Runaway (12 page)

“Hey, Tommy boy. Are you going to puke or something?” Kristi prodded him with her rifle.

He raised his head and smiled grimly. “I hate this.”

Drecker called them back into action before they could say anything to Tommy, and Maddy soon forgot it.

That night, under a full moon, Maddy edged toward a clearing in the woods. Ahead of her was another of the course instructors, a sergeant named Cooper. Behind her were Kristi, Tommy, and the other members of their squad. Cooper signaled for them to drop. Maddy had never spent so much time on the ground as she had that day. She was aching from carrying a heavy pack, and the last reserve of her energy had evaporated some time ago. It was nearly midnight and she’d been up since five that morning.

Cooper started a series of rapid hand gestures. He kept pointing at her with two fingers and then pointing to their right, very fast, over and over so it didn’t make sense to her. Kristi urged her up by the arm and led her off toward the right, looking at Cooper for more direction. He waved them further on, until they were out of sight of the others. They turned toward the clearing, which was lit up by the moon like a softball field during a night game.

“What are we supposed to do?” Maddy whispered.

“Hell if I know,” Kristi said. She looked as weary as Maddy felt. They weren’t having much fun anymore.

“I’m going to pee,” Maddy said.

“Can’t you wait? We might have to move any second.”

Maddy peered up at Kristi from under her helmet and handed over her rifle. “Can’t wait.”

She walked a few yards deeper in the woods and squatted behind a big oak. She’d emptied half her bladder when she heard someone approach. She looked up to see M-16s pointed at her by two guys from the opposing team. A third came toward them pushing Kristi forward with the point of his gun. She had her hands above her head. One of the soldiers hauled Maddy to her feet and pointed to her pants pooling around her ankles. She pulled them up while everyone stared at her.

Their rifles were pointed at them, but Maddy knew that the bullets were blanks. She couldn’t see any point in pretending she could be shot or taken on a forced march to a POW camp, so she yelled at the top of her lungs.

“Over here!”

Her voice was still ringing when one of the soldiers hit her in the side of her helmet with the butt of his rifle. She dropped into the puddle of her own urine. Kristi barreled toward him with her shoulders lowered, going for the tackle, but another soldier stuck his foot out and tripped her. She fell next to Maddy. The soldiers ran back into the woods when they heard Cooper and two others from their squad running toward them. Maddy lay still as Cooper ordered three team members to pursue. She wasn’t badly hurt, but she was stunned. There’s no preparing for a rifle butt to the head. Even with a helmet on, it hurt like hell. She saw Cooper’s face over hers.

“You okay, soldier?”

She struggled to get up and Cooper gave her a hand.

“I’ll live. I don’t think they’re supposed to hit us though, are they?”

He smiled. He didn’t seem like a bad guy, none of them really did. But one of them had hit her. It was hard to tell out here what was right and wrong, who was good and bad. All she knew was she was done for the day.

*

Jan ran hard along the lakefront path. On Saturday mornings it was crowded with office workers running, biking, and skating away whatever troubles the week had brought them. The week had delivered a couple of whoppers to Jan. A teenager who didn’t want to be found and a woman who couldn’t be caught. Jan had no doubt that Catherine’s brusque behavior that morning was her way of saying the night before had been a mistake. That Jan was a mistake. Jan thought the night before told her only one thing, that she’d never been with a woman like Catherine and she wanted more. Maybe that was two things. She wanted more than she could have, at any rate, and everything about it felt brand new.

She turned around at Monroe Harbor and headed back north. It was another glorious fall day and the lake sparkled under the blue sky. Across Lake Shore Drive, the Chicago skyline spread along the lakefront. Powerful, beautiful, and in some ways more mesmerizing than the lake itself. When Jan arrived in Chicago at age twenty, she had no feeling about the city other than it was where her new girlfriend wanted to live. Now, almost twenty years later, she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

She and Josie had come to the city when Josie’s brother Dan said he could get her a job at an advertising agency. Josie was twenty-two and had an art degree. Jan had managed to get her GED in LA and hoped to go to college, but she had no money or any real notion of how that was going to happen. By the time Josie had put enough money together for them to move out of Dan’s crappy apartment in Uptown, she had fallen in love with an account executive at the agency and moved into her Gold Coast high-rise. Jan was homeless. Again. She took a room at the downtown Y and started selling speed and cocaine for one of Dan’s friends. She had applications in for a dozen jobs, but very little money in her pocket. One hour of peddling drugs on the streets near the Board of Trade gave her a week’s rent. The rest went to her college fund and a steady diet of hot dogs and ramen noodles.

