He paused, as if speaking these truths was exhausting. “Your only chance is to stick with me, to trust me despite how you feel, until I can get us out of here. Once you’re safely with the police, I’ll disappear.”
“Why don’t you just call the cops right now, tell them where I am, and hightail it out of here?”
“Trust me, they’re waiting for that. They’d have you 10 miles from here before you heard the first siren.”
Katie was silent for a moment. Through her latent rage, she understood that, despite the emotional turmoil between them, she could trust Carson to do everything he could to protect her. Just as important, he had clearly taken time to assess the situation, something Katie had neglected to do. Even without that consideration, he was clearly much more experienced in this kind of thing than she was.
“You’re right. I’m with you,” she told him, a resigned but frosty edge in each syllable. Carson just nodded. “We can work together to figure out how to get ourselves safe, but we have to keep our heads clear. That means I won’t give you any shit about what you’ve done, and you can’t have any sappy-eyed guilt on your part. For lack of a better term, we have to be pros right now. Deal?”
“Deal.” Carson’s voice sounded stronger at hearing her agreement.
“We can figure out all the other stuff later.”
Carson looked back at her askance before kneeling by his backpack and rummaging through it. “I’m going to do some scouting around in the daylight, to see what our options are. It’s going to rain most of the day and tonight – that’s good. Makes it easier to move quietly, and the clouds mean no moon, so we can make our escape around midnight. Get some sleep. It’s going to be one hell of a night.” Grabbing a couple of items and his gun, he threw on a camouflage rain jacket and exited the shack, leaving Katie to consider why she added that final sentence about figuring things out later.
She wasn’t sure she wanted a later, not with Carson, not anymore. How could she even consider giving him another chance after what he’d done? Right now, she wanted nothing more than to close this short, exciting, and ultimately disappointing chapter in her life, to get back to safety and lick her wounds from this latest failed relationship. Returning to what they had been was so out of the question she wondered if her instinct for survival was trying to convince her she still had feelings for him. That was, of course, total bullshit.
He’s a good man, Katie. She quashed that thought immediately. He’d appeared to be a good man, but that was long gone and it wasn’t coming back. She hated herself for even thinking she might be able, or even want to, forgive him sometime in the future.
So why the hell did you say that to him? She was even angrier at him than she’d been at Brendan, and she’d shut the door on him without a second thought. There was no reason she should be leaving it open even a crack for Carson.
But, if she was being totally honest with herself, there was one major difference between the two events and the two men. Carson hadn’t been devious. He’d made a mistake – several very large ones, actually – but mistakes and errors in judgement happened. Even big ones. And his remorse was so apparent it left no doubt in her mind about his sincerity. Good people, even when tricked or forced into bad situations, remained good people. Are you trying to talk yourself into forgiving him? Still, she had to be practical. It’s not about him. Right now, it has to be about me.
Katie realized she was whipping back and forth between contradictory thoughts too quickly to be practical. This was no way to assess the situation, either in obtaining her freedom or if she wanted anything more to do with Carson. It all came down to one simple truth; she had to trust Carson – for now.
Well, I guess that’s why I said we could figure it all out later.
***
Carson walked the property several times, stopping often to make sure he wasn’t being followed or watched. It wasn’t easy. The rain was, like other natural features, both a help and a hindrance. He could move faster without being heard, but so could someone else. He doubted there was anyone around – that defeated the 7point of having Carson there – but this was no time to make assumptions.
He walked through the woods alongside the primary entrance road until he reached asphalt. There were no signs to identify the road, and he could tell only that it ran roughly east-west. The road had lost the dark black of being freshly paved. Despite this, there were no ruts nor uneven areas in the section he could see. That meant it was rarely-used, which made perfect sense. He stood, motionless under the cover of the trees for 20 minutes, waiting to see how many cars passed. Not only did he not see any, he didn’t even hear the hiss of tires on wet pavement anywhere.
He took his binoculars and started sweeping the area, looking for any sign of civilization or, more importantly, a lookout post. It was slow going, as he had to move in a very deliberate and methodical fashion to find any signs of others in the
