Fate and Destiny (28 page)

The distractions gone. In
their place, cold, hard, calculating eyes glared at Destiny. She
swallowed hard, taking a deep breath to steady the thudding of her
heart.

“
The password to get in is
my birthday.”

She met his stare, her eyes
steady. Charles shifted the barrel of the weapon to point at
Andrew.

“
You lying little bitch.
You think I didn’t try that one? I tried every combination of your
name and birthday. I had a computer tech come in and try to break
into it and he hasn’t figured it out. It’s not as simple as that.
Now tell me what I want to know or I blow this asshole
away!”

Charles couldn’t maintain
his control much longer. Destiny didn’t flinch. The man was not
sane. Either that or he was high on drugs. A large part of the
money stolen from Marcus went to support his drug habit. Marcus
spent another large sum on rehabilitation facilities, none of which
Charles ever completed.

The roving
eyes and wild appearance could not belong to anyone in their right
mind. Before Destiny could respond, a tinny rendition
of
 
When the
Saints Go Marching In
 
 emitted from Charles’
coat pocket. Already on edge, the sound startled all of them,
Charles momentarily forgetting to keep the gun straight as he
fumbled in his pocket for the phone. Andrew nearly lunged from the
bed, but Destiny gripped his hand tightly, urging him to stay down.
Instead, she took the opportunity to recline back against the wall
at the end of the bed, casually letting her hand slip down between
the mattress and the smooth logs.

Charles located the phone
and flipped it open before Destiny could pull the weapon up from
the floor behind the bed. She situated herself in a relaxed manner
as if she was tired of sitting stiffly on the edge. Charles gave
her a curious look as he put on a fake smile and cheerily greeted
the caller. Hearing Doug’s name, Andrew and Destiny glanced at each
other, silent understanding passing between them. The tape recorder
was running back at the Station. That cell phone was a line
directly to Matt.

The gun once again pointed
squarely at Andrew. Charles’ confidence back in full force, once
more switching personalities like a man possessed. As he spun his
tale about the murder of his father, Charles maintained a steely
glare at Destiny, his voice pointedly becoming eerily menacing as
he spoke of Destiny being dead soon. He paused, listening to
whatever Doug said on the other end before laughing maniacally and
launching into a monologue designed to rattle Doug. Suddenly, he
could no longer stand still as his voice rose with each
word.

He swiftly paced back and
forth in the small space, temporarily forgetting his hostages. His
confidence in himself and his plan were so great and encompassing
Charles didn’t notice the dog beginning to stir, brown eyes
blinking open through the patch of blood flowing from the hole
between his scalp and ear. As soon as the man turned and strode
towards the door, his back to the dog and people, Shadow leapt from
the floor, his animal instinct blocking out the pain that knocked
him unconscious to begin with.

Snarling and barking, the
dog launched from lying down to full flight at Charles’ head in one
swift move. Destiny took the opportunity to shove her hand between
the mattress and the wall, fingers closing around the stock of the
rifle, and pulling it free, screaming out as she did so.

“
Matt! It’s Destiny!
Hurry! Help us! He’s here!”

 
In the midst of
Destiny and Shadow both moving, Andrew jumped from where he sat on
the bed, tensed and ready to leap. Shadow landed against Charles
with a thud before Destiny could finish screaming. Charles flew
forward, knocked off balance, the phone flying from his hand and
slamming into the floorboards. Exhausted and in pain from the short
burst of activity, Shadow lay where he landed, struggling to get
back up and attack the intruder again. Before Andrew could reach
him, Charles gathered his wits, took a fleeting glance over
Andrew’s head, and raced out the broken door. Destiny fired the
gun, but Charles was already moving, nothing but a glimpse of the
back of his coat as she pulled the trigger. Hearing the gun cock
behind him, Andrew threw himself to the floor, praying he made it
out of the line of fire before the bullet whizzed past his head.
The slug splintering into the wood mere centimeters behind Charles.
Andrew reached across the floor, picking up the cell phone. No one
remained waiting on the other end, the display dark and
blank.

