“Turn left up here.”
She knew this road and the one up ahead. She’d staked it out weeks ago. She went straight.
“I told you to turn left,” he growled as she sped past the turn.
She didn’t respond, but kept driving, the SUV approaching from behind.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Saving our asses.” She made a hard right onto a two-lane country road.
“More like getting us killed!” he shouted, the veins on his neck bulging. “There’s hardly anyone on this road. We’re sitting ducks. Turn around.”
She ignored him and drove, wind rushing through the windows. Adrenaline surged in a familiar swell as they raced down the unpopulated road. Empty fields enveloped the road on both sides, with an occasional tree thrown in. They were alone in the middle of nowhere with the exception of the SUV. She saw it in the rear view mirror, gaining on her. She slowed down.
“What are you doing?” he yelled.
“Letting them catch up.”
He reached over and grabbed the steering wheel in a firm grip. “Are you crazy?”
“Are you? Get your hands off the wheel!” She threw a sharp elbow to his left arm and he withdrew his hands with a grunt.
As she turned to look over her shoulder, she saw indecision on his face. She felt bad he was in the middle of this, but she didn’t ask him to jump in the car and play Johnny Hero. “Look, I have a plan. Trust me. We’re almost there.” She suddenly jammed her foot on the gas pedal and his head jerked back. “Brace yourself.”
His hand reached for the dash.
“Hold on, baby,” she yelled over her shoulder.
The SUV reached the driver’s side of the Honda, driving neck and neck on the two-lane road. The windows were blacked out, hiding the occupants. Thankfully, no one came from the other direction, but a sharp tree-lined curve lay ahead.
“I hope you know what you’re doing…”
The SUV nudged the Honda toward the ditch on the side of the road. Emma held the steering wheel firm and nudged them back, easing off the gas as she recovered.
“We’re almost there…” She floored the gas pedal again. The SUV pulled to the front of the car as the curve approached.
“You’re going to kill us!”
With the curve only fifty feet away, the SUV drove into her lane, trying to force her off the road.
She reached down and jerked the emergency brake. The car whipped into a spin. The SUV hit the brakes and skidded forward, tires squealing. She fought for control of the steering wheel as the Honda spun off the side of the road, its own tires screeching in protest, but faced the opposite direction when it came to rest. The smell of burnt rubber hung heavy in the air. Emma hit the gas and plunged down the road. The sound of crunching metal and cracking wood echoed behind them. She looked in the mirror and saw the SUV had crashed into the trees lining the curve.
The man next to her let out a sigh of relief. “Where did you learn to drive?”
“On a race track.”
“Really?”
She turned to face him and smiled. “No.”
***
When she smiled, Will almost lost his composure. Her face completely changed, catching him off guard. After watching her for twenty-four hours, this was the first time he had seen her smile. She was attractive enough, lean but with curves in the right places, and long brown hair she pulled back in a ponytail. Looking at her now, he lost himself in her deep, dark brown eyes. But when she smiled, the tension in her face fell away, leaving an ethereal beauty he didn’t expect.
“Who were those guys?” he asked, trying to refocus.
Her smile disappeared. “No one you want to know.”
“What do they want?”
If possible, her face became even harder. “We need to get you back to the motel.”
“Don’t you want to call the police?” He had no intention of calling the police, but it sounded like the right thing to say.
“No.”
Getting information out of her was trickier than he hoped. “What are you going to do now?”
She turned to look at him, the loose strands of long brown hair dancing in the breeze around her face. She looked wild and ruthless. “Look, we can take care of ourselves.”
This turn of events had completely changed his plans. Of course, nothing about this job was what he expected. They never told him she had a kid and he’d complained bitterly when he found out. He didn’t do kids. He was explicit about that. But the group who hired him said they didn’t care about the kid. They wanted her and raised their offer. It was hard to refuse. Somewhere along the path of their self-destructive course he thought of a Plan B, which was much better than his original plan. Maybe things were turning his way. “Let me help you.”
She pulled up to a stop sign at the four-lane highway. “No, thanks, we’re good.”
“We can trust him,” a small voice in the back said.
She looked up sharply and spun around to look at the kid in the back.
