The Hijacked Wife

by Winn, Bonnie K.

  “Da!” The baby smiled in appeal.

  “Well, as long as we’re both awake, I guess it can’t hurt.” Reaching over carefully so that she didn’t disturb Jack, Summer picked up the baby. “So, mister, can’t sleep? You did have a pretty big day.”

  He reached for a handful of hair in reply.

  “Didn’t know I had that under my hat, did you? It’s only one of my many surprises.” Wishing for a rocker, Summer settled for the room’s only chair instead, rocking her body in a gentle motion.

  Danny responded by snuggling close. Feeling a hitch that had nothing to do with the motion and everything to do with the baby she held, Summer traced her fingers over his soft cheek. “You’re really something, you know that?”

  But the motion was lulling him.

  “It’s okay.” Summer glanced over at Jack, noting the even rise and fall of his chest as he slept. “I seem to be a master at putting men to sleep.”

  Danny’s eyelids fluttered, then closed. Cradling the small, trusting body, Summer thought of the threat that lurked far too close by. She couldn’t let anything happen to this precious motherless child. And Jack could only do so much. Which was where she came in. With a small smile, she thought of the following day. Maybe she should show Jack a few surprises, as well.

  Summer left the last of the two stores she’d shopped in, her purchases nestled in several bags, except for those she was wearing.

  Jack had said girlish. She was going to give him girlish.

  And girlish meant accessories to go with the clothes, and makeup to accentuate her features. Pale lashes were now darkened, lips glossed. Practical tennis shoes had been replaced with strappy sandals. Her baseball cap was now a distant memory. Instead she clutched a wide-brimmed straw hat that would have done justice to Scarlett O’Hara.

  And the shopping bags in her other hand contained more clothes like the ones she now wore. Clothes she had once called impractical, but that were definitely feminine. Summer glanced at her watch, mindful of the danger of wasting time. But she had done all of her shopping and transforming in an hour, rushing like a madwoman. Believing that no one would be tracking her movements, she had charged the purchases. But suspecting that the situation might change, she’d also made a trip to the ATM for a hefty advance.

  She had arranged to meet Jack and Danny at the coffee shop ten minutes ago. But then, sometimes a late entrance made a statement of its own.

  Taking a reinforcing breath, Summer put one hand on the door of the café to push it open, but it was whisked open before she could.

  “Allow me,” a strange man said with a smile as he held open the door.

  “Thank you,” she murmured, taken aback by the gesture and the obvious interest and approval in the man’s eyes.

  “My pleasure,” he said with an even bigger smile.

  Clearing her throat, Summer looked for Jack and Danny. Spotting them, she wove through the tables, pausing beside Danny’s high chair. “Hi, guys.”

  Jack lifted his head, lowering his coffee cup. “Hi—” He jumped up. Hot coffee splashed over his khaki pants, and he swore beneath his breath. “You surprised me.”

  Apparently. Pleased with his reaction, Summer took a chair, watching as he swiped at his coffee-splattered pants. “Does that coffee taste as good as it looks?” Not waiting for a reply, she chucked the baby’s chin. “How are you, sunshine? Looks like Daddy’s wearing more of his breakfast than you are.”

  Jack crumpled a handful of soggy napkins. “I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

  “Even though we were supposed to meet ten minutes ago?” she asked sweetly.

  “You know... wearing... that.”

  “That would be—what did you call it?” Summer pretended to try to remember. “Girlish, I believe. Yes, definitely, it was girlish.”

  “Okay. So I wasn’t very tactful. I didn’t know you were planning to dip into your arsenal.”

  She felt a thrill of pleased surprise. “Is that what you think I did?”

  “You’re a woman, aren’t you?”

  Summer started to reply, but Jack continued speaking. “Good job. Wilcox and Fisher wouldn’t recognize you if they were sitting a foot away.”

  Her smile faded. Of course.

  He leaned over and wiped Danny’s chin. “Do you mind if we get your order to go? We really need to get on the road.”