She operated in the haze of surviving from one day to the next, which she was quite used to. The future was an opaque window. She could keep moving toward the light, but she had no idea what was behind the glass. When she’d saved enough to enroll in one of the city colleges, she took a part-time job as a security guard at TSI and gave up anything to do with drugs. She’d seen enough to know where a life of that would lead her.

She continued running north, past the chess players at Fullerton, the driving range at Diversey, the harbor at Belmont that was now empty of boats. She turned her thoughts to finding Maddy Harrington. It seemed there was no choice but to go to Michigan and try to produce some leads, but she would need her files to plot a course of action. That meant going into the office and possibly seeing Catherine. She picked up her pace.

*

Jan picked up a file from Vivian’s chair. She’d left a report on Maddy for LJ to sign prior to the first billing going out. She didn’t need to see the report, but it provided cover. It was Catherine she wanted to see. She could hear her voice in the conference room, but all she could tell was that it was growing more angry by the moment. The blinds had been drawn and she couldn’t see into the room.

When Catherine opened the door suddenly and looked out, Jan dropped the file as if she’d been caught doing something naughty.

“What are you doing here?” Catherine asked. She didn’t sound very friendly and Jan’s heart sank.

“Just grabbing a report from the Harrington file. I work most Saturdays. Sorry if I bothered you.”

Jan picked up the file and turned to leave.

“You didn’t bother me. I was just startled to see you.”

“Okay.” She started to walk away.

“Wait.” Catherine came closer to her, reaching out a hand. “Will you come in for a moment?”

Jan hesitated and then let herself be led into the conference room. Catherine closed the door.

“I’m sorry the morning was so rushed,” Catherine said. She stood in front of Jan, shorter by an inch or more despite her high heels. She took Jan’s hands in her own. “The day’s not gotten any better.”

Jan looked down at their hands. Maybe she’d misunderstood?

“Are you all right? It sounded like you were arguing with someone in here.”

“Did it?” Catherine stepped away and picked up a thermos from the table. “Coffee?”

“Sure.” She watched her pour. Catherine handed her a cup and sat at the head of the table, pointing to the chair next to her for Jan.

“If you’re worried about last night, you don’t need to be,” Jan said. “I understand it was a one-time thing.”

Jan said a quick foxhole prayer that it hadn’t been a one-time thing.

“Is that what you think I’m worried about? Apparently, everyone here thinks I have a cold heart.”

“What are you talking about? You’ve only been here one day. How many TSI women have you had sex with?”

Catherine laughed, a sound that produced all kinds of rumblings in Jan. Cello, bow, thrum.

“Clearly, we’re on a dangerous course of miscommunication. Believe me, I’ve not had sex with any other TSI women. I can’t stop thinking about the sex I had with you.”

Catherine drank her coffee and studied Jan’s face.

“I only meant that the managers I met with this morning all seemed to think I was sent here to eviscerate them and their staffs.”

“Who were they?”

“Let’s see. Davis from Security Operations.”

“Paranoid. Forget him.”

“And Monroe from IT.”

“He’s a moron. Practically all the troubles we have here are technology related. He’s right to be worried,” Jan said.

“Zimmerman from Accounting.”

“He should be worried too. It’s unlikely your central office won’t be handling most of the financial functions, right?”

Catherine stared at her. “That’s true. But I’d never take lightly the elimination of someone’s job. It’s a horrible thing to have to do.”

“Is the job situation what you were freaking out about this morning?” she asked.

“I’m sorry. I was a little rude this morning. I was mad at myself for being late to talk with these gentlemen. They were already against me before we even started, and then I made them cool their heels. But that’s no excuse for being rude to you.”

