Gabriella gaped, but she could no longer see a thing.
“I’m so sorry.” Luke’s voice sounded raw. “I... We have to go now or never. I’ll go first.”
Her eyes strained, but still she saw nothing. The sound of denim sliding along carpet and wood was followed by a soft thump. “Your turn,” he whispered. “There’s actually a little light from the vents at the far end.”
“Mom’s diary.” She crawled around on her knees, feeling, searching.
“Gabriella,” he called out. “We can’t wait any longer.”
Her throat burned as she coughed, nearing closer to the vent. He was right. He’d told her to keep the diary with her, but she’d been stubborn and wanted to help.
“Talk to me,” she croaked. “I need to find the hole again.”
Her heart beat wildly against her ribs. Every sensation felt foreign, and her head spun.
“I’m here,” he whispered. “I’m waving my hand in the air.”
“I can’t see it, though.” Her right index finger slipped into empty space and hit flesh. “Sorry.”
“Hop down. I’ll catch you.”
She turned around on her belly. “Watch out. Here come my feet.” She knew, logically, that it wasn’t too deep. If Luke could stand at the bottom and stick his hands up, then she’d be fine, but her heart refused to believe it.
Her stomach turned—possibly from the granola bar—and her throat wanted to release a scream. Her feet dangled in air and then as she slid, strong hands gripped her waist. She gasped as he pulled, and suddenly her toes touched something solid.
“Don’t move for a second. Catch your balance. We need to stay on the rafters. You’re going to want to duck. The height diminishes in a second.” She blinked and reached for Luke’s hand. The room lightened, and she could see the boards and the odd shaping of the room. A crack in the floor a few inches behind Luke leaked the rays. “Is that why we need to stay on the two-by-fours?”
She couldn’t be sure in the shadows, but it seemed like a sheepish grin. “Yes. I very nearly stepped all the way through. Good thing I have quick reflexes, or you’d have to be pulling me out of the ceiling below. I’m not used to climbing around crawl spaces anymore.” He jutted his chin forward. “Hurry. In case Rodrigo heard us.”
Gabriella tightened her stomach. She remembered from her workout classes that a strong core helped balance. She flung her arms out and took a step forward. But she couldn’t make herself lift her back foot. Instead she shuffled, sliding her feet forward.
A series of thuds vibrated the side of the walls. “Where is that coming from?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s not a good sign. If I put my hands on your shoulders, do you think you could walk faster?” His voice was soft, soothing. She knew he wanted to keep her from panicking, from thinking about Rodrigo on their trail, but it had the opposite effect.
“Yes.” His firm hands on her shoulders gave her the courage to move. He wouldn’t let her fall through the ceiling.
She sped to the raised box. She knelt down and flung the top off. Two feet below, the top of her mom’s SUV blocked her exit. It’d be tricky to get out. The car creaked as she stepped on the top. Luke bent down and held her hand as she sat down.
“Just like recess, Gabriella. You can do it.”
She squirmed until her feet slid down the window. At the last second, she ducked her head below the ceiling and slid down to the hood.
The wipers dug into her back as she turned over and slid off the car to solid ground. The windows to the side revealed the source of the light earlier. Luke grunted as he maneuvered the tight space and finally joined her. “Would the keys to this car be in here?”
“They’re still upstairs in Mom’s room.” She pointed to the window. “You any good at reading the time based on the sun?”
Luke squinted. “Looks like the sunshine is streaming in from the east.” He flashed a reassuring smile. “It’s probably early morning.” He lunged to the garage door and pulled a red lever down. He glanced sideways at her. “Do you have your bearings? The moment I open this door, we need to make a run for it.”
They needed to get to the barn. In that scenario, they really needed to go due south, but there was the small problem of the lake in their way, plus in the event Rodrigo saw them leaving she wanted to lead him away from their true goal.
She mapped out a route in her head. He grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Gabriella, promise me that no matter what, you keep running.”
He was asking her to keep going if he got shot, if Rodrigo got him. She searched his pleading eyes. She wanted to say no, to argue, to lie even, but her great-aunt was counting on her. “Okay.”
