The Enemy's Son Read Online Free PDF Page A

that soft, shiny hair would feel in his hands. She was sleek, classy, and energetic, a nice mix.
    He was out of words and explanations, but not any closer to getting her to understand. And why should she?
    Cora hadn’t moved in a few minutes. He knew better, but he wanted to touch her. He touched her arm with the back of his hand, just a slight touch of reassurance. When she didn’t react at all, he wondered if she could have fallen asleep. She could be faking it, but he decided not to pester her anymore either way.
    Guilt and other mixed emotions buzzed in him, keeping him jumpy. He checked the rear view mirror once more, and when he didn’t see Alexander’s headlights, thought he could make a break for it. He’d have a few days to find Jerry before Keith discovered he left the cabin with Cora. Unless, of course, Alexander checked on them sooner. Nick had no way of tracking Alexander, of knowing when he’d show up or spy on them.
    Damn it!
    He kept the car on its course. Alexander could track Jerry anywhere, and put a bullet in him if Cora didn’t stay right where Keith wanted her. And if Jerry didn’t check in every twelve hours, Alexander was ordered to provide some extra incentive by sending back one of Cora’s fingers. But not with Nick on watch. Whatever it took, he was keeping her safe.
     
     

Four
     
     
    Branches swept over the car as Nick drove down an old, narrow gravel road. She thought it’d been two hours, but it was hard to guess the distance because he’d drove in circles and had to slow down for the twisting roads and even more for the twisting gravel roads. He pulled the car into a small, worn out garage, or maybe it was a shed, and turned the car off. She was glad the headlights stayed on for a minute.  
    Her stomach growled in the silence. She almost wished she’d eaten dinner but the growling was partly from nerves, too.
    “There’s a path leading up to the cabin. I’ll grab the flashlight.” He also got her bag and came around to her door and opened it. “You can get some rest inside.”
    Sleep? At a time like this?
    When she hesitated, he squatted down in front of her and held the flashlight to the side. “We can talk inside. I don’t want to risk Alexander listening to us.”
    “He would follow us all the way out here?”
    Nick stood and pulled her up, wrapping a small blanket around her shoulders. “That man doesn’t stop for anything. Here, you’ll want to change your shoes to walk up there.”
    She didn’t want to go to this cabin at all, but she didn’t want to be out in the night either. She pulled her tennis shoes from the bag and switched into them.
    The path was there, but barely there. They had to walk through the ferns and briars up a hill, in the dark, with his flashlight lighting the way ahead of them. She couldn’t see anything outside of the circle of light so she couldn’t say if there really was a cabin up the hill. It seemed more likely that they were hiking into the deep, dark forest. But there had been a shed to park in…there had to be a house to go with it. Her teeth started chattering from nerves.
    “Are you cold? Are your legs okay?” he asked, turning and shining the light down on her.
    “I actually have much bigger problems than worrying about scratching my legs up.”
    He paused and swung the light around, almost as if he felt the same eerie sensation as she did. She tried to see into the blackness and thought about racing off into the trees. Nick took a hold of her blanket and gently pulled her along. He was guiding her. It wasn’t menacing at all. That made her soften toward him but she had to hold onto her anger and keep the distance between them.    
    The trees opened and he shined the light up at a small wood building. Really, it was a tiny shack trying to hold its own against the forest.
    “I’m sorry about this dump,” Nick said, looking the place over.
    The wood structure looked like a building from an oil landscape painting: