Alez Kava - One False Move

She heard a car door, and instead of racing to the window, she froze. Charlie heard it, too, only he was watching her, waiting to read her. So was Andrew Kane. What did they expect of her? What the hell did they want her to do? She didn't get them into this mess. This wasn't her fault.

The door swung open and now everyone stared at Jared. Melanie examined his eyes, his mouth and then his hands, looking for signs. Would she be able to tell? What was she supposed to look for? Was she expecting to see blood? More fucking blood?

"We need to get out of here," Jared said. When no one moved or responded, he picked up Charlie's backpack and tossed it at him. "Let's move. Now."

"What did you do, Jared?" Melanie asked, not able to include "baby" in her question, almost as if she didn't want to know, but still giving him a chance to make things okay again. She ran her fingers through her hair and noticed her hands were shaking. Would things ever be okay again?

"I took care of things," he said as if he had simply completed an everyday task like taking out the garbage. "I got us another fucking car. Even switched the plates already. But we've got to get the hell out of here."

When still no one moved, Jared took on his careful voice, even allowing himself a smile when he said, "I picked up some McDonald's for us. It's all in the car, so come on. Let's go. I want to get to Colorado before nightfall."

Charlie shut off the TV and slung the backpack over his shoulder. Melanie couldn't help thinking the boy's stomach would override his brain each and every time. But instead of being angry she wanted to smile at his innocence, his simplicity. She checked the bathroom before following Charlie out. She stopped again at the door when she noticed Jared wasn't helping Andrew. Her brother stood at the foot of the bed, waiting, and then she realized he wasn't waiting to help Andrew up. Jared was waiting for Charlie and Melanie to leave. He wasn't planning on taking Andrew Kane with them. That's when she noticed the white nylon cord he was pulling out of his pocket and wrapping around his fists. And suddenly her stomach fell to her knees again, just as it had when she saw that baby in the back seat.

"Keep his hands tied up," Melanie told Jared, pretending that's what he intended to use the cord for. "I'll drive."

"Go get in the car, Mel," Jared instructed, his voice now distant and cold. "I'll be right there."

She caught the author's eyes when he glanced up at her, and she realized there was something different in them. Maybe resolve. Certainly not panic. It was almost as if he knew exactly what Jared had in mind, as if he had expected it. In his desperation he had promised to help her and Charlie. She knew he probably only said it in the hopes of saving himself. He probably would have found a way to trick her, to set her up, to hurt Charlie. She'd hurt herself before she'd let Charlie get hurt.

"What's the holdup?" Charlie was suddenly in the doorway behind her, looking over her shoulder. "I thought we were in a hurry."

She didn't turn around, but already smelled the sausage and knew he had started breakfast without them.

"Jared was just getting Andrew up," she said, avoiding Jared's eyes. "Charlie, why don't you help him, so that we can keep him tied up in the back seat. I'm driving."

Charlie scooted in around her, and she could feel Jared's anger. Still, she avoided looking at him. Before he could protest, Charlie had Andrew on his feet and shuffling out the door.

10:33 a.m.

Pakula asked for the third time, "You think Kramer's fucking with us?"

"If he's involved," Grace said as calmly as she had both times before. "And we know he has to be somehow involved because he wants us to catch Barnett."

Pakula let out another sigh. He pulled his tie loose, hoping that would help him breathe. It didn't. "I don't know. It feels too easy. Tell me exactly what he said." He expected Grace to get impatient with him, but instead she started at the beginning.

"He said he got a call from Barnett, asking for help. Barnett told him that he only meant to rob the bank but things went wrong. He wasn't about to turn himself in. He didn't want-"

"He said Barnett said that exactly? That he wasn't gonna turn himself in?"

"Yes, and that he didn't want to go back to jail."

Pakula couldn't believe how calm she was, when he felt like a wet rag. Why the fuck was it so hot again?

"He said he knew Kramer would never be able to get him off this time," she continued, the details the same as the last time she told him. She didn't even need her notes. "That all he needed was some money. And then he told Kramer to wire the money to the Triple J Truck Stop on Interstate 80, west of Grand Island, just off the exit for Normal, Nebraska."

"How much money?"

"He asked for twenty-five thousand dollars. Kramer said he has it ready to be wired if and when we tell him to."

"And this morning was the first time he heard from him?"

"That's what he said."

"But he has to know we can check that out." Pakula didn't trust this asshole any more than he trusted Barnett. Were the two of them setting up something? A distraction, perhaps, while Barnett headed in the opposite direction? "You think he's on the level?"

Grace filled her arms with the stack of files from his extra chair, looking for a place to set them so she could sit down. He grabbed them from her, a little embarrassed that he hadn't thought to do it himself. He put them in the corner and let them slide into a mess. Then he sat in his own chair so he wouldn't tower over her, even though he wanted-needed-to be up and moving.

"At first I was skeptical. But Max Kramer has no idea we have the locket. He can't possibly know that we suspect him of anything." She shook her head as if she couldn't believe how slimy the guy might be. "There was something in his tone, and I can't even explain what it was, but he almost sounded self-righteous about this, like, of course, he had no choice but to do the right thing. I mean, give me a break."

"So he probably thinks he'll be able to milk this, too?"

"Maybe."

The phone rang and Pakula stood to answer it even though it was right at his elbow.

"Pakula."

"I've got a SWAT team assembled and ready to meet us there." It was Sanchez-he didn't need an introduction. "The Black Hawk will be ready for us in about twenty minutes."

"Twenty minutes? You've got to be kidding."

"We don't have much time. Are you ready to go or not?"

"I'll be ready," Pakula said and Sanchez was gone.

He looked down at Grace and wiped the sweat from his head as he grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. "God! I hate helicopters."

10:40 a.m. Highway 281N

Andrew knew from watching the road signs that they were headed in the wrong direction again. They were on Highway 281N. Colorado was west, not north. Jared kept the map laid out in his lap. He gave Melanie directions, left or right, but not much more. And neither she nor Charlie asked. Neither of them seemed to mind letting Jared be in complete control again.

He leaned his head against the back seat. How stupid he had been, thinking either of them were strong enough to take on Jared. Back at the hotel, the way she manipulated the situation, the way she got Jared to take him along, made Andrew think Melanie had grown a backbone. Now he realized he was wrong. She had eased back into her role as accomplice as if everything was back to normal.

She had the radio turned up, listening to Rush Lim-baugh after fiddling with the dial, preferring talk radio to the morning's livestock and grain prices. It was already turned up when the news brief began, and yet she reached for the dial to turn it up even more.