Cal tried to keep frustration out of his tone. He didn’t want to destroy what, if anything, was left of her hope. “One of the tires is losing pressure.”
“Do you need to stop?”
“I don’t dare. We’re coming up on the main intersection. If Carter’s people are waiting on the overpass, it will only draw attention to us. We have to get through first.”
As they approached the overhead pass, Drina leaned forward, peering through the top of the windshield toward the road above them. As they went under, she turned and scoured the other side.
She searched for a long while. “Nothing. I see nothing. I think you were right. We beat them down the mountain.”
She eased back onto her seat but Cal kept his fingers tight on the wheel. As they left the lit overpass behind, the ominous red light blazed in the darkness.
Three beeps echoed across the car again. Drina leaned closer to Cal to see the monitor. The warm scent of pine drifted up to him, cementing his regret and feelings of loss. He tamped down on those emotions and tried to reassure her.
“It’s a slow leak. I felt a bump when we spun into the ditch. We probably hit a rock. I’ll get us as far away from here as I can before I have to stop.”
Cal drove for miles before the beeps echoed again and the monitor read 40 percent. He took the next off-ramp, reduced speed and drove along a frontage road. A white building loomed in the distance.
As they drew closer, the building took the shape of an abandoned gas station. An aging portico extended over old-fashioned gas pumps. The glass-fronted store reflected their headlights as Cal turned in and pulled to a stop in front of the single-car garage.
“Wait a minute.” Drina looked around. “We must be close to the base. I think I’ve been here before.”
“Even if you haven’t, you’ve certainly seen it. This is a popular spot for movies and commercials. They change up the look so they can use it over and over again.”
He left the car running but turned off the headlights. Crossing to a corner of the building, he found a large rock and used it to break the padlock off the garage door. Then he drove inside and hopped out to pull the large door down again.
Without pausing, he opened the hatch of the SUV. The back end was stacked with weapons and equipment. Carter had enough guns for a small army. At least if they caught up with them again, Cal had plenty of weapons to use. He even found hand grenades like the ones he’d used in his cabin.
Shaking his head against the regret that shot through him, he grabbed the handles of the first duffel bag. “I’ve got to change this tire. It’s going to take a while. You might want to get out and stretch.”
Drina slid out but left her parka in the car. Cal tried not to notice how slender and graceful she looked, how she held her arms against her body like she was in pain. “You’re going to need your coat. It’s freezing even in this building.”
His fingers were already feeling the chill. Ignoring him, Drina walked toward the small door leading to the storefront portion of the building. He noted that she rubbed her arms briskly as she walked.
He supposed he deserved her contrariness. Maybe he should have kept silent about his mistakes, waited until he’d gotten her to safety before he revealed his blunders. She might have been more cooperative. But somehow, he couldn’t force himself to lie to her again. Not even a lie of omission. Shaking his head, he applied himself to his task.
“Do you think there’s a bathroom in there?”
He glanced over. She stood by the door, shivering.
“Probably, but I doubt the water is turned on.”
“Too bad for them. I’m going to use it, water or no water.”
She hurried back to the car and fiddled with her parka for a few moments. He noted with grim satisfaction that she had her parka on when she headed toward the store.
With the weapons unloaded at last, he found the jack beneath a panel on the floorboard. He placed it under the car and jacked the vehicle high. Then he started on the lug bolts. Three came off easily but the fourth was difficult. He pounded on it, wrenched with both hands and twisted until he was breathing heavy and his hands hurt. He had to rest for a moment and only then realized Drina hadn’t returned from the bathroom yet.
He was about to drop the jack handle when he saw her exit from a small door at the opposite end of the store. Picking up the crossed jack handle, he started on the wheel again. The lug nut simply wouldn’t budge.
As much as he hated to ask, he needed help. “Drina, come here.” Motioning to the wheel, he said, “I’m going to hold this in place with both hands. I need you to stomp on it with your foot. Let’s see if we can move it.”
