by Katie Knight
After a final check in her mirrors, Sam signaled, then veered off toward her chosen destination. At least Glory seemed to have cried herself to sleep again. Good. As Sam turned off onto a deserted two-lane country road, she exhaled slowly. This was fine. Everything would be fine. She’d find a quiet motel, rent a room for the night, clear her head, and plan her next moves. Contact Witness Protection and let them know what had happened and that she was safe. Feed Glory and herself. Drink some water because her throat felt parched as the Sahara right now and…
The sudden burst of bright headlights in her rearview mirror blinded Sam.
Crap!
Her pulse tripped, and she sped up again. They’d followed her. Whoever they were. Probably that creepy marshal and whichever of her dad’s associates he was working with. Morbidly, she wondered if one of her brothers was in the team hunting her down. She wouldn’t put it past them. Her dad would be right there on the hunt himself if he wasn’t under house arrest back in Chicago, pending being taken into custody before his trial.
The roadway curved, heading into a wooded area. Sam eased up on the gas pedal to avoid going off the road and the vehicle pursuing her took advantage of the opening, swerving around her in a squeal of tires and booming country music, then racing past her and down the road.
Trembling so badly she had to pull over, Sam took several deeps breaths to calm her racing pulse.
Okay. Not the bad guys. Not yet anyway.
Glory had slept through it all. Sam used to be the same way, but once she made the decision to testify against her father, she lost the ability to sleep soundly. The only really solid night’s sleep she’d had since then had been in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica.
That’s where she knew the name Rally from. The SEAL that had rescued her that night, Jack Williams, had said this was his hometown. Remembering him helped ease her nerves as well. Maybe because he’d been a SEAL. Maybe because he’d talked about how safe his small town was. Maybe because…
She glanced at her snoozing daughter in the rearview mirror again, then put the car into Drive and pulled out on to the roadway. A bit farther down the lane, another sign showed Rally was just ten miles ahead. Omaha was another seventy miles.
Good. She could make it to the smaller town at least, then she could decide her next move.
Except apparently this two-lane highway wasn’t as deserted as she’d thought because as she came around another curve in the woods, a semi appeared out of nowhere, careening dangerously close to the sedan and forcing her off the road.
Dammit.
The engine of the car growled as the back wheels spun uselessly off the ground. Perfect. Now she was in a ditch. Could anything else go wrong?
Never a good question to ask, she knew, because only moments later, the engine died, and the headlights flickered out.
Wonderful. She supposed they could sit there and wait for help, but then a low keening noise issued from the woods nearby. Yellow eyes darted in the shadows and her stomach knotted. Yeah, she’d probably read one too many Stephen King novels, but no way did she want to sit here all night with her precious baby and wait to become Cujo chow. At least it wasn’t bitterly cold, only moderately nippy.
Besides, the way the ditch was situated, they’d be better off getting someone’s attention on the road.
Still, Sam couldn’t help grumbling as she managed to climb into the backseat and get Glory’s car seat carrier out along with her purse. After slinging her crossbody bag into place, then hanging the diaper bag over her shoulder, Sam clambered quickly out of the sedan, then set off in the direction of Rally on foot. The walking would do her good. Keep her circulation going. Prevent frostbite.
Priority number one—find a safe, warm place to stay for the night.
3
Jack Williams wasn’t typically the kind of man who went to the local feed store at eight o’clock on a Saturday night. Then again, when the cows were hungry, they were hungry. The fact he’d missed his usually monthly stop there a few weeks prior didn’t help either.
Oh, well. He glanced at the radio, then fiddled with the knobs, finally tuning in to the country station out of Omaha. While Lonestar crooned from the speakers, he rested his arm out the window of his beat-up red Bronco and inhaled the fresh air of a Nebraska early spring night.
He’d come home after retiring from the SEALs earlier in the year, thinking he’d finally put his education degree to work and be a teacher. Problem was, the Nebraska Board of Education had recently upped the requirements for a teaching certificate in the state and now required a Masters for any tenured position. So, while he figured out how to take the necessary classes online, Jack was working as a substitute teacher in a local high school and trying to get an organic farm up and running in his spare time.
Spare time. He snorted. Now there was a concept he’d never considered during his stint in the Navy. Back then, he’d constantly been on the go, traveling from one mission to the next, all over the world. By comparison, life here in Nebraska seemed downright boring.
But Jack liked boring these days. Well, not boring, necessarily. Slower, easier, gentler.
Yeah. That’s what he wanted. What he needed.
And yeah, maybe sometimes late at night, he questioned what the hell he was doing, what the hell his purpose was now that he wasn’t the big, brave hero anymore. But staying with his SEAL team hadn’t been an option after he’d blown his knee out on his last mission. PT and surgery had done a lot, but they hadn’t brought back his full strength and he couldn’t meet the physical requirements of the job anymore. There was still an emptiness inside him whenever he thought about the team and the career he’d left behind, but Jack was a look-on-the-bright-side kind of guy. He’d figure out where to go from here. Eventually.