Destiny jumped from the
bed, sliding her feet into her shoes and racing to the door. Rising
from the floor, Andrew grabbed her as she ran past him.

“
Slow down, be careful. I
don’t know if Matt heard you. We can’t run out into the snow and
give Charles a clear shot at us because we’re running on
adrenaline.”

Nodding, Destiny stopped,
however she kept the gun raised at waist level, ready to aim and
shoot. Kneeling next to Shadow, she softy reassured him while
rubbing her hand along his back. Miraculously, the bullet ripped
through the top of the dog’s head where his ear attached, or used
to be attached. It now hung off center, ripped from the scalp at
the corner. Unable to determine what happened to the bullet after
it entered, she could only hope it went on through skin and out the
other side. As long as the dog continued to breathe, she vowed to
get him help as soon as she could.

Andrew put on his coat,
removing the Smith & Wesson .38 Special from the pocket. Next,
he located his cell phone and the keys to the truck. The phone
roamed too long searching for a signal and had not been charged. It
was completely dead. Andrew dropped the useless thing onto the
floor. Shadow whimpered under Destiny’s scrutiny. Every now and
then, the dog tried to rise; however he was unable to do so,
succumbing once again to the darkness of self-preserving sleep.
Andrew’s heart ached. He wanted to scoop the dog up, carry him to
the truck, and get him to a vet immediately, but with Charles
outside, he and Destiny needed to use caution. They both avoided
being in a direct line of the open doorway. Tense, each of them
expected a shot to ring through the air, sending one of them to the
floor in a lifeless heap.

“
Okay, Destiny, I want you
to stay right there with Shadow. Stay low to the ground and out of
the doorway. I’m going to get to the truck and pull it right in
front next to the door so we can get him in it.”

Destiny nodded. Rising, she
bent at the waist, moving as quickly as possible to the lamp in the
corner to switch it off, throwing the cabin into darkness.
Straightening up, she ran through the dark to the front door as the
shape of Andrew slunk around the edge of the doorframe. Crouching
at the door, Destiny scanned the surrounding area, gun cocked and
ready to fire at anything that moved.

Andrew moved slowly along
the front of the cabin, crouched over, his back to the wall, gun
extended, also scanning for movement. Any rabbit that decided to
hop out now would be blown away. The tracks at the front door
didn’t offer precise evidence to the direction Charles took as he
fled the cabin. Without any new snow to wipe out the tracks from
Sammy, Matt, and Doreen, the footsteps Charles left blended into
the jumbled snow. Cars, people, and the dog ruined the once
pristine blanket of snow, creating a clearing of trampled mud,
snow, and slush. Andrew watched the tracks anyway, searching for
any indentions that led off from the rest of them.

Reaching the edge of the
cabin, Andrew gauged the distance of open space between him and the
truck to be about twenty feet. If he had been in his right mind
when he parked it, the truck would be sitting directly in front of
the door. The snow at the corner of the cabin under his feet was
undisturbed. Charles had not disappeared around the cabin this way;
however, he could have easily went around the cabin from the
opposite corner. Keeping his back to the wall, Andrew glanced to
the open doorway, spotting the edge of Destiny as she peered out.
Andrew said a short prayer that if she saw Charles on the other
side of Andrew, she would not try to shoot around him.

28.

Andrew crouched lower,
ready to race across the expanse to reach the truck. His leg ached.
Forcing down the pain, he moved swiftly to the truck, swiveling his
torso as he went, maintaining a complete view of everything around
him and behind him. No sound erupted and nothing moved. If
anything, the woods were eerily silent as if holding their breath,
waiting for something to happen. Vulnerable in the open space,
Andrew finally placed his hand on the door handle. A quick glance
inside the unlocked vehicle revealed nothing but the worn seats.
Opening the door, Andrew slipped inside, quickly slamming and
locking it behind him. Keeping his head low, he reached over, also
locking the passenger door.

Key in the ignition despite
the shaking of his bare hands, partly from cold and partly from
fear, Andrew turned the key. Breathing a sigh of relief as the
engine caught and roared to life. The moonlight he relied upon to
illuminate the intruder disappeared, plunging the landscape into a
deep darkness. His eyes could pick out the cabin door as they
adjusted to the darkness around him. He flipped on the truck lights
and the heater. If Charles was close by, the engine noise would
have already drawn gunfire, and the lights would be a warning
beacon of any movement.

