by Angi Morgan
Fred stepped on the gas and the old truck chugged as loud as a train down Pecan Street. “Might as well leave that window down, son. AC went out in this thing back in ’79.”
There wasn’t much small talk between the roar of the engine and the wind blowing through the cab. He dropped his arm behind Kylie to make a little more room and ended up with an elbow in his ribs.
“Ouch. What was that for?”
“The least you could have done is left your gun at home. I’m surprised you’re not wearing a white hat since you’re trying to come to my rescue.” She wiggled on the old vinyl seat, trying to gain space between their hips.
“Now, Kylie, darlin’, I’m going to downshift in a few. Scoot back over to our new volunteer.” Fred kept his eyes straight ahead, one elbow out the window and one hand on the wheel.
One look at his upturned lips and anyone could tell he thought he was helping two lovebirds take flight. Fred hadn’t been exaggerating about shifting soon. They turned taking a road that was more dust than dirt.
Their driver rolled up his window and Bryce took the hint. It was better to sweat and be able to breathe.
“Want to take off your extra shirt?” he asked close to Kylie’s ear.
She shook her head and pulled the long-sleeve shirt closed at the neck. In the past two weeks he hadn’t seen her in short sleeves. Battle scars. She’d been shot four times in that drive-by.
They reached their destination and Bryce would have a hard time if he had to drive back by himself. His shirt was sticking to his skin. He winced when Kylie lightly patted him between his shoulders.
“Thanks for coming to help,” she said loudly.
Fred acknowledged and gave a wave to follow. Other cars and trucks were close by. A few young people milled around the corner of the house, coming to attention when Fred approached.
“I thought you worked with a couple of kids cleaning barns.”
“Today is special. A tornado came through the property in the spring and we need to clear it out. The Childers family has donated the wood to the teen group. They plan to sell it for firewood.”
“Know how to use a chain saw, son?” Fred asked from where three were being gassed up.
“Yes, sir. Grew up around them.”
“Grab a pair of gloves from behind the seat and come get a refresher. We don’t allow anyone who hasn’t graduated to use one.” He pointedly turned to the kid at his elbow and shook his head.
“You don’t have to do this, you know.” Kylie threw her bag over her shoulder and pulled her gloves on.
She acted like running away was the furthest thing from her mind. No one would have guessed that she wasn’t moving through her life like normal. Her biggest worry at the moment seemed to be how they’d get all the wood back to town.
Xander Tenoreno was out there. No one was watching him. He could be meeting with a hired gun, sending one of his men or planning—yeah, he could be planning to take care of his ex-wife himself. Bryce had seen some of the gruesome results the Texas Mafia families had left in their wake. How could he convince her to come with him?
“Kylie, why don’t you take Bryce, Calvert and Martin on your team. Everybody clear on the rules?” Fred asked.
“What rules?” He nudged Kylie before she could walk too far away.
“The team that stacks the most wood wins a bunch of donations from the town. Daydreaming isn’t allowed...we want to win. Right, guys?”
“Whatever,” they both answered, clearly not excited.
“Martin, do you mind lugging this thing and taking Bryce to the worksite? I need to say hi to Mrs. Childers.”
“No prob.”
Bryce was torn. He needed to keep Kylie in sight. Whatever her plan, she wasn’t leaving without her shoulder bag. “Why don’t I carry this for you?”
“That’s all right. No need.”
“I insist.” He took it off her arm, playing a little tug-of-war until she let go.
“Fine.” She ran up the hill to the house joining a woman on the porch.
As much as he wanted to hear that conversation, he felt it was necessary to maintain his cover story with Kylie’s friends. If she announced he was a Texas Ranger...who would show up on her doorstep?
Then again, what if that was what the conversation was right at this moment?
* * *
“YOU’RE CERTAIN IT will be okay?” Kylie asked.
“Of course I am. I’ll explain everything to Richard later. He’ll take the grandkids in the four wheeler and catch Little Bit tomorrow. No big deal. They’ll have a blast.”
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, Lisa.”
“On the other hand, maybe you should tell me what’s wrong. You aren’t afraid of the tall and good-looking one over there. Are you? Is that what this is all about?”
“No. I don’t want to involve him.” She watched the last of the teams disappear into the trees.
“Well, maybe you should. He looks like someone who could fix a couple of problems.”