Up ahead, Highway 36 veered into the woods and he slowed as he neared the hairpin turn. Over the years, there’d been countless accidents here, especially since they’d allowed semi traffic. Technically, the lanes were too narrow for it, but the state commissioners were supposedly working on getting money in the budget to expand and repave the whole stretch into Rally. Jack would believe that when he saw it. Until then, at least one or two cars ended up in a ditch each season.
Sure enough, as he rounded the sharp curve, he caught the telltale glint of a brake light reflector in the halogen beams of his headlights. Back in the day, a sight like that would’ve set all his well-honed SEAL instincts abuzz. He’d lost count of the number of times the enemy resorted to the oldest tricks in the book to try and take out his SEAL team. A stranded car, a fake injury, a friendly smile—then boom, they blew you up with an IED.
Of course, this wasn’t some war zone and now he wasn’t a soldier.
Just an ordinary man trying to find his place in the world.
With a sigh, Jack pulled the Bronco off onto the berm, making sure he left more than enough clearance for the semis that raced through here like bats out of hell. Then he got out, looking both ways before jogging across the highway. He turned on the small tactical flashlight he kept on his key fob at all times, then peered into the windows of the black sedan that was resting nose first in the ditch. Didn’t see anything inside except a few food wrappers and what looked like a wet wipe on the floor in the back, as well as what appeared to be a base for a child’s car seat. Tried the door handles but found them locked. Walked around the back and committed the license plate number to memory. Out-of-state plates too, so probably a tourist, as he’d first suspected.
He pulled out his cell phone and walked back to the Bronco, calling in to the local sheriff’s department to report the accident, then taking off down the side of the road to see if he could find the driver. Jack wasn’t used to playing the hero anymore, wasn’t sure if he even still could, but it was late and he knew if he’d been in that same situation, he would’ve appreciated someone doing the same for him. Besides, he couldn’t just stand around and wait while another person might be hurt or in danger. It wasn’t i
n his nature. The cows could wait a bit longer for their dinner.
At least the weather was decent, he thought as he crossed back over the roadway and headed down a shadowed path through the edge of the woods along the highway. In an attempt to bring in more visitors to the area, Rally had installed a bunch of nature trails through the area’s woodlands. Mainly they were just places for the teenagers to hang out and have sex at night, but during the day lots of locals used them to jog or walk their dogs too. Jack considered getting a dog, just to have another heartbeat around the house.
Bachelorhood had many advantages, but reliable companionship wasn’t one of them.
He’d always figured he’d get married and have a family of his own once he left the Navy, but so far he hadn’t met the right person. Then again, the fact he held every woman he dated up against the fantasy of that one perfect night he’d shared with a woman he barely knew back in Costa Rica probably didn’t help. He knew it was stupid. Had known at the time it was a one-shot deal. They’d parted ways the next day, each returning to their separate lives. Maybe that’s what had made that night so intense—every touch, every sigh, every kiss mattered more because one night was all they had. Still, he couldn’t stop the dreams from invading, though they were less frequent now.
A stick snapped somewhere nearby and Jack froze, his instincts on high alert. Too bad he didn’t have his night vision goggles with him because he really couldn’t see shit at the moment, even with the narrow beam of his flashlight. The moon was half-full, giving off weak light, which only exaggerated the shadows around him. The crickets had stopped their chirping and his skin prickled with awareness. Someone else was here. The crashed car’s driver? One of the coyotes that were known to inhabit these woods? A serial killer with a penchant for chainsaws?
Jack shook off his overactive imagination and snorted. Whoever the hell it was, they most likely needed his help. These woods could be confusing enough for a non-local during the day, and at night would be all but impossible to navigate. And if it was a serial killer, he’d take them down with his bare hands. Hell, he’d dealt with worse in the Navy.
Think you’re still in good enough shape to do that though?
Guess he’d find out. Muscles tight with adrenaline, he snuck closer to where the trail veered off and spotted a flash of white in the darkness. “Hello?” he called. “Anyone there?”
A sharp intake of breath. Yep. Definitely a person all right. And from the sound of it, a female.
Hoping to put her at ease, he added, “Was that your car I saw aways back? If so, you should know I called the sheriff’s department. They should have an officer on scene soon. It’s a small town and a Saturday night, so they’re short-staffed. Are you hurt?”
Several seconds ticked by before a voice said, “No. We’re fine.”
We?
The sound of a baby gurgling filled the air and his heart seized. Oh, Lord. There was a child involved. He raised the beam of his flashlight and stared at the face of a woman carrying an infant in a car seat. He blinked at her, realizing that she was familiar. His pulse pounded, and his chest ached.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. It was the woman he’d rescued from Costa Rica.
The woman who’d rocked his frigging world, then disappeared from his life forever.
After his debrief, he’d been told she was safely in witness protection, pending her father’s trial. He’d never thought they’d meet again. His gaze dropped to the baby. Hard to tell if it was a girl or boy, only that it had wisps of dark blonde hair. Hair the same color as his.
Time seemed to slow as a new idea occurred.