Her eyes drifted to the lightweight kayak leaning vertically against the wall between the two garage doors. Her mom used to take a row every day for her exercise.
He turned to the door and in one motion swept the aluminum door straight up. “Run!”
She tossed Luke the plastic oar and grabbed the handle on the nylon deck of the kayak and tossed it over her shoulder.
His eyes widened. “What are you doing?”
“Trust me.” She jogged left, around the corner toward the front of the house.
“At least let me carry that.”
She ignored him and darted past their cars. If only they had keys. “Give me the oar.”
He handed her the orange stick. “I hate to break it to you, but there’s no way we can both fit in there.” She ran until they were just underneath the willow tree branches. “We don’t have to—”
“Freeze,” a thick voice yelled. She peeked through the vines and saw Rodrigo from an open window on the second floor.
Crack!
A chunk of dirt six inches next to Luke flew up in the air. His eyes widened. “Duck!”
Gabriella dumped the stick in the kayak and shoved it off into the lake. She bent over, grabbed his hand and ran around the trees. She hoped, even for a split second, that it would distract or confuse Rodrigo enough to give them the chance to hide.
Another gunshot rang out as water splashed up. She sprinted until she got behind a pine tree. She pressed her hands on top of her knees and sucked in a deep breath. “You okay?”
He nodded, panting. “Yeah, let’s go.”
“We need to stay close to the trees.” She didn’t feel safe standing still any longer. She took off running and looked over her shoulder. Luke kept up, but his injured leg took more of a hop than a stride.
Ten minutes later, Gabriella slowed her pace. Her stomach rolled with the nausea that came with low blood sugar and a workout so hard she could no longer breathe. She hadn’t experienced the sensation since high school track. “He can’t see us from the house now.”
She pointed to the row of trees. “You can’t even see the lake from here. We can probably slow down a little if you need.”
“I’m so turned around, Gabriella. My sense of direction is all messed up.” Luke placed his hands on his lower back and puffed out his chest as he inhaled. “Let’s get to the road, and then we can slow down.”
She froze. “We’re not headed for the road. We’re going to the barn.”
His eyebrows rose as his jaw hardened. “No. We’re going to the police.”
“Luke, we talked about this.”
“Yes, and you said it was a moot point. It’s not anymore, and I’m taking you to the police to get you away from this madman. They can help you and your aunt, Gabriella. You just need to give them a chance.”
Her heart warmed at the concern in Luke’s voice, but Benito’s words replayed in her mind.
Gabriella hated the thought of them splitting up, but her eyes drifted to his leg. A slight red mark on his jeans meant the bandages weren’t holding the wound. He was bleeding again. “Go,” she said. “Tell them about Rodrigo, but please don’t tell them about my aunt or Benito.”
She held up a hand at his open mouth. “It’s the best I can do. I know you’ve had good experiences with cops, but if my mom escaped the mafia and felt she couldn’t trust law enforcement she must’ve had her reasons. Benito was cocky enough to leave me with a phone...and a threat with it, yes, but still. Doesn’t that make you wonder if part of their confidence comes from having a mole inside the police or FBI? Or both?”
He focused on the tree line closest to the house. “Maybe, maybe not.”
Gabriella could tell by his impassive face that her logic failed to work on him. She put a hand on her hip. “Besides, do you know how much time it would take to get to the police? The clock is ticking. There is no time to schedule some kind of sting before they kill my aunt.”
He shook his head and raked a hand through his hair. “You win. Lead the way to the barn.”
“But I told you—”
His eyes met hers. “I’m not leaving you.”
“And I don’t want to risk you getting shot again, and this time it’d likely be more than a graze. You saw Rodrigo. He’s not going to give up until he gets me and gets what he wants.”
“Then let’s stop wasting time.” He leaned forward, his expression determined. “I’m ready for that property tour.”
Her neck tingled, and the wind carried with it the acrid scent of burning sulfur. Fire season had started early in the Northwest. Both Washington and Oregon faced severe property loss. The late spring winds and lack of rain made things worse.