Swinging the truck around
in the clearing, Andrew pulled the passenger door right up to the
front entry of the cabin. Leaving the truck running and the
driver’s door locked, Andrew slipped out the passenger side, gun
drawn and ready, alert to any motion. Destiny stood straight up,
her eyes locked on the landscape, gun barrel arcing left to right,
covering the space. Not wasting any time, Andrew slipped past her,
into the cabin. Shadow remained in the pool of blood, his ear
dangling, but alert and sitting up. Squatting to the dog’s level,
gritting his teeth as the skin on his thigh stretched. Andrew
placed his hand on the thick neck.

“
The truck’s right
outside. I know it hurts.”

Shadow whined softly,
almost a whimper.

“
I’ll carry you out there.
Relax.”

Swaying slightly with the
effort, Shadow huffed, then turned and dashed the short distance to
the open truck door, leapt inside and lay on the seat, panting
heavily, exhausted.

Shaking his head, standing,
Andrew shrugged.

“
Or maybe I
won’t.”

Already moving, he covered
the short distance into the truck, quickly followed by Destiny. He
slid across the seat, over the dog and into the driver’s seat as
Destiny backed in after him, the rifle still swiveling to cover
anyone appearing from around the corners of the cabin. As she
locked her door, Andrew peered out the windows. Nothing moved.
Andrew put the vehicle into drive, put the plow down on the ground,
and drove across the clearing, leaving the cabin behind them.
Destiny sat quietly in the passenger seat, warming under the heat
flowing from the vents. Focused, strong and ready, Destiny held the
rifle tightly, eyes studying the landscape around them until she
felt Andrew watching her. She turned to him briefly, stress around
her eyes, her mouth drawn in a firm line. Relaxing only a bit as
she looked upon him before resuming her inspection of the
scenery.

“
We’re going to get out of
here Destiny. Charles is off his rocker, but he can’t stay out in
the cold. He will have to get back to wherever his car is and
hightail it out of here. We will drive into town and get Shadow to
a veterinarian and then go to the sheriff’s station. With Charles
here trying to kill us, it blows his alibis and his case against
you all to hell. Matt can arrest him.”

Andrew’s words emerged as
little more than a whisper as if speaking in a normal tone would
alert Charles to their location and bring him out into the
open.

“
I left all of the
documents in the cabin. I hope Sammy can reprint them all. If they
can’t find Charles, I still need those papers.” Destiny spoke
calmly, matter of factly, completely in control of
herself.

Andrew reached over,
leaving the pistol in his lap and placing his hand on her shoulder,
relaying his support. They were in this together.

The truck came to the end
of the driveway, and Andrew turned onto the road. Charles had not
pulled up to the cabin in a vehicle because that would have alerted
them to his presence. Instead, he had parked it down the road
somewhere and hiked on foot to the cabin. The headlights picked out
trees and the cleared but icy road. No car parked along the way.
Charles had plenty of time to run from the cabin, arrive at his
vehicle and escape the mountain while Andrew and Destiny went
through the process of getting in the truck. Andrew settled back
for the drive into town. Although they both relaxed a little,
feeling more secure in the locked truck and on the road, neither of
them let their guard down.

Approaching the sharp curve where the Jeep hulked in the
ditch, Andrew tapped the brakes, slowing down slightly to maintain
traction on the slick road as they rounded the bend. The Jeep came
into view, reflecting in the beam from the headlights, and too
late, the 4x4 truck parked sideways across
the 
 
road
materialized. Front bumper against the Jeep, back wheels on the
edge of the road, tailgate of the truck hanging over the narrow ice
filled ditch on the opposite side. Tapping the brakes no longer
enough, Andrew brought his foot down forcefully but smoothly, then
tapping quickly, pumping the brakes to grip and release across the
snow. Steering into the slide as it began, quickly adjusting as the
plow fishtailed a different direction.