Dave swerved onto the exit ramp, braking and downshifting in a flurry of motion. Hellhound braced himself in the rocking sleeper, arms jammed against the cabinets. “What the hell?”
“Yeah, what the hel… sorry, heck?” Dave echoed as the lights receded behind us.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to panic everybody, but it just occurred to me. They’ll be watching the truck stops.”
Dave shot me a skeptical glance. “You sure? Out in the middle of nowhere?”
“I wouldn’t want to chance it. By now, Kane’ll have run Dave’s Trucking through the system, pulled your plates, your phone numbers, your address, and what you ate for dinner last night. He’ll have given your plate number and a description of the truck to the city police and the RCMP, and they’ll all be watching for us. I can’t believe we even got out of Calgary without hitting a roadblock.”
Dave’s eyes were wide in the dashboard lights. “You mean he really is a cop?”
“Fuck, yeah, he’s really a cop,” Hellhound growled. “What part of ‘He’s a cop’ didn’t ya get?”
“But… No way,” Dave argued. “Cops can’t get away with stuff like that. That’s like… police brutality or something. He didn’t even show you a badge.”
Neither Hellhound nor I responded to that, and Dave peered over at me. “What are we going to do now?”
I groaned and sank my head into my hands as another thought hit me. “I have no idea. We used up our margin of safety getting out of the city when we should have been hiding in the city. Because now we can’t go back. We’ll get caught for sure. Every cop will be on the alert.”
In the disheartened silence that ensued, I leaned my aching body back in the seat and pummelled my forehead gently with the heel of my hand. God, I was too tired to function…
“Dave’s right.” Hellhound’s vote of confidence made both Dave and me throw a surprised glance back at him. “We all need sleep. An’ there ain’t any point in tryin’ to get back into the city tonight. Time to lie low an’ let things settle down a bit.” He turned to Dave. “Just get off the highway on one a’ these back roads an’ park somewhere. We’ll figure somethin’ out in the mornin’.”
“…’Kay. You got somewhere in mind?”
Leather creaked in the darkness as Hellhound shrugged. “No fuckin’ idea. Just pick somethin’.”
Some zigzags on the back roads brought us to an overgrown crossing off a gravel road. An embankment on one side and a few acres of scrubby trees on the other provided a bit of concealment. Dave pulled onto the crossing and shut down the engine. We all sat in silence for a few minutes, our eyes adjusting to the darkness.
A faint glow of moonlight provided enough illumination for me to identify the shapes of the truck seats and my companions. Finally, Dave spoke. “Aydan, you can have the bed. We’ll take the seats.”
Hellhound muttered agreement and stood.
“No, Dave, you’d better take the bed,” I disagreed. “If your back hurts as much as I think it does, you’ll need to stretch out. We don’t want to take a chance on you not being able to drive.”
“It’s fine,” he countered.
I took a different tack. “Okay.” I stood up and stretched before moving uncertainly into the sleeper alcove. “Dave, sorry, I’m disoriented here in the dark. Can you point me to the bathroom?”
“Yeah, hold on.” He started to rise and let out a gasp of pain as he froze half-erect, bracing himself on the steering wheel and the back of the seat. He was straightening by slow degrees, hissing through his teeth, when Hellhound and I each took an arm and steered him to the bed. As we got him settled, he spoke through clenched teeth. “Must’ve twisted it again getting in and out at the hotel. Really starting to stiffen up now. Might be a better idea to stay in the seat.”
“I doubt it. Hang on.” I fumbled in my waist pouch and extracted my tiny LED flashlight.
“Lights are on the switch over there,” Dave said.
“Never mind, I don’t want to turn them on,” I said. “Here, hold this.” I handed the flashlight to Arnie, and he trained the spot of light on my hands while I fished out my pill container. I shook a couple of ibuprofens into my palm and handed them to Dave.
He swallowed them gratefully, and I surveyed his face in the feeble illumination, feeling responsible. “Would massage help? I’m no pro, but I could rub it for you and see if it eases the stiffness.”
Hellhound snorted laughter in the darkness. “Usually things get stiffer when ya start rubbin’.”
