A loud bark sounded behind her, followed by scampering feet and a chain rattling against the pavement. She shot a glance over her shoulder. No!
“Rusty, sit. Get over here.” Jake’s brother stomped on the chain and Rusty came to an abrupt stop. “Sorry, he wouldn’t hurt you. I don’t know what’s gotten into him,” Jake’s brother said without really looking at her as he wound the snapped chain around his hand. And thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice the whimpering looks Rusty threw her way as he herded the poor dog through the parking lot. Any other day, she would’ve relished having Rusty join her for a run. But today she was on the run.
“Excuse me.” She waved to the California trucker, who looked just about ready to pull the gas nozzle from his tank. “Um, I was wondering... Do you have a cell phone I could borrow for a quick call?”
He gave her a gap-toothed grin and pulled a phone from his hip. “Sure.”
She gushed her thanks and then stepped a polite distance away as she tapped in Ray’s number. Her heart leaped when he picked up on the second ring. “Ray, this is—”
“I’m sorry. I’m afraid Ray can’t talk right now. He’s been in a car accident.”
Kara gasped. “Is he okay?”
“We’re not sure yet. He’s still in a coma.”
A coma. “How...” She gulped. “How’d it happen?”
“The fog.”
The fog? Not bad guys. Or was this one of the bad guys trying to keep her talking long enough to figure out where she was calling from?
“Are you a friend?”
“Uh, yes. We were going to meet.” She bit her lip. Should she have said that? She shouldn’t have said that. But what if this was one of Ray’s colleagues? Someone who could help her?
“I’m Ray’s friend, Glen Rhoades. Perhaps I could help?”
“Uh, do you like fiddle music?” She held her breath, praying he knew the right answer.
“Sure...I guess.” He drew out his response, clearly confused.
She hit End. “Only if a cat’s playing it.” That was what he was supposed to say, like the nursery rhyme. He could’ve just been a friend as he said, or...someone from the adoption ring. She shoved the phone back into the trucker’s hand. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
She needed to get out of here before they tracked her down. But to where? She couldn’t follow the highway.
Pulse racing, she turned back to the parking lot. Her gaze slammed into Rusty sitting fifty yards away. He sprang to his feet, tongue lolling, his rear end wagging a mile a minute. Jake’s brother held his chain, leaning against the hood of his car, one foot on the bumper, arms crossed, watching the road.
She took off in the other direction. Please, Lord, don’t let Rusty try to chase me. Behind her, a cell phone rang.
“Hey, miss,” the trucker called after her, followed by the clank of the gas nozzle being returned to the pump. “Your friend wants to talk to you.”
Pretending not to hear him, she picked up her pace. But she heard his response to the caller on the other end of the line. “At the truck stop between Hadyn and Stalwart.”
The words fisted in her chest, squeezing the air from her lungs. Oh, please, God, no. Struggling to breathe, she stopped behind the cover of a semi. She braced her hands on her knees and gulped in air that didn’t seem to get past the fear balling in her throat.
They’d...found...her.
SIX
Shielded by parked semis, Kara raked her fingers through her hair and turned in circles. Lord, what do I do? I don’t know what to do. Gravel crunched behind her. She shot a glance over her shoulder and tensed at the sight of a dark sedan creeping toward her. She started walking in the opposite direction, but could feel the driver’s gaze boring into her back. She tried to tell herself she was overreacting, that they couldn’t have gotten here this quickly. But then why didn’t the guy drive past?
The next instant, the car pulled beside her and her heart nearly pounded out of her chest. Slanting a glance at the car’s heavily tinted windows, she quickened her strides. Two more truck lengths and she’d be in view of the gas pumps, the convenience store. Surely whoever was in the car wouldn’t try anything in full view of a busy truck stop.
Suddenly the car swerved in front of her, the door bursting open. She screamed as a glint of steel flashed over the hood and cold gray eyes speared her with a vicious gleam. “Time to say goodbye, Nicole.”