He placed the handle and gripped it. Drina stepped on it with most of her weight. Cal barely managed to hold it in place. “Again.”
She stomped again and the handle spun out of his hands, painfully banging one of his fingertips. Nursing the injured digit, he picked the handle up, put it in place and started again. He thought he felt the bolt give a little, but the handle slipped loose and landed on the floor with a loud clatter.
Repressing a sigh of pain and frustration, he picked it up once more and Drina stomped on it once, twice. The second time, it fell away again, banging his injured finger in the same place. But this time he was sure the lug gave a little.
Nothing to do but keep at it. He picked up the handle and fumbled it with his aching finger.
“Great.” Drina’s voice was heavy with sarcasm. “After all we’ve been through, we’re going to be defeated by a stupid bolt on a wheel.”
Cal drew in a breath, biting back his pain and frustration. “It’s called a lug nut and it’s not going to defeat us.”
He placed the handle in position. She raised her foot. “Forgive me,” she said, stomping with all her might, “if I no longer have that faith.”
Cal gritted his teeth tight before answering, “Drina, I’m sorry. I didn’t want anything like this to happen…”
“Please don’t say sorry again. You can’t say that kind of thing one minute and follow your company’s risky policies the next.”
The lug nut gave way with such force, the handle clattered to the floor, trapping Cal’s finger beneath it. Aching from the pain, physical and emotional, he lunged to his feet.
“That’s enough.”
Drina stepped back and he stepped forward, pinning her against the car. He placed his hands on both sides of her head, trapping her. “I’ve apologized for my mistakes and paid for them with everything I own. But I’m not going to apologize for my work again.”
That soft scent of pine drifted up to him. She looked up, her hazel eyes wide and her lips, so soft and red, he couldn’t resist. Leaning even closer, he stooped and covered her mouth with his.
Her lips were cold and soft and so incredibly sweet. To his surprise, she kissed him back, grasping the edges of his jacket and parting her lips. When he would have pulled back, she drew him closer. After a long while he broke away, tilted her chin up and kissed one corner of her mouth, then the other.
He felt her lips tremble beneath his.
Was it the cold? Or was she frightened? He looked down. Tears had pooled in her eyes. All he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her and hold her close.
But he’d lost that privilege. All he had the right to do now was try to save her life.
“I’m sorry.” With a sigh, he tugged her fur-lined hood up around her head and ran the back of his finger along her jaw.
Her gaze flickered. “You saved my life twice. I shouldn’t be mad at you.”
“But you are.”
She grabbed his hand and held it to her cheek. “Yes, but I’m not sure why.”
“Maybe because I made foolish mistakes. Maybe because you’re frightened. Maybe both.”
She nodded and rubbed the backs of his fingers against her cheek again. “You swooped in and saved my life like…some superman.” Her tone was soft and broken. “I thought…thought you were pretty near perfect and invincible.”
Cal felt the loss of her warmth almost instantly, like a part of his own body had been torn away. Still, he stepped away. “I told you not to put your faith in people. The only one who will never fail you is God.”
“And I told you. I don’t have that kind of faith. But for a moment you had me convinced that impossible things were possible, Cal.”
“Impossible things? Is this the point you talked about, Drina? The one where you make a conscious decision to trust or to have faith in me or God?”
She lifted her bleak, unblinking gaze. “I’m talking about impossible things like ‘God really cares.’ If you were wrong about all those other things, maybe you’re wrong about that, too. Maybe He isn’t out there, watching over us like you said. Maybe all we really have are our own instincts and judgment.”
Her words shocked him. Rocked him where he stood. He stepped even farther back.
“That’s your parents talking, Drina, not you. You have faith. I’ve seen it shining in your eyes…when you talk about John, in the work you did with the poor…even in your deep desire to save the lives of soldiers. You’ve trusted and let God into your life.”
“Yes! And every time I have, He’s let me down. First with John and now…”
She didn’t finish, but her unspoken words slapped Cal as viciously as a hand.
