Out of the Storm (20 page)

Ashley studied the small swells closing on the shore. It was near high tide. “After last night I thought maybe you’d think I was just…” Her words hung in the soft breeze.

“Was just what, Ashley?”

“I know the kind of man you are—good, strong. I arrived here with nothing, had a miscarriage the first night, then next thing you know we’re kissin’ and huggin’ like Romeo and Juliet. I was afraid you’d think I was using you.”

“You were afraid I’d think you were trying to take advantage of me?” he asked. Eric listened but couldn’t believe her words.

She nodded, twisting her mouth into a frown.

“You could have thought that,” she whispered, turning toward him. “But it would break my heart if you did.”

He put his arm around her shoulder and gently pulled her toward him. She rested her head on his arm.

“Ashley, there may be a lot of unanswered questions between us but in my wildest dreams I never imagined you were trying to take advantage of me.”

Her slender arms snaked around his waist. “Really?” she asked, using one of her hands to push the tears from her tanned cheeks.

“Really,” he told her.

They sat in satisfied silence for a long minute before she spoke again.

“Beau was the daddy of the baby I lost that first night,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to…”

“Yes, I do. Please,” she interrupted. “You know how I feel about you. I want to tell you about it.”

“All right.” Eric nodded reluctantly.

“First thing you have to know is it didn’t mean anything. I know that probably sounds terrible, but it’s true.
He
didn’t mean anything to me.” She paused and took a deep breath. “Not like that. He was a friend. I guess you’d call him my mentor. Taught me things about computers not many folks know.”

“Okay. Is that it?”

“No. We’d been hacking into government Web sites. Just seeing how far we could get. Breaching their firewalls, that kind of stuff. We were just fooling around. It was a game we’d play. Least it had been. We downloaded some reports and a few pictures. Didn’t seem like anything at the time.

“I told you that Ralph had been acting really strange. He was out a lot, especially at night. And when he was home, he kept to himself—stopped taking us to places. Well, when Momma or I’d ask him if everything was okay he’d snap at us. I heard him talking one night on his cell when I was coming home. Heard the name ‘Firestorm.’ He didn’t see me. Then I heard the name again when I went to pick him up at the base one day. Same thing. I found him talking on a cell. Funny thing is that when he finished talking he threw the phone into a trash bin. Like he was…

“Destroying evidence,” Eric interrupted.

She gave him a half-smile and nodded slowly. “Yeah.” The smile disappeared. “Just like that.”

“So Beau hacked into this database. It was real tough, but he was the best. We tried searching everything, trying to access files for Firestorm. It took a lot of work and they had that stuff well-protected. I told you, I was good. But Beau was incredible. There wasn’t very much. Least it didn’t seem that way. A few pictures and reports we didn’t understand. I fell asleep on the couch in his office in the middle of the night. When I woke up he…he was kneeling next to me. I knew he liked me, but we were never more than friends. Next thing I knew we were kissing. He didn’t force me. I was lonely and confused—going nowhere with no one else in my life so I…I just let it happen.”

“I believe you.” Eric nodded again, knowing he’d believe anything she told him.

“But I want you to know,” Ashley continued. “There was no love in what I did. We never spoke about it again. The very next day he started getting strange phone calls. We used his system ’cause all I had was a cheap laptop. Someone on the line warned him to stay away. Never said what they meant but we knew. He said he thought people were watchin’ him. Two weeks later Momma had the accident. That’s when Ralph got really weird. Then Beau fell out his window. Police said it was an accident. But I knew for sure we’d been someplace we shouldn’t have.”

“What about the police?” Eric asked.

“I wanted to go to them. I told Ralph and he got angry—downright crazy. Said I’d get us all killed. And when I thought about it I realized that Beau and I were doing something illegal. They don’t give out medals for hackin’ into top-secret government Web sites.”

So she’d finally told him the truth or at least the truth as she saw it. The question was what to do about it.

“Why are you telling me this, Ashley?” Eric thought he knew, but he needed to hear the words.

