over Asher, the nurse smoothed the blanket across Asher’s lap and tucked it under his thighs. Then she ran her hands over his chest before pulling his jacket closed. Finally, she turned and scurried back to the building.
Paige watched the doctor and nurse team go inside and shut the door behind them. She jerked the binoculars back to Asher and held the mirror up to the sun again, tilting it back and forth.
But what could he do in a gown and a blanket? He didn’t even have shoes.
Asher sat quietly for several moments, and then Paige’s heart slammed against her chest as he rose from the wheelchair. The blanket fell from his lap and he bunched it up and stuffed it into the chair. Then he shrugged out of the jacket and wrapped it around the blanket. From behind and from a distance, it might just look like someone slumped over in the chair.
Without looking behind him once, Asher took off in a jog across the lawn.
Paige stashed the binoculars in her backpack and scrambled down the tree. She hit the thick carpet of mulch just as she heard Asher crash through the trees.
“Are you here? Are you here? Paige?”
Her heart took flight. He remembered her. All he needed was to see her once.
“Here! I’m here!”
He emerged through the trees, the hospital gown flapping around his bare legs, a pair of socks the only barrier between his feet and the sharp needles and twigs that formed the forest floor.
She rushed to him. “Asher. Oh my God, Asher.”
He grabbed her hands and held her off from throwing herself in his arms.
“You’ve gotta help me. You’ve gotta get me out of this place...whoever you are.”
His words chipped off a piece of her heart, but she squared her shoulders and stepped back from him. “We have to go through these woods and down a steep hill. Can you make it dressed like that?”
“I could make it naked with one arm tied behind my back to get out of here. Lead the way.”
“Let’s go. You should’ve kept that jacket though.”
“That jacket might buy me some time if someone happens to look out the window at the drugged-out invalid to make sure he’s still drooling in his chair.”
“You’re not drugged?”
“I’ve been spitting them out—and pretending.”
She held a branch to the side for him. “They still didn’t trust you enough to give you clothes.”
“They underestimated me.” He charged after her. “Don’t worry about clearing a path for me. Just go. I’ll follow you.”
“Your physical health is okay?”
“Strong as an ox.” He nudged her back. “Stop talking. You’re wasting energy.”
She scrabbled and stumbled her way to the forest’s edge. When they reached the path down to the access road, she made a half turn. “You can make it down?”
“I survived a tumble off a mountain in Afghanistan. I can traverse a wooded hill in Vermont.”
He didn’t need her to show him the way anymore, and he barreled past her into the descent, reaching back with one hand. “Keep up now.”
As his gown gaped open in the back, her eyebrows shot up. “You’re naked under that thing.”
“Their way of keeping me tame. Like I said. They underestimated me.” He craned his head over his shoulder. “If you’re really my fiancée like you said, my bare backside shouldn’t shock you.”
“I’m not shocked.” She twisted her fingers out of his grasp. “And stop dragging me or we’ll both end up in a freefall to the bottom of this hill.”
They had no words left as they negotiated their way down. When they hit the access road, Asher peeled off his socks, now decorated with dirt, small pebbles and pine needles.
He bunched them in his hand and stuffed them into the pack on her back. “I don’t want to leave any evidence.”
He hung back as the access road spilled onto the main drag. “It’s too exposed here.”
“The car’s less than half a mile away. Wait here and I’ll pick you up.”
As she started to turn away, he grabbed her hand. “You’ll be back?”
“I didn’t come all the way out here to leave you behind, Asher Knight...even if you don’t know who the hell I am.”
Paige ran to the car, the pack jostling on her back. She wished she had some clothes in there for Asher. She never would’ve imagined she’d be rescuing him in a hospital gown and nothing else.
When she reached the car, she lunged at the door and threw it open. She gunned the engine and swung into a wide U-turn.
The empty road in front of the access entrance stretched before her, and a wave of panic washed through her body. When Asher stepped out from behind a bush, a sob escaped from Paige’s lips.
“Get hold of yourself, girl.” She flipped a U-turn again and pulled over.
Before she even stopped the car, Asher had yanked at the door and jumped inside. “Go!”
She didn’t have to be told twice—or even once. Her foot punched the accelerator and the little rental roared in protest before switching gears and lurching forward.
The tires ate up the road, and Asher put a hand on her arm. “Slow down. We don’t want to get a ticket.”
Glancing in the rearview mirror, she eased off the gas. “But if we do get pulled over, we can tell the police what’s going on. You’re not a prisoner. You haven’t been committed.”
“Really?” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “I don’t know what the hell is going on right now. That’s the US Army, the United States government. They can tell the cops whatever they want and, I guarantee you, I’ll be back in their clutches.”
Paige’s heart flip-flopped, and she tried to swallow her fear. She was the daughter of a police officer, had always trusted law enforcement, had always trusted authority. Now she had to rely on herself.
Asher jerked his head toward her and braced his hands against the dashboard. “Unless that’s what you want? Where are you taking me?”
Paige drew in her bottom lip. Great. Now she had to deal with Asher’s paranoia. Was it real or imagined? She slid a sideways gaze at him. Maybe his mental issues involved more than amnesia. Maybe he’d been kept naked and drugged because he did pose a threat to himself...and others.
She could feel his hard stare
