Gun Lake (38 page)

“So they’re tied up. And Wes is watching them?”

Sean knew what Kurt was thinking. “Don’t worry.”

“I didn’t worry in the Harman’s.”

“Lonnie—”

“And I didn’t worry back in Texas!”

“That’s different. Besides, you did worry. That’s all you do—worry.”

Kurt pointed at Sean. “This—this ends. This ends right now.”

Sean held out his hands and looked at Kurt. “Just hold on. Get calm. We’re going to leave.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow.”

“And go where?”

“Wherever you want. Ossie can go back to Chicago. Y’all can do whatever you want.”

“Why tomorrow?” Kurt asked. He began to walk around the cabin, gathering his belongings. “Why not now?”

“Now is not a good time.”

Kurt cursed. Ossie stepped in front of him and asked Sean if the kid and his mother would be okay for another day.

“Wes isn’t going to hurt them,” he said. “You know him. He’s not going to do anything to them. Except, well, scare the blazes out of them.” Sean actually laughed at that. He couldn’t help it.

Kurt shook his head, turned around, and stalked out of the cabin. Sean thought about stopping him but held off.

If he wants out now, let him get out. Won’t change anything
.

Kurt slammed the door on the old Chevy and jammed it in reverse, then peeled out of the dirt driveway.

“Better hope he comes back,” Sean told Ossie with a laugh.

“Why?”

“’Cause that’s
your
car, isn’t it?”

Ossie realized that it was. But Sean was surprised to see that the look on Ossie’s face hadn’t changed.

He found himself amused once more.

Ossie almost looked pale.

SOMETHING WAS GOING DOWN at the cabin—Don was sure of it. So far he’d seen only three of them. The black guy he didn’t recognize. But the two others were another matter. The guy with the shaved head and goatee who seemed to be ordering the others around—could that be Sean Norton, the ringleader? The other one could be Kurt Wilson, but Don couldn’t tell from his position in the woods. The binoculars helped, but he couldn’t see
under the dark-haired man’s beard. He looked like he could be Kurt, but again, he might not be.

Don wasn’t going to do anything stupid. If he went to interrogate them or even ask a few questions, they might bolt. If he came in waving a gun, he’d be in hot water, whether or not these guys turned out to be the men he was looking for. He needed more proof.

The guy with the beard had driven off, looking angry, leaving the other two in the cabin.

You should call Steve
.

He thought about his friend, the sergeant who had gotten him time off. Maybe it would have been wise to involve someone like Steve on this job. If he had to storm the cabin, he might need backup. But Don wanted all of them to be surprised. Every last one of them. He wanted Steve to come up to him and slap him on the back and tell him, “Good job.”

For the moment, congratulations would have to wait. Don might be getting a little ahead of himself. For now, he’d keep on waiting, and watching. And the moment Don knew without a doubt that these guys were the Stagworth Five—or Two, or Three—he’d swoop in and give them a nice little surprise they’d never forget.

He’d be careful. But he was pretty sure he could take them.

It was going to be great.

SHE WANTED TO PRAY for her husband to come walking through that door, but what if he actually did? Michelle knew that would spell big trouble. For Ted. And maybe for her and Jared too.

For some reason, Michelle thought of a story Ted once told her about being accosted by a stranger in a parking lot at O’Hare.
It was maybe one or two in the morning, and he was coming back from a business trip. He had a couple of pieces of luggage, and as Ted approached his parked truck, he heard a man come out of nowhere and ask for his wallet.

Most people would have stopped dead in their tracks. Or put the luggage down and handed over their wallets. Michelle knew she would have done that. But Ted had decided to charge the robber. Full throttle, with arms still carrying his luggage. Ted was a big man, and he mowed over this poor, greedy pauper trying to steal from him. Once on top of him, Ted gave him a few head butts to the face. The man gasped and moaned, and Ted finally got off him and told him to get out of there. Which the man did, in a hurry.

Ted had called her shortly after to tell her he had arrived and he was okay and he had sacked a would-be mugger in the airport parking lot.

