“No, no, no. I’m coming. Don’t leave me here,” I said as I tried to hurry and pack my things as quickly as possible.
“You are fine Katelyn, just grab what you need and then head out to the truck.” I heard him finish moving down the stairs and go out the back door. I looked out the window and watched him get into this truck and start it up. I did feel a bit silly for making such a scene, but it was really hard to be in my house after everything that had happened. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to feel safe in my home again.
As much as I didn’t want to blame Chris for this feeling, I couldn’t help it. If he had never moved to Bain, then none of this would have ever happened. I went back to packing my things and tried not to freak out. I looked through everything one last time and then headed down the stairs.
“Don’t scream,” I heard a familiar voice say as I got to the bottom step.
He reached out and wrapped his hand around my mouth and then tilted my head up to see him. It was Gunner. He looked different. His dimples were covered up by a beard and he looked like he hadn’t showered in the three weeks since I had seen him last.
“Gunner, what are you doing here?” I said as I tried to calm my nerves.
There was something different about him and how he interacted with me though. I had an uneasy feeling and didn’t want to be alone with him.
“Go tell your friend he can leave. You aren’t going back with him.”
“I am supposed to stay with them until Chris gets back.”
“Tell him now!” Gunner said as he yelled at me.
Something was wrong, I didn’t know what it was and I didn’t want to find out. Gunner had been sweet and nice to me before and now he was rude and agitated. Suddenly the thought came to me that Gunner wasn’t one of the guys with Chris. Maybe he was some sort of a double agent and really worked for the bad guys. I tried to remember the times I had seen Gunner before and I thought he worked with Chris, but I had never heard that directly from Chris before.
Chris had said he was working with the bad guys and pretending to be one of them, maybe this Gunner guy was really one of the bad guys who was trying to get to Chris. Maybe taking me with him or hurting me was the only way they could get Chris out of hiding.
I couldn’t disobey Gunner though, I could tell in his eyes that he wasn’t messing around. So I walked out to Robert’s truck and did my best acting job ever.
“Hey Robert, I’m feeling better about things. I think I’m going to stay here,” I said and then I turned around and came back to my house. I walked around to the back door and Gunner was standing there with my back.
“I need my camera too,” I said.
“No, let’s go.”
Just then Robert came around the corner and saw Gunner. Robert threw a few punches and Gunner easily avoided them. Then Gunner threw one single punch and knocked Robert out cold.
“Gunner!” I screamed and then ran to Robert’s side. I could tell he was breathing, but he had been hit pretty hard. It wasn’t likely that he would wake up anytime soon.
“Why did you do that?” I said.
I could feel myself getting angry, but I wasn’t about to show Gunner that. Something was different about him and I didn’t know if he was on Chris’ team or if he was working for the bad guys. There was just too much unknown about this situation and I thought it would be best if I kept quiet. I had to wait and see what was going on before I started to be defiant with a man who could clearly hurt me very badly if he wanted to.
“He just tried to hit me three times. Get in the SUV.”
Gunner grabbed my arm and carried my bag in his other hand. When I got to the SUV, he put me into the back seat and I was just about to let myself out when I realized there were no handles on the doors. I looked at Gunner and he watched me through the mirror. Something bad was going on and I just landed myself smack dab in the middle of it.
He took off driving down the road and I looked back and s
aw Robert as he started to move around. I felt a slight bit of comfort knowing he was alright. But I certainly didn’t feel comfortable or like I was going to be alright.
Chapter 41
I didn’t know what was going on and I couldn’t scream for help. I didn’t trust my own opinion at all anymore. Nothing was as it seemed and nothing about this situation seemed safe to me. Gunner had come to take care of me after Chris was shot and taken away and I thought he was nice. I thought he worked with Chris, but I couldn’t know for sure. Now he was being rude and seemed much scarier that he had before. Perhaps it had just been the intensity of the situation, but Gunner no longer seemed like a nice person. He had a new arrogance about him that had been missing from our last encounter.
I sat in the vehicle and looked around to try and figure out what was going on. There were two other men in the vehicle and Gunner drove. When we got a few miles down a dirt road, Gunner pulled over and moved to the back seat and let the other guy drive instead. I sat quietly and looked at each of their faces. I tried not to make it too obvious that I remembered what they looked like. But the more I looked at them, the more I realized that if they were the bad guys they wouldn’t be letting me look at them so much.
Unless they didn’t plan to let me live. If they planned to kill me, I figured they probably wouldn’t care at all if I saw them.
I swallowed hard at the thought. Only a few weeks before I would have never even considered such a thought, now it seemed like my whole life had changed. Everything that had once been normal was gone and a new normal was right in front of me.
“Where are we going?” I finally managed to ask.