Free Identity Crisis (Rocky Mountain Novella Series) by Rory Chambers Page B

time she ever had to see or talk to him.
         A smile crossed Jason’s face as he watched Kristen hike up the steep road.  His precautions had worked.  He knew Kristen and Steel likely had set a trap for him, but unless Kristen had a really small person shoved in the duffel she was carrying, she was definitely alone.  He kept the car in sight the entire time to make sure no one else was in it.  So far, there had been no movement.
         As she made the last turn, Kristen could see the cabin come into view.  No one was waiting, but she could see a slightly rocking chair on the porch and knew that Jason had likely been sitting there watching her.  “I’m here!” she yelled.  “Come out and get your money!”

Chapter 17
     
         Jason watched from the window as Kristen ordered him to come out.  He had no intentions of stepping out into the open.  Kristen was going to have to come to him.  Even though he hadn’t seen anyone accompany Kristen, that didn’t mean that there weren’t sharp-shooters hiding in the trees, somewhere. 
         Kristen waited for Jason to appear, but when it became obvious to her that he wasn’t going to come out, she approached the cabin.  The entire time, she could hear Steel’s voice in her head telling her not to go in.  She didn’t have a choice…she had to do whatever Jason wanted if she was going to have a chance of saving Julie. 
         As she walked through the cabin door, she saw Julie tied to a chair.  Her eyes were closed and she wasn’t moving.  “Julie!” Kristen exclaimed as she threw the bag down and ran over to her friend.  She didn’t know where Jason was, but she forgot all about that.  She needed to get Julie untied and make sure she was even still alive. 
         Jason watched as Kristen attempted to free her friend.  He stepped up behind her and ordered her to stand up.  He could feel her body tense as he ran his hands over her body to make sure she wasn’t concealing a gun or any other weapons.  “Calm down.  I’m not trying to feel you up.  I just need to make sure you don’t try anything funny,” Jason told Kristen before ordering her to grab the money. 
         When Kristen reached for the duffel bag in the doorway, Jason had another surprise for her.  Before she knew it, a hand was pressing something against her nose and mouth.  She felt herself growing weak and wondered what she had gotten herself into. 
         After tying Kristen up, Jason sat and waited.  He knew that Steel must be somewhere nearby and he wasn’t wrong.  With the binoculars pressed to his face, he saw Steel sneaking up the long road to the cabin.  Jason knew that it wouldn’t be so easy to capture Steel, but he was sure he had that figured out already.  Steel may have been well trained, but Jason had the one thing that made Steel weak:  his wife. 
         Steel carefully approached the cabin.  He hadn’t heard anything from Kristen’s radio since she yelled for Jason to come out.  It’s how he knew the coast was clear to leave the car and head up to the cabin.  He knew something was wrong and that he’d do anything to save her.  He only wished he had some sort of an idea about what he was walking into.  He took his time checking out the cabin from every angle.  There were two doors entering the cabin…one in back and one in front.  He couldn’t see anything from the windows, so he was going to have to go in blind, or try to lure Jason out. 
         Jason laughed as he watched Steel sneaking around the cabin as if he had really gone unnoticed.  He had a lot of time to figure out his revenge on Steel and Kristen and nothing was going to get in his way. 
         Kristen came to and realized she was tied firmly to a chair.  She started to get the feeling of déjà vu.  She looked around but didn’t see Jason anywhere.  She tried to scream, but there was a handkerchief tied around her mouth making it hard to