Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [753]
Melanie ached. He didn’t have to worry about her wanting to go anywhere. She wanted to crawl into a hole and get away from all of this. She hurt all over. Then she realized the whirl of wind above them was the helicopter. She tried to quiet her breathing. With Jared on top of her she had no choice but to stay still. She couldn’t move beneath his weight. The side of her face pressed against the ground, the soil actually cooling the sting on her cheek.
She lay perfectly still, waiting, waiting for the spotlight, waiting for the cornstalks to be separated and flattened, waiting for the whipping sound of blades to descend on top of them. She listened to Jared’s breathing. She could hear his heart banging against her back. She could smell his sweat mixed with the corn and the dirt. Or was it fear she smelled?
Maybe it would be quick. Maybe they would simply riddle their bodies full of bullets. It didn’t matter because any second the banging in her chest would surely explode. It seemed as if the helicopter was directly above them. And yet as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone. No spotlight, only the flickers of lightning. No hail of bullets, only thunder.
They laid there for what must have been minutes, but to Melanie it felt like hours. Her face was smashed into the dirt. Her chest ached. She couldn’t breathe. And yet she listened. But there was only the ever-approaching thunder. Even the wind had died down. No gusts, no whirls, only a gentle rustling of the stalks.
“They’re gone,” Jared whispered, shoving himself off her with such force he pushed her deeper into the dirt.
“The lightning,” Charlie said. “I bet they can’t fly in this weather.” He crawled up beside Melanie. She realized he had grabbed his backpack out of the car and was hugging it to his chest, rocking back and forth on his knees. “Do you think they saw us?”
“They had to have seen the car.” Jared was trying to look over the tops of the cornstalks. “It shouldn’t be much farther.”
“Much farther to where?” Melanie wanted to know. “How do you even know where the hell we are?”
“Trust me. And stay close.” Her brother started through the rows again. Melanie and Charlie had to scramble to their feet to catch up with him.
The thunder and lightning took turns now almost in rhythm to Jared’s steps. When they finally stumbled out of the field all Melanie could see in the flickering dark were trees and brush so thick she couldn’t imagine them finding their way in the pitch-black. The field was separated from the forest line by a barbed-wire fence. She could barely see the five strands of wire, but as soon as she reached out she felt a barb prick her finger.
Once again she couldn’t help remembering their mother’s superstitions. It occurred to her that she wouldn’t be surprised at all if hell were sectioned off by barbed wire.
That’s when it started to rain.
CHAPTER 26
7:10 p.m.
Andrew ripped another page from his notebook, crumpled and tossed it at a stack of its comrades in the corner. One had gotten caught in a spiderweb, dangling in the wind. The spider didn’t seem to mind. It was still there; hardy creature out here in the woods. It would take more than badly written prose to make it evacuate its home.
Andrew sat back, pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Maybe it was pointless. Here was the perfect setting for a psychological suspense thriller with his very own thunder and lightning. What more did he need to get in the mood to create a masterpiece of murder? Maybe he just couldn’t do this anymore. He couldn’t even blame it on his injured collarbone. Yeah, it hurt like hell when he gripped a pen, but somehow the pain seemed less annoying than the absence of words.
He stared at the lantern’s flame, its light dancing across his page. He had left only a small lamp on in the cabin, not realizing that the storm had brought nightfall much sooner than usual. Actually he had no idea what time it was. But then that was one of the reasons he came here to write. He had always