That was her husband. Calm and steady most of the time, but passionate underneath. She’d always been able to rely on him. But right now, Ted was miles away. And she wasn’t quite sure whether to be glad about that or not.

Her wrists were red and irritated from rubbing against the sticky duct tape. The less she moved, the less they hurt. But sometimes she would find one of her hands falling asleep, the blood in them drained, and feeling weird and lifeless. She had to move them to keep them from feeling that way.

The big guy’s name was Wes. The three of them had mostly sat on the couches during the day. He had turned on the television and asked them what they wanted to watch. He’d provided them drinks and asked them what they wanted for dinner. Michelle wasn’t hungry—she thought she would throw up anything she ate. But Jared had managed to eat a sandwich and some chips, his hands wrapped in the same duct tape as hers.

It was around eight at night that Jared starting asking questions. So far, it had been obvious that the big guy didn’t want to talk much. But even he seemed bored and a little bewildered at having been there so long.

“When’s the other guy coming back?” Jared asked the big man.

Wes shook his head and gave what Michelle believed to be an honest answer: “I don’t know.”

“You guys have been on the news.”

Wes didn’t say anything.

“Why’d you guys end up here at Gun Lake?”

“I don’t know that either.”

“Did you just like the name and go, cool, yeah, let’s go to Gun Lake?”

“I didn’t choose it.”

“You just take orders?” Jared asked.

“Jare,” Michelle called out, warning her son to be quiet and shut his big mouth.

“Yeah, I basically do,” Wes said. “I told you, y’all don’t have to worry. I ain’t gonna do nothing.”

“What about your friend?” Jared asked.

“He won’t. He’s not that bad. The stuff in the papers, stuff on the news—it’s always so one-sided. They never tell you everything.”

“Like what? What don’t they tell us?”

“Well,” Wes said, looking at Jared while the television showed a reality show. “They don’t ever say that I got a wife and daughter. I got a girl, you know that? She’s only about ten now, but still. They visited me in the prison, kept coming to see me. I thought—I guess I thought I could be out and go back to them. I know that was stupid—I know that won’t be happening. But still …”

“Are you guys going to stay around here?”

Wes shook his head no. “Tonight or tomorrow, we’ll be leaving.”

“Where to?”

“I don’t know. All I really want to do is go see my wife and kid, even if it’s just for a night, before getting caught. I don’t want to get them in trouble. It’s just—you know, you think you can escape and try to go on living. But there’s no way.”

Michelle looked at the big guy and didn’t exactly feel sympathy. But her disdain of him had subsided. Here he was, coming into their place and waving a gun at them and tying them up. But she believed that Wes didn’t
want
to hurt them. What worried her
was that someone else might believe they needed to be hurt. What if someone thought differently than Wes?

She studied her son and found it amazing that he didn’t appear distraught or even worried. The only thing he kept doing was glancing over at her, as if he was checking to see how
she
was doing.

Life can be so ironic
, Michelle thought.

She prayed again, choosing to believe that God heard her. She’d been so angry at him recently, and she probably deserved to not be listened to. But she had no more energy left for doubting now, no more strength to shake her fist at heaven. So she just decided to trust, and she kept on praying.

Praying to make it through the night.

Praying that Jared would be all right, that he would get through this without scars.

Praying that Wes and his buddies would finish whatever it was they were doing and get out of here and leave her and Jared alive.

Maybe tied up and gagged but alive. That’s all that mattered to her.

HE STOOD AT THE ENTRANCE of the Lakeside Grill, waiting for her. Norah walked over to him, smiling at first, then seeing the serious expression on his face and feeling a wave of apprehension.

“Do you have a minute?” he asked her.

She nodded. “I get off in about an hour—”

“No,” he said abruptly. “Can you come outside with me right now? Just for a minute.”

His forehead was dotted with sweat. His eyes darted wildly around the restaurant, as though he was looking for someone.
The two of them walked outside and went around the side of the grill.

