Eden (22 page)

“
You can tell her goodbye
before we leave. She’ll only feel this way for a few days and then
you can comfort her. She’ll probably tackle you and forget all
about it.”

“
No, she
won’t.”

Jared took in a deep breath and
wrapped his arms tighter around me. “I’m just trying to
help.”

“
I know. I know you are.
It’s just that I feel I’m hurting her intentionally. It’s not fair
that she is the only close friend that isn’t in the
loop.”

“
Do you really want to
expose her to all of this? More importantly, do you think she can
handle it?”

I shook my head. “No. I know you’re
right. I don’t want to tell her, I just feel like a jerk. ‘Jerk’
doesn’t even cover it. I’m a bad friend—a bad person.”

“
She’ll be able to close
her eyes every night not wondering what’s with her in the dark,
Nina. I’d say you’re being kind.”

“
Maybe. Can you imagine
her reaction when she finds out we’re leaving for Israel in a few
days? She’s going to freak out. I don’t even know how to explain it
to her.”

“
Then don’t. It’s not a
necessity to tell her we’re going to Jerusalem. Just say the West
Coast or something.”

I pressed my lips together in a hard
line. “I’m tired of lying to her, Jared.”

“
I know.”

The stars had crowded out the last
colors left behind by the setting sun, and the ocean was as black
as the sky above. I might have been chilly at night by the water a
few months before, but being wrapped in Jared’s arms coupled with
my own elevated temperature, the sun might as well have been
bearing down on my skin.

The wind rolling off the water blew my
hair into Jared’s face, and he turned his head, blowing the strands
from his mouth.

I smiled, but my amusement quickly
faded. “Speaking of Jerusalem….”

“
Yes?”

“
If they know we’re going,
won’t they try to stop us? If it gets worse than a car bomb we’re
going to be busy. What if they wire the plane?” I laughed once
without humor. “What if they shoot us down?”

“
That is a possibility.
But we’re prepared.”

Dread settled over me. We were
vulnerable on the plane, and it was a ten-hour flight.

“
We’ll land, get you and
the book to the Sepulchre, and wait it out underground until you
deliver.”

“
You make it sound simple,
but you forget demons will do everything they can to stop
us.”

“
We just have to get you
there. It’s smooth sailing after that.”

“
You hope.”

The skin around Jared’s eyes
tightened. “I’m going to stop by the warehouse before we leave.
Talk to Eli.”

“
I thought he said to come
to him when we only had one question to ask?”

Jared kept his eyes on the ocean. “I
don’t think the question is ours to ask.”

Chapter
Thirteen

The Road Home

We revisited that spot on the beach
many times over the next two days. Jared sat with me and watched
the waves roll onto the sand, and the water carry distant ship
slowly across the horizon. We discussed our upcoming trip to
Jerusalem, but Jared kept most of the details to himself. He didn’t
want to worry me with the truth of what he saw coming. Although I
was much stronger than I used to be, that didn’t change the fact
that I was carrying our child.

The only sound was the wind and the
intermittent waves sizzling against the sand, but my mind was
crowded and loud. Sometimes I would close my eyes tight and try to
push out the hundreds of frightening thoughts in my head, but then
I would see Sasha. No matter how tight Jared wrapped his eyes
around me, or how hard I tried to pretend we were in Little Corn,
thoughts of demons, and Sasha, and bombs plagued me.

My cell phone rang several times.
Beth’s phone number dominated the call log, and my voicemail, with
her frantic pleas. Sasha hadn’t come to work, and it was clear she
was also missing. Before long, other people began to call. Even
Cynthia, although I assumed it was just to keep up pretenses for
the police. As far as they knew, she was afraid I was dead or
missing.

By the evening of the second day,
Jared’s phone buzzed. “Ryel.” Jared listened for a moment, gave a
quick affirmation, and then hung up. “The investigators expect the
results of the dental records any minute. It won’t be
long.”

“
Well, that’s good news, I
guess.”

Sasha’s family learning that it was
her remains the police had found inside of my vehicle wasn’t a good
thing, but it was a means to an end. It all was. The true good news
was that I could finally call Beth.

Claire was right, within the hour, she
texted a confirmation. When Jared gave me the go ahead, I dialed
Beth’s number.

“
Where in the hell have
you been?” she wailed. “I thought you were dead!” Her breathing
quickened until sobs developed in her throat, followed by a pause
in the form of muffled noises before Chad came on the
line.

“
Uh...hello?”

“
I’m so sorry,” I said. “I
left a note. I thought everyone knew I was gone. Jared and I needed
some time away, so I turned off my phone. I feel awful.”

The last bit was true. I could hear
Beth sobbing in the background; hearing Chad try to comfort her
only made me feel worse. Between consoling her, he tried to fill me
in on what had happened. He described the scene at Titan, the
police tape, the lines of employees waiting to be questioned, and
the blackened asphalt where my BMW burned into the
night.

Before long Beth took the phone back
and put it to her ear. “My life has been miserable. Everyone at
Titan either spread rumors, or spontaneously burst into tears, or
alternating between irritated and hateful. Did you know Sasha is
missing, too? It’s insane!”

“
Missing?” I said, trying
to keep my voice steady. The guilt weighed on me with every lie I
told.

“
Oh my...oh my God, Nina.
The last person to speak to Sasha was her mother. She said Sasha
was working late at Titan the night she went missing. Do you think
it was her in your car? I mean...if it wasn’t you, then
who?”

“
I...I don’t know. Maybe
you should say something to the investigators.”

Beth began to cry again. “That poor
girl. You should call your mother, and then call Providence PD and
tell them you’re okay. You’ll probably have to come back right
away.” She sniffed again. “I’m sorry in advance if I smack you
upside your head for scaring the beejeezus outta me.”