“This way.” She stepped past another line of trees and inhaled the scent from a blooming cherry tree in the distance. After smelling the lake water and smoke from the vents and faraway forest fires, she wanted to smell the blossoms for the rest of the day. The horrible scents seemed to be permanently burned in her senses.
Luke’s stomach growled. “Too bad there’s no fruit on the trees yet.”
She grinned. “If we hurry, I think I can help you with that along the way.”
“I had no idea how many trees you had on the land. It’s like a forest.”
And the one reason Gabriella felt confident Rodrigo wouldn’t find them. “Mom loved the variety. She planned the land to be its own complete ecosystem.”
She couldn’t help the pride that puffed within at the reflection of her mom’s work. If they ever got out of this alive, Luke would have to tear it all down. Her gut churned at the thought, but she needed money to take care of Aunt Freddie. All things being equal, her mom would’ve understood. “I’m sure you can sell the lumber for a good price before you build.”
He stiffened. “What am I hearing?”
She listened to the crackling and trickling of water and understood his concern, but early mornings spent walking the land provided some of her favorite sounds. “Follow me,” she whispered.
Gabriella slid through a small narrow gap in the arborvitae trees, used to help stop the wind from hitting the house and the lake.
Luke placed a hand over his wounded area and stepped past the prickly foliage to join her. She put a finger over her mouth and pointed at the swan and cygnets swimming down the bubbling creek.
“Wow.” He exhaled a sound of awe. “Please tell me you don’t expect me to catch and cook us a fish.”
“I caught a trout with my bare hands once. True story.” She almost laughed as he cringed. “No, I don’t expect us to eat raw fish...or cook fish. That’d be ludicrous. If memory serves, we should have some wild raspberries to eat. They’re usually untouched until the fall crop when the birds and squirrels take their fair share.”
She pointed at what looked like a pond at the end of a stream surrounded by bushes and another willow tree. “If we turn left at the willow tree we could run across a few acres until we reached the barn, but we’d be in the open. No shelter. We would make for an easy target. I’m planning to take us a way that keeps us in the trees. We’ll approach the barn from behind. It’s out of the way a few miles, but worth it if we can keep up a good pace.”
She eyed his concerned expression and placed a hand on his arm. “Luke, if you turn around and follow the stream, it’ll take you right to the fence in a little over a mile. It’s barbed wire, but I’m sure you could handle it. The road is right next to it. I insist.”
Luke exhaled. “I made it clear I’m not going anywhere without you, Gabriella. The faster we can get what you need, the faster I can get you to safety.”
She beamed and touched his shoulder. “I’m thankful for you. You were there for me in college when I most needed an honest friend. Even with our awkward history, I knew you were the only real estate developer I could trust.”
So much for waiting for better timing. If Luke ignored that opening and found out later, she’d lump him in with every other liar in her life. “Gabriella, I need to tell you something.”
Her dark eyes widened. Luke focused on the willow tree ahead. When he looked at her, the beauty and vulnerability threatened to be his undoing. “You think that everything that’s happened to us—to you—has stemmed from the media featuring you and your charity, right?”
“Yes. I know. I’m sorry it ever happened. We’ve already had three times the amount of donations we’d normally have this time of year, which is great, but given the circumstances, so not worth it.” She shook her index finger in the air. “I’d like to give that reporter a piece of my mind, and the editor who approved it and the people who read it...”
Luke turned to her. It was obvious she was only venting, but he took the opportunity. “Then you better give it to me.”
Her eyes narrowed as she tilted her head. “What do you mean? Are you trying to tell me you’re actually a reporter?”
“No.” He took a deep breath. “But I do have some contacts in New York. From what I’ve seen, I thought your foundation was worth some recognition. If they didn’t feature you, they’d feature someone else, right? I thought I was doing a good thing. I’m sorry.” She remained silent. He met her eyes as she stared at him.
She nodded, turned and stomped toward the willow tree.