“I wasn’t going to at first but, now I want you to know everything. ’Cause of what’s happening between us. What happened last night was real. I know you think about your wife and you probably think I’m a…”

“Shhh.” Eric put his fingers to her lips, pulling her close. Her arms tightened around his chest. She’d confided in him, trusted him with her life. “What I think, what I’ve thought since that first day at the hospital is that you’re one of the most special people I’ve ever met. I don’t understand you, but that’s part of what attracts me. I don’t care what happened before you arrived on my doorstep.” He smiled down at her. “You said earlier that we both had lives before you knocked on my door.”

“You really mean that?” Her words rang with disbelief.

He turned her face toward him and smiled. “Lu thinks you and Kylie were sent here for a purpose. To help me live again. She’s right. All I want is to help you and protect you and…” He hesitated, knowing the impact his words would have and the commitment he was making to this sweet, frightened girl. “I want to rebuild my life with you.”

Ashley slipped off the seawall and stood in front of him. She took both his hands in hers and kissed each one. “You know, when you came to visit Ralph I had a terrible crush on you.” She blushed. “I thought I’d never seen anyone as kind and strong and handsome as you.” Ashley swallowed deeply and continued. “I knew when you married your sweetheart and I prayed you’d be happy. When I heard about her accident I cried for a week knowing how much it would hurt you.”

Eric stood and surrounded her with his arms, gently pulling her to him.

“When I knew we had to leave, there was never a question about where to go.” She chuckled softly as she nestled her head on his chest. “I wanted to find someplace we could feel safe and get a new start. A sanctuary. I knew we’d find that with you.” Ashley pulled him closer. “But in all my silly schoolgirl dreams I never thought you’d end up caring for me. I never want to leave here, to leave you.”

Eric pulled her face to his and found her lips. They tasted as soft and inviting as they had the night before. Her arms closed around him tightly, pulling him into her as the sweetness of her tongue tempted and teased his.

As it had last night, the fever building between them erupted into a passionate fog of touch and taste and scent. Her nails clawed into his back. He loved the feel of it. What passed between them was more than passion or love. It was desire filled with such primal energy, so erotic in nature that nothing else existed. No beach, no moon, nothing in the universe save the two of them.

His lips left hers, drawn to the soft fragrant skin of her cheeks. They worked their way down to her neck, following her collarbone toward her chest. His hand found the supple material of her dress as he touched her nipples, hard with excitement. He cupped her small, firm breast, squeezing it, caressing it gently at first, closing his hand over it as her delighted moaning celebrated her ecstasy.

“Oh, yes, please,” she begged him as she raised her lips to find his again. Her hands fell from his back onto his buttocks as she pulled him closer to her.

Suddenly their reverie was broken as a light flashed in his face.

“Excuse me folks,” the voice was resonant and commanding.

Eric let go of Ashley. He focused on the police car that stood in back of his Jeep.

“Yes…Officer,” Eric managed, still breathing heavily as he held Ashley at arm’s length.

She turned, facing away from the light.

“We got a call about some joyriding down here.” The policeman cleared his throat. “Would you folks mind moving along?”

“Sure. Sorry.” Eric nodded and turned, taking Ashley by the arm and closing the small distance to the Jeep.

He helped her into the seat. She looked flushed and embarrassed. Eric squeezed her hand and gave her a wink. A smile crossed her lips.

Hopping into the driver’s side, Eric started the Jeep and backed out. He turned toward the exit. As he did, he picked up his cell and saw the red message light flashing.

He saw it was Louise and hit re-dial.

“Eric,” she answered breathlessly.

“Hi, what’s up?”

“I think you better get home.” Her voice had a different sound. The usual upbeat Lu had gone missing, replaced by someone sounding tentative and frightened.

“What’s the matter? Are you all right? Is Kylie?” he demanded.

“Just get back as soon as you can. We went out for ice cream. We were only gone for forty-five minutes.”

“Okay, calm down. What is the matter?”

“While we were gone, I think someone was in the house!”

Chapter Twenty-Three

“That was Lu,” he explained to Ashley as he punched the accelerator on the way out of the beach parking lot. “She thinks someone’s been in the house.”

Ashley put her hand to her mouth. “Oh, God,” she whispered, her voice cracking.

