Read Raven: A political thriller Online
Authors: J.J. Franck
Raven: A political thriller (14 page)
“So, now you know how a plain Joe unwinds,” he said
while laughing.
“I’d hardly call you a plain Joe,” Raven said and
then reached over and patted his hand affectionately.
Don turned to her and smiled. “What would your
father say?”
“We don’t have to tell him.”
Raven laughed as she leaned her head back on the
seat rest. It was her life and, granted she appreciated her father’s input, she
never lived her life around his approval. Plus, the fact her father never
interfered in her private life. She smiled to herself, wondering what it would
be like to actually be a part of Don’s life rather than that he was forced to
watch over her because she was in protective custody.
Chapter 23
The drive went too fast for Don. This was not
an inconvenience for him, as it gave him more time to talk to Raven and find
out more about the woman behind the portrait. He didn’t know what he was going
to do when this case was over with, or in fact if Raven would be receptive to
seeing him on a personal basis after this. All he knew was he could not stop
thinking about her. It all started two nights ago when he first set eyes on her
portrait.
As they finally reached Raven’s house, he
pulled into the driveway and quickly parked. There were a few neighbors who
were still up for the night. Don followed Raven up the walk to the front door.
When she reached down, Don laughed as he turned to her.
“You should really consider a new place to
hide your key.” Don said.
“Is that how you got in?” she said when she
pulled the key out from under the mat.
Don just raised his eyebrows and smiled
sheepishly as Raven just stood up and stepped closer to the door, shaking her
head.
Raven quickly turned on the hallway light and
ran upstairs while Don walked into to the living room. He turned on the living
room lamp and then walked up to the portrait. It was hard not to stare at the
image in front of him. It was the scuffle coming from above that brought him
back to the here and now. He reached for his shoulder holster, but then
realized he never put in on before he went out for the night.
Don quickly ran up the stairs taking them two
at a time, angry with himself for letting his guard down. Once he reached the
top of the stairs he was hit from the side and knocked to the floor
unconscious.
Don lay there in a dreamlike state. Visions
flashed across his mind of the burnt-out Mustang and the body slumped over the
steering wheel. Fred, as he melted in his arms after being shot in Raven’s
hallway. Don’s head moved back and forth as he struggled to wake up from that
nightmare. Suddenly the vision of the Senator as the doctor tried to shock his
heart back to life, and when the portrait suddenly stared back at Don, his
eyelids started to flutter. It was the phone ringing in his pocket that
suddenly caused him to come out of his unconsciousness. And then it stopped. In
a few seconds the ringing started up again, this time Don quickly sat up,
reached for his phone and looked at the number and then it rang again. He knew
it was Raven. She still had his phone. He listened, all he could hear was
someone talking but he couldn’t make out what they were saying and figured
Raven dialed his number more so that he could trace her whereabouts. Don
quickly went down the stairs. He called the station house and talked to the
tech on duty and had him put a trace on his phone. Once he got the information,
he knew where they were headed.
As luck would have it, traffic was light
because of the late hour. It angered Don that he let his guard down. And now
Raven’s life was in jeopardy. Don thought hard, he was thankful they only had
about a ten-minute head start on him and fought to make up that time by
speeding.
Don was glad now that he hadn’t thrown out
the directions that Mr. VanBuren gave him yesterday. And was relieved for the
fact that he had been there once, it made following the directions that much
easier now. Don wondered why they were taking Raven to her parents’ cottage on
Diamond Lake. He could only guess she was guiding them there because of the
flash drive that Senator Maxfield supposedly left there. He only hoped that
Raven would be able to stall them once they got to her father’s cottage. Don
placed a call to the local police for backup, but hoped they didn’t come in
hot. His biggest fear was that he would be too late to save Raven.