“Are you mad?”
“I don’t know what I am yet.”
He huffed. He could never predict her responses.
She spun to him. “Why? What’d you expect me to say?”
He shrugged, and he knew he should stop talking but couldn’t help himself. “I hoped you could acknowledge I tried to do a good thing for you.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Is that why you told me then, Luke? To make yourself feel better?”
He threw his hands in the air. He couldn’t win, and he hated that they’d still escaped and yet remained in just as much danger as before. “I was trying to be honest. And even if you had a heads-up from me, would you have really turned it down? They’d still have found you.”
“Well, if I’m being honest, you could’ve waited until a better time when I could process and handle the news a little better.” Her voice cracked.
“Answer me straight up. If I had waited and told you later...first off, I have no idea when that would be, and second, wouldn’t you have thought I was lying?”
Her eyes softened. “I don’t know.”
“Gabriella, I don’t want to ever be the guy that lied to you. I know how much honesty means to you, and though I’m doing a rotten job of it, I’m trying.” He wanted to lie down, to ease the pain in his hip. Never before had anything good come out of his mouth when he was tired or in pain. “And I’m sorry. I’m exhausted.”
She searched his face, and he wished she’d voice her thoughts aloud. She stepped closer, pain mirroring his features. Her eyes widened as she looked past him. “In the trees,” she whispered.
Gabriella tugged on his wrist until they were between two lilac trees. She turned into his chest as bees buzzed around their heads. He wrapped his arms around her and stilled. The bees went back to work on the blooming buds. As the smell calmed his pounding heart, he leaned down and whispered into her thick dark hair. “Did you see him?”
She shook her head into the flannel shirt. “No. I saw the arborvitae trees we went through shake.” She stiffened in his arms. “I’m allergic to bees, Luke.” She flinched again as a bee buzzed from one tree to the next. “Worst place to hide.”
Luke held her as he peeked around the corner. Sure enough, Rodrigo had appeared, looking up and down the stream. “If you’re allergic, how do you pick berries?” he whispered, hoping to distract her.
“I go early in the morning or late at night. It must be later in the day than I thought.”
Great. “Do you have an EpiPen in the house?”
She mumbled into his shirt. He bent his head down low, careful not to jostle any of the branches. “Say again?”
“One in my glove box. But he took the keys, remember?”
He wouldn’t forget that anytime soon. I need some wisdom, Lord. Without weapons there wasn’t much he could do. A river rock caught his eye. He bent down, which was no easy feat as Gabriella kept her hands and face covered in his shirt. He grabbed the smooth rock. The buzzing seemed quieter near the ground. If he didn’t succeed, maybe they could crawl away. Though, clover grew on the other side of the trees—another known bee hangout.
Luke inhaled through his nose to calm his heart and straightened, pulling her up with him so she could keep her face protected.
He needed to pretend he was playing in the church softball league or the stress would mess up his aim. Just another afternoon beating their rival team, the Swinging Shepherds. He pulled his arm back, twisted his hips and let the rock fly.
A pulling sensation spread across his thigh. He bit his lip to keep from groaning aloud. Warmth dripped down his leg. Great. He’d ripped the wound back open.
The crackling from the tree branches across the river confirmed he met his mark. Two brown streaks ran in the opposite direction through the dense wooded area. “Deer?”
“What?” She peeked up at him.
He grinned. “I think I scared some deer.”
Crack! Crack! Gabriella jerked in his arms. Splashing followed. Rodrigo ran through the water into the forest, chasing after his new friends. “I don’t think he could see them from his vantage point. Come on. Before he figures out who he’s chasing.”
He pulled her out of the lilac trees and they ran until they were under the cover of the willow tree branches. She hunched over her knees, catching her breath. “You’re bleeding again.” Her voice went flat.
“Yeah.”
“Some pair we make.” She beckoned him to step behind the trunk. “I didn’t think he would be on to us this soon. I don’t want to lead him to the barn, Luke.”
“Don’t slow down on my account.”