  Summer thought of the danger not far behind. It was a sobering reminder, one that chased away the sting of his words. So she wasn’t a femme fatale. That was hardly a surprise. She never had been before.

  Summer ordered a sandwich that could be prepared quickly. Then she looked in puzzlement at Jack. “What are we hitting the road in?”

  “I traded the boat for a car.”

  “How’d you manage that—” she glanced at her watch “—so quickly?”

  “Danny and I took a walk by the pier. We met an older man fishing. Turns out he owned the car we’re using.”

  “And he traded just like that?”

  “The car isn’t worth a fraction of the boat,” Jack pointed out. “It was a great deal for him.”

  “Unless the guy gets blown up in it.”

  “Fisher and Wilcox want me, not him. Besides, part of the agreement is he keeps the boat in his shed for the next two weeks.” At her surprised look he continued, “I told him my ex-wife was looking for me and I needed to lay low. He wasn’t about to question his good fortune.”

  “Which means your trail ends here.” Summer was surprised at the unreasonable disappointment she felt. She should have been flooded with relief that her part was over.

  “I wish it were that easy.”

  She glanced up sharply. “I don’t understand.”

  “Ditching the boat will throw them for a short while, but it’s just a diversion. Remember, they have access to the most comprehensive computer system in the world. One good thing about the trade, it won’t cause a paper trail.”

  “They wouldn’t know to track me, would they?” Summer asked hesitantly.

  Jack shook his head.

  She released a relieved breath. “Good, that’s what I figured.”

  “Why?”

  She glanced pointedly at her purchases. “I used my credit cards.”

  “They don’t know who you are—it should be safe.”

  “But you can’t use your credit cards,” she realized suddenly. “And your cash can’t last forever.”

  His jaw tightened. “That’s not your problem.”

  She suddenly remembered the expensive boat repair and guessed he must already be running low on money.

  “I’ll still help you out for a few days.”

  When Jack’s eyes met hers, she felt her pulse doing a little two-step of its own.

  “I haven’t said it, but Danny and I are grateful—”

  Uncomfortable, she waved away his words. “I think you said we had to hurry.”

  Surprise and puzzlement clouded his eyes. “Right.” Then determination replaced both emotions as Jack changed gears. “I’ve loaded our stuff in the car.” He glanced at her packages. “Most of it.”

  The waitress brought Summer’s sandwich in a doggie bag and they left. It didn’t take long to reach the car. An older model, black with a light coating of dust, it looked like any one of thousands on the road.

  “I can see why you wanted this car,” she commented. “It’s so ordinary, it’s almost invisible.”

  “Exactly.” Jack loaded her shopping bags in the trunk, then hefted Danny into the new car seat strapped in the back.

  Summer hung on to one of the bags and the small cooler she’d bought. Flipping it open, she retrieved a small plastic whale. Leaning into the back seat, she offered it to Danny.

  “What’s that?” Jack asked.

  “A teething ring. It’s filled with gel. I put it in some ice, so it’ll be cool for a while and it should help his sore gums.”

  Jack lifted his brow in surprise. “Makes sense. I never thought about g
etting something like that.”

  She shrugged. “It’s just my logical mind, I suppose. I tried to think of what would make me feel better.”

  “So you’re not an old hand with babies?”

  Smiling, Summer shook her head. “’Fraid not. I’m an only child, no little nieces and nephews to practice on.”

  “No baby-sitting as a teenager?”

  “I was too busy learning how to take an engine apart and put it back together.”

  Jack studied her for a moment, watching the sunlight glance off her face, wondering for the dozenth time that day why she had previously chosen to hide it beneath baseball caps. “Which was a good trade to learn. Not everybody’s cut out for a lot of schooling.”

  Summer set her jaw and didn’t answer.

  “I’m lucky I liked architecture so much myself. Made the studying easier.” He laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “Not that it’s done me much good. If I want to stay alive, I have to leave that career behind.” Jack glanced down at his son, who was happily gumming the cold ring. “But I’m lucky in other ways.”

