Chapter 31
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Martin could hear footsteps approaching and he suddenly grew very afraid. It sounded like one person and not the search party he was hoping for. He stood up knowing that the person at the door did not sound like they were here to rescue him which meant that the odds were that it was his captor. When he heard the bolt being unlocked he knew that something went terribly bad at the ransom drop. He placed the handcuff over his free wrist so it appeared that he was still shackled and braced himself as the door swung wide and there was Harry looking extremely pissed off.
Shit.
Harry pointed the gun at Martin and growled, "Come with me." Martin's nerves stood on end but he did as he was told and stepped towards Harry who moved aside so he could exit the shed. Once he exited, Harry shoved him hard on the back and said, "Start walking."
Martin looked at him carefully before walking towards the forest. He glanced around knowing that this time he was going to have to try and figure out a way to escape. It didn't matter if he didn't feel up to it, the consequences of not trying would be far worse. He tried to think of a way to stall for more time.
"Did my father not pay?" Martin asked softly.
"Some schmuck tried to grab my money and then every cop in New York pounced on him. I guess I should be happy that the guy did what he did. Now I know your father obviously doesn't care if you live or die. If he did he would've listened to me and not have included the police like I told him."
Martin wanted to tell him that it was unavoidable to not include the FBI or police. He and his father were FBI. Instead he tried to reason with him, "If you kill me you won't get any money at all."
"Maybe not, but it would buy me time to get to Canada. And you wouldn't be able to identify me."
"What about your partner?" Martin asked. He knew at this point he had nothing to lose so he decided to just lay all the cards on the table. "How do you know he won't flip on you?"
"He's too smart for that. Besides, he's the reason that you are even here." Harry said as he walked behind Martin. "He hates your father and you get to pay the price."
It figures, Martin thought. Even in a situation like this he is still living in his father's shadow. He briefly wondered who this person was that hated his father enough to do something like this but now was not the time.
He looked around for anything that he could pick up quickly and use to disarm or injure Harry. He spotted a fallen tree branch about twenty yards ahead so he tried to formulate a plan. He remembered what Sam had told him she did when Niran Kiet took her to the junkyard on the Colleen McGrath case. He slowed down his walking and waited for Harry to shove him again.
Harry pushed him on his back and angrily said, "Hurry up!"
Martin pretended that the force of the shove was really hard and stumbled forward next to the fallen branch. He tightened his hand around the branch when he felt Harry tugging on his shirt saying, "Get up!"
Taking advantage of the fact that Harry wasn't standing steadily Martin sat up and swung the branch as hard as he could at Harry's knees. Harry yelped and Martin moved to a standing position. Harry was still disoriented so he swung the branch again and this time he hit Harry on his shoulder and side of his head. Harry fell back but did not release his grip on the gun.
Martin tried to make a move towards the gun when Harry steadied himself enough to hold the gun out towards Martin. Their eyes met and Martin noticed Harry blinking a lot trying to regain his focus when a loud whirring sound was heard above. Martin knew that sound well; the Calvary has arrived.
Harry looked up to investigate so Martin took advantage and ran off towards the sound of the helicopter.
"GET BACK HERE!" Harry shouted.
Martin looked back and saw that he had a good lead on Harry but the man was still giving chase. Suddenly a shot rang out and Martin saw a bullet hit a tree to the right of him. He reminded himself how hard it is to hit a moving target so he took his chances and kept running. The rocks below hurt his socked feet and the laborious breathing of having to run set his entire chest on fire but he knew that he had to keep going. He had to get to that helicopter, get to safety, get to Sam.