Blind Faith (39 page)

The glare of headlights impaled her. She feinted, running along the road as the car behind her sped up, aiming for her. She turned to look over her shoulder, saw Alan, hunched over the wheel of his Volvo, his face filled with hate.

Good. He was focused on her. Not Sam or Julia.

She could smell the fumes, felt the rumble of the engine hurtling towards her. At the last possible moment, she leapt off the road and into the shrubs. The car braked and fish tailed, spinning sideways to land with two wheels off the road fifty feet away from her.

Alan opened his door, staggered out. He'd removed his jacket. His white shirt was drenched in blood, but she'd obviously not wounded him as seriously as she'd hoped. Damn silk suit. The extra layers of fabric blunted her blow. His tie was missing as well and his hair stuck out from his head as if he'd turned into a wild man.

"Sarah!" He called into the night, brandishing the gun. "Come out, Sarah! I won't hurt you if you give me what I want."

His voice was cajoling, but the gleam in his eyes was murderous. Her fingers tightened on the guitar string. She'd finally found something more important to Alan Easton than money.

Killing her.

She broke from cover, rustling through the bushes with enough noise to wake the dead. Sorry, Colonel, she thought as she continued to break a trail that a blind grandmother could follow. Or a city-slicker lawyer.

She knew exactly where she needed to go. Snakebelly. Was it really only two nights ago that she'd camped on this ledge, dreaming of Indian princesses and Sam? Alan's footsteps broke through the night, following her trail.

She quickened her pace until she reached the spot where she'd anchored her climbing rope. Good, it was still there. She drew the rope through her fingers until she had a good length coiled and ready to go. Then, spinning the length of wire before her, she wrapped one end of wire around a sapling at ground level and kept hold of the other end. She crouched down in the shadow of a boulder and waited.

"Sarah! Don't make this harder than it has to be. Come out now like a good girl. You know I'll find you. Or if not you, I'll find Julia." He stepped into the small clearing. "Now you've nowhere to go." He swept his hand with the gun from one side to the other, squinting in the moonlight as he scanned the shadows. There was only one hiding place large enough. He aimed the gun directly at her.

"Come out Sarah. It's over." He stepped forward, now only five paces from the ledge.

He took another step, raised the gun. And fired.

Sarah jumped at the crack of noise that shattered the night. The bullet struck the rock above her, splintering her with shards of granite.

"Now, Sarah!" He commanded, his tone one of victory as he took another step closer to her.

She stood, keeping her hand behind her. He leered at her, the gun centered on her chest. "That's a good girl."

He took one last step. Now he stood before her, almost touching her. His breath came in gasps, his chest heaved with adrenalin and exertion. "Now I know why people hunt. The thrill of the chase. It's exhilarating."

The whites of his eyes gleamed in the moonlight. Sarah stood still, waiting for her opening. The abyss waited less than a foot away from them both.

He prodded at her with the gun. "You've been a bad girl," he whispered. "You're going to pay for what you've done."

Sarah forced herself to meet his gaze. "Like hell I will."

His slap rocked her back against the edge of the boulder. She grabbed his belt and pivoted her weight against him, yanking the wire tight with her other hand. At first he allowed her to use his weight to get up. Then he reached for her as he realized that she was leveraging him over the edge. His foot caught in the wire, his hand with the gun jumped up, slamming against her jaw.

The wire sliced into her palm, but she refused to release it. She rammed her body against his, pushing him over the edge. He stutter-stepped, still trying to catch his balance. For one frozen moment her face was a mere inch away from his. His mouth was open wide but no sound came. Just a rush of breath as he reached out for her.

She toppled over the edge with him, the wire finally slipping from her grasp.

Together Sarah and Alan hurtled through the darkness. Her stomach lurched with the feeling of free fall. Then, after an agonizing moment, her rope yanked her to a stop.

Alan plummeted past her, his screams fading into the darkness long after his body vanished from her sight.

Sarah hung at the end of her rope for a long moment before she could catch her breath. Then she rocked her weight forward, nudging the rock face, until she found purchase for her feet. She placed her weight back against the rope and climbed out.

It was awkward driving with one leg stretched out beside the other, using his left foot. Every time he jostled his right foot a fresh explosion of pain would crash over him. But the worst part was when he lost sight of Sarah in the rearview mirror. It was as if he'd lost part of himself.

Daddy?
He imagined Josh's voice if he returned without Sarah.
Why couldn't Mommy stay with us? Didn't she want to come home?

Okay, he was wrong. Now he really knew what pain was—the thought of shattering his son's heart.

Sam couldn't really blame Josh if he never forgave him. Just as he couldn't blame Sarah. He'd made a complete mess of things.

But if Sarah came back, they could start over. No Korsakov, no Alan—just her and Josh and Sam. A family. Again.

"You okay back there, Julia?" he asked, more to try to distract himself from his morbid fears of Sarah's death than anything.