“Wise-ass. What do you think, Dave?”
“I dunno.” He eased himself over onto his stomach with a grunt. “I’ll try anything right about now.”
“Tell me if I hurt you. I don’t really know what I’m doing.”
He groaned as I started to gently knead his back, and I snatched my hands away. “Did I hurt you?”
“No. That’s great.” He let out another ecstatic groan as I resumed working the muscles.
“Jeez, Dave, ya need to be alone for a while?” Hellhound made his way to the passenger door. “I gotta take a leak an’ stretch my legs. Don’t do anythin’ I wouldn’t do.”
I laughed. “Carte blanche. Sweet.”
He chuckled and swung out of the cab.
For a while, I worked in a silence punctuated only by Dave’s blissful moans. Eventually he spoke, muffled by the pillow. “Are you and Arnie, um…?”
“Friends.”
Silence.
“You seem pretty… friendly.”
“Friends with benefits.”
“Oh.”
About the time my arthritic thumbs began to complain in earnest, Dave heaved a huge sigh. “Thanks. That feels a lot better.”
“Good.” I rose slowly, straightening out some kinks of my own after spending so long contorted over the narrow berth. “I’m going to go outside for a bit, too.”
I lowered myself down from the passenger door and bit back a cry when I turned and bumped into Hellhound in the darkness. His arms closed around me. “Ya get Dave tuned up?”
“I hope so. He was in rough shape.”
“I’m in rough shape, too. I could use some rubbin’.”
“No doubt.” I snuggled closer in the chilly night air. “So could I.”
“That could be arranged.” His hands drifted down my back.
“Sorry, your opportunity to indulge in the audience fantasy has passed. And it’s too damn cold outside.” I kissed him and pulled away. “I’ve been cooped up in that truck for days. I’m just going to walk for a few minutes. And if I don’t sleep soon, I’m going to puke.”
“I’ll walk with ya.”
We meandered down the middle of the deserted road, his arm around my shoulders, listening to the country night noises and the crunch of our own footsteps.
Out of earshot of the truck, he spoke. “We gotta have a talk.”
“Uh-oh. Any time a guy says we have to have a talk, it’s nothing but bad news.”
“I ain’t kiddin’ around. I need the whole story, Aydan.”
I blew out a long breath. “You know I can’t do that.”
“I know. But ya can tell me more than when Dave was listenin’.” He stopped and turned, tilting my face up to study me in the moonlight. “How long have ya been an agent?”
“I’m not. I never was.”
He sighed. “Darlin’, ya been workin’ with Kane for seven months. Ya got a license to carry a concealed weapon, an’ I know ya know how to use it. An’ back at the hotel, Kane said you’d gone rogue an’ he had orders to shoot ya. I ain’t stupid.”
“Arnie, I know you’re not stupid. But I’m not an agent. I’m just an asset. You remember that thing I was carrying back in the summer?”
He nodded, and his hand closed on mine. “Thought we were both gonna bite the big one that time. So that’s what ya been doin’? Usin’ that thing? Workin’ with Kane?”
“Yeah.”
“Must be pretty high-level, considerin’ they brought in Special Forces
choppers to pull ya out this summer.”
“Yeah.”
“So if you’re that important, why’d they decide they wanna kill ya?”
I hung my head. “I ran. They got the wrong idea.”
“Why’d ya run? Ya found out Kane killed your husband, an’ ya figured you were next?”
“No. I…” I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to force my sluggish brain to work. “They’re going to kill me anyway. As soon as they find a way to replace me. I thought Kane was going to shoot me this summer…”
“What?” Arnie seized me by the shoulders. “What the hell? That can’t be right, darlin’, he wouldn’t…” His voice trailed off as his hands tightened. “Would he?”
“Yeah.” The word came out as a long sigh. “Yeah, he would. Orders. That’s how dangerous I am when I’m using the… thing. If they think I’ve gone rogue, I’m toast.”
He let go and took a slow step back, peering at me in the darkness. “But… ya wouldn’t…”
“No, I wouldn’t betray them. But they’re all spies. They don’t believe that. And in a way, they’re right. If I get captured… Well, you know. Everybody breaks under torture, sooner or later. I’m no hero. It wouldn’t take long.”
