Sometimes the paths in our lives are clearly marked, and even paved. Sometimes not.
Secrets at Midnight
Leona Palmer Haag
Chapter 57
Gray daylight peeked through a crack between curtains. “Seep
party?” Katie said when she found her mommy and daddy cuddling.
Nick tousled her dark curls and chuckled. He rolled over and
checked the clock. “It's early, but we need to get up. Time is running out.” He
held Jenn for several long moments, making her believe they’d never move, then
released her and slid out of bed.
Jenn got up and dressed. During the night she had whispered
questions, but Nick had pressed his finger to her lips saying, “Not now. We’ll
talk later.” He’d insured silence with his lips against hers. Later arrived with the dawn—and his lack of
openness now festered deep in her stomach. Pulling her onto his lap before he
finished tying his shoes, perhaps sensing her tension, he said, “Don’t worry.”
“All I’ve done since that
Monday night is worry.”
He rocked her in his arms. “It’s almost over. Things will
work out.” He pressed his lips to hers, hushing questions. They left the motel
room and found Matt waiting in the car, reminding her that even with Nick home,
she hadn’t escaped her kidnapper yet.
“I wish I could send you to Dallas,” Nick said as they
exited the motel parking lot. With a paper bag on her knee filled with
breakfast Matt had provided, she nodded and made no comment, occupying her time
with distributing food and trying to not consider the unsaid, “But don’t expect
to get your way. Here are more lies—swallow them with your tea.”
Eating a muffin, Jenn’s stomach churned. Nick, seated in the
front with Matt and speaking in low tones, seemed like a stranger. He turned
back and smiled. “Don’t look so gloomy, babe. Everything's fine.”
She didn’t bother faking a smile.
He reached back and patted her knee. “You can do better than
that.” But that was also a lie.
A short time later, buckled in a tiny airplane, life felt
lopsided—two men dragging her on a secret mission she wanted to bail out of,
but she couldn’t find a parachute. When Nick took the controls and began
flipping switches, chills ran up Jenn’s spine. He could fly? What else didn’t
she know about her husband? She bit her tongue and focused outside the window,
her hands clinched into tight balls.
They rose into the sky before the sun. The conversation in
the cockpit drifted backward in disjointed phrases of danger, no guarantee and
risks. Hours later the plane touched down on a small airstrip outside of El
Paso and taxied to a long row of hangers. Nick shut off the engine and faced
her. “You and Katie can stay in the pilot's lounge while we meet our contact in
the hanger. I’m sure you won’t be in any danger, but if you are, use your gun
first and ask questions later. Do you understand?”
She had always trusted her husband’s brown eyes—so honest
and sincere—but that had been before Matt fed her lies and Nick played along.
“What kind of danger?” she asked.
“I’m sure you’ll be safe, but today—don’t trust anyone for
any reason. You've got a good sense of when something is wrong. Pay attention
to it and follow your instincts.”
“Your gut,” Matt added.
Her gut told her to hit both men over the head with the
diaper bag and make a run for it. She climbed from the plane as sunshine
pounded the tarmac. Nick walked confidently holding her hand and Katie in his
arms. They could pass as a family on vacation—if not for vultures circling
overhead and Matt trailing behind.
The dim hanger they entered offered welcome relief from the
heat. Nick handed Katie to Jenn. “We'll look around. Stay put until we’re sure
the coast is clear.” She nodded and propped her daughter on her hip. He leaned
in close, his mouth pressing against hers more fervently than she could return.
“I love you, babe. I wish you weren’t involved.”
Jenn nodded and turned away. She’d been too involved with
Gary—and Gracie died, too involved with Danny—and their child had died, and now
she was too involved with Nick. What chance did Katie have?
Alone in the huge hanger, Jenn turned several circles,
finding no safety. She gasped in deep breaths. They echoed. She faced the door
where Nick had disappeared, and seconds later he stuck his head out and waved
her forward. “This is the pilot’s break room. Stay here with Katie.”
