Love Never Dies (29 page)

He smiled at the use of his real n
ame.

“I’ve decided we need to head north toward
Santa Maria and drop off the car there before moving to San Luis Obispo. We’ll catch a train or bus or something to take us to Toronto.”

“
Toronto?” squeaked Julia. “You’re taking me to Toronto?”

“There’s no other choice Julia.
I don’t want to whisk you from the place you love or unduly worry your family or employer, but there’s no way around it. The crime happened in Toronto and I have to return to Toronto. I could go alone, but simply can’t bear to leave you behind. Will you come with me?”

She gulped.
“Of course I’ll go with you. You’re absolutely right.”

“Then let’s take the tent down and get cracking.”

Within twenty minutes, their meager possessions packed in the trunk of the car, Simon used an empty water bottle to douse the fire.

“Are you ready?” he asked as he positioned himself in front of the steering wheel, and Julia nodded.

“All we have to do is just tell the lady at reception we’re leaving and then we can b
e on our way. I wish I could call my brother and let him know what’s going on.”

“I left him a message so he’s not going to worry for a cou
ple of days. When it’s safer we’ll give him a call.”

Simon pulled up and idled the car at the reception as Julia got out to inform the attendant they were leaving the c
ampground. It was a different woman from the previous afternoon and the heavyset Hispanic woman smiled broadly at her.

“Oh, I’m so happy you stopped by.
A man came here this morning asking if a young woman fitting your description checked into the camp. He said he was your cousin.”

“Cousin,” repeated Julia startled.
“Was he tall and dark-haired with very pale skin?”

“Yes, that would be him.
He said he was looking for you and your cousin. Oh, there’s his car just behind the showers. Why don’t you stop by and see him.”

“I’ll do that,” gasped Julia
, backing away from the pleasant woman.

She lunged to the car, yanking open the stiff door. “Ad
am’s behind the showers, Simon! Somehow he tracked us here.”

Simon didn’t waste time in responding, instead gunning the motor and kicking up gravel as the sedan’s tires squealed. If Ad
am had lingered in the toilets for a bit longer they might have made a clean getaway, but as fate would have it he sauntered out of the bathroom just as the black LeBaron scooted around the corner and tore up the dirt road. Adam swore and dove into his BMW and grinding his gears, lurched after the recklessly driven LeBaron through a tunnel of brown dust.

The Chrysler was a powerful car, but unfortunately, the BMW was its match.
Sometimes it seemed that Simon gained as he recklessly headed south down the 154, and once he was positive he’d lost the hit man, until the sun glinted off the sleek metal lines of the pursuing vehicle. Their frenzied driving continued for over twenty minutes, Simon never able to shake the persistent Beamer. As he maneuvered through the tricky San Marcos Pass, Simon shouted at Julia for guidance.

“A left Simon!
Take the next left!”

Simon hung a violent left onto
Camino Cielo Road. The twisty turns and hairpin corners made Julia nauseous as she was slapped against the car’s interior with every turn. When Adams Gable’s vehicle pulled only two hundred yards behind them, Simon tossed one of the two revolvers into her lap.

“If he gets any closer, lean out the back window and try to take out one of his tires.
We’ve got to lose him Julia! Use my cell and punch in the speed dial for number four. You’ve got to answer me this time Stan!”

The line soon rang
as Julia’s sweaty hands clutched the Beretta. Certain the reception in the rugged mountainous area would have prohibited any contact using the satellite phone network; she was surprised when a deep voice answered tersely.

“Garten.”

“Oh!” cried Julia. “This is Julia Morris and I’m with Simon Hayes and a man named Adam is following us and...”

Simon’s wild turn momentarily knocked her against the door and the phone skidded onto the floorboard.
Julia fumbled around and managed to locate the moving phone. She could hear Stan’s voice shouting on the other end of the line.

“Sorry...
sorry. I’m back. We’re being followed!”

“Tell him
our location Julia!”

“We’re off the 154, north of
Santa Barbara and heading southeast on the Camino Cielo Road.”

“A sign’s coming up Julia... The
Arroyo Burro Road in five miles. Tell him we’re going to take it and head deeper into the Los Padres National Forest. Tell him plan B!”

Julia breathlessly repeated the instructions adding, “We’re in a black Chrysler LeBaron and he’s in a silver BMW!”

“I’ll...” the line echoed and went dead, Julia helplessly gazing at the useless phone in her hand.

“He was responding, but we got cut off.”

“We’d better hope he can get us some help fast,” cried Simon, turning the steering wheel sharply right as Julia hung onto the door and prayed.

The next four miles were excruciating.
Simon drove faster than was safe, passing only one other ancient pick-up truck heading the opposite direction. Suddenly, the exit indicating Arroyo Burrow Road appeared. The turnoff was less than a half-mile away and the BMW suddenly accelerated and pulled within thirty feet of the car. Julia heard a sharp whining pop as Simon swerved. Adam was firing at them!

“We’re going to take an abrupt left up here Julia,” Simon hissed, his eyes glued to the dangerous road. “I want you to get into the back seat and roll down the window.
Aim at his tires.”

“Simon!” shrieked Julia, “I don’t know how to shoot.
And about the road, my family’s driven it once before and it’s very rough and twisty! If Adam catches up we’ll be trapped!”

“Please Julia, just do as I ask. Get into the back seat and aim as best as you can!”

It was difficult hiking over the front seat as the car careened and lurched down the windy road, but finally Julia plopped in an ungraceful heap and rolled down the electric window. A vision of the car hitting a bump and her losing the gun and watching it bounce behind the car flashed in her brain, and Julia clutched the pistol until her knuckles turned white while desperately aiming it at the BMW that inched ever closer. The morning sun reflected off Adam’s windshield and blinded her. She squinted desperately, trying to get a clear sight on the revolving rubber tires.

