Page 24

COLE

T he good mood Cole woke up in was killed almost immediately when he looked at the empty sleeping bag beside him. Heather wasn’t there. In his mind’s eye, he pictured her being taken that day. She had only been away from him for a few minutes. Now she was gone.

He shot up and looked around, assuring himself that he was probably overreacting. Surely, she knew better than to go off without him. They’d had this conversation already. It wasn’t like her to take stupid risks. It was the one thing he knew about her — the one thing he thought he knew.

Where was she? He started by searching the truck.

He even looked under the truck, uselessly hoping she was maybe playing a prank on him.

She wasn’t there. The only sign he saw of her was a set of footprints, starting at the back of the truck, circling around it, and then heading off in one clear direction. She really had gone off on her own.

“Damn it, Heather,” he said to no one. He was so worried about her, and at the same time, so frustrated with her. Why couldn’t she have just listened to him?

He got into the truck and started the engine.

Now he was going to have to search for her.

All the while his heart was pounding, and he began to sweat more than usual.

He was terrified, but he didn’t have the time to process it, admit it to himself, or deal with it.

No matter what he was going through, the only thing that mattered now was finding Heather.

He would deal with his own issues when she was safe.

If she was safe. He shuddered at the idea that she might not be.

He drove the truck for maybe half a mile before pulling over, jumping out, and checking the dust for Heather’s footprints.

Just seeing them there comforted him a little.

She had not been scooped up while she walked down the highway alone.

Her footsteps were still here. He repeated this action a number of times on his way to the nearest town, each time heaving a deep sigh when he finally saw her footprints.

After a while, he thought to turn on the radio and listen to some breaking news, just in case they said anything about the gang, where they may be operating, whether they had been caught.

He was getting closer and closer to the nearest town, and he kept checking for her footprints, but he didn’t quite make it into town.

Right outside of it, on the highway, on the way in, was a lone pay phone, and of course, Heather was standing right beside it.

Cole parked and leapt out of the truck just in time to hear her say, “Okay, love you, Mom. I’ll be fine, I promise. See you soon.” Then she hung up the receiver.

The first thing Cole did when he saw Heather was to run to her and throw his arms around her. The second thing he did was to shout at her. “Get in the truck. Now!”

She did as she was told, but the smile she had been wearing was gone in an instant. Before she even had her seatbelt on, Cole was peeling out of the driveway.

“What if someone saw you?” he said. His relief was slowly being replaced by anger.

She shrugged, but her nonchalance looked fake to him. “No one saw me.”

“How can you know that for sure?” he said. “Did any cars drive by?”

“A few.” She tried to shrug again, but now her face was twitching with her own frustration. “It’s no big deal.”

“No big deal? Did you hit your head or something? Did you forget that you were kidnapped by a gang who were about to kill you before I got there? How do you think I felt, waking up to find you gone? You could have at least told me you were going.”

“I left a note.”

“If you did, the wind blew it away.”

Her eyes narrowed in frustration. She clearly hadn’t expected him to be angry about this, and Cole had to wonder why. Of course he was going to be angry. There was no other reasonable response to something like this.

“You told me to take more risks,” she said lightly.

“Not like this!” he shouted, and then he forced himself to calm down a bit.

Yelling at her wasn’t going to get him anywhere, and he needed to make her understand.

“This is one of those situations where I think being overcautious is a good idea. When I said to take risks, I meant like in your career or something, not in a life-and-death kidnapping situation.”

She sank in her seat and crossed her arms. “This was worth the risk.”

“For a phone call?” He could hardly believe what he was hearing.

“To talk to my mom!” she shouted. “I haven’t heard her voice since before I was taken.

This whole situation feels like some kind of fever dream.

Don’t you understand? I never go a day without talking to my mom.

It’s been driving me crazy. I don’t get why you can’t understand how important that might be to me.

Just because you aren’t close with your family, or anyone else for that matter, doesn’t mean everyone else has the same experience. ”

“That was a low blow, Heather,” he said.

“It wasn’t meant to be.” Her cheeks were bright red.

“It’s just the truth, isn’t it? If the truth is a low blow for you, then that’s something you have to fix.

In the meantime, don’t punish me just because I have relationships I care about and you can’t understand what that’s like.

My mom means the world to me. I needed to hear her voice just in case…

” She paused, hesitating to say whatever she was going to say next.

“Just in case this was the last chance I got.” Her voice broke, but she didn’t let herself cry.

Cole struggled with the sight of her distress.

He didn’t want to see her cry, but at the same time, he didn’t want to let her think it was okay to do this sort of thing again.

If making her angry at him was the only way to keep her safe, he would do it over and over again.

This situation wasn’t about his comfort or happiness.

And as much as he wanted Heather to feel the best way she could about their situation — by convincing her this was all just one prolonged first date — her comfort was also not his first priority.

It had to be a step down from her safety.

It just had to. What frustrated him the most, just now, was that he felt like she was forcing him to choose between her comfort and her safety.

He took several deep breaths and searched for his own patience. “Okay. Let’s take a break from this conversation and circle back to it later, after we’ve both had coffee.” He tried to smile at her, but she did not smile back. She really was furious with him.

He drove them into a small town and kept his eyes peeled for a little café that might be pleasant to visit without being too conspicuous.

There was one tucked away in a row of other businesses, none of which actually served food.

So it wasn’t going to be too busy, he thought.

Cole quickly found street parking and walked with Heather to the little café.

The place was cute, very cottage-core on the inside, with fake vines lining one wall and other plants in wall-mounted pots.

All the furniture looked handmade, as did the pastries in the pastry case.

Cole was starving. Dinner had not been enough.

Usually, he burned calories at a high rate, so he was often hungry.

Luckily, the café had food other than what was in the case.

Heather got a latte and a muffin, while Cole ordered a plate of eggs, bacon, oatmeal, hash browns — you name it — and black coffee to go with it.

It was good to be outside the truck for a while, and Cole was certain he and Heather both would be feeling a lot better after they had eaten breakfast. But even while they were eating, Heather didn’t say a word.

She ate too quietly, and Cole could tell she was still upset, even after she finished her muffin.

He decided to calmly address the issue. The two of them were going to stand a much better chance of surviving if they were getting along.

More than anything, right now, Cole felt they needed to communicate honestly.

“I hope you know that I only want to keep you safe,” he said. “I’m not trying to keep you from talking to your mom.”

“I know.” She said it, but Cole wasn’t sure she really believed it. “I just don’t think it should be your decision, you know? Why is it that you know what’s best in this situation?”

He tried to answer her, though he was under the impression, at this point, that an answer wasn’t exactly what she was after.

“I have some experience in tough situations, in combat, and in getting on the wrong side of criminals. If what we’re doing is working, and it has so far, we should keep doing it.

They haven’t found us yet. We should just stay the course until this situation is resolved.

After that, we can go back to our normal lives. ”

“I don’t think I did anything to endanger either one of us,” she said.

“I wish you’d stop making me feel terrible about one stupid phone call from a pay phone.

I didn’t tell Mom where we were or any details about anything.

And even if I did, that’s my prerogative.

I don’t think it’s your business or your problem. ”

Cole shook his head as he added salt to his eggs.

“It’s my problem because they’re after me, too.

They want me dead, too. I’ve seen them. And I don’t want to get killed over, as you put it, one stupid phone call from a pay phone.

They could have traced it from your mom’s end.

They could be out there looking for us right now.

You could have just signed both of our death warrants. ”