Friday's Title
Secrets
and Lies
K.
J. Dahlen
Excerpt
Heat Level: 1
Book
Heat Level: 1
Jack
Bracken sat in the dark, waiting. He had been expecting trouble all day, and he
was scared to death. The more time passed the more frightened he felt. The
shotgun in his sweaty hand slipped and fell to the floor. The thud it made when
it hit the floor startled Anne Marie Bracken as she waited with her husband.
She sat on the floor in front of the couch and peered toward the stairway as if
checking whether the sound had awakened any of the children.
Anne
Marie peeked at Jack. Crawling to where he sat on the floor opposite the front
door of their home, she whispered, "Maybe they’re not coming. Maybe they
didn’t see you and Adam."
Jack’s
stomach had been tied up in knots since this morning and his mind filled with
dread at what was about to happen. "No…they saw us and I told you earlier,
they know it was us."
"How
do you know?" She whispered.
"I
just know." He closed his eyes for a brief moment and leaned his head on
the barrel of the shotgun. With a soul filled with dread he turned toward Anne
Marie, "I’m sorry I went hunting with Adam today. If we hadn’t trespassed
onto the logging road, we wouldn’t have seen what we did."
Anne
Marie stared hard at Jack. "You still haven’t told me what you saw,"
she reminded him. She had seen his pale face when they returned this morning
and asked about it, but Jack stared at his children and covered his eyes with
his hands. She’d tried to get him to talk about what happened all day, but he
wouldn’t tell her.
A
couple of times during the day the phone rang and when Jack answered it the
first time, his face paled and he slammed it down. He asked her not to answer
the phone the rest of the day. A few minutes later it rang again and Jack let
it ring.
As
soon as they had topped the hill this morning and Jack gazed down the other
side he knew a moment of sheer panic. When he looked down and saw the two men
with automatic rifles, he understood he was in big trouble.
He
and Adam hadn’t seen the ‘NO TRESPASSING’ signs but Jack had forgotten the
unspoken rule about the hills behind the Hawken Mill.
They
had been searching for wild turkey signs this morning. He and Adam had been out
squirrel hunting when they ran into Milo Wilks. He had told them about seeing
wild turkey tracks on the hill east of town. It was too early in the season to
be hunting turkeys, as it was late September, but Adam had begged his father to
see if they could find the trails and Jack hadn’t been able to resist the
enthusiasm in his young son’s eyes.
They
had been told the tracks began about half way up the eastern slope of the hill
and when they came across them, Adam had been elated. They continued up the
hill and while Adam was busy searching for the elusive wild birds, Jack had
happened to gaze down the hill to the clearing below.
When
he saw one of the men below lift his scoped rifle to his shoulder, he knew in a
moment the man behind the gun recognized him.
He
hustled his son off the hill, but the damage had already been done. He had been
expecting a visit from them all day. He hadn’t told anyone, not even Anne Marie
what he’d seen, hoping if he were the only witness, they wouldn’t hurt his
family. After the children had gone to bed, Anne Marie had asked him again who
or what he was waiting for. As much as he wanted to keep the information to
himself, he told her what might be coming.
The
grandfather clock read four-fifteen. The sun would be up soon. If they were
coming, he wished they’d get here and get this over with. He crawled to the
window and checked outside. The full moon lit up the front yard, and he could
see the driveway from where he sat. The shadows of the outbuildings didn’t
reveal anything, and he hadn’t heard any vehicles on the road for awhile now.
He rejoined Anne Marie when he saw the silver truck slowing moving along the
highway. The truck pulled into the driveway and cut its lights.
"Here
they come," he told her.
"Who?"
Anne Marie wanted to know. Jack’s panic seemed to transfer to her with those
three little words. "Who do you think is out there?"
"I
don’t know who they are but someone is coming, and I don’t think it’s a social
call." Jack watched the front door. Adrenalin pumped through his veins,
and he tightened his grip on the shotgun. He pulled back the breach and checked
the shells. He was as ready as he could be.
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