be?” asked Kevin.  “Dish washing and toilet cleaning?”  He looked at Jonathan and winked.  “See?  Told ya.  Woman’s work.”

SNAP!

Kevin threw his sponge down.  “Dammit, Sarah!  I told you …”  He spun around, but stopped when he saw his sister and Candi.

“Take one more step and you’re going down,” said Candi, twirling the towel in a slow circle below her hand.

“You
cracked my ass, Gumdrop?”  He almost looked happy about it.

Candi smiled proudly.  “You’re damn straight I did.  And I’ll do it again if I have to.”  She gestured to the sink.  “Get back to your washing, boy.  We did the cooking, you do the cleaning.  Those are the rules.”