CL Hart -From A Distance (8 page)

"Are you kidding me?" Kenzie's brow furrowed and her glare darkened. She returned her attention to the road but her eyes lifted for a glance in the rearview mirror. A ribbon of blood was curling down her cheek. Her head hurt, her cheek throbbed, and she'd had enough. Instinctively Kenzie pulled her 9mm and pointed it directly into Cori's face. Her icy stare intense and devoid of emotion, she looked closely at the face of her intended victim. The two women locked eyes but no words were needed. Kenzie had made her intentions very clear.

With no forewarning, Kenzie stomped on the brakes. Her hands on the steering wheel stopped her momentum, but Cori didn't have time to brace herself as she slammed full force against the restraint of the seatbelt. The thick strap bit into her neck and waist, stunning her into submission.

Kenzie didn't say a word, just holstered her weapon. Cori settled back into her seat while Kenzie pulled out into traffic. The tension in the car was thick but the message was clear. "I won't kill you, but that won't stop me from inflicting a lot of pain on you," Kenzie finally said.

Cori sat quietly in her seat, awkwardly attempting to get her seatbelt back into proper position. She looked to the road ahead of her, all the while shooting glances at the stranger driving her car. She couldn't think and she couldn't concentrate. Her body ached in pain as her mind tried to make sense of the alternate reality that had become her world.

When the car passed the University, Cori turned and looked at her. "What are you going to do with me?"

The driver looked at Cori and then turned her attention back to the road in front of her. The traffic was getting lighter as they drove out of the city and she adjusted the rearview mirror unnecessarily.

"Can't you just let me go? I won't say anything."

"No," Kenzie said without hesitation.

Cori looked down at her hands and then out the shattered passenger window. She watched as the centuries old twin towers of the Cathedral of Guadalajara disappeared from sight. She wondered if she would ever see them again.

"Somebody wants you dead, aren't you curious as to why? I know I'm a little mystified." Kenzie glanced over at the young woman and Cori looked back at her. Her face was battered and bruised, her hair rumpled, her clothes and her car had seen better days. Cori looked every bit the victim that she had almost become. Kenzie felt something she had felt days earlier in a remote desert in the Middle East - remorse. It was not the first time she didn't like who she had become. Looking at this young student, she knew there was no way Cori Evans was a player. Someone screwed up somewhere, and Kenzie just hoped it wasn't her.

She turned away from Cori and looked straight ahead, then did something completely out of character and very unprofessional. "My name is Kenzie."

Chapter 5

The rich mahogany wood and the long, thick curtains swallowed up what little light there was inside the small office/library. Book-laden shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling. They gave the room the appearance of being loftier than it was. The lone occupant was leaning back in the chair at the desk, pipe smoke curling upward over his head. The massive desk was strewn with papers - faxes, documents, and a long yellow legal pad filled with handwritten notes. The day's newspaper was folded just within arm's reach, but he didn't have time to read it, not today.

Lifting his hand from the armrest, he spun his watch around for the umpteenth time. His phone should have rung by now. It hadn't, and that confirmed what he already suspected. Sitting up, he placed his pipe in the holder on the far side of the desk as he reached for his thick Rolodex. He was well aware that the more people he got involved, the greater the chance he might tip his hand, but he had no choice. With the decision made, the question remaining was whom he could trust when lives were at stake.

The light on one of the phone lines flicked red, and then the phone warbled an incoming call.

"Yeah?" he answered quickly into the handset, his eagerness showing through his normally stolid demeanor. "Is it done?" There was a long pause as he listened. He reached for the papers on his desk, scattering them around until he found the one he was looking for. "Son of a bitch! Where is she right now?"

Tossing the document down, he rose from his chair and paced to the window. "And what can we do about it?" He pulled back the heavy curtain and looked out into the night. "Where's the plane? Oh for the love of Mary...how hard is it to kill one woman?"

He threw back the curtain and rubbed his hand over his face as he listened to the voice on the other end. "This is becoming a bigger problem than it's worth. I asked for your best. Who exactly did you send?" He walked back to his desk and looked over the scattered papers. "Where is she - right now?" The answer he heard from the party at the other end of the phone annoyed him. "Then find out!"

Cori had no idea where they were going. For a while they traveled north on Highway 54, and then turned off onto a narrow paved road that she had barely seen in the dark. The pavement gave way to hard packed dirt and the rough road and abundance of potholes jarred her back, but making any kind of comment about the road conditions would have been pointless. Tired, exhausted, and beyond functional, she knew there was no point in trying to escape. Everyone knew that in Mexico, if you wanted to be safe, you didn't go anywhere after dark.

The instrument panel of the Honda gave off an eerie glow of green, enough light for her to see the driver. She had said her name was Kenzie, but she had not said anything since. She was an interesting woman, quiet and calm, but very much in control. Cori could tell a strong current was churning below the hardened surface. She watched the strong fingers holding tightly to the steering wheel as the car bounced unrelentingly down the dirt road. Cori was a hands person and she always noticed them first. She often wondered if it was because she had wanted to be a surgeon at one point in her life, though that had been a long time ago.

The mountains were to their right, which meant the ocean was in front of them, but a long way off. The moon was high and the stars were out in abundance when Kenzie pulled the car off the road and killed the engine. The dust settled, and Cori could taste it in her nose and mouth as the sounds of the motor died away into silence.