“It was my judgment that was wrong, Drina. My mistakes that got us here. Just because I failed doesn’t mean God will fail us. If I’d put aside my own feelings and stopped to pray about my choices, He would have guided me in the right direction. I’m sure of it.”
“I’m sorry, Cal. I wish I had that confidence or that faith. But I don’t. I have to make my own choices, my own decisions. I’m not going to rely on some invisible, distant force that probably doesn’t even exist.”
She turned, pushing past with her shoulder as she headed to the front of the car. Climbing in, she slammed the door.
Cal stood, unable to move as his last and worst failure sank deep into his bones and darkened his soul.
* * *
Cal closed the door, then pulled out of the garage, turning the SUV toward the east where gray fingers had begun to thread their way through the black sky. By the time they moved off the frontage road and onto the highway, the gray had begun to turn pink.
Several times Drina felt the urge to look at Cal, to loosen her guard and be honest. Truthfully, she didn’t blame him for their situation…at least not as much as he blamed himself. His skills had saved them over and over again. She hadn’t forgotten—didn’t forget—as he navigated the SUV down the highway, where she didn’t know east from west or north from south.
She should have eased his conscience, let him off the hook. But her own disappointment kept her in check. She’d honestly begun to hope there was a happy-ever-after for her. She wanted a life beyond her work but most of all, she wanted to believe God was real, that she was safe in His hands, that her parents were wrong and there was more to life than what one could see and touch. She yearned for the peace that John and Cal’s strong faith gave them, a faith that was true and rooted in a loving God who would forgive and take the burden of responsibility off her shoulders.
Once again, she’d been disappointed. There were no perfect men, fairy-tale endings or all-powerful beings to ease her burdens. Her fledgling faith was crushed once more and the disappointment was so keen, she almost pounded the dash in front of her. Instead, she clenched her hands into tight fists. How had she been so foolish…so gullible…again?
She knew now that she could only trust her judgment. That was why she’d turned on her cell phone and called Bill Carlisle from the gas station’s tiny, old-fashioned bathroom.
Bill had picked up his phone on the second ring. She was so glad to hear his voice, she almost couldn’t answer. When she finally did, Bill told her over and over again how relieved he was to hear from her.
She’d described where they were. Bill recognized their location and said they were only a short way from the base gates. He promised to have troops waiting for them. Guards with guns to protect them from Carter and his men.
She could trust Bill. He would make everything right. Cal had been wrong to suspect her boss. He’d been wrong about a lot of things.
He was no superhero. Just a simple man who loved food and music and cared about people. He cared so deeply, he’d risked his own life for her.
And he loved fun. Even though Cal had failed at the most important things, Drina couldn’t forget the things he had done right, like reminding her how to have fun. She’d forgotten how to enjoy life until Cal showed her how. Their time in his cabin was like a dream come true…until Carter and his men destroyed Cal’s safe haven. Sorrow washed over her and she closed her eyes.
My feelings are flip-flopping like a fish on shore. We need to reach safety. Once we’re safe, I can think clearly, can sort through all these conflicting feelings and disappointments. Right now I have to focus on reaching the gates and handing my computer over to Bill. Then I’ll be safe and Cal can stop risking his life to save mine.
Drina’s thoughts halted. Was that the real fear driving her? That she might lose Cal like she’d lost John?
The realization broke through her anger and she finally relented and turned to look at him. The pink-and-gray sunrise shed light on his strong profile. Still handsome. Still perfect. Straight nose. High cheekbones. That stubborn lock of black hair falling over his forehead in the same way. The shadow of a beard darkened his chin and hid his dimple. The beard added a rakish, rugged look to his boy-next-door features, features she longed to touch with her fingertips and lips. More than anything she wished she could ease the tightness in his jaw. But she couldn’t. She had to face the truth.
It was possible to fall in love in one night. But it wasn’t possible for that love to last. Disappointment was sure to follow. Disappointment and disillusionment…with not-so-perfect supermen and a God who only made wispy promises.