Will turned, too. The boy looked like a cherub out of one of those Renaissance paintings he had studied back in his college art appreciation class. Short blond curls framed his face of pale skin with rosy cheeks. Big blue eyes with long dark eyelashes. Will thought the kid’s beauty was wasted on his gender.
“We can trust him,” the boy repeated.
She turned to look out the windshield and hung both of her arms over the steering wheel. “Are you sure?” she asked, staring straight ahead.
“Yes.”
She rested her chin on her hands and closed her eyes. He decided she must be trying to figure out how to deal with this change of events. Personally, Will thought it was going too far on the permissive parenting scale letting a preschooler make a decision like that, but hey, it worked in his favor. He sure wasn’t going to protest.
“Okay,” she finally said, sitting up. “I need to leave town. They know we’re here so we’ve got to leave as soon as we can.”
“Who exactly are they?” Will asked. As far as he knew, he was the only one on this job. He’d be pissed if they hired someone else as backup.
“You don’t need to know that,” she said, turning at the corner. “How do you plan on helping us?”
“I can help you leave town.”
“Why would you do that?” Her eyes narrowed as she looked behind for signs of the SUV.
Will had seen the damage. The SUV wasn’t going anywhere. Where the hell had she learned a move like that?
He gave her his rugged, bad boy smirk and shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a sucker for a damsel in distress.”
“Do better than that,” she snorted.
He liked that she wasn’t easily snowed, even if it made his job more difficult.
“Let’s just say I’m hoping to get lucky, and maybe if I’m nice enough, I will.” He gave her a slow, lazy smile as he leaned against the door, crossing his arms.
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t count on it.”
“Don’t crush a man’s hopes. Just wait and see. I might grow on you.”
Raising her eyebrows, she twisted her lips into a wry smile. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
He laughed. God, this might actually be fun. “I’m Will, by the way.”
She hesitated.
“She’s Emma and I’m Jake,” the boy in the back said.
Emma scowled in the rear view mirror at Jake’s reflection.
“We should go back to the motel get our stuff and figure out where to go from there,” Will suggested, still formulating a plan.
“You know, your involvement isn’t necessary. It’s better for you if you just go your own way.”
“So what’s your plan?”
“Drop you off close to the motel and head out of town.”
“What about your stuff?”
She pointed to the suitcase in the back. “That’s it.”
“Where are you headed?”
“Tell him,” Ja
ke said.
This kid was really starting to freak him out.
Her face contorted with outrage and she whipped the car into a deserted strip mall parking lot. She jerked to a stop and turned to Will. “Excuse me, could you step out for a minute?” she choked out. “I need to talk to my son. Alone.”
He put his hand on the door handle. “You’re not going to leave me stranded here, are you?” Will was afraid to get out of the car. He knew she didn’t want him with her and if she ran off, it would be hard to track her down again. Not to mention all the money he’d lose. He still hadn’t even convinced her to let him go with her.
She flashed him a tight smile. “No, of course not. Scout’s honor.” She held her hand up with three fingers pointed up in pledge.
“Somehow I doubt you were ever a Girl Scout,” he mumbled as he got out of the car.
“I heard that.”
Will leaned down and stuck his head in the window. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t leave me stranded out here in the middle of Nowhere, Texas. What would I do if those bad guys came back and found me defenseless?” His words oozed the seductive voice he used to get what he wanted.
She looked at him for several seconds. “You expect me to fall for that bullshit? I promised I wouldn’t leave and I don’t break my promises. Now get the fuck away from the car.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle as he walked to the front of the car and leaned against the hood. There was no way in hell he’d let her out of his sight. The pocketknife he dropped on the ground and kicked into the front passenger tire was going to make sure of it.
***
As soon as Will walked out of earshot, Emma whipped around and glared at Jake. “What are you doing? We can’t trust this guy!”
Jake watched her with his vast blue eyes. “You have to.”
“Why? Why do we have to?”
His head leaned against the side window, watching the cars passing by. He sighed, sounding weary and despondent. “You need him. Our lives depend on him.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Jake?” The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
His eyes pierced hers. “You know what you need to know.” He looked away again, his shoulders slumping.
