Behind the Pines (The Gass County Series Book 3) (14 page)

“Up,” the male voice above her shouted, and a strong hand grabbed onto her shirt and the sharp gravel beneath her feet disappeared. She was airborne.

She landed with a thud on her tummy on the backseat of her car and she was happy the stained fabric smelled of Brutus, the dirt and grime she’d wanted to clean off the seats not too long before, now a comfort in despair.

“Where is Hemmerson?”

The driver looked at her in the rearview mirror. “Trade-off,” he muttered.

“You mean me?” Sunshine glared at the vicious, green eyes splitting their concentration between the road ahead and the backseat.

“You weren’t easy to find, Sunshine.”

“That was the point.”

“Getting the dog was good too. You’ve always hated dogs.”

“Where are we going?” Sunshine wanted nothing more than to avoid talking about her past. Especially with someone who knew exactly what it had been like.

“Trade-off.”

“You already said that. No need to repeat yourself like you always did.”

“But this time Hemmerson is not involved.”

“How can you be so casual about all this?”

“I’ve played the scenario of finding you in my head a thousand times over. Yet, in reality none of those scenarios are accurate.”

“Oh, no? You expected me to meet you in a cheerful dance and with a warm hug? Not going to happen, Anthony. Not in a million years.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Brody drove on in the rising morning light, the break of day an aura of welcoming hope. He looked over and found Bryce stirring in his seat and pushing his hands across his face, yawning and stretching for the fresh day and its unforeseen adventures.

“Morning,” Bryce croaked and sat up straighter. Lines had formed at the corner of his eyes, and he was running his hands through his strands of brown hair. “What’s on the itinerary for today?” he asked, and reached into the backseat for his bag, pulled it onto his lap, and opened the zipper. A tall gray thermos including two cups, sandwiches wrapped in plastic, and a jar of Aspirins spilled out from the open bag that took up more space than Brody had anticipated between the two. Something that made Brody’s fascination for tidiness difficult to keep track of.

“Anything you didn’t bring?” Brody asked, with a twang of jealousy, knowing the only thing he’d remembered to pack came from two days earlier when he’d cleaned out the trunk and restacked his snack bag, which he knew didn’t contain more than an apple and two protein bars. He suddenly hated himself for trying to stick to things too healthy. He’d kill for one of the stuffed tuna sandwiches Bryce was in the process of unwrapping, slices of tomatoes and cheese falling from its side and into the bag. Had he not been starving, he’d have thrown Bryce out of the car for stinking it up with tuna, or food in general. There was a no-food policy in his vehicle, that’s why his snack bag was placed in the trunk. Back there he used both the leaf blower and his high-suction vacuum machine when pebbles or dirt came in contact with the upholstery. If worse, he pulled on his elbow-high rubber gloves and with the help of a rough brush and foam cleanser scrubbed the car sterile. Clean meant his UV black light couldn’t detect a substance. If it could, the process started over. Now, looking over at Bryce, he saw his UV light would have a field day.

“Instead of drooling, you can just ask me,” Bryce replied and took another hefty bite out his sandwich.

“Fine,” Brody grunted, and knew if he didn’t eat soon, he’d kill someone, and it wouldn’t look good having killed your best mate and the town’s EMT. Instead he swallowed his pride and asked for a sandwich.

“It’s not like you being so unorganized, Brody, and forgetting to pack something to eat.” Brody’s ears heated and when he glanced over, Bryce smiled and looked out the window. Instead he turned his focus back onto the task at hand.

“We’ll stake a claim today and you’ll use a Taser,” Brody said, pushing his sunglasses onto his nose, staring at the road ahead.

“Such a way of telling stories, Brody. Just missing a few details in the plot. Who am I tasing and what’s the wager?”

Brody pulled his boot off the gas pedal to hand over his cell phone opened to an email he’d received from Melanie Orchard last night. Bryce grabbed the phone from Brody’s hand, trading it for a sandwich, and read in silence.

“The guy she filed the claim against is a cop. He took time off and Melanie traced his cell phone to twenty miles ahead of us.”

“Correct,” Brody answered between bites of Bryce’s deliciously made tuna melt sandwich.

“Wow, Melanie is some hacker.”

“You haven’t even heard the best yet.”

“Go on.”

“Anthony Haines,” Brody pointed at the name of the cop Sunshine wasn’t too pleased about, “has had his computer confiscated by the FBI as evidence in a human trafficking case. He already knows he has nothing to which he can return and my guess is he will go full out on whatever plan he’s created.”

“So passing the border into Canada and finding a buyer is a human trade-off for her backstabbing him with a report, you mean.”

“Exactly.”

“Hmpf,” Bryce muttered and stared out the window. “She’s a pretty good target. Beautiful, unattached, somewhat isolated, and almost broke. If I was in human trafficking, I’d pinpoint her, too. Especially with their background together.”

Brody swallowed and grabbed the steering wheel harder, the metal taste of blood running from inside his cheek to his tongue. Panic pumped the blood faster through his body until he stopped at the side and got out to pace the street before he sat down again.

“We will replace his buyer.” Brody stuck his head in the car window. “There is no other way around it. Let’s make the purchase and bring her back home.”

*              *              *

Sunshine rolled off the backseat and beat her back to the hard console, grunting in displeasure before the side door opened and Anthony Haines reached for her face, carrying a dark cloth in his hand. Not until it was too late did she realize what he was about to do, and too late had she pulled her head to the side and was now in the dark bag. The skin on her upper arms burned as he forced her out of the car until she felt hard pebbles scratching the sole of her bare feet. Her mind created illusory scenarios of where they were located, what color pebbles poked her feet, why she was dressed scantly, and where to put her foot next.

