When he was done preparing the cabin, Axel got in the Suburban and started the drive back. He checked his phone when he had cell service again, expecting a text from Reese. Her shift would be over by now, and she usually texted when she got home. He didn’t find one.
Axel tapped Reese’s contact info and dialed her number. The call went straight to voicemail.
He stared at the phone. Straight to voicemail meant the phone was off, dead, or out of service. She should be home from work by now, so it might just be dead.
After the long drive back down the mountain, Axel parked behind Steel Protection, got out of the car, and went inside. Blaze came to his desk a few minutes later. His face was controlled, but his shoulders were tight.
“Stella’s been calling Reese all morning,” Blaze said. “She didn’t show up for work.”
Axel was on his feet before he registered standing.
“Reese has never missed a shift,” Blaze said. “Never even been late. Stella was going to go to her apartment, but I said I’d deal with it. Have you talked to her?”
“Not since last night. Her phone is going straight to voicemail,” he said, his world tilting. “I was preparing a safe house. Her data showed up online yesterday. I got the green light to use the Crystal Lake cabin from Dom this morning. I’ll check her apartment.”
Axel called Reese on his way to the car and got voicemail again. He drove faster than he should have down Main Street and forced himself back to the speed limit before the next intersection.
When he reached Reese’s building, her assigned parking spot was empty. He got inside when one of her neighbors was coming out and went upstairs. He knocked on her door and called her name. Nothing. He looked at the lock.
He wasn’t going to stand around in the hall when Reese could be hurt, gone, or taken. He took out his lock picks, opened the lock, and stepped inside.
He quickly found that the bags she kept at the foot of the bed were gone. The closet was empty. A paperback with a hollowed-out center sat open on the bed. She must have been hiding her cash inside. It was empty.
In the bathroom, her wet work shirt still hung over the shower rod. Then he checked the kitchen. The food was still in the refrigerator. Her dishes were still in the cupboards, and the jar of green onions stood on the windowsill.
Axel stopped in front of it. She’d only taken what she needed to run.
Chapter
Nineteen
The tickingbeneath the hood became a hard knock as Reese sped down the open road. She was well east of Fate Mountain now. She’d slept a few hours at a rest area with the driver’s seat partly reclined. But she’d been driving since eight. The highway ran straight through open sagebrush, with only fences and power lines beside it.
The engine had been ticking all summer. Now the sound was deeper, and it got louder whenever she pressed the gas. The red oil warning light came on.
“No,” she said. “Not here.”
The engine knocked harder and suddenly lost power. Reese steered onto the shoulder while the car still had momentum. Gravel struck the underside as she stopped beside a fence with no buildings in sight. She tried the ignition. The starter spun, but the engine didn’t catch. On the second attempt the sound became loose and empty. The engine was dead.
She got out and opened the hood. Heat rolled up into her face. The engine smelled burned. She checked the oil because thatwas the one thing she knew how to check, and the dipstick came up nearly dry.
She closed the hood. The Corolla had carried her out of Spokane, through an entire summer in Fate Mountain, and now it was dead.
Reese stood in front of the car with her arms wrapped around herself. A truck came over the rise in the opposite lane. She raised both arms and waved, but it passed without slowing. Another truck came several minutes later. Reese stepped closer to the shoulder and waved again. It stayed in its lane and kept going.
Reese walked back to the driver’s door and sat down. Heat had already started building inside the car. Her water bottle sat in the cupholder, half empty. The saltines were on the passenger seat. Her purse was on the floor, with eight hundred and forty dollars in her wallet. Her two bags were in the back seat.
She calculated the cost of a tow, a mechanic, and the inspection fee. Replacing the engine would cost more than the Corolla was worth. Her budget had been tight since she reached Fate Mountain, but she had kept it balanced by cutting everything to the bone. This time there was nothing left to cut.
The panic that had driven her out of Fate Mountain had been replaced by a new one. Now she was stranded beside the highway with a broken car, limited water, and less than nine hundred dollars.
Leaving Fate Mountain had been a mistake. She could admit that now. Wanting Axel, trusting him, and believing she could stay hadn’t been mistakes. The mistake had been letting fear make the decision for her. The safe house had felt like givingsomeone else control. Running had felt like the only choice that still belonged to her. Now the Corolla was dead beside an empty road, and that choice had stranded her.
The baby kicked twice. “I know,” Reese said. “I’ll fix it.”
She took the phone from her purse and held down the power button. The screen came on for the first time since she had left Fate Mountain.No Service.
“Come on,” she said.