“Unless we change our minds and want to run through the field of alfalfa, we’re about to get our feet wet.” She marched past a group of shrubs, revealing a couple more pools of water.
He marveled at the beauty surrounding him. As she trudged past another group of trees, the sound of a hundred streams of rippling water drew him forward until he spotted the smallest of waterfalls from one hill down to the rocks below surrounded by low-hanging foliage.
A splash set his nerves on edge. “Rainbow trout,” she said. Fish larger than most fishermen dreamed of wiggled their way up the tiny waterfall.
He looked over his shoulder and almost hollered at the pair of steely eyes looking at him from a dwarfed tree. “Is that an eagle?”
“Uh...no. That’s an osprey.” She hit his shoulder and pointed up in the sky where giant wings made a shadow twice as large below. “Now that’s an eagle. I wish we could stay and hide here.”
A sweet aroma overpowered the smell of forest fires in the west. His stomach roared. A slow, hesitant smile grew on her face. “Good timing.”
Gabriella pointed to a spot without shade directly to the south of where they hid. It looked like giant hills of twigs piled high. “One is blackberries, the other raspberries. The raspberries are probably our best bet. If you get the spring batch, the birds and the pests haven’t really touched them yet. It should be relatively safe to eat without washing.”
“Stay here. We don’t need you taking chances with your allergy.”
Her shoulders dropped, most likely in relief at his suggestion. He looked all around before darting to the bush. The buzzing confirmed his choice. Although most of the berries looked pink, he tenderly lifted a branch, careful to keep his fingers in the small space between the thorns. His mouth watered at the grouping of luscious red fruit. He filled the flannel pocket and his two hands before hustling back to her in the shelter of the shade.
“Hold out your hand.”
She accepted with a smile. “We need to keep moving. Especially since we’re taking the long way.”
“I think that’s wise. Rodrigo is bound to have figured out by now he was chasing deer.” Luke threw the remaining berries into his mouth. “Is that enough to hold you, Gabriella?”
The birds sang as she hiked uphill. Her eyes looked wet as she glanced at him. “Besides my mom, you’re the only one who calls me by my full name.”
“It’s what you like though, right?”
She shook her head. “That’s the thing. Everyone just calls me Gabbie and doesn’t ever ask. How’d you know?”
“I overheard you tell Thad you preferred your given name once.”
Her eyes widened. She shook her head. “And you’re still single.”
The comment hit him the wrong way, although he wasn’t sure why. He couldn’t tell if she meant it as a compliment or a dig. “Did you ever get your rebound relationship?” The question slipped out before he could filter it.
She spun around and placed her hands on her hips. “When you say it that way, it makes it sound as if I wanted a rebound.”
“I believe your words were, ‘I don’t want you to be my rebound.’ That pretty much implied it.”
Her mouth gaped. “You’re twisting my words.”
“No, that was an exact quote. You remember these things when a girl rejects you after you’ve kissed her.”
She jerked back as if he’d slapped her. “We never kissed!” She huffed. “And, I’d only found out three months before that the person I thought was going to stay committed to me for the rest of my life had instead cheated on me.” She flung a finger in the air. “Someone just told me it takes five years to get over someone cheating you. Five years! And maybe I didn’t need that long, but I needed more time than it took you. I didn’t reject you, Luke. I told you I was scared to lose your friendship. I needed it.” Her eyes brightened with a moist sheen. “Ironically, I lost that anyway.” She turned on her heel and took off.
Luke wished he didn’t remember that moment in time so vividly, but he’d held her so tight and as he brushed his lips against hers, she’d stepped away. “If we didn’t kiss, what would you call it?” Luke pumped his arms to keep up with her lengthened stride up the hill. His injury made him take two steps for every one of hers.
Gabriella’s face reddened. For a split second he worried she’d been stung until she said, “It was a hug, Luke. We were stepping away from a hug. Believe me, you’ll know when I kiss you.” She held up a hand, this time her face bright red. “I mean, if I kissed you ever.” She shook her head. “Not that I would.” She groaned. “Can we just please drop it?”