KnockOut

Don’t you dare stymie Ethan again!”

More silence, then Blessed said, “All I have to do is tie you up, little girl. Don’t threaten me.”

Ethan twisted about in the chair so he could see them. There was fear in Autumn’s voice, and rage, and hysteria, building. She started to hyperventilate, and then she was crying, ugly, tearing sobs.

Blessed wasn’t deaf; he heard it too. Ethan heard the desperation in his voice as Blessed said, “Stop breathing so hard, stop it. And stop crying.”

Autumn cried harder.

“Oh, all right, all right. If the sheriff doesn’t try to do anything stupid, I’ll let him be, but only as long as you do what I tell you to do.”

Autumn stopped crying. She started to hiccup.

“Do you promise?”

“Yes, I promise. But you better keep your word or I’ll run and hide from you.” Ethan knew a hysterical child was the last thing Blessed needed. Autumn hiccupped again, but it sounded—it sounded like a lake hiccup to him. Despite the blasting pain in his head, Ethan smiled. She was an incredible kid.

“Sheriff?”

It was Blessed, and he was standing just off to Ethan’s right side. “Your head hurt?”

“Yeah.”

“Get him some aspirin, Blessed.”

“Let him suffer, I don’t have—”

Autumn did it again, the too-fast breathing, a single pathetic hiccup, and Blessed sighed. “All right, Autumn. You just stay still, all right?”

“I won’t move,” she said to Blessed. She stroked Ethan’s hand.

The kid was playing him. Good. She wound her skinny arms around Ethan’s neck, and he whispered against her cheek, “You’re on a roll, kiddo, but be careful, all right? Blessed isn’t stupid.”

He felt her nod. When Blessed came back, she straightened and said, “You’ve got to untie him so he can take the aspirin.”

Ethan groaned. Unlike Autumn, he wasn’t faking.

He felt the pull of Blessed’s fingers as he worked the knots at his wrists. Soon they fell away, not that it mattered much since he couldn’t feel his hands. Ethan slowly brought his arms in front of him and began rubbing his hands together, then shaking them. Slowly, they started to tingle and he began to feel them again. His fingers throbbed and ached, but it didn’t bother him all that much because his head was about to explode.

“Don’t even think about coming after me, Sheriff. I won’t let you live next time. Here’s your aspirin.”

Come after him? As if he could, since his feet were tied. Ethan took the aspirin and dry-swallowed them. He looked at his watch. Eleven o’clock in the morning. But what morning?

“What day is it?”

“Thursday.”

Okay, good. He’d slept a few hours at most. He closed his eyes and sat very still, waited for the aspirin to do something good.

Autumn said, “I want you to untie my mama too.”

A beat of silence, then Blessed’s voice, irritated now: “No, the bitch stays—”

Autumn screamed at him, “My mama’s not a bitch! Don’t you dare call her that, ever again!” She sounded wild and out of control. She flew at him, hitting him again and again. Ethan heard Blessed curse under his breath, heard him say, “All right all right, I’ll untie her. Calm down, stop acting crazy, you hear me?”

Acting crazy?

Autumn sobbed again, whispering through her tears, “Untie my mama.”

Ethan thought the kid should be in the movies.

Blessed tried to sound tough, but he fell short to Ethan’s ears. “Maybe I will, but if she tries anything, she goes away again. I mean it.”

“Just untie her.”

He heard Joanna moan.

“Don’t you stymie her, Blessed!”

Ethan said, his eyes still closed, “Get her some aspirin, Blessed; she’ll need it bad.”

A minute later, Autumn said, “Here, Mama, here’s some aspirin. I got you some water so you don’t have to choke them down like poor Ethan.”

Joanna let her put the aspirin in her mouth and the glass to her lips.

“Untie her, Blessed.”

Blessed, looking harassed, untied her hands.

“Mama, let me rub your hands for you. That’s better, isn’t it? Ethan? Are you feeling better yet?”

“Yes,” he said, and surprisingly, he was. “Joanna?”

“I’m here, Ethan.” Ethan felt the chair move, and knew Joanna had picked Autumn up and was rocking her.

He heard Blessed walking toward him. He didn’t look up, which was stupid, really. He looked down at Blessed’s boots. He had small feet for a man. Ethan said, “Your boots are dirty, Blessed.”

“Yeah? Well, you should see yourself, Sheriff, and the—woman.”

Ethan knew Autumn was opening her mouth to blast him. Blessed had made a fast save. Ethan said, “What happens now, Blessed?”

55

“WE’LL BE ON OUR way when you and the woman can walk out of here.”

“Where are we going?”

A pause, then, “We’re going someplace else, Sheriff, a very special place where Autumn will be safe, and then we’ll wait for Mama.”

Wait for his mama? But Ethan wasn’t sure she’d come—Savich had told him he was dealing with Shepherd Backman. He’d have given a great deal at the moment to know what Savich had done with the old lady.

Joanna asked, “And where would that be?”

“Shut your mouth, woman, it’s none of your business. Autumn, you get off her lap now, it’s time to leave.”

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Joanna said.

“I do too,” Ethan said.

“All right, but make it fast. Anything funny and you’re both gone again.”

In ten minutes they were back on the road, Ethan driving. “We’re on Highway Seventy-five,” he said. “I think it turns into Highway Eighty-one past Chattanooga. Where are we—?”

“You just keep driving, boy, and keep your mouth shut. I’ll tell you where to go.”

He decided not to push it. The pain in his head was only a dull throb. He looked over at Joanna next to him in the front seat. He knew she was still in some pain because she was sitting very still, staring straight ahead, her hands clasped tightly together. He reached out, pulled a hand free, and squeezed. After a moment, she squeezed his hand back. He still held her hand when they crossed into Georgia.

Ethan steeled himself to look into the rearview mirror, afraid he’d meet Blessed’s eyes, but he did look. They were damned creepy eyes. He met Ethan’s gaze. Blessed smiled. Nothing happened. Maybe Blessed wouldn’t stymie him now, because if he did, Ethan just might wreck the van. Something to think about. He said, “Autumn, are you all right?”

“Of course she’s all right. She’s asleep,” Blessed said. “Shut up and drive or you and the bitch are no good to me at all.”

Ethan said mildly, “You’ve got to be careful, Blessed, about what you call Joanna. Autumn could wake up at