“Are they all right?”

“Sounds like it.” He nodded.

“I don’t understand this. This shouldn’t happen,” she said as a confused expression crossed her face. “We have to get there. I need to check something.” Ashley found his hand, squeezing it. “Please, hurry!”

Eric looked at her. Ashley’s face was dimly illuminated by the lights from the dashboard. It had an ashen appearance again. What had she meant? It made no sense. Her large eyes were the size of saucers as she scanned the roadside, searching for some imaginary threat.

“Is it in the backpack?” Eric asked.

She nodded and looked at him with questioning eyes. “Yes. Was it that obvious?”

“’Fraid so,” he said while negotiating the turn onto Route 28 and Memorial Day traffic.

Ashley let go of his hand, chewing her bottom lip as she looked at her watch.

Eric managed his way around the stagnant holiday traffic and took the corner of his street on two wheels. He sped down the narrow gravel road and pulled into his driveway, coming to an abrupt stop.

Louise stood with her arm wrapped tightly around Kylie.

Eric and Ashley jumped out of the Jeep and ran the twenty feet to the porch steps.

“What happened?” Eric asked breathlessly as Ashley knelt and hugged Kylie.

Louise directed them into the kitchen.

When they went inside, Eric surveyed it. He looked at Lu.

“Everything looks okay. What makes you think someone was in here?”

“Hard to explain. I know this sounds paranoid but I have a photographic memory about where things are. They were moved around. Nothing big you’d notice but moved. I’d swear to it, Eric.”

“I believe you.” Eric swallowed deeply and nodded. He looked at Ashley. She was breathing rapidly. Her face wore the look of a hunted animal again. The look he’d seen the day he brought her home from the hospital.

“Are you okay?” Eric asked, taking her hand tightly and smiling reassuringly.

Ashley nodded, whispering, “I’m not sure.” She said, holding his eyes.

“We went for ice cream. We were only gone about forty-five minutes, probably less.” Louise looked around the kitchen. “When we got back, things just looked different. Not pulled out or messy just…different.” She shook her head.

“What about the rest of the house?” Eric asked, heading toward the stairway.

“I called you and went out to wait on the porch. I had no idea what was going on or if someone was still inside, so I didn’t go beyond the kitchen.”

“What about the police?”

“Why call them? Since there’s nothing out of place, they’d think I was crazy.”

Eric smiled and squeezed her shoulder.

Without a word, Ashley ran up the stairs and into her room.

“Be right back,” Eric threw back at Louise and followed her.

When he reached the top of the stairs Eric saw Ashley had her backpack, looking inside while Eric watched her tear her shoulder bag open and extract a knife. This was no ordinary kitchen knife. This was a smaller version of the commando knives locked away in his gun cabinet. She exhaled deeply as she took the weapon and made a precise cut, pulling the label off. When she did something fell into her hand. It was tiny—two inches long, half an inch wide. A small, shiny rectangle protruded from one side. Ashley sighed deeply, closed her eyes, and squeezed it.

Eric stood in the doorway. As she threw the backpack onto the bed, she gave Eric a glance as he entered the room.

“A flash drive?” he asked as he examined the backpack. He saw a small automatic inside…and a cell phone. He stared and held the weapon up by the handle.

She nodded. “I’ll explain later. Now I need to use your computer.” She ran by him, eyes narrowed, mouth set in a pensive cast.

“Sure,” he agreed placing the pistol on a high shelf in the closet. Ashley was already halfway down the stairs. She patted Kylie on the head and headed toward his tiny office with a purpose.

Eric followed her, giving Louise a shrug as he passed.

Ashley was already at the laptop, waiting for it to boot up as she tapped her fingers impatiently on the small desk.

She looked up at him, eyes anxious and frightened.

The screen jumped to life and Ashley immediately thrust the tiny drive into the data port on the right. Ashley’s hand shook as she directed the arrow to the computer icon and opened it. When the icon for a removable drive appeared she brought the cursor over it, swallowed deeply, and looked up at Eric. He had no idea what was happening but he knelt by her side and closed his hand around hers. Ashley took a deep breath and tapped on the icon.