* * *
At his brother’s call, Jake swung by the truck stop on his way home. “Thanks for catching him,” he said, reaching for Rusty’s chain. “Tommy would’ve been dev—”
The dog bolted, yanking the chain from Jake’s grip. Rusty sprinted past the shop, straight for the rows of parked semis. Jake raced after him with Sam on his heels.
“What is that dog’s problem?” Sam shouted.
Rusty shot down one of the lanes.
“Stop!” Jake yelled, veering around the corner the dog had taken. He almost slammed into an empty car stopped in the middle of the lane.
A guy standing behind it shot him an angry glare, then jumped back in and swerved dangerously close to hitting Sam as he took off.
Ahead of them, the dog whimpered and army-crawled under a semi.
“Rusty?” Jake dropped to his hands and knees. “Are you okay, boy?”
“Jake?” Kara’s voice rose timidly from under the truck.
One glimpse of her terrified face and Jake reeled. The driver had been after her. “Sam, get that guy’s license plate!”
Sam sprinted toward the far end of the parked semis, probably hoping to catch sight of the plate as the car swung onto the highway.
“Kara.” Squatting, Jake extended his hand. “It’s okay. He’s gone.” Except it wasn’t okay. That guy looked like the gunman from the coffee shop.
She crept out on her belly, wincing every time she had to put her wounded arm down to pull herself forward. His stomach lurched at the sight of her scraped palms and torn pants and... He tilted his head and studied her eyes—one brown, one blue. “You lost a contact lens. Can you see okay without it?”
“What? I—” She scrambled to a sitting position, her expression morphing from confusion to panic as she clearly clued in to how he knew. She quickly popped the lens that remained. “Yeah, I can see okay.” She ducked her head as Sam returned huffing.
Maybe the sheriff was right and she was up to her eyeballs in something illegal—so illegal she’d go as far as to change the color of her incredible blue eyes to not be recognized—but Jake wasn’t willing to take the chance. Not when his gut told him she was innocent and needed help.
“I didn’t get the plate. Are you okay, miss?” Sam squatted in front of her next to Jake. “Did you know that guy? Did he mug you?”
“No, I’m fine. Thanks to Rusty.” She hugged the dog and Jake had to tamp down a ridiculous pang of jealousy.
“You know the dog?” Sam slanted a questioning look in Jake’s direction.
“She’s staying at Mom and Dad’s for a few days.”
Sam cocked his head, clearly waiting for details.
“She’s a friend,” Jake said, afraid Sam would spook her with too many questions if he knew the whole story, or what little of it Jake knew. After what he just saw, the last thing he wanted to do was scare her into running off again. “Kara, this is my brother, Sam. He works with the sheriff’s department.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I came out for a jog. Rusty must’ve followed me. I didn’t realize.”
Sam scratched the dog’s head. “What I’d like is a description of the guy in the car and how he threatened you.”
“Everything happened so fast. I—I just screamed, and then Rusty came and you guys and he took off.”
“He was about five-eight. Shaved head. Pock
mark on his left cheek,” Jake filled in, then, glancing around to ensure the creep hadn’t doubled back, quickly helped Kara to her feet. “C’mon, let’s get you home.” When she stiffened, as if she might object, he added in a tone that brooked no argument, “There are things you need to know before you do any more running.” Her gulp told him she knew he hadn’t bought her “out for a jog” story.
Sam gathered the dog’s chain. “I’ll need a name and address for the report.”
“Do me a favor—” Jake took the chain from him, holding his gaze “—and make it an unidentified victim, okay?”
Sam’s eyebrow arched a fraction of an inch, but he seemed to get the message. He’d been as angry as the rest of them when he’d heard how Jake’s father-in-law had duped them. He knew all about how some things were better kept off the record.
“Sure, I’ll try to get around tomorrow afternoon to help you and Dad finish the fence. Tying Rusty in the yard clearly isn’t going to cut it.” He nudged Jake with his elbow and whispered for his ears only, “He’s got good taste in women, though. I’ll give him that.”
