Familiar Escape. Caroline Burnes

I’d like to go back to my cell.”

      When he stood, the guard was instantly at his side, almost as if he feared Thomas might get a second victim. “I’m done here,” Thomas said, and walked to the door so he wouldn’t have to see the guard and Molly exchange glances.

      “Mr. Lakeman, I’m not finished.”

      “Lakeman!” The guard stepped in front of him.

      Thomas turned back to face Molly, a dare in his eyes. If he hadn’t realized before how much of his rights had been taken, he knew now. He didn’t even have the right to terminate a conversation with a condescending woman. They might make him stay in the room, but he wasn’t going to talk.

      To his surprise he saw Molly look down at the table. She understood what had been taken from him. “Guard, Mr. Lakeman doesn’t have to talk to me.” She stood up. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Lakeman.”

      MOLLY STOOD in the reception area of the lockup waiting for Familiar. The cat had disappeared the moment she entered the building. Now there was no trace of him. She tried not to appear impatient. What would she answer if someone asked who she was waiting for?

      She sat on one of the hard benches set against the wall and tried to gather her thoughts. The bottom line was that she was no closer to finding baby Kate than she had been five hours before. The clock was ticking away and she was useless.

      She waited twenty minutes before she stood and walked to the door that led to the cells. It was shut, and above it in large black letters were the words: Authorized Personnel Only. She opened it a crack to see if she could catch a glimpse of Familiar. He’d darted to the left, toward the cells, when the guard had taken her to the interview room on the right.

      She thought an alarm might sound when she opened the door, but to her surprise nothing happened. It was going on five o’clock, and the few office workers were preparing to leave. No one seemed particularly interested in what she was doing.

      But where was that darn cat?

      The door was painfully wrenched out of her hand and she was pushed back into the waiting room by a large man.

      “What—”

      “Give me your keys!”

      At first she didn’t recognize Thomas Lakeman, but when she did, she froze. He was out of his handcuffs and out of his cell.

      “Molly, give me your keys!” He increased his grip on her arm enough to startle her out of her shock.

      “What’s going on?”

      Before Thomas could answer, Familiar appeared from around the corner, jumped onto her purse, and tugged it from her arm. In a flash he’d dug out her car keys and scooted them across the floor to Thomas.

      Without ever letting go of her arm, Thomas scooped up the purse, the keys and the cat. Dragging her behind him he ran out the front door of the building.

      “I’m sorry,” he said as he pushed her into the passenger seat of her car. In five seconds he was behind the wheel with Familiar right behind him.

      Thomas burned rubber as he put the eight-cylinder SUV in reverse and pulled out in front of oncoming traffic. Without a second’s hesitation, he jammed the gas pedal to the floor and the car shot forward as several police officers swarmed out of the building.

      “Stop!” an officer cried as he drew his weapon.

      Molly felt Thomas’s hand on her neck as he pressed her down. The passenger window exploded and then they were gone. Behind them several panicked drivers had collided, effectively blocking the street.

      Molly sat up. She didn’t really believe what had happened. Thomas had escaped from jail. In her vehicle. With her as a hostage. She felt as if adrenaline had been mainlined into her heart.

      “It’s going to be okay,” Thomas said, his gaze on the road.

      “Are you insane?” she asked.

      “Technically, no.” Thomas glanced at her for a second, then turned his gaze back to the road. “I’m not insane, but I am desperate. I just wanted to thank you.”

      “Thank me?” She couldn’t believe this. She was his hostage and he was thanking her. She’d almost been hit by a police bullet because of him, and he was thanking her. He was insane.

      “I still don’t know how you trained that cat, but I have to hand it to you. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

      Molly had a sick feeling. Familiar sat between them, his attention totally on the road. She remembered the way he’d pawed the map, insisting that she go to the state park to check out Thomas’s story. The way he’d shown her the tent stake holes. What had he done?

      “Any fool knows you can’t train a cat.” She glared at Familiar.

      “Somebody trained this one, and whoever it was did one hell of a job.”

      “What did Familiar do?” She’d fire him on the spot. She’d buy a cat carrier, stuff him in it and put him on the first plane back to Washington, D.C.

      “He was in my cell when I came back from the interview room. I’d seen him around earlier, but I didn’t realize he was your cat until he started to act strange.”

      One thing about Familiar—he could certainly act strange when he chose to. “Go on,” she said.

      “He walked right out of my cell and went down to where the guard sits. I was watching, just amazed. The cat reached up and snagged the cell key. That quick.” Thomas snapped his fingers. “Then he brought it to me. Thank goodness they haven’t modernized the jail or it would be a different story. As it was, it was just like one of those Wild West shows. I unlocked the cell and walked right out.”

      Molly knew better. “It was just that easy until what?”

      “Until I had to knock the deputy out.”

      “Good grief,” she muttered. “You struck a deputy?”

      “He was about to yell and alert the others. I didn’t have a choice.”

      She wanted to punch him. “Of course you had a choice. You could have stayed in the cell.”

      “Now why would I do that when you went to all that trouble to spring me?”

      Thomas took a hard right and headed up into what looked to be high hills or small mountains.

      “Where are we going?” For a moment Molly was distracted from her plight by a bigger worry. What did Thomas intend to do with her?

      “These are the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. I know some good places to hide out.”

      She sighed. “We need to get a couple of things straight right now. I didn’t train the cat to help you escape.” She picked Familiar up and held him so she could stare into his green eyes. “That was his idea all by himself.”

      Thomas laughed. “Try telling that to the deputies. I’m sure they’ll get a big laugh as they lock you up.”

      “It’s the truth.” She put Familiar down on the seat, suddenly feeling how deep her troubles were. She’d been involved in a felony jailbreak. It didn’t matter that she was an innocent victim. It was her vehicle that had been used for the getaway. No one would ever believe she was innocent.

      “The truth doesn’t matter, Miss Harper.”

      “I didn’t plan this or help you. I’m innocent.”

      He slowed long enough to look directly into her eyes. “Welcome to my world.”

      Chapter Three

      Thomas knew he’d shocked Molly, but she had to understand the score or she’d get hurt. No matter what her intentions—and if she hadn’t put the cat up to springing him, who had?—she was now involved. He might