Drina faced the road, willing the miles to pass quickly. In the distance and off to the right a cluster of buildings rose out of the shadows, still dim, but growing more distinct as they crossed the miles. The base gate and guardhouse. Safety. All they had to do was take the off-ramp. Safety was just a few miles down that road.
Something metallic flashed on the frontage road. A car…multiple cars, parked on the opposite side of the distant overpass. Black SUVs were parked in a line, just waiting for them to hit the off-ramp.
Carter and his men were waiting to intercept them before they reached the safety of the base. Drina had been so lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t even noticed Cal begin to slow. He came to a full stop on the shoulder of the four-lane, divided highway.
Before Drina could even think, he spun the car around and headed back the way they’d come, driving on the wrong side of the highway.
“What are you doing? Are you crazy?”
Cal didn’t answer. Behind them, the rising sun sparkled and shimmered on the shiny chrome of a huge semi headed straight for them. The semi honked. Cal gripped the wheel and stepped on the gas.
The semi honked again and Drina pushed on the floor as if she could apply the brakes. “Cal…” Her tone rose as she reflexively stomped at the empty floorboard.
Just ahead was another overpass with ramps. Cal was headed for the on-ramp. He was trying to make it there before the semi…
Cal jammed the accelerator down. The semi hit the horn again, honking loud and hard as the driver began to slow his vehicle. They were only a few feet away from a collision when Cal swerved their SUV onto the ramp and it shot ahead of the passing truck.
Drina heaved a sigh of relief as Cal barreled up the off-ramp, still in the opposite direction of any oncoming traffic. Slamming onto the brakes, he brought the car to a skidding halt. He turned left onto the overpass and Drina sagged.
He was running away, back the way they’d come. Farther away from safety. They were on the run again.
But instead of taking the ramp to the freeway, Cal pulled onto the frontage road. As soon as the road leveled, he jumped over the curb onto the desert floor and immediately turned the car into a spin.
“What are you doing?”
He didn’t take the time to answer but drove farther into the desert and began another doughnut spin, kicking dust high into the air. He did it three more times until a huge, dirty cloud filled the sky around them.
Then he bumped back onto another road leading deeper into the desert and a nearby solar farm. The farm covered a two-mile square block of solar panels mounted on poles and tilted toward the morning sun in the east.
More dust billowed into the air as Cal circled again. The dust cloud he’d created completely concealed them. Between the glare of the solar panels and the dust, Drina doubted they were visible to the cars following them.
Cal guided the car up the ramp leading to the fence and locked gates surrounding the solar field. He gunned the gas, ramming the gates. The chain and lock gave way and the gates flew open.
“Do you see Carter and his men?” Cal asked as he deftly handled the wheel on the gravel road.
Row after row of solar panels blocked her view of the freeway and the distant overpass. “No. I can’t see anything over the panels.”
“Good. Keep watching. Let me know if you can see them or the freeway. If we can see them, then they can see us. I’m trying to throw them off and buy us enough time to reach the base.”
Cal kept on the outer back rim of the field, headed the way they’d come. Between each row of panels was a lane wide enough for the SUV to pass through.
As the dust cleared, Drina scoured the freeway for any sign of vehicles following them. She soon spotted Carter’s cars, barreling down the freeway, headed in their direction.
“I see them. They’re coming this way.”
Cal slammed on the brakes, pulling the SUV to a stop at the end of the closest row of solar panels. They were completely hidden from view by the massive panel.
They waited. The car’s engine gave off a low hum. At last, a cloud of dust kicked up and traveled down the dirt road that led deeper into the desert.
“They missed us. They’re going away!” Drina couldn’t contain her excitement.
“For now. It won’t take them long to discover we doubled back.” He pulled down the narrow row between the panels until they came to the exterior service road. Cal turned onto it and plowed through another locked gate at the far end of the solar field. They bumped onto the frontage road and within moments they were crossing the overpass, headed toward the base gates.
