“Get the stuff from Mac that I bought, Elizabeth. I got Cassie a stuffed bear to make up for the one that was destroyed. And some chips, in case she gets hungry before we get to our destination. We need to leave now.” His voice wasn’t gentle. It was cool, dark, deep. It stroked over her shattered nerves, surprisingly enough, stilling them.
She moved carefully for the counter, watching him, terrified he would simply leave her and take Cassie to the monster searching for her. Her body was tense, every muscle poised to jump and fight when she reached the bar.
“Trust him, little girl.” The waiter handed her the sack, his hazel eyes kind as she glanced at him. “He’s a good man.”
Elizabeth flinched in surprise. How could he know? How did he know anything? But there was nothing else forthcoming. She took the bag and moved quickly back to the man intent on taking over her life. Her life and her child.
Stepping into the swirling snow was like entering an isolated vacuum of icy beauty. It was nearly a white-out condition, with at least six inches of the thick, slick crystals built up on the ground.
“We can’t travel in this storm.” Elizabeth shivered as Dash quickly unlocked the rear passenger door. He deposited a sleeping Cassie into the back seat before jerking a blanket over her. He then unlocked the front and urged Elizabeth in.
“Get in.” His order was less than polite. “I figure those boys you have chasing you aren’t too damned stupid. They’ll guess the best time to catch you is during a snowstorm with a four-by-four. We have just enough time to pull out of here and get ahead of them.”
She jumped into the seat, staring at the unfamiliar interior in confusion. It was the most advanced vehicle she had ever laid eyes on. She had seen the military vehicles before, of course, but had never been inside one. She doubted she could even reach across the console between the passenger seat and the driver’s seat to hit out at her new captor. She glanced back at her sleeping daughter then. Cassie had been strapped into the single, wide bucket seat in the back, her head resting on a pillow that lay on the wide bench beside her.
“Buckle up.” He jumped into the driver’s seat and started the ignition.
“This is a blizzard, you know?” She did as he ordered, though, and buckled the seatbelt securely. He stared out the window, considering, then he shrugged. “I’ve seen worse.”
Dash reversed the vehicle, a pensive look on his face as he exited the diner’s parking lot.
“Mac, the owner of the diner, is ex-Special Forces,” he told her quietly as they hit the deserted interstate. “Most of us stick together. I’m pretty certain he’ll cover for us, give Grange’s men a bogus vehicle and directions to follow, but just in case, we won’t be on the interstate long.”
“We won’t?”
Elizabeth gripped the edge of her seat as he picked up speed, making better time than she could have ever imagined on the snow packed road. The windshield, amazingly, had night vision, giving the driver a clear view of the world outside without the betraying beacon of the headlights. It was much more technological than she would have liked. She suddenly felt as though she had been thrown into a twilight zone. It made her off-balance, made everything around her seem a bit surreal.
“Who did you steal the Hummer from?” She rubbed her arms nervously as she fought the weariness dragging at her mind.
He flashed her a surprised look. “I didn’t steal it. I borrowed it. There was an Army depot close by. The Major in charge allowed me use of it to get where I needed to go. We won’t be keeping it long.”
“Isn’t that rather unusual?” She turned, bracing her back against the edge of the seat so she could watch him more closely.
The dashboard lights reflected back on a hard, primal expression. He didn’t glance over at her, though she had no doubt he could tell every move she was making.
He shrugged lazily as he pushed the vehicle faster through the thickening snow.
“Not normal, but not unusual exactly. I’m inactive for the moment, but still part of the services. My record speaks for itself and the Major at the depot had heard of me. There was no risk to loaning it.”
Silence stretched between them once again. Outside, the world was a blanket of white, piling against the large eighteen-wheelers parked here and there. Thankfully, it seemed most people had heeded the warnings about the coming blizzard and weren’t out on the roads. So far, they had passed no stranded motorists.
“Why are you here? And what the hell do you want with my daughter?” Elizabeth couldn’t stand it any longer.
She was trapped in a blizzard with a man she didn’t know and had no idea if she could trust. A hard, dangerous man.
His hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“I didn’t lie to you, Elizabeth. I came to help. I got Cassie’s letter the day I was returning stateside. When the letters stopped coming I had my Major check into it.” He paused for a moment, breathing deeply. “I thought something died inside me when he told me what everyone thought happened to you and Cassie. I lost something I didn’t know I had. When her last letter came, nothing could have kept me away.”
Elizabeth heard the throb of pain in his voice, a fury that confused her. She didn’t know what her daughter had written in her letters. Cassie had sworn she wouldn’t tell the soldier the danger she was in, and Elizabeth didn’t have the heart to refuse to allow her to write him. It was during one of the rare times she had managed to get Cassie into school. She had bought illegal records, had nearly gotten herself arrested and spent countless nights pacing the floor in fear so Cassie could attend classes once again. So her child could have some sort of normalcy while her mother fought to make sense of the danger they were in.
The teacher had given the children a list of service men who didn’t receive mail and a permission slip to allow the kids to write. Cassie had been excited over the name she chose. The fairy said this one, Momma. She had giggled as she waved the piece of paper with the name and address on it. He’s got a nice name, Momma. I bet he’s a good daddy. She was fascinated with the idea of good daddies. Daddies who didn’t hit their little girls, who didn’t bargain with their children’s bodies, then get killed in front of their eyes. The fairy, Elizabeth wasn’t sure about. Cassie had been talking about the fairy since her father’s murder. Elizabeth never pushed her about it. She never questioned her. Just like the elves and the unicorns and the other fantasies that played a part in Cassie’s vivid imagination. Elizabeth didn’t have the heart to take it away from her.