Haines breathed hard next to her ear. The incline was abrasive to her feet and repeated yelps escaped her lips. Yet, she refused to give in to his game, knowing he wanted her to feel pain. The world around them had noise, but of nothing she could recall.

Her feet jumped as cold water clashed against them and she retreated, only to be pushed forward, feeling the water line gradually ascend her skin. Inch by inch she felt the icy-cold water eat up her movement until it reached her midthighs. Haines skinny hand and long fingers felt like icicles clamped around her neck, pushing her forward. Sunshine knew, if she was going to die, here, she was going to give him a fight, and without knowing her surroundings took a leap of faith and threw herself away from Haines.

The cold water immediately soaked the dark cloth and she regretted her sudden outburst. With hands behind her back she suddenly had to decide which way to give in: to the water or to the reality above the surface. Before she had time to decide, two hands pulled her out of the water and with force tossed her onto what appeared to be a river bank. Rapid water gushed by her feet and everywhere the arctic water had touched it burned her skin.

Haines grabbed the wet shirt on her shaking shoulders and pulled her further up the incline until he stopped and leaned her back against the rough bark of a tree trunk.

“And now we wait.”

Only, Sunshine wasn’t sure for what.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Rips of Velcro were the only sound echoing among the trees around the narrow clearing. Brody’s vest sat securely in place while he set Bryce’s in place, too. A hawk escaped a tall branch of a pine tree, its expansive wings giving a solid flap until it soared higher on the pale blue sky, hunting with sharp vision for a day’s prey. Brody noticed Bryce glancing down at the work he’d done at his chest and felt both proud and impressed knowing a person of such bravery and talent so closely.

Sure, he would never confess to any such thing, but a “twang” of appreciation for Bryce’s comradeship sat in his chest and warmed for a second until his cell phone came to life in his pocket and tossed a pail of ice-cold water on whatever feelings he had felt.

Brody pressed the phone to his ear, listening intently, and with a pen in hand he opened up the trunk of the car to grab a piece of the blank paper stacked to the side together with a variety of smaller office supplies that would make a secretary like Wendy immensely jealous. Had he not been in his officer uniform, people might have taken him for a traveling Staples salesperson. He closed the trunk and placed the paper on top of the cool polish and watched Bryce’s head shake from side to side in disbelief of what had just been revealed inside of the trunk. Brody glared and continued to listen to the voice on the phone, writing down information on the paper while he chewed lightly on the inside of his cheek. The metallic taste of blood seemed to be a daily occurance.

“You should see someone for that.” Brody ignored both Bryce’s comment and his finger pointing to the trunk of the car. Instead he waved him over with his pen and tapped the paper.

“This is the last gas station before the border. Three men will stop there. We need their vehicle. Understood?”

“Because?”

“Their GPS has a set destination point. Without it we won’t get what we want.”

“Your girl?”

“. . . right.”

“Sweet.”

Brody stared long and hard at Bryce, who chuckled and walked up to the car door. “You’re in love, my friend. Just admit it.”

Brody sat down in the front seat and revved up the engine, slightly harder than intended, before he took up the trail Melanie had given him. “Stop smiling, Bryce. I don’t like it.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you’re in love, but what you should tell me is how it happened that you took Sunshine’s shirt off.”

“Nothing to report.”

“I highly disagree. You haven’t had a heart since Fiona left you. About time you let this girl hew that boulder inside your chest and make something useful out of it.”

“First of all,” Brody held up his pointer finger while keeping his eyes on the road, as straight as an arrow shooting through the dense, dark forest. “Fiona didn’t leave me. I kicked her out. Secondly, I don’t
love
anyone.”

“Yeah, we all know that,” Bryce confessed, shaking his head. “You know, it doesn’t hurt to smile once in a while or say something nice. Or even make a call.”

Brody glanced at the side of his friend’s face. Agitated was an understatement, Bryce looked ready to explode. “If people could just do what they are supposed to I wouldn’t have to look so stern most of the time, but that never happens. And, I
call
.”

“Yeah, for this trip you did. Because for once you needed help and you didn’t want to be alone.”

“Take truth serum before this trip, Bryce?”

“Maybe I should have, this seems like the perfect opportunity for face-to-face emptying any cats we have in bags.”

“I don’t have cats or other animals in hiding.”

“Except the fact that you feel something for this woman, don’t you? Why else would you drive to fucking Canada and leave your work behind. You never leave your job. You work seven days straight, every week!” Bryce bellowed, and tossed his hands in the air before settling down, opening a soda can and indulging ravenously.

Brody drove in silence, glancing at Bryce every so often to make sure he didn’t suffocate himself on the amount of drinks and snacks still materializing from what seemed an extremely deep duffel bag. He knew the man could eat, looking not only at his physique, but also at the way he had been raised. Two brothers and one sister all fighting for the last piece of food in the house. If you didn’t eat fast, you didn’t eat at all. Surely, Bryce made up for that now.

Hours flew by, the horizon changed slightly from an ocean of birch and pine trees, to hills covered in dark rock, angry pines guarding the view ahead, to soft fields and bending streams. On some spots the road narrowed to a single lane only to open up wide yet again. Bryce had asked to stop twice and Brody couldn’t blame him. No bladder could hold what he had just witnessed Bryce inhale in both hunger and anger. Brody knew he pissed people off, but he couldn’t change it. His job told him to be of constant service to the community, to make people follow the law, and thus his brain seemed to forget to turn on the switch for smile. Fiona had once told him it seemed he was ready to murder someone by just staring at them, that he had only smiled once—the time his squad car had been repainted and a new computer installed. Not even in bed had he smiled, she said. But who smiles then, anyway, you’re too focused on other things. At least he was, probably still is, if he could just remember how to get into bed with someone.