Once Don pulled up to the VanBuren cottage,
he reached over and took his spare gun and handcuffs out of the glove box. He
was relieved it was still there. Don quickly called in the license number of
the car that was parked there, but given the voices he listened to on his
phone, he already knew who the owner of the car was. Don quickly got out of the
car. It was then he heard a woman scream on the other side of the house. He
quickly ran and followed the path around the house and when he glanced down at
the lake he saw the silhouette of three people near the boathouse. There were
two people dragging a struggling Raven. She broke loose and quickly ran to
where the dock protruded out into the lake. Don ran down the lawn and to the
dock.
“Stop!” Don yelled.
Raven was quickly apprehended, but she
continued to struggle as she tried to free herself from Lydia’s hold. In the
meantime David pulled out a gun and pointed it at Don. He edged himself closer
to Raven and Lydia. David then grabbed hold of Raven by the arm and held her in
a tight grip.
“I’ll kill her,” he snapped.
Don stopped at the end of the dock and just
stared at the three.
“You can’t make it look like an accident
now,” Don said.
“It’s all her fault. Cathy would have been
okay if she hadn’t opened her mouth about the investigation.”
Don glanced at Raven and could tell she was
frightened. “What you going to do with her?”
“The bitch said Maxfield left a flash drive
here. We wasted our time and now she’s going to pay.” David aimed the gun at
Raven.
“You don’t have to do this.”
David turned to Lydia. “Get his gun.”
Lydia walked up to Don and reached for Don’s
weapon. Don grabbed her and twisted her around, using her as a shield. David
just aimed the gun at Lydia.
“David don’t,” Lydia said, holding up her
hands.
David had a cold unfeeling look on his face
as he pulled the trigger. Lydia just collapsed on the dock. Raven continued to
struggle to free herself but David held her firm.
David quickly added, “I loved Cathy. You have
to believe that.”
“Then why kill her?” Don asked.
“I didn’t kill her. I just got rid of the
body.”
“Why?”
“Lydia found out that Cathy was digging into
the company’s charter and found my name listed with the others.”
“So?” Don said. He didn’t think that was
reason enough to be killed over.
It was Raven who spoke. “David had access to
Super PAC funds. It was a conflict of interest. Isn’t that right, David?” Raven
asked.
“Lydia said Cathy was going to talk to
Maxfield. I knew Cathy was only using that as leverage so that I’d divorce
Lydia.”
Raven took the opportunity to kick David in
the shin. He bent down in pain. She then broke free, giving Don time to rush
David. But David managed to get a shot off. Raven collapsed on the dock.
Don tackled David. They quickly went flying
backward, rolling on the dock. Don got the upper hand, hitting David as hard as
he could, sending the gun flying.
David kicked Don in the groin, causing him to
double up in pain. But Don quickly recovered. As David crawled to the gun, Don
grabbed him and knocked him off the dock into the water. David grabbed hold of
Don pulling him under the water, but Don got the upper hand. When he surfaced
he landed a right to David’s jaw and knocked him backward. Raven managed to get
up and crawled over to the edge of the dock. Don grabbed David by the shirt
with one hand and kept hitting him with his other fist. Raven climbed off the
dock and into the water. She grabbed Don’s arm to stop him from hitting David,
who by then was out cold.
“Stop, you’ll kill him,” Raven yelled.
Don turned to her. He was out of breath and
realized his anger over David shooting Raven got the better of him. He dragged
David over to the shore and then quickly turned him over. Don took the
handcuffs out of his back pocket and put them on David and let him lie
unconscious on the shore.
Finally Don turned to Raven. She had her hand
over the wound on her side. Don reached over to remove her hand from the wound.
It was only after taking a look at it that he breathed a little sigh of relief.
Then he grabbed hold of her and hugged her, and then he kissed her hard on the
lips.
Even though she was in pain the feel of his
arms around her gave her comfort, and she accepted the warmth of his lips.
In the distance, sirens blared as they got
closer.
“I thought I lost you again,” was all he said
as he held her tight and kissed her again.
THE
END
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