Jan sat back in her chair, relieved. “No need to apologize. I thought maybe you were regretting last night.”

“Regret? I almost wish I did. But I haven’t stopped thinking about it for a moment.”

“Me neither.”

They looked at each other. Jan could see the tiredness around Catherine’s eyes, but she seemed much happier than a few minutes earlier. Catherine stood in front of Jan’s chair and leaned down for a kiss. By the time the kiss ended, she was in Jan’s lap. Jan was still in her running clothes and smelled musky, but so did Catherine.

“How long will you be in Chicago?” Jan asked. She pulled Catherine in for a kiss before she could answer. Somehow the buttons of her blouse opened halfway down.

“What was the question?” Catherine said when she came up for air.

“I wondered how long you’re here before we have to say good-bye.”

Catherine frowned. “I don’t want to think about that.”

“A few days, a week?”

“Hmm. I think I can stretch it out to a couple of weeks.”

Jan kissed her again. They kissed for a long time. They were still kissing when the door to the conference room opened and Vivian stuck her head in.

“Working overtime?” she said.

Catherine and Jan flew apart. Catherine grabbed the front of her unbuttoned shirt as she tumbled out of the chair, just getting her feet under her in time to avoid a fall. Vivian laughed and closed the door behind her.

*

Jan drove home from the office, forcing her thoughts once again to how to find Maddy Harrington. Catherine had been mortified by Vivian walking in on them kissing, though Jan tried to reassure her that no one could be less judgmental than Vivian, at least in regard to sex. Vivian was most assuredly pro-sex. But Catherine had become all business by the time she’d straightened her blouse, so Jan took her leave. The important question had been answered for her. Catherine still wanted her. Everything else could be sorted out.

Jan’s phone rang and she picked up when she saw it was Peet.

“What’s up?”

“Shopping with the girls. Thought I’d call while Kevin helps them pick out dresses.”

Jan laughed. “Good idea. I’ve seen you in a dress you picked out yourself.”

“Yeah, well, I’m good with a power saw. We all have our strengths.”

“Are you still worried about your job? Because I really think we’re going to be fine,” Jan said.

“No, I’m more worried about Maddy Harrington. Too much time is going by. Do you have anything new?”

Jan immediately felt guilty. If her mind weren’t wrapped around Catherine she would have been putting every bit of time and thought into finding Maddy.

“Not really. Do you?” She sounded a little peevish.

Peet sighed. “Calm down there, sister. I only asked because you said you were going to go through those websites last night. I’m not accusing you of being a slacker. What’s going on?”

Jan debated whether to tell Peet about Catherine, but dismissed the thought. She knew Peet would try to talk her out of seeing any more of her new boss and she didn’t want to make any promises she couldn’t keep. “Sorry. I didn’t sleep well last night. We just don’t have a lot to go on other than Maddy’s fascination with the right-wing groups scattered all over the Internet.”

“Any particular ones?” Peet asked.

“I think we need to start in Michigan. It’s close by and she spent quite a bit of time looking over a few of the militia sites up there.”

“What’s your plan?”

Jan didn’t have a plan. Just drive to Michigan and start poking around, she supposed, which really didn’t constitute a plan. A wing and a prayer was more like it. And she felt reluctant to leave right away. It was Saturday afternoon. Maybe she could see Catherine later, maybe even spend Sunday showing her around Chicago, a simple thing that made it sound like she and Catherine could be a normal couple, with dinners and outings and all the small things people do to get to know each other. She’d read about this in books and seen it in movies; she didn’t have any relationship experience that included courting and becoming a couple. The fact that she was already thinking of them as a couple was astonishing to her. And the fact that Catherine lived in London didn’t bother her. She could do London.

“Jan?” Peet said.

“Right. Well, the plan is that we drive up to Michigan and talk to some of the people running these training camps and militia groups and hope that they’ve seen or heard about Maddy. I don’t know where else to start. When do you want to go?”

“Crap. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to leave town. Have you talked to the Harringtons?”