“What do you mean by stay here? Do you want us to hide?”
“That would be a good idea. Stay out of sight.”
She scanned the plain-Jane room and her heart sank. It was
completely open. Besides the entry door, two more led to restrooms. A window
covered with a dusty blind overlooked the runway. The opposite wall held
vending machines. Tables, chairs and a worn out recliner cluttered the room. Lockers
filled the space between the restroom doors. The last wall posed as a kitchen
with cupboards, a sink and a microwave.
Jenn raised a slat in the window blind and peered at rainbow-edged
mirages teasing tar. Nick pushed the slat back into place. “You don't want to
be seen.”
“I’m not loving this,” she muttered.
He pulled her into his arms. “Relax. You’ll be fine.”
Feeling trapped, and vowing she’d unleash the storm brewing
inside her later, Jenn crossed the room and sat at a table. Nick joined her and
took her hand, twisting her wedding band. “I know this is hard on you, but it
won’t last forever.”
She leaned forward and whispered, “Do you know Matt as well
as you think you do? He’s acting like
someone drilled a hole through his dense skull and his brains leaked out.”
Nick chuckled. “When the shipment arrives, you and Katie
need to stay out of sight until it’s unloaded and everyone leaves.”
“Is it drugs? Are you heading to prison next?”
His fingers continued twisting her ring, reflecting bursts
of light from the diamond. “No, and no. Some of the men will probably come here
for coffee or to use the restroom. Other pilots may come and go as well. No
matter who enters, you’ll want to stay out of sight. Hide in the ladies room or
another suitable place.”
“How many hours do you want me to sit on the porcelain thrown?”
“Until I tell you it’s safe. Try to keep Katie awake until
the plane lands. It would be nice if she napped—that means stayed quiet—while the
cargo is unloaded.”
“How am I supposed to do that—She’s a baby! I can’t snap my
fingers and work magic!”
He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it. When his eyes
lifted and met hers, he whispered, “I’m sorry, Jenn. I really am. Promise me
you’ll do it. It’s important.”
She looked away, first studying the tabletop, then watching
Matt feed Katie treats. “He’s packing her with sugar—first an ice cream bar and
now juice. She’ll be awake until midnight, and half the time she’ll be cranky
or crying.”
Matt looked up. “Sorry. I’ll buy her a bottle of water.” He
tried to pull the juice away, but Katie played tug-of-war and crankiness
started.
“Do you have any cold medicine to make her drowsy?” Nick
asked.
“Drug her?”
“It might help.”
“We bought her every other the counter drug we thought she
might need after we escaped from Montana. I was scared she’d get sick again and
I wouldn’t have anything to help her. One of them might work—but I’m not doing
it willingly.” She pushed her face close to Nicks. “You should know me well
enough by now that I don’t advocate drugs—legal or illegal. And I’ll do
anything and everything to protect my daughter.”
Matt joined them, breaking the tension. He plopped Katie, a
water bottle, a juice bottle and a candy bar on the table in front of them.
“Jenn, we’re not safe yet—in fact, we’re in serious danger.”
She pulled her hand free from Nick’s grasp and wrapped her
arms around her waist and hugged
herself. He scooted his chair around the table so he could wrap his arms around
her too. “You’ll be okay, baby. Everything will be okay.”
For many long minutes she didn’t reply, holding back
questions, accusations, demands, threats and tears. Finally she said, “Then Katie
will get the decongestants in the diaper bag.”
Matt removed Katie from the table and turned her loose to
wander. The next few hours occupied everyone’s time as they kept the toddler
awake. When Katie yawned and fussed, refusing to play tag any longer, Nick
looked at his watch. “Cold medicine time.” He scooped Katie up and cuddled her,
kissing her curls and declaring his love. For the first time since they’d
arrived in Texas, Jenn sensed remorse in her husband’s expressions. But did he
regret their situation—or only his alter identity emerging?