“Alright Julia, I’m going to make that turn now.
As I do, aim at the car and fire!”

She began shooting as soon as Simon hit the corner,
amazed at how simple it was. You just squinted, pulled the trigger, and tried like the blazes to hold on because of the responding kick.

Ad
am Gable swerved his vehicle immediately at the sight of her drawn gun, but not before Julia, who’d been aiming at a tire, broke the passenger window directly behind him. Adam swore viciously and lifted his own gun, firing with one hand while keeping the other upon the steering wheel. Julia shot again, one of her bullets ricocheting off his bumper. Unfortunately, none of her shots found their mark and suddenly, with an incredible burst of speed, the BMW pulled up directly beside her, the barrel of his gun staring her directly in the face. Julia gasped hysterically and pulled the trigger. The driver’s window burst into a thousand splinters of glass.

“For God’s sake get down!” scre
amed Simon, and Julia ducked just as Adam twisted his steering wheel and slammed his car into the side of the black Chrysler!

“We’re not going to make it!” she scre
amed, as Simon fought the wheel.

Julia peered up over the opposite side of the car. They slid along a narrow section of the highway where the embankment plunged down a good hundred feet on each side of the road, protected only by a feeble
aluminum guardrail. The Beamer smashed into them again, shattering the passenger window, which rained glass upon Julia’s Levi-clad legs. She didn’t need Simon’s frenzied urging to lift the gun again, and shot blindly. It was a fluke shot, passing through the destroyed passenger window of the BMW to strike the rearview mirror, the bullet ricocheting downward and reverberating against Adam’s firmly grasped steering wheel. The leather-bound steering mechanism sparked dangerously and exploded, the bullet severing the steering wheel column right in half, leaving the useless wheel in Adam’s terrified hands.

Simon sl
ammed his foot upon the brake, the LeBaron screeching and swerving, spinning two full times before stopping, smoke pouring from its rear tires. Adam screamed as the car plunged forward, its momentum causing the BMW to sail over the railing. The British car looked almost as if it could take flight, gliding a full forty feet outward, until slowing and plunging headfirst into the waiting pines of the Los Padres National Forest.

Simon’s car had miraculously stopped two inches away from the twisted remainder of the metal guardrail, the foul stench of its burning tires filling the
midday air. Simon was out of the car in an instant, running toward the edge of the embankment, his eyes straining for a glimpse of the hurdling silver BMV. The vehicle turned end over end through the manzanita, oaks, and pines, before finally bursting into a fiery inferno. Julia halted shakily beside Simon, his arm reaching out to steady her as she watched in horrified fascination as the flames from the blackened car began to ignite some of the knobcone pine trees it had finally lodged against.

“Wow,” said Simon, “that was some mighty fine shooting.”

“I killed him,” exclaimed Julia, suddenly shaking uncontrollably.

“No, no you didn’t
,” said Simon, pulling her close. “Your bullet only hit the interior of his car, causing him to lose control. It was him or us.” Simon paused, keeping a firm arm around her trembling shoulders as they gazed over the embankment at the smoke drifting upward, a single turkey vulture circling high overhead.

Simon hauled her away from the rising sm
oke and gazed steadily into her blurry green eyes. “Look Julia, I’m sure we don’t have very much time since the authorities should be here in a matter of minutes. I didn’t tell you this, but this morning I finally managed to get hold of Stan. An associate of Adam Gable’s waylaid him at UCLA and stuffed him into the trunk of his own car. I’d asked him to drive up to the camp and meet us, so that’s why you were able to connect with him on my cell. I want you to sit down right here on that rock and keep an eye on the burning vehicle while I make a call.”

He distanced himself f
rom her and dialed the number. The surrounding hills made the line echo but because Stan was relatively close he was able to relay a brief but insistent message. Julia didn’t pay attention to the stilted conversation, instead folding her arms across her chest as she peered at the black clouds pouring over the embankment.

She roused to observe Simon feverously going through the trunk.
The blue sports bag where they’d stuffed their clothing and few belonging sat upon the gray pavement and Simon was going through it, removing and stuffing her articles of clothing into a large plastic bag.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her throat suddenly dry.

“Stan Garten, the police officer assigned to this case and trying to protect you for a long time, should arrive within ten minutes, hopefully before any other authorities arrive. You’re going to get into his vehicle and head in the opposite direction.”

“But what about you?” she squeaked.

“I’m not going with you. From what Stan related to me this morning it’s not going to end here with Adam Gable. He might be dead, but someone else will take his place until Alletti’s certain I’m history. Most likely, as long as I’m alive, they’ll try to take you out as well. But I think Stan and I have figured out a way to ensure your safety and provide you with a normal future, so you’ll have to trust me Julia and listen well. Can you feel it?”

He tapped his chest with
a long, tapered finger and suddenly the warm glow indicating his undying love and devotion began to swell through her chest, easing the pain and guilt and fear caused by the bellowing smoke. Julia gazed up into the gray eyes of the man she loved and listened intently.

“I want you to do everything I tell you
. When Stan arrives, get into his car. He’ll drive you back to LA where you’ll pick up your Taurus. He moved it near the university in an effort to make it appear you left the hotel. Adam Gable already told his cohorts I have the disk, so Alletti will know you no longer have it in your possession. I want you to think about what you might have done this weekend if I hadn’t been along and none of this had happened.”

“What?” she cried, suddenly aware
of the significance of his simple words.

“When you get back to
Santa Barbara,” he continued, ignoring the desperate plea in her eyes, “you’ll tell your brother you haven’t seen me since Saturday. That I turned out just like Seth said; a womanizer and cad who took off with some woman you didn’t even know after making a pass to you which you stoutly rejected.”