They’d not used protection that night eighteen months ago—safe houses didn’t exactly come stocked with condoms—so what if…
No. Jack slammed the lid on those thoughts fast. Nope. No way was that his kid. It had been one time. One night. One glorious moment never to be recaptured.
It only takes once…
As the sirens of the approaching squad car wailed through the darkness, Jack could only stare at the woman across from him, her expression as gobsmacked as he felt. But as the sheriff’s car pulled up to the curb not far away, the vehicle’s beams shining on the spot where they stood like a spotlight, the woman’s dark eyes widened as recognition dawned on her lovely face. “It’s you!”
4
“Ma’am,” the deputy sheriff said. “We’ve had a report of a vehicle in a ditch. Is that your vehicle?”
It took Sam a minute recover at the shock of seeing Jack again. Sure, she knew this was his hometown, but she’d thought he’d still be serving in the military. He’d seemed like a lifer to her. But nope. Here he was, looking about as shell-shocked as she felt.
“Ma’am?” the officer repeated when she didn’t answer. “Are you or the child injured?”
Slowly, the questions seeped into her brain. “What? No. We’re fine.” She swallowed hard and adjusted her hold on the baby carrier. “A, uh, a semi came around the corner too fast and forced me off the road. I overcorrected and ended up in a ditch.”
“Right. Sorry about that.” The deputy pulled out a small notepad and began scribbling notes. “We try to patrol regularly out here, set speed traps, but we’re a bit shorthanded at the moment. Can I get your license and registration please, for the report?”
Oh, crap. The license she had. It was her old one from her last safe house location in Indiana. But the registration would show the vehicle was government issue. Which would bring up a whole bunch of other questions that she couldn’t answer, not without blowing her cover.
She set Glory’s carrier down on the ground next to her feet and fished out the driver’s license for him from her crossbody bag. While she did so, she shot Jack a nervous glance. Did he remember she was in witness protection? Sure, they’d spent one incredible night together, but it had been over a year ago now, and for all she knew, saving women in distress was a daily occurrence for him. The falling into bed with them part though was still up in the air.
“Here,” she handed the officer her license, along with what she hoped was a friendly smile. “I’ll, um, I’ll have to return to the vehicle to get the registration.”
Maybe that would buy her enough time to hide out in the woods or perhaps make it to one of the farm houses she could see in the distance and call the US marshals to come pick her up. Except after what had happened back at that rest stop, could she really trust the marshals not to be on her father’s payroll? She had no idea who to trust, where to turn. She just knew that this was not a good situation for her or Glory.
Picking up her daughter’s carrier again, she took a step back toward the vehicle, only to have Jack stop her with a hand on her arm.
“Don’t worry about it, honey,” he said, giving her a pointed look. “I’ll get it for him in a minute.”
Then he surprised her even more by slipping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side, kissing her head before reaching down to stroke his finger over Glory’s downy cheek. The baby was still snoozing away, seemingly oblivious to all the chaos happening around her, Thank goodness.
“Listen, Stan,” Jack said, still keeping Sam firmly by his side. “My fiancée here has been through a really traumatic experience and I’m sure she can use a rest and maybe a cup of coffee before she has to deal with all this. Plus, our baby’s gonna need to be changed soon. Maybe we can deal with these formalities tomorrow?”
“Your fiancée?” the officer said.
“Your baby?” Sam said at the same time.
Jack’s smile widened into that devilish grin she still remembered from their long-ago night in Costa Rica. “Yeah. I know, I know. I didn’t tell anybody around here, but a man’s got to keep his secrets, right? Besides, she didn’t want anyone to know until she got here and got settled in. Isn’t that right, honey?”
He jiggled her shoulder slightly, jarring her from her stunned stupor. “Uh, yeah. Right…sweetie. We wanted it to be a surprise.” At the officer’s skeptic
al look, she shrugged. “Surprise!”
Meanwhile, inside, Sam’s heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest. What was the sentence for lying to law enforcement? She should probably know that one, considering how often her own father was guilty of the crime. But she’d never expected to do the same thing herself. And Jack? What the hell was he doing? Did he know Glory was his daughter?
No. He couldn’t possibly know that. She hadn’t been able to contact him after she’d found out she was pregnant—she was already in the program by the time she realized, and contact with anyone from her past was strictly forbidden. No one could have expected this, especially after such a brief affair. They’d only been together that one night, and other than the amazing connection they’d shared between the sheets, she barely knew the guy. Yes, he was brave and dedicated to his job and his mission, but those things didn’t necessarily translate to good relationship or father material. Did they?
Then again, the way he’d stepped in just now was impressive. And it wasn’t like she had any other options at that point, so she went with it. If she could get out of here with him now, it would buy her enough time to figure out what the hell to do next, at least.
Hoping to play up the exhaustion factor, Sam slumped against Jack’s side, ignoring the warmth radiating off him and the faint hint of soap and sandalwood drifting from his skin. Nope. Not noticing those things at all. And in fact, now that the adrenaline of her getaway from the rest stop and her near-death experience with the semi was wearing off, she was tired. So much so that she felt it to her very bones.
She gave a huge yawn, entirely real.