Nick placed his feet carefully as he walked, in the dark, over the sticks and rocks on the forest floor. He tried not to jostle Cora too much. The trees blocked any moon or star light so he made his way slowly, listening to the night and feeling his way through the overgrown path with each step.
Being out in the woods normally calmed him down and refocused him after a hard week of negotiating settlements, but not tonight. His heart thumped harder than normal, and he hoped it was from the extra weight he carried and not his nerves. He kept himself in shape, working out a few times a week and running in the morning.
This wasn’t a clear morning, but a black and bottomless night. He glanced at the glowing hands of his wristwatch. Right around three a.m.
Nick didn’t want to think about the things he’d just done, only his reasons for doing them. Finding the chloroform in Alexander’s bag had been the final and deciding factor in the case against him. Nick couldn’t simply stand by.
Cora’s head naturally cradled into his shoulder, so he couldn’t glance down at her face. She lay perfectly still. He had a real sleeping beauty in his arms, but she didn’t want anything to do with him.
Crack.
Nick crouched down with Cora in his arms, and remained perfectly still and silent, listening to the night. He reached under his shirt and pulled out his Beretta. With Cora pulled close against him, he waited.
If Alexander awoke any time soon, he’d take off after Nick in a rage. Nick kept hearing the awful thunk noise that the board made when he slammed it down on Alexander’s head. He couldn’t stand Alexander and knew he planned to hurt Cora, but that didn’t lessen the horror of seeing Alexander fall limp to the floor. Nick had tried to sneak up on Alexander while he was smoking outside the front door of the cabin, but Alexander sensed him coming and threw a punch. Nick dropped the chloroform saturated rag in the struggle. Alexander had thrown a chop into Nick’s throat. Nick sensed it enough to block with his hand, saving his life. They’d both thrown sucker punches to the gut and knees to the groin.
For a few terrifying seconds Alexander was on top, about to break Nick’s face in. Nick, thinking of Cora, found a new reserve and threw Alexander backwards. He’d felt a board under him and grabbed it, swinging it at Alexander’s head with all his force. It had been an old two by four, strong enough to survive the elements and to deliver a knockout blow.
Nick firmly believed that the end didn’t justify the means, not when illegal activities were involved. In this case however… he didn’t have a choice. Nick shut down any thoughts of what Alexander planned for Cora, knowing he couldn’t handle it.
Frogs and crickets sang together, but that was all he heard and he didn’t have all night. He put the gun away and started off again, pushing himself up to his feet while balancing the extra weight. The trail from the parking shed to the cabin wasn’t long, and he had to be halfway by now, but the seconds were dragging on. He concentrated on his balance and not on whether Alexander was waking up yet.
Alexander only had so many free days left before justice caught up with him. Nick vowed to make sure of that, for Cora and her father.
Alexander had hated Nick the first day he met him, simply for being Keith’s son and the one marked to follow him. Alexander wanted that spot, and wanted Nick out of the picture. Nick remembered the day he came home to tell his father he planned to go into law, so he didn’t want to be involved in running the family business. Alexander had taken great pleasure in fanning Keith’s rage. Nick had been able to live with that. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he let Alexander hurt Cora.
He felt certain that Alexander had embezzled the missing money, framed Jerry, and planned it all to get his hands on Cora.
Finally arriving at the car, Nick unlocked it and laid Cora in the passenger seat. He stretched out and breathed in. Add the adrenaline to the workout of carrying Cora, and he felt like he’d gone twenty miles. It left him shaking, but he had her in the car and could get her out of there and finally away from Alexander.
He inspected the tires and the engine and didn’t see any signs of tampering. He put his gun under the driver seat before starting the car. He pressed lightly on the gas and tested the brakes when he started out. Cora had yet to see that he carried a gun, and he wanted to keep it that way. He kept it for protection and never wanted to scare Cora into listening to him. Not in a million years. Nick prayed things wouldn’t go that far, because he’d let her walk away.
He drove the car over the tall grass and bushes and on their way. Nick guessed he had a good head start, and a few hours till daylight. He should have enough time to put some distance between them and the cabin, where Alexander hopefully still lay unconscious. He’d hide them for a day or two, and form a plan while Alexander searched the city for them.
What if Alexander was dead? No, he couldn’t even think about it.
He tilted the mirror down to see Cora sleeping in the backseat. I’ll fix this. He’d made that promise to her and planned to keep it.