Page 21 of Peace Under Fire

Of course, she stared thoughtfully at her suitcase, she’d need to get rid of her luggage. A lone woman dragging a suitcase down the streets was sure to get noticed. Nodding decisively, she got to work packing the rest of her belongings. Once her suitcase was packed and stashed at the foot of the bed, she wrote a note to Dolly apologizing for squatting in her home and asking her to drop the suitcase off at the nearest homeless shelter. She stuffed three thousand dollars into the envelope and left it on Dolly’s kitchen counter, then wandered to the bedroom and settled into the plaid chair next to the window.

Might as well keep an eye on Jacob’s truck until it was time to leave. If she was lucky, he might even head outside now that it was dark. She hoped so.

She’d like one last chance to feast her eyes on him before she left.

CHAPTER 5

Two days later, Mandy stepped into the motel room she’d booked for the night and locked the door behind her. She paused to lean her forehead against the cold steel of the door. Good God, she was exhausted. More tired than she’d ever been in her life. So tired she considered dropping into the queen bed fully clothed, but quickly abandoned the idea. Sleeping in her dirty, smelly clothes sounded disgusting.

Besides, she needed a relaxing shower as much as she needed sleep. Hot water and steam would wash away the stress brought on by two hours battling blizzard conditions and stupid, reckless drivers trying to beat the whiteout.

Rousing herself, she pulled back from the door, flipped on the light switch, and sluggishly made her way across the room’s weary carpeting.

The compound was only three and a half hours away, but the weather was so treacherous, it was smarter to hole up and wait out the storm. While this room wasn’t home, and it didn’t come with a closet full of clean clothes, it did have a comfortable-looking bed. And it was warm. The woman who’d checked her in had assured her the motel had a backup generator that would kick in if the power went out, so they didn’t need to worry about losing electricity.

After turning on the shower and cranking the temperature knob as hot as it would go, she kicked off her shoes and stripped out of her rumpled and stained clothes. In retrospect, she wished she’d chanced it and hauled her suitcase out of Dolly’s condo and over to her car. At least she’d have some clean clothes to change into once she finished soaking in the shower. But no, she’d been too much of a wuss to chance discovery, so she’d left the possibility of clean clothes back in Virginia Beach. Tomorrow morning, she’d have to change back into the clothes she’d spent the past forty-eight hours in.

The thought made her shudder. So icky.

But at least the heat and water would loosen the tight, achy muscles of her shoulders and back. Lordy, every inch of her body ached. Who would have thought sitting and staring for hours on end could take such a toll on the body?

It still amazed her how easy her escape from Jacob’s building had been. She’d locked the door to Dolly’s condo behind her and hidden the key beneath the hallway welcome mat. The original plan hadn’t called for her to move into Dolly’s home. She’d merely been asked to water the plants while the elderly woman was gone.

But after leaving Jacob that voicemail, she’d needed a new place to stay—one unknown to Jacob, but close enough to watch over him while he recovered from his injuries. Dolly’s unit had been perfect. Nobody knew she had the key, so no one would look for her there. And she was close enough to reach Jacob quickly, if he needed her.

You’d think her inability to help him would have made it easier to abandon her quest and leave the complex. It hadn’t. That perverse instinct to stay, to fight for him, to fight for them—for their happy ever after—had haunted her right up until she’d climbed into her car and driven away.

Who was she kidding? It still haunted her.

After a final deep watering of Dolly’s plants, and a text message to warn the other woman she’d need to find another plant waterer and where to find the spare key, she’d slipped out of the unit and slinked down the back stairs, and out a side door.

She’d debated about leaving Dolly the text. Doing so meant she’d have to ditch the phone she was currently using, but Dolly didn’t know how much longer she’d be gone—and those plants were her babies. Mandy hated the thought of the elderly woman returning home to a condo full of dried-up husks. So, she’d made the call, dumped the phone, and picked up another prepaid cell at the convenience store while she waited for a taxi.

The cab driver had dropped her at the parking garage that housed her car. And the Subaru, thank God, had started immediately. What a relief. Sure, she’d paid the parking company extra to start her car a couple of times a week to keep the battery primed, but there was no way of knowing if they’d done so. By three a.m., the lights of Virginia Beach were in her rearview mirror.

The first day and a half of traveling had gone smooth. She’d even hoped to be home by tonight. But then the snow had swept in.

The water was hot and pulverizing as she stepped under the steamy spray and closed the glass door behind her. She stood there, her body hunched, her arms hanging lethargically, and let the hot water massage the aching muscles of her shoulders and back.

Even now, as the steam and heat pummeled the final remnants of strength from her exhausted body, the instinct to climb back in the car and return to Virginia Beach—to return to Jacob—ate at her.

Sour amusement stirred. She could imagine Giulia’s reaction to that. Her sister would blow a gasket for sure. Although, truth be told, the thought of turning around and retracing the past forty-eight hours was enough to stop her cold.

While she knew how to drive, it wasn’t an activity she enjoyed. The trip out from Sandpoint, Idaho to Virginia Beach had been buoyed by the anticipation of meeting Jacob and the excitement of finally being on her own.

Not even Giulia’s dire warnings had dampened her enthusiasm to hit the road and rendezvous with her destiny.

The trip back, however, was a totally different beast. Demoralized, depressed, and constantly checking the rearview mirror for indications that she was being followed, the endless hours and miles had turned into an exercise of endurance. It seemed to take twice as long and three times as much effort to return from Virginia Beach as it had taken to get there.

What a difference a year made.

As she adjusted the water temperature and the angle of the spray, she realized she’d forgotten to call Giulia for their nightly travel update. Knowing her sister would worry about her, she made sure to check in every morning and night.

She sighed. She’d have to call Giulia before falling into bed, otherwise her sister would worry Mandy was stranded in a ditch somewhere. Something to eat sounded good, too, but the thought of facing the storm again beat back the hunger. She could survive without food until morning.

With a great whoosh of contentment, she slumped beneath the hot, steamy spray, letting it pound down on the top of her head and across her shoulders. Her muscles had just started to relax when Giulia’s voice shrieked through her head.

Disoriented, Mandy staggered, slamming into the shower’s tile wall as the scream ricocheted through her mind.

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