Chapter 28
It happened right as Julian turned off the car alarm, like that was the thing his attacker was waiting for. Julian felt an arm go around his neck, choking him. It was cutting off his air, but he couldn't let himself pass out, couldn't let himself panic at the coming darkness.
Finding just enough room, he elbowed the man. He didn't feel a solid connection. He tried again but only felt the arm at his throat tighten. This was it. Feeling his legs growing weak, Julian shifted all his weight onto the man, unbalanced him and shoved him away.
With the choking grip gone, Julian staggered. Only a few feet from his attacker, Julian saw a flash of metal held in the man's gloved hand. The man took one step.
"Thayer! I know that's you!" Julian called, his voice hoarse from the chokehold but loud in the quiet of the night.
That made him stop. His attacker wore a windbreaker and an oversized flannel shirt over a hoodie that was pulled low over his eyes. Even in darkness, the clothes looked brand new as did the sneakers he wore. Covering his face was a black, knit cap with eyeholes roughly cut out.
Julian knew who had to be behind the disguise. The extra layers filled out his skeletal frame, but without a doubt, that was Pete Thayer.
The sound of his name spoken so loudly made Thayer hesitate and he looked around furtively. As he did that, Julian backed up, trying to put some distance between them. But with the way the cars were parked on the side of the road, he didn't have much room to maneuver.
"And I was trying to do this the easy way," a familiar voice said, and Julian knew he was right.
"You're going to jail for this," Julian told him. Unfortunately he had dropped his key fob in the scuffle and couldn't press the panic button. And he didn't dare reach for his phone when Thayer held a knife.
"You just had to make this hard for yourself," Thayer hissed, grinding his teeth in frustration. It was clear he was rattled by being recognized, but he wasn't ready to give up. "You and me are going to spend some quality time together. It's way overdue."
"You are delusional. Your life as a free man and your career are finished," Julian told him, trying to make him snap out of this insanity, cut his losses and leave.
It wasn't working. Thayer just kept ranting like he was trying to work himself up to doing something drastic. "Upton suggested I explore new opportunities, that there might be jobs I'm better suited for. That bullshit is all your fault," Thayer said and pointed the knife at Julian. "You and me are going to have some fun, and after I'm done with you, you won't say a word, not unless you want to be a porn star. I'm going to own you."
Julian ignored his words and focused on the knife, wondering when he would decide to use it. For now, Julian was just out of range of that blade, afraid to move and set off an attack. He was boxed in, trapped between two cars and a tangle of dry bushes that would slow him down too much if he tried to run in that direction.
"Let's go, Julian. I don't like playing with damaged goods, but I will cut you," Thayer threatened.
Julian didn't move an inch, just watched that knife and blocked out everything else including his own terror. A loud thump to his right was a shock to him. It was followed by the sight of Rob sliding over the hood of the car parked behind him. Breathless, Rob came to a stop just in front of Julian and stared down Thayer and the knife that was pointed at him now.
"Interesting outfit. And what are you supposed to be?" Rob taunted him, sounding both menacing and unconcerned.
But that knife in Thayer's hand wasn't something to take lightly, and Julian hoped Rob wasn't about to do anything rash. Faced with the two of them, Thayer might finally decide to drop this insanity and just leave.
He wasn't giving up yet though. On seeing Rob, Thayer gnashed his teeth and the gloved hand holding the knife started to shake. The disguise didn't let Julian see if he was shaking in fear or anger or a combination of both.
Breathing hard like he ran here, Rob didn't even have a jacket on. That reminded Julian that he did. Julian shrugged out if his jacket thinking to wrap it around his arm, use it as a shield, but Rob snatched it from him.
In the next instant Rob was charged at Thayer using the jacket to snag the knife in Thayer's hand while he landed a punch to his face. Julian was afraid that Thayer might still be able to use the knife. To keep that from happening, Julian wanted to grab Thayer's arm, but he couldn't get close as the two of them spun around.
Rob had the jacket wrapped around Thayer's hand and wrist but not for long. Watching as Thayer got loose, Julian went for the knife in his hand only to see him toss it away. It disappeared into the darkness, going somewhere into the bushes, and since he was wearing gloves his fingerprints wouldn't be on it.
But now Thayer was fumbling with something else he had in his pocket. No doubt fearing he might have a gun or something else lethal, Rob was on him. Rob landed a punch right to the center of his chest and knocked the wind out of him.
That's when Julian saw that Thayer had a phone in his hand and he was desperately holding on to it. Was he going to call the police and claim Rob attacked him?
While Julian was trying to figure out what Thayer was up to, Rob didn't hesitate to act. Rob kicked his legs out from under him, but Thayer didn't stay down. On his feet again, he scrambled away.
Instead of just running full out, Thayer was doing something with the phone he had in his hand. Only it looked like the gloves he wore were getting in his way.
Whatever he was doing was slowing him down. Rob caught up to him, tackled him, and slammed him to the ground. As he hit the ground, Thayer lost his grip on the phone.
Rob twisted Thayer's arm behind his back and shoved him down. Wisely, he made sure Thayer's face didn't slam into the ground too hard. Julian wouldn't have minded seeing Thayer get what he deserved, but he didn't want to see Rob get arrested for it.
Thayer's phone was lying a few feet away, and Julian picked it up. It was unlocked, and Julian made sure it stayed that way. But first he got out his own phone to call the sheriff.
Kneeling on Thayer's back, Rob pinned both his arms behind him. "What do you want me to do with him?" Rob asked. "I'm up for anything."