I dropped my head, feeling a hundred years old. “But that’s not why I ran. It’s because… I think they’ve been manipulating me since I was four. Killing whoever got in the way.” My voice shook, and I shut up, swallowing hard.
“Aw, darlin’.” Hellhound’s powerful arms closed around me, and I buried my face in his shoulder. “That can’t be right. We’ll figure out what really happened.” His rough-edged voice caressed my ear. “Don’t worry, it’ll be okay.”
The exact promise I’d made to Nichele. I choked and wrapped my arms around him, huddling into his reassuring bulk. “I just want to make sure Nichele’s okay before they kill me. There’s nothing I can do about the rest of it,” I mumbled.
“Aydan, nobody’s gonna kill ya. They gotta come through me first.”
“Thanks, Arnie, but you know what I’m up against. Don’t put yourself in the line of fire. All that’ll do is get you dead. It won’t change anything else.”
“Lemme worry about that. You just concentrate on stayin’ alive, an’ it’ll all work out in the end.” He leaned down to kiss me, and even though I knew otherwise, I let his words comfort me.
Fatigue descended like a lead blanket, and I steered Arnie into an about-face to retrace our steps. By the time the truck loomed up in the moonlight, I could barely keep my eyes open.
A buzzing sound made us pause outside the passenger door.
“Shit, he snores.” Hellhound blew out a sigh and climbed up.
“So do you.” I followed him into the cab.
“Not like that. He sounds like fuckin’ ruptured bagpipes or somethin’.”
I stifled a giggle. The rattling drone did sound a lot like bagpipes, punctuated by a staccato snort at the end of each breath.
Some time later, my urge to giggle was a distant memory while I squirmed in the passenger’s seat, trying to find a comfortable position. Dave was still sawing logs in the sleeper, and Hellhound contributed his usual quiet, rhythmic thrumming from the driver’s seat.
At last I blew out a frustrated breath and gave up on the seat entirely. I tiptoed into the sleeper and stretched out on the cold, hard floor. Dave’s snoring was only marginally louder there, and at least my legs weren’t cramped. I stuffed my backpack under my head and drifted into a miserable doze.
I woke in the early grey half-light, aching and shivering. The duet of snores continued unabated, and I scowled at the two sleeping men with the particular brand of caustic irritation that can only be achieved while freezing one’s ass off at oh-dark-thirty.
I curled into a ball and wrapped my arms around myself, but the penetrating chill of the floor sucked every vestige of heat from my body.
Fuck this.
I eyed Dave. He was on his side. There was a little space at the edge of the narrow bed. And he had blankets.
I eased the blankets up and insinuated myself onto the few inches of bed as slowly and smoothly as I could. I was clinging to the edge and wondering whether it was worth the trouble when Dave erupted in a huge snort and a sigh. His arm fell heavily over my waist, and he pulled me against him spoon-fashion.
I froze, but his snoring continued, ruffling my hair. Blissful warmth enveloped me.
I woke to a weight on my chest and a suspiciously hard something jammed against my butt. My eyes flew open. Dave was still spooning me, his snoring heavy and regular.
Awkward.
I was easing his inert hand off my left boob when I caught sight of Hellhound’s grinning face in the dawn light. I shook my head at him in warning.
The movement roused Dave, who let out a snort. There was a second of silence as his hand cupped my breast, and then he yelped and recoiled against the back wall of the berth with a thud. I tumbled off the edge of the bed and turned to look back at him while he pressed wide-eyed against the wall, the blanket bunched protectively in front of his crotch.
“Sorry,” he stammered. “Sorry… Uh. What…?”
Hellhound guffawed. “Funny, that ain’t my reaction when I find a hot chick in my bed.”
Dave glared at him, a dark flush climbing his neck.
I hastened to intervene. “Dave, I’m sorry, I got cold in the night and I needed a blanket. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Uh, no… it’s okay.” His gaze darted around the sleeper as if seeking a place to perch. He released his grip on the blanket with a convulsive movement, his face still red.
“I’m going to go out and stretch my legs.” I made for the door.