Emma started to panic. He never withheld information from her. Her voice raised an octave. “What aren’t you telling me, Jake?”
“Is everything all right in there?” Will called over his shoulder.
Jake sat up, now looking like a scared five-year-old. “Mommy, you need to trust him. You need him. Please.” A tear rolled down his cheek. “Please.”
Her eyes filled with tears as her throat constricted in fear. “What aren’t you telling me, Jake? You have to tell me.”
Will’s head popped in the window and looked from Emma to Jake. “What’s going on in here? A touching family moment?”
Jake closed his eyes and Emma knew he wouldn’t tell her anything else. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. The last thing she needed was to let this asshole see any sign of weakness. “None of your business. Get in the car.”
Will hopped in and buckled up. “Let’s get back to the motel and get my stuff. Where are we headed?”
She cast a glance at Jake in the back seat. He nodded his head. “We were originally on our way to Austin when the Honda broke down. We got stuck here.”
“Austin, huh? That’s a good distance from here. Plenty of space for your friends to find you out in the open highway. What about Dallas? It’s closer and bigger. I presume you’re hoping to get lost in a big city.”
Emma hesitated and tried to stuff down the irritation creeping in. “We came from Dallas. It’s not a good idea to go back there.”
“I disagree. They might not think you’d go back there. You know, I might be of more help if I knew who these guys were and why they were after you.”
She appraised him. He was tall, his long legs stuffed under the dashboard of the Honda. He looked strong, which should have scared her, but she could take care of herself. “What makes you qualified to help us?”
“I used to be in the Marines, Special Forces. I have some skill sets that might come in handy.” He winked and she suppressed a snort.
“What do you do now?” she asked skeptically.
“Oh you know, this and that. I’m a consultant. I’m currently between jobs.” He flashed his cocky grin.
“That smile work for you much?” Living among the dregs of society made her well acquainted with guys like him. Lesson number one: Stay away from his type. “You still haven’t answered why you’re helping us.” She saw Jake’s disapproval in the mirror. “I deserve to know that much, Jake.”
Will looked at her like she had lost her mind, but quickly recovered. “I told you, you know, the whole damsel in distress thing.”
“You really expect me to believe that?”
Will cleared his throat and suppressed a laugh. “Okay, let’s just say my duty to ‘serve and protect’ is deeply ingrained.”
“I thought that was police officer’s motto. Isn’t the Marines’ motto Semper Fi?”
His eyes widened in surprise. “Yeah, but it seems more appropriate than Always Faithful.”
“How can I believe you were in the Marines? You could easily make that up.”
“I can tell you a few stories no one wants to hear before bedtime. I’ve seen a shitload of bad things brought about by a lot of ugly people. Want me to tell you a few?”
She had enough of her own nightmares. “No.”
They were almost to the motel when the car began to pull to the right. “Crap.”
“What?”
“I think we’ve got a flat tire.” Emma turned into another deserted parking lot. Will got out of the car and walked to the front tire. It made her nervous to get out without her gun, but she didn’t want Will to see it. Emma pulled it out of the side panel and stuffed it in her purse. She got out with a sigh and walked to the front of the car where she was greeted by a flat passenger tire.
“Got a spare?” Will asked, his hands stuffed in the back pockets of his jeans.
“No.” Her heart sank.
“It probably happened when you did your cool street-car move. That’s pretty hard on tires, you know.”
She threw him a look that would make lesser men run in fear then kicked the tire. “Son of a bitch! I don’t have the time or money for this.”
“Good thing I’ve got a truck we can use.”
His casualness irked her. “What about my car? What am I supposed to do? Just leave it here?” She paced the length of the Honda. Could this evening get any worse?
“No one’s going to be open at this hour to fix your flat. We could stay the night somewhere and get it fixed in the morning or we can leave tonight in my truck.”
She’d rather take the bus.
“We need to leave tonight.”
Emma and Will turned, startled by Jake’s voice.
He stood by the open back door. “They’re coming.”
* * *
Table of Contents
Title page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
GALAXY GIRLS
CHOSEN
Table of Contents
Title page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter
Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
GALAXY GIRLS
CHOSEN
Forged in Fire Page 35