  “Uh-huh.” She reached into the shopping bag and pulled out a pint-size frilly pink-and-white outfit.

  Jack eyed it dubiously. “Isn’t that a little small for yon?”

  Summer unfastened the buttons. “You a fashion critic?”

  Shaking his head, Jack watched in honor as she reached over to little Danny and began to dress him in the pink-and-white ruffles. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.

  “Completing our disguise,” she replied calmly.

  Feeling the insult to his entire gender, Jack stared at her. “By turning my son into a girl?”

  “You thought it was perfectly fine to turn me into one,” she replied sweetly.

  His mouth opened, his jaw worked, but no words emerged.

  Summer added a pink bow on an elastic band to Danny’s head, the final humiliation. “That ought to do it.”

  “And then some.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. You want this disguise to work, don’t you? I hardly think Danny’s future macho image will be damaged by wearing pink for a few days.”

  “And ruffles,” Jack muttered morosely.

  “Lace never killed anybody,” she added before glancing pointedly at her watch. “Aren’t you in a hurry to get on the road?”

  “Right. I want to put as many miles as possible between us and them.” He took one last sorrowful look at Danny before starting the car.

  The first several miles passed in relative silence. Jack glanced over at Summer, wondering what was brewing in that unusual head of hers. But he found his gaze wandering, noting her completely feminine look, the softness he hadn’t known she possessed.

  Summer turned just then, her expression questioning.

  Jack cleared his throat. “It won’t always be safe to travel in the daylight, so I thought we’d only stop when necessary so we can get as far as possible today.”

  “We’ll really have to travel in the dark?”

  He frowned, knowing the evil of his pursuers, wishing he hadn’t been forced to drag Summer into this. “It’ll be safer that way,” he answered briefly.

  She straightened in the seat, turning to look directly at him. “I’ve been thinking. Maybe there’s another explanation—for why your file’s missing.”

  Jack knew there wasn’t, but decided to humor her. “Such as?”

  “I’m not sure. The main system could have been in a transfer process and the file just couldn’t be accessed when you called.”

  “I called several times.”

  “Maybe a disk error or a memory loss,” she suggested.

  “I see where you’re headed.”

  Summer frowned. “And where would that be?”

  “You’re trying to think of something other than a conspiracy to explain what’s happened. I’ve already been down that road. It’s a dead end.” A humorless grin split his features. “Pardon the pun.”

  Summer shook her head. “Maybe there’s something you haven’t thought of, a detail you’ve overlooked.”

  Jack navigated a sharp curve, then glanced at her, unable to resist the movement. It was something he’d caught himself doing more and more often. How had she managed such a transformation? Sure, the clothes were different, but it was something else. Somehow it was hard to believe she was the same grease monkey who had towed his boat in. “I’d be glad to listen to any suggestions,” he finally managed to say, pulling his thoughts back to the conversation. “If I overlooked something that would help us, I’d like to hear about it.”

  “I didn’t say I’d thought of anything, just that maybe there’s something you’ve forgotten...or not thought of.” She twisted around to look at little Danny, reaching back to straighten his crumpled dress. “Won’t we need to stop and let Danny stretch every so often? I wouldn’t want to be stuck in that little carrier all day.”

  “We’ll stop.” He paused. “If it’s too dangerous, we’ll stop quickly, then move on.”

  But Summer’s attention was caught as she turned forward in the seat. “What’s that in the road ahead?”

  Jack swore briefly and vividly beneath his breath. “That’s a roadblock.” His fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “And we’ll have to try and talk our way through.”

  Summer frowned. “But why would the local police be looking for you?”

  He sighed. “They don’t call it the long arm of the law for the hell of it.”

  “Oh—oh! Do you think they’ll recognize you?”

  Jack was already slipping on oversize sunglasses. “I hope not.”

