“Yes. I know, Mom,” he said, rolling his eyes at her naivete. His mother preferred to play ostrich, sticking her head in the sand and ignoring the real issues facing her family. “Mom, I need money. Dad told me to leave the cabin and find somewhere else to go.”
“Oh, that’s terribly inconvenient, isn’t it? Well, I’m sure he had his reasons for asking you to leave the cabin. It’s just a musty, nasty place anyway. Where should I send it, dear?” she asked.
“Just send it to a cash-receiving store in Lexington and send me the address. Pick any place that works for you, Mom. I’ll be heading west from here.”
“Alright, Archie. Be careful. I can’t afford for the two of you to be in jail.”
His mother was blissfully unaware of what was really happening in their lives. She was happy as long as she had her credit cards, country club, and cocktails.
With everything tied down to the snowmobile, he made his way into the little mountain town that had been his home for the last few years. When he arrived in town, he hit the one and only used car lot and traded the snowmobile and some cash for an old clunker of a car. It wasn’t pretty, but it had heat, a radio, and new tires. That’s all Archie cared about. For now.
With the money his mother sent, plus the cash he had on hand, he wouldn’t have to stay at terrible motels. He could stay in clean, decent places, hopefully with top-grade restaurants. And bars. Bars would be important to him at this point.
Maybe later on he could even rent a small place until he could find Khloe. Until then, he’d get a haircut, clean himself up a bit, and find a woman to ease his tensions. He hadn’t had sex in years, and he was desperate.
Besides, finding Khloe was his number one goal.
When he did, he’d get his life back and take hers.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Where is this cabin?” asked Ham.
“According to our data, it’s either that shack over there without the roof, the cabin there without windows, or,” said Carl, looking further up the mountain road, “that one. And that one would be my guess.”
“Tanner? Hiro? Who does this cabin belong to?” asked Ham.
“Property records indicate it belongs to a trust now but did belong to William Coleman.”
“Coleman? Who is William Coleman?” asked Aiden.
“Sirs, William Coleman was the uncle of Archie Mansur Sr. He died about fifteen years ago, and the cabin was left to him. Mansur placed it in a trust through his law office,”said Victoria.“Also, sirs, it looks as though Archie got some text messages early this morning and they weren’t from us. They were from a private cell phone for a Chester Austin. He’s a guard at the county jail.”
“Shit,” muttered Carl. “Well, the good news is that the cabin is probably empty. Thanks, Victoria.”
“You’re welcome, sirs. I’m trying to get a trace on the phone now. I’ll let you know if I find it.”
“Thanks, kid. Will you let Georgie and the team still in D.C. know to head to county and see if they can get their hands on our prison guard? He’s going to be surprised we found him, and so is Mansur Sr.”
“We’re on it,”said Hiro.
In spite of their belief that Archie had left the cabin, they approached with caution, unsure if he’d rigged the doors or porch. Not seeing anything that would alarm them, they opened the door with ease to find that he’d left the heat on and a fire burning inside.
“I guess he doesn’t give a shit about preserving the family hideaway,” frowned Ham.
“Obviously not,” said Aiden, walking into the bedroom. “Empty safe in here, a few articles of clothing left behind. He obviously left in a hurry.”
“He left by snowmobile,” said Carl, standing on the front porch. “He wouldn’t get any further than that little town we passed through. Let’s head there and see if someone recently traded a machine in.”
Although they wanted to burn the cabin to the ground, they didn’t want to let anyone know that they were aware of Archie’s departure. A quick drive down the mountain road brought them to the little town. Easy via car, it would have been cold and rough on a snowmobile.
“There,” nodded Ham. “A used car lot.”
They pulled into the lot and stepped out into the freezing cold. Immediately, a salesman met them on the lot, smiling at them.
“Morning, folks. Cold one, isn’t it?”
“It is,” nodded Ham.
