Take a Hike

Merlin was large and strong. He’d been bred for hard riding, and that was what Lex needed right now. He only hoped he could get to Chloe before anyone else did. He saddled the rangy stallion and fastened his back pack to the back of the saddle, he leapt onto the horse’s back and kicked his mount to a canter and headed into the woods in the direction of the reporter’s signal.
Chloe turned around quickly when she heard approaching footsteps. The man walking toward her was wearing jeans and a denim shirt. She recognized them as prison-issue clothing. She backed away from him and picked up her pack.


“Hi, honey.” The man said, with a huge grin. He was tall and lanky with long brown hair pulled into a ponytail. Chloe’s heart thumped against her chest. She turned and ran as fast as her feet would carry her. He had been only fifty feet from her when she’d seen him, and it wasn’t nearly enough of a head start. She reached behind her and felt for the box on the back of her belt. She pressed the panic button at the same moment she felt the man’s heavy body crash into her.


Dr. Tyle was watching the monitor and sweating. Every second that ticked by made him more anxious. Then the moment he feared came. The blip on the screen was temporarily replaced by a blinking message: “Emergency Beacon Activated. Subject 001.”


“Shit.” He picked up the phone and dialed Lex’s cell phone. When the man answered he babbled out the bad news. His employer was beside himself.


“I’m on the ground with Merlin,” he barked, “I’m headed toward her, now, find out what you can from the police scanners about the man who has escaped. She could have pressed it by accident. I don’t want to jump to conclusions yet.” He snapped off the phone and tucked it back into his pocket. He had already come to the worst possible conclusion. He couldn’t let anything happen to Chloe. He glanced at the tracker, he was within a half-mile of her, but in the dense forest a person could hide well in 100 square feet. He heard the sound of rushing water in the distance. He still held out the hope that the signal was because she had slipped and fallen and wasn’t in the hands of a potentially violent escapee.


Tyle found out through channels that he’d rather not be caught using, that the escaped prisoner was Danny Feldman, a man convicted of numerous petty crimes in his youth and several violent ones in his twenties. He was currently serving a life term for manslaughter. He reported this to Lex who was not pleased.


Chloe was hauled to her feet by the strange man. He spun her around and slapped her hard across the face.


“Don’t you run away from me, you bitch!” He shouted at her. Then he dragged her down a steep embankment and into a wide but mercifully shallow stream. “Those bastards will have dogs.” He snarled, more to himself than to her. He pulled out a pair of police-issue handcuffs and snapped them on her wrists. She winced as the metal dug into her skin. That seemed to please him. He grabbed her hands, now bound in front of her, and pulled her along behind him. She saw the butt of a pistol sticking out of the back of his jeans.


“Where are we going?” She asked over the rush of the water. He glanced over his shoulder at her.


“Someplace where we won’t be disturbed. Then he allowed his eyes to travel the length of her body. She shuddered and couldn’t hide an expression of disgust. Then he added, “Someplace where they won’t find you for a while.” He sneered at her and dragged her forward. After they walked for about twenty minutes, he turned her around so that he could paw through the contents of her back pack. He took a swig from her canteen and offered her some. She refused. Then he ate a candy bar in two bites. “So,” he asked, in a conversational tone as he pulled out the camera, “what’s a pretty girl like you doing out here alone?”


“What makes you think I’m alone?” She snapped. He paused and she smiled. “My boyfriend and I had plans to meet up near here. I’m surprised he isn’t here by now.” For emphasis, she looked around them, curiously, peering into the thick brush that lined parts of the bank.


“You need a new man.” The fugitive said, throwing an arm around her shoulders in an affectionate way. He held the camera out in front of them and squeezed her to his side. “Smile, Honey.” And he snapped a photo of the two of them as if they were in front of the Grand Canyon. Then he stuck the camera back into the pack, zipped it up and adjusted it on Chloe’s shoulders before letting his fingers slide down her arms in a suggestive way. “No time for that just yet.” He whispered in her ear. “Ol’ Danny’s gonna find us a nice private spot to get to know each other a little better.” He grabbed her wrists and pulled her along behind him, drawing the pistol from his waistband.


The man seemed almost jovial now that he had Chloe in his posession. He still didn’t know about the tracker, he hadn’t bothered to search her, for which she sent up a prayer of thanks. She didn’t want him to touch her again. She hoped Lex was close.


Lex was glad that the river made enough noise to cover Merlin’s footsteps. He tethered the big stallion to a tree above the river and made his way on foot. He’d spotted a flash of yellow through the trees and left the tracker with the saddle. He didn’t need it now that Chloe was in sight. He watched as the man looked into her pack; his jaw tightened with anger when the man put his arms around Chloe and took a photo of them. He wasn’t close enough to see if the man had a gun, but he knew that the police were considering him armed and dangerous. Clark would never forgive him if anything happened to Chloe. But he knew he’d never forgive himself for putting her in danger. He moved closer to the river and saw Feldman pull the pistol that he’d lifted from an injured guard from the back of his jeans. He couldn’t risk an open confrontation, not with Chloe too close to the gun.


The details Lex had received from Tyle were sketchy. Apparently the man had killed his wife and her lover when he’d found them together in a bar. He’d plea-bargained down to a life sentence in order to avoid the death penalty. The man was extremely unstable and had a hair-trigger temper. He hoped Chloe would keep her mouth shut and not enrage the man with her sharp tongue. He kept her in sight and followed them from a distance, moving from the cover of one tree to another. He was glad he’d worn dark colors. The police shouldn’t be far behind him. Lex had the tracker to give him a head start in the right direction. He just hoped he was able to get to Chloe before a mob of well-meaning men jeopardized her safety. Desperate men did desperate things.


Chloe stumbled in the stream and fell forward onto her knees. Her feet were too numb to feel the rocks through her boots. The water was so cold it made her gasp when it soaked her front. Danny grabbed the front of her long-sleeved shirt and pulled her to her feet. Over his shoulder, she spotted movement. He didn’t notice her gaze, he was too busy swearing at her. As they walked on, Chloe spared a glance behind her. She saw nothing. Maybe it was her fear playing tricks on her.


“Won’t the police be looking for you?” She asked, trying to stall.


“That’s why you’re here, Honey.” He said, giving the cuffs a cruel jerk and making Chloe wince. Her wrists were raw and sore, she’d scraped her palms on a rock when she fell, and now that they were in the cold air, they were freezing fast. “You’ll be my ticket out of here.” She wasn’t surprised that he pld tod to use her as a hostage. He was probably hoping that her “boyfriend” would report her missing. That way the police might exercize more caution when apprehending him. He was looking around them now. “I think we’ll go a little farther before heading north.” He said, more to himself than to Chloe. She didn’t reply. She’d caught a familiar sound, faintly, over the rush of the water, but there it was. Hounds. Instead of making her happy, they filled her with panic.