"Where are we?" Cori's voice sounded strange and raspy so she licked at her dry lips. She winced when her tongue touched the swollen corner of her mouth and tasted the iron in the dried blood. Everything was unreal, like a dream, and she was floating beyond it. Nothing about this made sense. She was not rich, and neither was her mother, but then again Kenzie had said it was not a kidnapping.

Kenzie reached into the back seat, pulled out a large bottle of water and offered it to Cori. Cori accepted the bottle and muttered a quiet "thank you" before she took a drink. There was a waiting silence inside the car, interrupted by the gurgle of water as Cori took another drink. With her thirst quenched, she reluctantly offered the bottle back.

Kenzie accepted it without a word, took a long drink, and then placed the bottle on the console between them. Opening the car door, pieces of glass cascaded to the ground as Kenzie pulled herself from the confines of the vehicle.

"Can I get out, too?" Cori asked cautiously.

Cori noticed Kenzie studying the landscape. "No," she answered finally, her tone low and emotionless as she slowly walked around to the back of the car.

With nothing else to do, Cori sat and listened to the noises of the night - some she knew, some she did not. The wind rustled through the countryside, filled with the sound of crickets. She picked remnants of glass from her clothing and tossed them out the window. How had this happened? More to the point, how had this happened to her? She watched as Kenzie moved around to stand in front of the car. The woman's thoughts were obviously miles away.

Time ticked away, giving Cori lots of opportunity to study her captor. She moved with silent confidence, but Cori could tell she was not at ease. Kenzie paced...and she waited. Several times Cori was certain she heard the woman talking to herself. It didn't take her long to realize they were waiting. The question was, waiting for what - or for whom?

Many possibilities circled around in Cori's mind. Some were plausible, some unbelievable, but each supposition baffled her more than the last. She closed her eyes and fought to maintain some rationality in her thinking. "What exactly are we waiting for?" Cori finally asked as Kenzie looked at her watch for the umpteenth time.

The wind lifted Kenzie's long curly locks and she brushed them out of the way in annoyance. She walked to the back door of the car and yanked it open. "We're waiting for a ride," Kenzie said as she unzipped her duffle bag, obviously irritated by the intrusion on her thoughts.

A ride?
Cori was surprised by the answer, mainly because she had not really expected to be given one. "From whom? From where?"

Straightening up from the back seat, Kenzie pulled on a baseball cap and pulled her curly hair through the opening in the back. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out what looked to Cori like a thick pair of binoculars.

"Who are we waiting for?" Cori asked again as she watched Kenzie scan the skies.

Kenzie ignored the question as she searched the horizon and then back down the road they had traveled.

"What are we waiting for?" Cori asked. Kenzie brought the glasses away from her eyes and Cori saw that they were not typical binoculars.

Kenzie glanced down at her watch again. "I'm looking for a plane."

"A plane? Here?"

"Yes." Kenzie lowered the night vision binoculars, scanning the horizon with her naked eyes. "And they're late," she added, raising the expensive binoculars to resume her search.

Cori watched her, frightened but intrigued by the quiet woman with the lethal skills. She wondered just how one became a hired killer. Was there a sign-up sheet outside the main hall in some university? As if her question was asked aloud, Kenzie lowered the night vision glasses and looked over at her. She felt the darkness of Kenzie's eyes and was reminded of what had transpired just that afternoon. This woman did not hesitate to shoot at people.

Feeling uneasy and very vulnerable under Kenzie's intense stare, Cori looked away. She wondered whether she could kill someone if she were put into the right situation. Without hesitation, Cori knew the answer was no.

Time dragged on and there was still no sign of a plane. It was quiet, until somewhere far off in the hills, a coyote cried out, breaking the silence of solitude.

Cori looked over at Kenzie, her eyes hidden behind the binoculars that were continuously sweeping back and forth over the distant mountains. "Why are you here?" Cori asked, waiting for an answer as she studied the woman with the gun. The question received no immediate response. After a long moment, Kenzie turned tired eyes to her. Unnerved by the hardened gaze, Cori began to chatter nervously. "I mean - why here, why me, I don't understand. Who am I? I'm nobody. I'm just a girl trying to get by. So why me? What did I do?"

Kenzie said nothing, but for once she didn't look away. The questions Cori was asking were the same questions she had been asking herself...and they were the only things keeping Cori alive.

"You're some kind of hired killer, one with serious connections and the money to back up your mission - night vision glasses, your own plane." She looked around into the darkness. "Is this even a runway?" Cori waited but Kenzie didn't answer. She was not really expecting her to.

Returning her attention to the skies, Kenzie was grateful for the silence that finally fell between them.

Dejected, Cori tried to keep to herself inside the car, but time was not a comfort to her and neither was the quiet. "Can I ask you a question?"

Kenzie turned around and faced her. "I haven't been able to stop you yet."

Cori ignored the sarcasm. "Who sent you here to kill me?" Kenzie didn't answer, though several thoughts crossed her facial features, obvious even in the dark.

"Can't you tell me who? I think I have a right to know. I mean, someone wants me dead and you must know who it is."

Cori waited, she wanted answers, some kind of dialogue, but her captor would not oblige. "Okay, don't answer... At least tell me why? Can you do that? Can you tell me why someone would want me dead?"