Eden

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.

I rolled down the window.

“What are you doing?” Jared yelled.

“Your gun!” I said, my heart pounding against my rib cage.

“Here!”

He pulled his Glock out from behind him, and placed it on the seat between us. I grabbed it, and then leaned out the window. Jared grabbed a fistful of my dress to keep me from tumbling to the road below. The small man stood in the parking lot, chin down, watching us flee with his unnatural black eyes. I stretched out my arms in front of me, and pointed the gun at him, aiming at his forehead.

“What are you doing?” Jared yanked on my skirt, pulling me into the cab of the truck. “You can’t kill him!”

“Why in the hell not? He was going to kill us!”

“Once the demon leaves, the Shell is human again. He’s an innocent, Nina.” Jared pressed a button on his door, and my window rolled up, cutting off the wind that had blown my blonde hair into a wild mess.

I turned to keep an eye on the Shells. There was no telling how many had turned. The fuel line swaying against the asphalt distracted my attention. The nozzle finally broke free of the Tundra, and rolled into the ditch. A loud boom vibrated the truck, and a ball of smoke and fire rolled into the sky. The small man still stood in the street, glaring at us, just in front of the roaring flames.

“Jared!” I cried.

“So much for that,” Jared said, frowning. He peered into the rearview mirror to assess the damage. A column of fire shot up from fuel pumps. It would be a miracle if any of the people we’d left behind survived.

“Those people,” I moaned, touching the palm of my hand to my forehead. My eyes filled with tears, and I turned to face the front.

A few miles later, two large fire trucks, a pumper truck, and an ambulance raced toward us. All four vehicles ran hot, full lights and sirens screaming, fading away as they passed. The ambulance trailed behind, but the second its back bumper was in line with ours, it flipped around.

“Jared?”

“I see it,” Jared said, grabbing his side arm from the seat. He reached over, pulling my seat belt tight, and then without slowing down, jerked the Tundra to the right, turning one hundred and eighty degrees until we were face to face with the black-eyed ambulance drivers. Jared held his Glock outside of the window and aimed, shooting at their tires. The ambulance fishtailed, and then Jared jerked the truck again until we were once again facing north, with the ambulance behind us.

The ambulance skidded, and then tumbled forward, finally cartwheeling across the road and into the field on the opposite side.

As I watched it seemed to happen in slow motion, but within seconds of seeing the emergency vehicles, Jared had taken out the ambulance’s front tires and righted the truck so we could go about our journey. My mind hadn’t quite caught up with the events, but my heart was ripping through my chest.

“I thought you said not to kill them!”

Jared put the gun back in the seat and peered into the rearview mirror. “I hope they’re not dead.”

He picked up his phone and held it to his ear. “Claire. They’re shelling. I need backup.” He snapped the phone shut, and then pushed the phone under his thigh.

“Is she coming?”

He nodded once. “They all are. We just have to get to them.” The Tundra surged forward when Jared stomped on the gas. The speedometer climbed from seventy-five, to eighty-five, then ninety-five. The engine screamed a deafening soprano as Jared desperately tried to get us closer to his sister.

“Maybe we lost them,” I said, more to comfort myself than to convince my husband.

Jared reached his hand across the console and gripped it around mine. We were vulnerable, and he knew it. Any human we came across was a threat. Jared’s hand squeezed tighter, and all color left his face.

“I can’t decide if I should turn off the highway to a road that’s less traveled, or stay and cut down on time.”

“This particular stretch didn’t seem busy when we came through. Maybe we’ll get lucky. It’s the cities I’m worried about.”

We passed only a car or two over the next ten minutes. Every time I saw something in the distance, I tensed and waited. Each time the car would pass without so much as a wave, and the adrenaline would absorb back into my system. I was beginning to feel sick and dizzy after an hour, but I knew we couldn’t stop.

“They’re up to something,” Jared said. He was squinting, trying to focus as far out as he could to see any impending danger.

“How long before we meet Claire?”

“I don’t know when they left. I’m assuming right away. Considering the time of the call and how fast Claire drives, I would say less than an hour. Maybe half that.”

I nodded quickly, trying to make myself feel better. “Thirty minutes. We can hold on for thirty minutes. What could they possible throw at us that we couldn’t handle for that long?”

Jared didn’t speak for a solid minute while he studied the road ahead. When he finally focused on a tiny dot in the distance, his face fell, and his breath caught. “Oh, my God.”

I knew my human eyes wouldn’t have been able to make out the dark blur several miles ahead, but Bean gave me focus I might not otherwise have had. The long, dark blots on the road, dancing against the heat off the asphalt, barreled toward us.

It wasn’t until I tried to form a sentence that I realized my mouth was gaping open. “What do we do?”

Jared released my hand and reached under the seat. He offered me an extra handgun, and then put both hands on the wheel.

A caravan of Army vehicles, a Humvee, three Jeeps, and a large supply truck moved toward us at full speed. The back of the truck reminded me of a covered wagon, only one covered with camouflaged tarp.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said, breathless.

“They’re probably on their way to Fort Story,” Jared said.

“I don’t care where they’re going. This is why things have been so quiet, Jared. Hell knew about that caravan and planned to shell them the second they crossed our path. You have to leave the road.”

“They’ll just follow.”

I sighed in frustration, and then looked down at my watch. “Maybe they aren’t armed.”

“That FMTV transport has an armored cab. It could obliterate the Tundra if I let it get close enough.”

I turned to him and tried a nervous smile. “Please don’t.”

Jared returned my smile, and then nodded, gripping the wheel. He pressed on the gas. I wasn’t sure what he had decided, but he had a plan. It was possible that the drivers of those trucks wouldn’t shell at all. We could pass them without a problem like we had the previous ten or so vehicles. That, of course, was just empty hope. I could feel a strange burning deep inside my bones. Every one of those soldiers had already turned.