Jenn dosed Katie, wrapped her in her blanket and clutched
her to her heart. Nick held them in a bear hug, whispering love she couldn’t
feel. An engine whirred overhead. After another kiss he said, “We’ll unload the
cargo. It shouldn’t take more than thirty or forty minutes. I’ll come for you
when I’m finished.”
Numbly, she nodded.
“Be safe. Keep your gun in your pocket.”
She nodded again, wanting to cram it down his throat.
When the men left, Katie whined, lifted her head briefly,
then let it sink to Jenn’s shoulder. Jenn paced, trying to induce sleep. Wider
and wider her circles grew as her imagination sprang forward, stirring up
monsters lusting for murder—all sporting Matt’s and Nick’s calm façades.
Jenn’s eyes darted over the room searching for possible
hiding places that they’d missed in their initial search. The lockers were too
narrow and shallow. The cupboards were cramped and obvious. The ladies room had
two stalls and a cleaning supply closet brimming with toilet tissue, chemicals
and a dirty mop and bucket—no extra space. The men's restroom wasn’t suitable.
Jenn placed Katie under a small table crammed between two
vending machines, then she crawled into the cramped quarters and pulled several
boxes inward to enclose them. Completely hidden, she propped her back against
one vending machine and her feet against another. She held Katie in her lap and
stroked her hair and congratulated herself for being smart and finding a hiding
place Nick and Matt hadn’t discovered.
Minutes passed in silence and the enormity of her situation
sank in. Without any hint that it was happening that she could pinpoint, Matt
had cloned Nick into himself—a paranoid secret-agent wanna be. But Nick had
denied nothing. In solitary confinement now, her heart broke. Tears spilled
down her cheeks. She entertained ways to confront her husband, forcing him to
reject Matt’s games. Therapy might help. Maybe they could move close to
Shawn—far away from Matt.
The break room door creaked open. Nick said, “Wrong plane,
Jenn. They're still another twenty minutes out. A pilot might come ins so stay
where you are.” The door creaked shut and she continued her pity party.
Minutes ticked by. Sweat beaded on Jenn’s neck and trickled
down her back. Katie’s curls matted against her cheeks. Cool air flowed through
the break room—she heard the air conditioner rumbling nonstop—but it couldn’t
reach them under the table. With vending machines pumping out hot air to keep
sodas cold and ice cream frozen, their shelter turned into a convection oven.
Drenched, Katie stirred and moaned.
Jenn blew on Katie’s flushed cheeks. They’d both pass out
soon—perhaps suffer brain damage or die. No sounds came from beyond their
hiding place so Jenn pushed the boxes away and scrambled out, pulling Katie
with her. She plunked change into the vending machines and bought water, juice,
a soda, ice cream and treats. She ate the ice cream and pressed the soda can to
the back of her neck and looked around. Maybe she could stand on a toilet seat
in a locked bathroom stall, but how long could she balance a baby and diaper
bag before splashing down?
While sipping juice she investigated other possible hiding
spots. She ripped packing tape off a huge box and found long cylindrical
packages of Styrofoam coffee cups inside. Ditching most of the packages in
cupboards, except a few that she shortened, she placed Katie in the bottom of
the box, crawled in with her, and propped the shortened packages of cups in
each corner. She pulled a cardboard divider over them and lowered it, managing
to keep several packages of cups on top. If someone snooped inside they might
realize the packing configuration was wrong—but they might not.
Cramped in their new hiding space she whispered,
“Katie, we’ll be okay.” She fell silent, wondering if she’d lied. The big D
crept into her mind—deception. An even bigger D followed close behind—divorce.
Despair, just as deadly, huddled in the box with her, maiming her heart. Time
dragged out, allowing her to dissect each ugly D until depression, defeat and
darkness consumed her, stealing all hope.
End Chapter 57
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