Nowhere to Run

The portent of the beefy man’s words hit Roy in the gut like a sucker punch. It had never occurred to him that his former partners would think he actually had passed the ransom to Marie. His silence had not protected her, as he’d hoped; it had made her a target!

The only thing to do was confess, he reasoned. Even if they killed him as a result, at least it would call the wolves off his little girl and Marie.

Through split, bleeding lips he managed to croak, “I—I…”

His response apparently wasn’t fast or lucid enough to suit his abuser. Frank’s meaty hand smacked him on the temple. His head snapped back and he doubled over. Blackness encroached. Flashes of colored light obscured his already blurry vision.

Roy stayed conscious long enough to hear Frank begin to laugh while Earl’s squealing voice berated him for being so rough.

Then, picturing his darling little girl, Roy smiled, let go and sank into the peace of oblivion.

Seth was disappointed that his questioning of Marie had been so unproductive. He’d thought about trying again as he drove her back to the motel but had decided to back off and let the woman relax in the hope that that tactic would loosen her tongue. He had plenty of time. As long as her car was broken down, she wasn’t going to leave town before he was ready for her to go.

Marie entered her motel room, turned and blocked the door with her body, shielding her little girl and making it clear she did not intend to invite Seth in. “Thanks for the pizza,” she said flatly as she doubled the front sides of her lightweight, navy blue jacket across her body and held them in place like a shield.

“My pleasure.”

“About my car…”

“I told you I’d fix it and I will. Whoever dumped sawdust in your gas tank didn’t intend for you to get very far, you know. You’re lucky you made it to the station.”

He saw her shiver and grow pale. “I know. I’m so glad I didn’t stall along the highway.”

Nodding, Seth agreed. “Exactly. There are some pretty isolated stretches between here and the major cities like Little Rock or Memphis. You’d have been much more vulnerable if you’d broken down way out there.”

He watched as his statement sank in. Clearly, she was afraid. And given the circumstances of sabotage to her vehicle, that reaction made sense. What remained a mystery was why she was so frightened and what had driven her from her home in the first place.

“Well, good night,” Seth said, politely touching the brim of his cap. “Stop by the garage tomorrow afternoon. I should be able to give you an idea of the time frame for repairs by then.”

The look on her face was unreadable as she shut the door. Seth knew she was desperate to be on her way, and he didn’t intend to keep her in Serenity one minute more than necessary. But he wasn’t going to let her leave until he made sure that she wasn’t a plant sent there to unmask him.

Yes, his appearance had changed. And, yes, he had made a secure place for himself in the little town in the past three years. But that didn’t mean that his enemies had given up searching for him. It only meant that they had not yet found his trail.

Leaving the motel, he drove straight to his farmstead. As he pulled into the darkened yard, he carefully scanned the shadows before getting out of the truck. While he’d been at supper with the woman and child, he’d left his short-barreled .38 locked in the glove compartment instead of carrying it, as was his usual practice. Now, he stuck it into his belt.

No matter how much time passed, Seth was never totally at ease. Hunted men who got careless were the ones who died. There had been some dark days in his past when he’d almost wished for the solace of death, but his Christian faith had kept him from giving up. Rather than alienating him from God, as was sometimes the case during difficult times, his trials had brought him closer to the Almighty than ever before, and for that he was thankful. The way Seth saw it, if the Lord wasn’t ready to call him home, there must be a good reason.

He climbed out of the truck. Babe followed and ran her usual pattern of wide circles around the yard, sniffing and checking the territory. Seth had gotten her for a companion rather than a watchdog, but as it had turned out, she was both. If Babe indicated that the place was secure, that was good enough for him.

Slapping his leg and calling to her, he entered the house and flipped on the lights. It was late and he was tired, but he had some work to do on the computer before he’d be able to sleep.

It had been a long time since he’d checked in with his old acquaintances at Corp. Inc.—for very good reason. However, since he needed inside information on the woman calling herself Marie Smith and their database was the best place he knew of to get it, he’d make a one-time exception. As long as he routed his access through a couple of anonymizer sites and kept his query time short so no one had time to actively trace him, Seth didn’t see much threat to himself—or to her.

He brewed a cup of coffee and carried it from the large farm kitchen to the computer desk in his bedroom. His fingers hovered over the keyboard. Contact with those involved in his former life, even via false identities, held a risk, yes, but if that was the only way to find out what Marie was hiding, he’d have to chance it.

First, though, he’d try a search of common, open databases and see what those turned up. Smith was too generic to be useful but Parnell, the name he’d found on the car’s registration, might lead to some answers.

With Babe curled up at his feet, Seth checked the telephone listings for Louisiana and quickly located a Marie Parnell in Baton Rouge.

“Got her!” he said aloud, causing the dog to open one eye and blink up at him. Seth chuckled. “Sorry, girl. Didn’t mean to disturb you. This is turning out to be a lot easier than I’d thought.”

From there he checked local Louisiana newspapers online and found nothing of note. He did, however, see that crime was at its usual level and that law enforcement seemed to be struggling. In other words, everything was normal and other men like him were probably working undercover to do what the regular officials could not openly condone.

That conclusion brought his thoughts back to his former colleagues at Corp. Inc. They had access to a covert information network second to none. If there was anything about Marie Parnell that he should know, it would be found on that well-guarded database.

Seth cracked his knuckles, took a deep breath and started hiding his tracks through one site after another, eventually coming to the point where he could enter Corp. Inc.’s system through a “backdoor” by using the access code he’d been given before he’d gone into hiding.

It still worked! He was in. Seth’s eyes widened as the information about Marie appeared below her photograph. Not only was she tied to the disappearance of a known criminal named Roy Jenkins, but also she was suspected of having been involved in a kidnapping that had occurred several months before. The ransom had been paid and the victim released, but the perpetrators were still at large.

Seth sighed and sat back. “Well, well, Mrs. Smith,” he said softly. “What have you been up to?”

Marie hadn’t expected to sleep well that night and her expectations unfortunately had been fulfilled. Patty, on the other hand, slept like the carefree child she was and awoke full of energy and enthusiasm.

Choosing the most nondescript outfits she could put together, Marie dressed herself and Patty, added their jackets against the morning chill and went to the motel office.