“I can’t believe we lost them so easily.” Drina spoke softly, almost as if the men following them could hear.
“They won’t be far behind us. We just need to get to the guards before they realize their mistake.”
Zooming down the two-lane road, headed toward the buildings in the distance, Cal glanced her way.
“The guards may have questions when I show them my ID card. Just let me do the talking. I’ll get us through. My team is probably already waiting for us at the rendezvous point. We lost precious time changing that tire.”
He glanced her way, expecting a response. She reached behind and pulled her backpack onto her lap. She ached to tell him about the call she’d made to Bill.
Her emotions must have shown in her features because he said, “Are you all right?”
She nodded again. “Yes. Just anxious to get this over with.” Her tone was tight, clipped. She couldn’t help it. Lying to Cal didn’t feel right. Maybe she should tell him the truth, explain why she’d called.
The moment was lost as Cal slowed to a stop at the gates. A uniformed guard approached the window. Cal pulled his wallet out of his back pocket.
“Morning, sir.” The soldier was young. His features set. Was it Drina’s imagination or did he look nervous?
Cal handed him the card. The young man nodded. “This isn’t your vehicle, Mr. Norwood?”
Cal hesitated. “No. I’m borrowing it from a friend while mine is in the shop. Is there a problem?”
“No, sir. None at all.” The young guard glanced up and over the car. Drina followed his gaze, looking to her right, out her window. Another guard stood beside the car with his gun pointed straight at her. She screamed.
Cal’s head jerked around. Other guards hurried out from behind the building and the sides, all pointing their guns at the SUV.
The young guard with Cal’s ID still in his grip motioned. “Keep your hands off the steering wheel, sir. Hold them up where we can see them.”
Another guard opened Drina’s door. “Step out of the car, Ms. Gallagher.”
Cal’s head jerked in her direction again, surprise written in his features. He quickly recovered and tried to cover his reaction with a calm mien. “Do as he says, Drina. I’m not sure what’s going on, but everything will be all right.”
“Step out of the car, sir.”
Cal obeyed as Drina, clutching her backpack, was led around the front of the vehicle. When they were standing side by side, Bill and a group of men in suits exited the guard shack.
Relief flooded Drina and she ran into Bill’s arms. He gripped her tight. “I’m so glad you’re safe!”
Drina nodded. “We’re both safe. I wouldn’t be here now if not for Cal.”
She turned back. Surprise had wiped Cal’s features clean…just before a frown furrowed his brow and shaped his face into a look Drina would never forget. It was so full of hurt, Drina cried out.
“No, it’s not like that.” The soldiers ignored her, still holding their guns pointed at Cal. Desperate, she turned to her mentor. “Did you hear me, Bill? Cal saved my life.”
“Of course. Of course. Smith, have those men lower their weapons.”
Drina recognized the man beside Bill as part of Cal’s security team. Smith signaled to the soldiers. They pulled their rifles back but held them in a ready position and kept a tight semicircle around Cal.
Something wasn’t right. Drina looked from Bill to Smith and back to Cal, who stood frozen, his posture slumped and his features slack. Cal acted as if he didn’t care what was going on around them…as if he’d lost the battle.
But we’ve won. We’re safe!
Alarm rippled through her. “Tell them to stand back, Bill. We’ve had enough of guns and threats.”
He nodded to Smith, who signaled to the soldiers. Instead of moving back, they pointed Cal in the direction of a blue air force van parked on the other side of the road.
“What’s going on?”
Bill wrapped his arm around Drina’s shoulders and pulled her in the direction of another van. “Don’t worry. We’re just moving to a more secure location. We don’t want to sort through all this out here in the open.”
He led her away.
“I want to go with Cal.”
Bill shook his head. “Smith has to conduct his own debriefing. It has nothing to do with you. You can join up with Norwood when it’s all done.”
Looking back over her shoulder, she saw Smith open the sliding door of the van. Cal climbed in like a man walking in his sleep. Obviously, he felt betrayed, defeated. Her call to Bill was a confirmation that she’d lost all confidence in him.