Jake hid a grin, remembering how the dog had been glued to Kara’s side all night. Apparently the dog wasn’t as thick as he’d first thought.
With a sheltering arm around Kara’s shoulders, Jake steered her toward his truck, then motioned her to climb in ahead of the dog. To the dog’s credit, he nuzzled her into the center.
Jake chuckled, not about to make the dog move when his tactics ensured she wouldn’t have an easy escape. “Rusty likes to sit by the window.” He closed the passenger door and climbed in behind the steering wheel. She shifted toward the dog to give him more space, but her arm still pressed against his, sending a sensation dancing through his chest that he shouldn’t be noticing.
His gaze skittered over the picture of his wife cuddling their newborn son. He fixed his attention on the road. If he was smart, he’d have let Kara hitch a ride with the next trucker heading out of town, or whatever other plan she’d concocted.
But he couldn’t. Not after this. And not without, at least, warning her about the P.I. who’d been looking for her. Not to mention finding out everything she knows about their arsonist. Because clearly the arsonist knew her.
She shook her hair loose from her hoodie and a pleasant floral scent chased away the wet-dog smell hanging in the cab.
“Hmm, jasmine.”
“Pardon me?”
Ouch, did he say that aloud? He shot her a sheepish look. “Your shampoo. Smells like jasmine. Much nicer than eau de dog.”
A blush splashed her cheeks, and he couldn’t deny that he kind of liked being responsible for putting it there.
“Thank you for asking Sam to keep my name out of the report.”
“You’re welcome.” Hopefully, it would be enough to convince her to trust him. He turned left onto the highway.
She gasped. “Where are you going? Your parents’ place is the other way.”
He monitored his rearview mirror and clicked up his right-turn signal. “I thought it’d be prudent to make sure we weren’t being followed first.”
She sank lower in her seat, her gaze shooting from one side mirror to the other. “Is someone following us?”
Jake made the turn and monitored his rearview mirror. “So far so good. Now, do you mind telling me who that guy back there was?”
“I don’t know.”
“Try again.” Jake made another left. “I didn’t get a good-enough look at last night’s gunman, but I’m pretty sure this was the same guy.”
She twisted in her seat and peeked over the back. “I wouldn’t know. I never saw the gunman.”
“But you thought he was after you.”
“He stormed into the shop and yelled, ‘Get down,’ sounding as if he’d shoot them if they didn’t. Who knows what a guy like that’s gonna do?”
Jake gritted his teeth. What was it going to take for this woman to trust him? “You dumped your phone, and you expect me to believe you weren’t afraid he was tracking you?”
Kara’s shoulders drooped. Turning forward again, she sank even lower in the seat. “Is that your wife?” She pointed to the photo pinned to the dash.
“Yes.” His voice edged higher. “She died because she didn’t tell me how bad her situation really was. And if it’s all the same to you, I’d just as soon not go through that again!”
She gaped at him, wide-eyed, as if he didn’t already feel horrible enough for raising his voice. For blurting...
He scraped a hand over his face. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Kara, I can see you’re scared. I just want to help you.”
“I guess if you know about the phone, you talked to the sheriff this morning.”
“Yes.”
Her leg jittered on the seat beside him, and he scarcely resisted the urge to still it with his hand. “Did you tell him I was staying at your parents’?”
Jake braked at the next corner and met her gaze. “No, Kara, I didn’t.”
“You didn’t?” she repeated, sounding as if she didn’t believe him.
He let out a ragged breath. After what he had seen back there in the parking lot, he didn’t think his assumptions were off base, despite her denials last night. He prayed that whether they were or weren’t, she’d realize she could trust him. “Kara, my father-in-law was a cop, and abusive.” Jake tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, letting his thumb skim her mud-streaked jaw. “I understand not being able to trust the people you think you should be able to.”