"Y-yes sir." Her voice was muffled by tears.

"We're going to get out of this. All right?" Then he remembered that he still had her cell phone. He pulled it from his pocket and handed it to her over the back seat. "Why don't you call your parents, let them know you're all right?"

She took the phone. He slowed the car as they approached a hairpin turn, dared to turn the lights on. Not much farther.

"Can't. The battery's dead," Julia said leaning over the back seat, her voice more normal now.

"It's all right. We're almost there."

Sarah made it back to the Volvo and started down the mountain. Her hands could barely grip the steering wheel, they were so torn up from holding the wire and the rope. But other than that, she was pretty much in one piece.

She rolled her shoulders, daring to relax for the first time in days. Sam was safe, Josh was safe, they were going to make it—

A woman's form jumped out from the shadows. Sarah stomped on the brakes, the car spinning out on the dirt road. She felt the brake pedal pump against her foot as she wrestled the steering wheel, trying to keep the car from plummeting over the side of the mountain.

The car came to a stop mere inches away from the woman. She didn't seem to notice, was already sprinting to the driver's side, pounding on the door with one hand.

It was Caitlyn. The car rocked with the force of her blows. She looked like a madwoman, her hair wet, shoved in all directions, clothing soaked and clinging to her. Her face was white in the moonlight, one eye almost swollen shut, blood smeared over her cheek and forehead.

"Let me in! Federal Agent!"

Sarah rolled down her window. "Caitlyn, it's me. What happened?"

Caitlyn fell against the car, her chest heaving as she gasped for air. "Hal Waverly. He tried to kill me."

"Hal?"

"We've got to get to town. He's got bombs. He's planning to blow up the dam!"

Sam pulled up to the curb in front of the Rockslide. Julia hopped out, obviously anxious to be free of today's adventures. He debated sitting here, waiting for Sarah, rather than leaving the car. His foot hurt so much he'd almost bitten his tongue in half to keep from crying out.

The dome light came on when Julia opened the door. He was surprised by the puddle of blood his leg sat in. Every time he moved, more blood squished out from beneath his sock.

"Sam, I think you need Doc Hedeger," Julia said, leaning in to peer at him and his leg. "I'll go get him."

"Help me inside the café first," Sam said. "The Colonel can help me wrap it up, stop the bleeding until the doc gets here."

She nodded and sprinted around to his side of the car, letting him lean his weight against her as he slid out. As soon as his leg left the seat and swung to the ground, pain catapulted through him. His stomach reeled and he felt like he was going to black out. He leaned heavily against Julia, thankful for her youthful strength, as she half-dragged him to the café door.

"Over at the gov center, help yourself," a note on the door read. It wasn't the Colonel's usual precise hand-writing, but rather a jagged scrawl.

Julia pushed the door open. The café was dark, but the light switch was right inside the door. She flicked it on, the bright fluorescent lights sending flashes through the dark swirls clouding Sam's vision. He swayed as she loosened her grip long enough to hold the door open for him.

"Just a little farther," she said.

Sam nodded, his entire being focused on the black and white linoleum beneath his feet. Smears of blood splattered the gleaming surface below his foot.

"Good evening, Stan," came the voice from his darkest nightmares. Sam jerked his head up as Julia came to an abrupt halt. "I knew if I waited patiently, sooner or later you'd catch up with me."

Grigory Korsakov slid out from the booth where he sat in the farthest corner of the café. Sam could barely keep his head held high enough to meet the Russian's gaze. His body swayed, if it wasn't for Julia, he would have fallen. Still, he unwrapped his arms from her body.

"Go," he whispered to her. "Run. Now."

Sarah rocketed the car down the dirt logging road. They came to the intersection with Lake Road. To the right was Hopewell, to the left the road to the dam.

One way led to Sam. The other to probable death—and the chance to maybe save lives.

"What are you waiting for?" Caitlyn asked, tugging at the wheel with her good hand. "Go."

Sarah spun the wheel, heading toward the dam. For the first time she appreciated the awful decision Sam had to make that night two years ago. Injured, almost dead, he'd still found the strength to get off the mountain and take Josh to a safe place.

She pushed down on the accelerator, gravel spraying the road behind her, pinging against the undercarriage. Caitlyn kept talking, repeating the instructions about how to dismantle the bombs for the fourth time, as if the more she talked, the less likely they were to die tonight.

A fact they both knew was a lie.

"He'll detonate them using a radio to get the widest range. You guys don't have good enough coverage for a cell phone to work. But any radio frequency would work with those detonators. All it takes is one spark of electricity to the blasting cap and—" She threw up her hand for emphasis.

"He could be anywhere," Sarah said.

"He'll need line of sight."

"The southeast corner of the dam," Sarah said, still reeling from the fact that one of her oldest friends was a drug addict. "There's an observation tower. From the top you can see the entire reservoir and even down into part of town. He could see everything."