“I don’t have much time,” he said.

“David, what are you talking about?”

“Norah, I—”

He stopped and took in a deep breath, as if to try to compose himself. He wiped his forehead and looked around again.

“What’s wrong?”

“Everything.”

“What?”

“I needed to come and tell you …”

“Tell me what?” Norah asked.

David looked down at the ground, then at her, his eyes looking sad and desperate.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know if I’ll see you again,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because of—because of me. Because of everything I’ve done.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Norah, my name is not David. I’m sorry I lied. I didn’t know—I didn’t mean to. It wasn’t like I had any choice—”

“You mean—?”

“I just wanted you to know. My name is not David.”

“It’s—but—”

“It’s Kurt. Kurt Wilson.”

She nodded, puzzled. He’d said the name as if it were some big revelation. It meant as much to her as
David
had.

“I might not see you again,” he repeated.

“I still don’t understand. You—”

He gripped her arms and spoke to her earnestly. “You remember how you told me—how you said you were running? How you said that the other part of your life was done? You opened up to me and, Norah, I wanted to do it too. I really wanted to, but I couldn’t. And now things are falling apart and I don’t know what else to do and I might not see you—I might not be around to tell you all of this again—”

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” His voice shook.

She looked up at him and wanted to be angry, wanted to feel hurt that he had kept things from her, whatever it was that he needed to keep from her. But she had kept just as much from him. The name—whatever the reasons he didn’t tell her his name—it didn’t matter. He was hurting and aching, and she could see the desperation in his eyes. This wasn’t a man like Harlan. This was a man that cared about her.

That was why she reached out and touched his hand. Took it in both of hers.

“David—Kurt—it’s going to be okay.”

He took his hand from her and shook his head.

“I’m not the guy you think I am.”

“And who is that?” she asked.

“I’m not a good man.”

“Yes, you are. I believe you are.”

“No,” he said, his voice stronger than before and laced with fear. “You don’t know me.”

“I was beginning to. I thought I was.”

“I just want you to know—I meant everything I said.”

“I know.”

“No, I really did. If I don’t see you again, and if you wonder about all of this—”

“What are you talking about?”

“—just know that you meant a lot to me. And in another life, I really believe things could have been different for us. You’re a beautiful woman, Norah. Beautiful inside and out. And you’re strong. And everything you’re running from—the guy, that relationship—don’t let it drag you down. Don’t ever let him take control—or anyone else. You keep strong and don’t ever let someone break your heart.”

She took his hand again. “You’re in trouble, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“What sort?”

“The worst.”

“What—what can I—”

“You need to stay far away from me, Norah. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.
I’m
the trouble.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“It’s true.”

He stopped as an elderly couple walked past them toward the restaurant. David—Kurt—whatever his name was—looked around again.

“I have to leave.”

“Can I—is this really the last time I’ll see you?”

“Probably.”

She felt the tears begin to well in the corners of her eyes. “I just don’t want—”

“Norah, if I could—if things weren’t what they were—I’d explain, but I don’t have time. And you’ll find out everything. And when you do, I hope you’ll know that, no matter what, you gave me something that I didn’t think I could ever have.”

“What did I give you?” Norah asked, not understanding.

“Hope.”

He took both of her hands in his own and then put his arms around her and pulled her close. It was a desperate embrace, not passionate or romantic but more despondent and frightened.

“You’re an amazing woman, Norah. Don’t ever let anyone make you feel otherwise.”

She wanted to say something but couldn’t. She was left speechless, stunned by the leaving and his words and his touch and his hug and his final statement.

Amazing
.

She didn’t feel amazing, of course. She felt stunned and tearful and lost and confused. But also strong. It surprised her to realize that, for the first time in years, she felt just a little bit strong. She felt that, whatever was happening now, she could get through it.

She watched Kurt get back into the big car and drive off.

You can get in this car and just get out of here and somehow make it somewhere far away
.

The engine raced as he drove down the dark country road and tried to decide where to go.