By the time I returned, Dave had recovered his composure except for a tendency to avoid meeting my eyes. We took turns going for “walks” outside the truck to allow each other a modicum of privacy to use the tiny bathroom, and at last reconvened for a planning session.
“We’ve got to get back into Calgary,” I said. “We’ve got to find Nichele.”
Hellhound frowned. “Are ya sure we hafta? Don’t ya think that’s a job for the police? Or for Kane?”
“We can’t call the police. And Spider’s been looking for Nichele for two days now.”
“Darlin’, let them deal with it,” Arnie advised gently. “Ya need to figure out how you’re gonna save your own ass, never mind anybody else’s.”
“I think my ass is past saving. I just want to make sure Nichele’s okay. That’s why I wanted to talk to you in the first place. I thought you might know how James thinks, and where he might be holding Nichele. But I wasn’t planning for you to end up on the run with me.”
Arnie eyed me and sighed. “Ya ain’t gonna let this go, are ya?”
“No. And we need to get back into town so we can start looking.” I smothered a sigh of my own, internally cursing Dave’s initiative. If he’d just listened to Hellhound last night and driven to Forest Lawn…
As if reading my mind, Dave turned an apologetic face in my direction. “Sorry. I screwed up. Should’ve stayed in town last night.”
“No, it’s okay, Dave. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
We all fell silent. It was just too risky to take Dave’s truck back to Calgary. And we needed wheels no matter what we planned to do. Wheels. Hmmm.
“What?” Dave demanded eagerly.
I looked up to discover both men eyeing me with hope. I grinned. “I think I have an idea. Lucky it’s Saturday.”
“What’s that got to do with it?” Hellhound asked.
“Hey, Arnie, did you ever mention Kelly’s to Kane?”
He stared into space for a few moments, and I knew he was flipping through the mental file cards of his phenomenal memory.
“Nah.”
“Thank God. Neither did I. I think I can get us a car. And once we have a car, we can get back into the city.”
“What’s Kelly’s?” Dave asked.
“A bar.�
�
“Oh.” Dave regarded me uncertainly, but apparently decided not to pursue the subject.
“Uh, Aydan, ya gotta get back into the city to get to Kelly’s,” Hellhound pointed out.
“I have an idea for that, too. I think I can do it if I go by myself. Then I can get the car and come back and pick you guys up.” I turned to Dave. “Where’s the best place to hitch a ride with a trucker? Besides a truck stop?”
He considered for a few minutes, his brow furrowed. “There’s a pullout off the number two highway where a lot of the guys stop.”
“Good. Because you’re going to get me a ride.”
“Don’t know if that’ll work. Most of the guys aren’t allowed to carry anybody.”
“Could they be persuaded?”
Dave hesitated and flushed slightly. “Maybe. There are some lonely guys out there.”
I grabbed my backpack and stepped into the tiny bathroom. When I emerged, I took stock of Dave’s stunned face. Yeah, that’s right, he’d only seen me in baggy sweatshirts.
“Do you think this would be persuasive enough?” I asked.
Hellhound gave my tight leather and half-exposed boobs a slow, lascivious once-over and leered. “It’s doin’ it for me, darlin’.”
I grinned. “Yeah, but you’ll screw anything that moves.”
He straightened with an affronted expression. “Ow. That ain’t true. Ya know it’s gotta be female. An’ human.”
“Picky, picky.”
He grinned. “Ya got me all wrong, darlin’. I ain’t gonna screw any ol’ skank that crawls up on my doorstep. I’m a man of taste. I just happen to have varied tastes.”
Dave had been following our exchange open-mouthed. “You’re nuts,” he blurted out. “You’d sleep around when…” His gaze teetered precariously on my cleavage, struggled up to my chin, and then flitted up to the corner of the sleeper as his face reddened. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I think you’ll get a ride. Let’s go.”
He made his way stiffly to the driver’s seat and eased himself into it with only a quiet in-drawing of breath through his teeth. Apparently my massage had helped.
As we approached the highway, I scanned anxiously for any sign of police cars. By the time we pulled off behind three other tractor-trailer units, I was perched on the edge of my seat, heart pounding.
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