Moisture pooled in her eyes. Pure blue, intently searching his as if she might see into his very soul. If only she could, to see that he just wanted to keep her safe. She looked away, buried her fingers into Rusty’s fur. “Thank you,” she whispered, neither confirming nor denying his assumptions.
Lord, what am I supposed to do here? Jake wound his way through town, hoping she just needed time to open up. After another ten minutes of silence, he parked in his driveway next to his folks’ house. “Kara, you need to know that your picture was on the front page of this morning’s newspaper.”
She stiffened, but remained mute.
“Who’s looking for you?”
“What makes you think someone’s—?”
“A P.I. came by your house this morning, looking for the woman in the picture. You.”
Her face turned ashen.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t tell him anything. Didn’t trust him. He didn’t even know your name.”
She pushed past Rusty, reached for the door handle. “I can’t stay here. You were in that picture, too. They’ll—”
He caught her firmly by the shoulders. “Kara, listen to me.” He forced her to turn and look at him as the dog whimpered at her distress. “They won’t find you here. The only reason I was in that picture was because I’m the firefighter who helped you. The P.I.—if that’s what he was—knows that. He’s not going to come looking for you here.”
She gulped repeatedly, her eyes round, looking as if she desperately wanted to believe what he was saying, but didn’t. “I can’t put your family at risk, Jake. I won’t. I never sh—”
He gave her a hard shake. “Kara, I want to help you. But I can’t do that if I don’t know what we’re up against. Who would hire a P.I. to hunt you down?”
She covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head.
“Kara, how can I help you?”
“You can’t. I’m not sure anyone can.”
SEVEN
“Do you believe in God?” Jake asked.
Kara hesitated, her hand still on the door handle of his truck, the dog nudging her arm to be let out. Did Jake? Her mind whirred through reasons why he’d ask.
A car rumbled past the driveway and she jerked at the sound. Her limbs trembled
uncontrollably. The gunman’s words—time to say goodbye, Nicole—replayed in her mind. The instant she’d seen the gun, she’d thought it was the end. She hadn’t even had time to pray. Then, like a blur, Rusty had come out of nowhere. Then Jake.
As much as it felt, with all these bad things happening, that God didn’t care, He’d kept her safe through each incident.
“Kara?” Jake touched her hand.
She blinked. Met his penetrating gaze. “Yes. Yes I do believe in God.”
The corners of his lips tipped up a fraction. “Then let’s pray, because I know He can help you.” Jake’s warm fingers folded over hers before she could choke out an answer, so she simply bowed her head and hoped he’d do the praying, because her heart was pounding so hard she didn’t think she’d be able to hear her own words.
His deep voice resonated through her. “Lord, we thank You that You are sovereign. We thank You that it is not Your will that anyone should perish. We don’t know the heart of this man who’s threatening Kara, but You do. Please, change his heart.” Jake’s thumb stroked a gentle rhythm over her fingertips, stilling her trembling. “Please protect Kara and show her what she should do. And show me how I can help her.”
He didn’t open his eyes or say “Amen” and, in the silence, a peace crept over her.
Then Rusty let out a woof that sent her practically jumping into Jake’s lap.
Tommy yanked open the door. “You found him!” Rusty leaped out of the truck and smothered him in kisses.
“Sorry about that,” Jake said as he let Kara out his door. She couldn’t help the trembling that had returned with a vengeance at Rusty’s bark or the heat that flamed her cheeks when Jake consolingly squeezed her hand. She’d been just about ready to confide in him, but maybe God had brought Tommy to the truck at that very moment for a reason.
Over and over again, the marshal had reiterated how important it was that she not tell anyone she was in witness security. Except, if whoever answered his phone could be believed, Deputy Marshal Ray Boyd couldn’t help her anymore. He wasn’t going to show up at the truck stop. And even if his partner knew of their fail-safe site to meet, she didn’t dare go back there now. If the guy behind the adoption ring could tap a marshal’s phone and get his goon onto her that quickly, he clearly had more powerful connections than even the marshal had anticipated.
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