I laughed once. “You’re
forgiven.”

“
I’m just glad you’re
okay. As much as I loathed that woman, I hope it wasn’t Sasha,
either. That’s an awful way to die...Nina?”

“
Yes?”

“
Someone put a bomb on
your car.”

“
It certainly appears that
way.”

“
But...doesn’t
that...doesn’t that bother you?”

I sighed, resolved to tell her at
least some of the truth. “I’m used to it, Beth. Why do you think my
father hired Jared?”

Beth didn’t speak for a long while,
and then finally managed a whisper. “I guess I didn’t think about
it. I’m sorry. I remember Mr. Dawson, but I...I didn’t know things
were so frightening for you.”

“
I’m at the beach, Beth,
and I’m married to my bodyguard. Don’t worry for me, okay? We’ll
talk when I get back.”

Beth blew a deep breath of relief into
the phone. “Please hurry. I need to see you.”

“
Jared is already
packing.”

I sat in the truck, dreading the long
car ride home while Jared checked out at the front desk. He jogged
to the Tundra, and slid into the driver’s seat, leaning in to kiss
me. “I know it was stressful, but I cherished these last three days
with you. When we go away, it’s easy to forget about the rest of
the world.”

I grabbed his hand, holding it tight.
He knew as well as I did that our return would stir a hornet’s
nest. We had just enjoyed our last few days of peace, and now we
would be fighting for our lives. I touched my stomach, and Jared
reached over to touch the same spot with his free hand.

His blue-gray eyes darkened, and his
brows pulled in. I nodded, knowing exactly what was on his mind. He
leaned in for a kiss, soft and slow. His lips pulled at mine the
way they did when we first met, as if it could be the last time. He
pulled away, and then pressed his forehead against mine. We sat
there in silence, in our emotional embrace. Neither one having the
courage to cry or speak, just in case it became
overwhelming.

Jared put one hand back and wheel and
shoved the gear in drive. “Okay,” he sighed. “Back to
Providence.”

The drive home seemed to take less
time. Jared made me repeat the story we would tell the police over
and over. I had recited the words dozens of times when the twinge
hit.

Jared immediately looked down to my
stomach, and then his eyes met mine. “Are you okay?”

I grimaced. “Maybe we could pull over
for a moment. I should walk, I think.”

The Tundra made a gentle turn to the
left, pulling into the gas station we had stopped at on the way to
Virginia Beach. A familiar group of transients idled in the parking
lot. Jared opened my door, and kept close as we made our way into
the store. To escape the eyes of the quiet group as we walked past,
I kept my eyes on the asphalt, noting the grease spots and wads of
old gum. I wasn’t sure if it was their presence, but something
seemed off, and I could tell that Jared felt it, too.

Jared held the door open for me, and
even though I let out the breath I’d been holding, the heavy
feeling only became worse. Apart from the cashier, we were the only
ones in the store, but I still couldn’t

Meandering in the aisles with no real
goal, I stretched my back and neck, picking up a package of
something and then setting it back onto the shelf. A roach crawled
from behind bags of crackers and then disappeared. I lurched back
my hand, and glanced around. I didn’t recall the store being quite
so filthy the last time we were in, but my memory consisted of a
quick trip to the bathroom.

One of the fluorescent lights blinked
and buzzed overhead. From my peripheral vision, I could see that
the man behind the counter was staring at me. He was of small
build, and dark-complexioned. His lack of expression made me
instantly nervous. I’d seen that look before.

I heard the cooler doors shut, and
then Jared rounded the corner with two large bottles of water and a
forced smile. He held out his hand, pulling in his fingers twice to
signal me to come to him. The air around us felt stale, and my
heart began to thump loudly against my chest.

“
You don’t have long,” the
man behind the counter said, glancing to my protruding
belly.

I instinctively touched my stomach
with my free hand.

Jared cautiously approached the cash
register, keeping me a safe distance behind him. He took another
step and paused. “Are you okay?”

The man was panting, his body swaying
in a rhythmic movement. Sweat glistened across his face and neck,
and dampened his white polo shirt. The darkened circles under his
eyes made his sunken eyes seem even more alarming.

When offered no response, Jared took a
step back and threw a ten-dollar bill onto the counter. “That
should cover it.”

The man looked down at the folded bill
before him, and then closed his eyes. He pressed his fingertips
onto the counter, and then his body vibrated for a few moments
before he snapped straight. He peered up at Jared. His eyes had
changed; now obsidian orbs bulging from their sockets.

Jared put his hand on my chest and
nudged me toward the door. “It’s time to go.”

I stumbled back, reaching blindly for
the glass door behind me. The small man jumped into the air and
landed in a crouch on the counter. “I’m going to gut her like a
fish.” The sound of his voice was terrifying; a combination of a
small child and the hiss of a snake.

I pushed open the door and ran head
first into one of the large men that belonged to the group of
bikers in the parking lot. He had a long, gray beard, and wore
riding leathers. Forgetting my new strength, I plowed over him,
knocking him to the ground. The man looked up at me with shock and
confusion. Within seconds, all expression left his face, and the
blackness of his pupils spilled into his irises, and then to the
whites of his eyes.

I scrambled away from him, and then
Jared grabbed my arm, pulling me to the Tundra at full speed. The
passenger door slammed in my face, and then Jared was next to
me.

“
Seatbelt!” he
commanded.

I grabbed for the clasp, trying in
vain to remain calm. The small, dark man galloped toward us on all
fours. Jared stomped on the gas pedal. The nozzle was still tucked
in the Tundra’s gas tank, and after a quick yank, the line came
free of the pump, dragging behind us as Jared fish tailed onto the
highway.