Chapter 112 Part 112
Asher
He trudged through the snow, and tried to get his bearings. They had been kept in a wooden one-room cabin, and they were surrounded by trees. The snow was thick and he took careful steps toward the small wooden shed a few yards away.
“Stop,” one of the men said, and Asher turned to look at him. The other man opened the shed’s door and headed inside. He returned a few moments later with a shovel. It landed at Asher’s feet.
“Start digging,” the man with the gun said.
“The ground is frozen solid. I don’t think I’d even break through the surface,” Asher said, as he picked the shovel up.
“Dig,” he repeated.
Asher sighed and scraped the snow into a pile on his left. The man with the gun nodded his head as Asher cleared the snow, and the ground beneath the snow resembled the size and shape of a grave.
“Hey, look at this. He’s not that dumb,” one man said, and they both chuckled.
“Hurry it up, I’m freezing my balls off,” the other man said.
Asher stuck the shovel deep into the ground, but it only went in about an inch or so. He repeated that process a few times, making small lines in the dirt haphazardly. He stood with his back to the man with the gun. The second man had turned his back on them, unzipped his pants, and proceeded to relieve himself against a tree.
“This is strange,” Asher said, just loud enough for the first man to hear him.
“What is?” he asked, as he stepped closer to Asher. He swung the shovel, hitting the man square in the face. He went down with a thud, and Asher hastily picked up the gun. The second man turned around quickly, surprise showing on his face.
Asher looked him in the eye, and pulled the trigger. The spray of mist coated the snow a bright red and his body slumped backwards. Asher stuck the gun in his waistband, and grabbed the shovel.
He turned the first man on his back, blood streaking down his face. He placed the shovel’s tip on his Adam’s apple, and with his foot on the shovel’s rim, he pushed it down, the vertebrae in his neck snapping. Blood pooled beneath him, and Asher let the shovel fall to the ground.
He gripped the pistol tightly in his hand, and ran back toward the cabin. Emerson screamed, and he barged through the door. Grover turned and his mouth opened. “Drop the knife.”
The knife clattered to the floor, and Emerson’s sobs seemed to echo around the room. Grover’s eyes were wide, and he held up his hands. “I wasn’t going to hurt her, I swear!”
“Sit down on the chair,” Asher said, and motioned toward it with the gun.
“I have money, I—”
“Shut up!”
He took the length of rope that had been cut from his hands earlier and tied Grover’s hands behind his back. He tightened the knot, and put the gun back in his waistband.
With the knife, he quickly cut through Emerson’s binds, and pulled the long-sleeved shirt over his head. “Put this on.” Her whole body was shaking, as she covered herself with Asher’s shirt.
“Go stand by the door, Emerson. Don’t look,” Asher said.
“Wha…what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to make sure he can never hurt you again.”
Emerson almost ran to the door, and stood with her back toward them. Asher knelt in front of Grover, and looked him in the eye. “You will never hurt her again.”
Grover nodded his head. “I’ll forget she ever existed!” His voice was desperate, and he kept nodding his head.
“Good,” Asher said, and stuck the knife into his throat.
Grover’s eyes widened with shock, and blood spilled out of the wound as Asher pulled the knife free, then he stuck the knife in Grover’s thigh, and turned his head to look at Emerson. The blood bubbled and he made one last desperate gurgling sound.
He patted Grover’s pockets and pulled his phone from his jacket. He walked around Grover, and used his thumb to unlock the phone. He punched in a number and walked toward Emerson.
He stood behind her, and wrapped one arm around her. She leaned back against him, still shivering. She turned in his arm, buried her head against his chest, and clung to him.
“You’ve reached Rocket Records. How may I help you?”
Asher chuckled. “Mark, it’s done. Grover’s dead, and we’re somewhere in a cabin. You’ll need to clean this site up.”
“He found you? How? Can you send me a location?”
“I’ll send you a location and leave the phone here. Grover’s in the cabin, and his two men are near the shed. I’m getting Emerson out of here. We’ll meet up at my house when you’re done.”
“Gotcha.”
Asher ended the call, opened Grover’s messages, and sent their location to Mark. He let the phone fall to the floor, and Emerson jumped when it thudded on the floor. He opened the cabin door and nudged Emerson to start moving. She used the shirt’s sleeves to wipe her face as Asher led her to the SUV that had been parked at the back of the cabin.
“Stay here, I’ll go find the keys,” he said. She nodded her head, and wrapped her arms around herself.
Asher found the keys of the SUV in the second man’s pockets, the one he’d shot. He hurried back to the SUV, started it, and switched the heating on. He waited for a few minutes, and finally, he pulled away from the cabin.
The dirt road felt like it went on forever before they reached a road. Asher looked left and right, not sure which way to go. He looked up at the sky, then he turned left.
“Lean your seat back, and try to sleep. It’ll be a few hours before we’re back on the ranch,” he said. Grover had taken them two hours south of Two Bear Meadow. She nodded her head, leaned the seat back, and turned on her side.