She didn’t mean to betray him but she had to do what she thought was right. She had to trust where logic had led her, had to trust her own judgment. Didn’t he see that? Didn’t he understand? She needed to talk to him…to explain.
“I want to ride with Cal.” She moved forward but her mentor grabbed her elbow.
“Smith has some questions for Cal. He doesn’t want you there while he asks them. Trust me. They’ll sort this out.”
He lifted her into the van and she sagged back against the seat. Bill’s words eased her concerns but only a little. She wouldn’t feel right until she spoke to Cal.
They drove far from the gates, past the building where she was first kidnapped. The new location was remote, on a rarely used portion of the base called the rocket site. To her right were massive metal stands, built to mount and test rocket engines for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo projects first initiated by the US government in the race to the moon. The stands had long ago fallen out of use and were abandoned. Now they rusted on a lonely hilltop in mute testimony to a bygone era.
Drina shivered and turned away. “Where are we going?”
“Smith has secured a location for us. It’s quiet and safe.”
They drove past a work team on the side of the narrow road. To a man, the workers in hard hats and yellow vests stopped and stared as the caravan passed.
“I guess it’s not as quiet as you supposed.” Drina’s discomfort added sarcasm to her tone.
Bill leaned forward and said something to the man next to the driver, who lifted his cell phone and began to text. Bill eased back into his seat, his features calm, collected, as if nothing was amiss.
But something was wrong. Drina felt as if she were walking on a bed of rocks, uneven and tricky. Nothing felt right…not from the moment she’d seen Cal’s defeated features and they’d ushered him into a van away from her.
Perhaps she’d been on the run so long she’d forgotten how to relax. Or maybe her adventure had taught her to be cautious. She wasn’t sure. She only knew her senses were on full alert.
They followed Cal’s van to the top of the hill. It pulled around to the back of a cluster of buildings, out of Drina’s sight. Her van stopped in the front. The door slid open. A man in a suit helped her down as Bill stepped out and took her arm, leading her inside the older building. It appeared to have been built in the fifties, with low windows and linoleum floors that had seen better days.
Bill escorted her to a back room. Sunshine fell from a mud-streaked window onto a large, old-fashioned metal desk. A rotary phone rested next to a wide paper blotter that had yellowed with time.
“Does that even work?” Drina asked, gesturing to the phone.
“I doubt it. This place has been out of use for a long while. Would you like some coffee or water?” Bill asked as he eased into a chair behind the desk.
She shook her head. “What are we doing here?”
“We’re waiting for a signal. Smith hoped the men chasing after you might attempt to follow you onto the base with their fake IDs. The soldiers are waiting to see if any cars matching the description of your kidnappers’ vehicle arrives. Of course, we don’t want you anywhere near there if they do. You’ve had enough shock and trauma. Once Harris gives us the all-clear signal, we have a helicopter waiting. Your parents are worried sick. I promised them to get the three of you together as soon as possible.”
“My parents? You contacted my parents?”
“Of course, Drina. You’ve been missing for days now. We had to contact them.”
His tone sounded so concerned, so solicitous. It should have warmed her. But it didn’t.
“Is that your computer you’re clutching so tightly?”
She nodded.
“Set it down. Try to relax.”
Biting her lower lip, she eased her bag onto the desk. The man behind her pushed a chair forward. The legs squeaked across the linoleum like fingernails on a chalkboard. The sound sharpened Drina’s senses, awakened something dead inside her. Two thoughts jumped into her mind.
First, Bill had a helicopter at his disposal. Maybe like the one that had chased them through the wind farm?
Second, Bill said the guards at the gate were waiting for vehicles that would match the description of the vehicles chasing them.
But he never asked her for a description.
Why? Because Bill already knew what the vehicles looked like?
Cold washed through her. She started to tremble. Linking her fingers together, she gripped them to hold them still. Cal had been right all along. Bill was the boss.