  She gulped, then glanced back at Danny. “They just can’t,” she muttered, but with enough volume that the determination echoed through.

  Jack dug suddenly in his jacket pocket. Sunlight glinted off the gold ring he retrieved. “Summer...”

  “Yes?”

  “There’s another component to our disguise.”

  “Oh?” she answered, a slight catch in her voice.

  He took her hand with unexpected tenderness, then slid the ring on her finger, pausing before releasing her hand.

  “What about you?” she questioned in a husky tone.

  Reaching into his pocket again, he produced a matching gold band and started to slide it on his finger.

  “Wait!”

  Clearly surprised, he watched as she took the ring from him. Gently she slid it on his left hand.

  The air in the car seemed suddenly restrictive, the roadblock nearly forgotten until reality intruded once again.

  Although there had been a long line of cars in front of them, all too quickly it was their turn at the checkpoint. Jack slid a sideways glance toward Summer, hoping she had the mettle to carry this off.

  A patrol car at the head of the road turned on its siren just then, the sound blasting through the windows, waking up Danny, who screamed in protest.

  The highway patrolman greeted them with a tipped hat, but quickly replaced it when he heard the baby’s cries, raising his voice to be heard. “Something wrong with the little one?”

  “The siren,” Jack explained. “It startled...the baby.”

  “Poor little thing,” the officer sympathized, now more interested in Danny than in questioning them.

  Summer smiled prettily at the policeman, then twisted around to unfasten the car seat. “Babies don’t understand the noise.”

  Jack glanced at Summer. “Do you need some help, honey?”

  Honey? She didn’t dare voice the thought aloud. Instead she lifted Danny from the car seat. “No, I’m fine.”

  Jack nodded, trying to look casual as he glanced around for possible escape routes.

  “Just the two of you traveling?” the officer asked, his glance finally moving from the baby back to Jack and Summer.

  “Three of us,” Summer corrected, stroking Danny’s leg in a motherly fashion to soothe him.

  The policeman relaxed a trifle when Danny’s sobs rel
axed into a hiccuping cry. Then he grinned as he spotted the pink bow sitting jauntily across the baby’s forehead.

  “That’s right,” Jack agreed. “Just my...daughter and my...wife.”

  “We’re checking—” Just then another siren roared to life and Danny screamed in accompaniment.

  “You folks better head on out,” the policeman said, clearly uncomfortable with a crying infant.

  Jack tried not to look too relieved. “Thanks, Officer. What’s going on here anyway?”

  “Some coke-head tried to kill two federal agents, then kidnapped a little boy.”

  “Coke-head?” Jack asked in what he hoped was a normal voice.

  “They’d busted him, and he didn’t want to go quietly.”

  Jack’s lips thinned into a grim line. “Hope you catch your man.”

  “No worries about that. Every cop in the bordering states is looking for him. No chance he’ll get away.” The officer hitched up his gun belt over a burgeoning paunch, then waved them ahead.

  “Every state,” Summer echoed in a horrified voice as soon as they had passed the roadblock. “We’re trapped.”

  Chapter 4

  “Not quite,” Jack replied, waiting to release his pentup breath until they’d eased past the blockade and out onto open highway again.

  “How do you plan to get to D.C. without passing through the surrounding states?” Summer questioned, her attention torn between Jack and little Danny. How could she help them now?

  “It’s time to detour. Fisher and Wilcox must have figured that I’d head for D.C. That’s why the roadblocks are set up. So, we’ll drive to the east for now and if we have to, we’ll double back south. Even though this is a pretty good disguise, I don’t want to push my luck with the state cops. If they’re looking for a baby, one of them might suspect us despite the ruffles.”

  She was quiet for a moment, absently rubbing the unfamiliar wedding band. “But eventually you’ll have to head north again.”

  “I’m betting that even Fisher and Wilcox can’t keep a multistate roadblock going indefinitely.”

  “That’s quite a gamble,” she noted.

  Jack glanced at her. “You handled yourself real well back there.”