“Remember, we just talked about ordering pizza for the kids and getting water down the hill.”
“I’ll have Little Bit saddled and ready to go at four, but I don’t understand why you’re all set to visit the Turners. I could run you over in the car a lot faster.”
“I’ve been looking forward to my ride on Little Bit all week and I don’t want Fred to miss out on his pizza. So I’ll hop the fence and walk. I love to walk. Jan said she didn’t mind bringing me home.”
Kylie took a couple of steps away and realized this might be the last time she’d see Lisa. She ran back to the bottom step and threw her arms around the older woman’s neck. She never hugged, but the people in Hico had helped her in so many ways.
“I’m a better person for knowing you and all my friends here. You guys have been so good to me. Thanks.”
Lisa didn’t let go. “You’ve got me a little scared now, Kylie. What have you gotten yourself into?”
She’d practiced this laugh in the mirror a thousand times when she’d been modeling. Her carefree, nothing-in-the-world-matters laugh that she’d perfected came off beautifully. Five years and she could fake it with the best of them.
“Seriously, nothing’s wrong. I’m watching movies with Jan.”
“If something happens to you... Well, I’ll just never forgive myself.”
“Nothing will. Promise.” She skipped down the hill, horrified at the lies she’d told.
One of the things she hadn’t missed from her old life was liars and users. People who had hung around her, claiming to be her friends, but who just wanted a free ride. They told her whatever lies were convenient. She’d let them and didn’t care.
Not until four of them had died. One saving her life. Everything changed then.
Sissy really had died that night. She’d been a character invented out of necessity. Kylie was her real name. During those long days in the hospital, she had talked to herself in the mirror. Forcing her mind to reconnect to that real person.
Unable to attend the funerals of her friends... Scared that Xander would send someone to finish the job... Speaking only to her lawyer... She planned and prepared to run and hide. Leaving everything had been because of Xander. But leaving...that was all her idea.
She’d done it once when she’d signed on to become a model at the age of thirteen. Leaving the disaster of a life back then had been easy. Emancipation had been easy. Turning twenty-one and wheeling away from the hospital wasn’t hard. It had saved her life. She was sure of it.
But today would be the hardest thing she’d ever done.
It didn’t take long to catch up with the kids. “Hey slowpokes. I thought you’d be racing to get started. Once we finish this project, Bryce promised us all pizza.”
“I what?”
“Pizza. Remember?” She caught up with him, looped her arm through his and the bag hanging over his shoulder. “You don’t mind springing for pizza after all this hard work, do you? Or
should I tell them that Rangers don’t make enough money to buy three or four pies?”
“Pizza it is.”
She broke apart from him, snagging her bag in the process. But she laughed and faked her way to the twisted trees. She plunged into the work, refusing to think of what was in store over the next few days.
Her map, compass, money and change of socks were with her. She’d had a moment of brilliance after Bryce had left. They’d be watching for her on every form of transportation. Xander might not know exactly how she looked now, but the people prosecuting his father did. They would trump up charges and arrest her. And he’d find her.
That was one thing she was certain about. There had already been one scandal this year about crooked state attorneys and politicians on the payroll of Paul Tenoreno.
“I don’t know what you’re planning, but you aren’t going to shake me.” Bryce walked up with a heavy-duty limb trimmer thingy.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her tree was ready to be cut. She signaled Martin who could handle the chain saw. She dug her earplugs out of her pocket. “Do you have ear protection? No? You might want to work on the next tree, then.”
Bryce was angry. It showed in the way he chopped small limbs off and threw them into a pile. The kids then moved the brush to a larger pile that would be a bonfire later in the fall for their school. They worked. Hard.
Load after load of fireplace-size logs were added into a trailer that the ATV pulled up the hill. Richard was keeping track of how many were loaded by what team. Bryce was obviously in pain. Not from the physical labor—it was clear his muscles could handle that—it was the sunburn. His tight-fitting jeans didn’t help much either. He’d switched from little limb lopping to splitting wood with an ax.
“If you guys moved about six feet, I think you’d be in the shade.” She handed Bryce a bottle of water and lowered her voice, saying, “I think you could take off your shirt and stop rubbing your sunburn, too.”
“You were right about my holster not being empty,” he whispered back.
“I can stash it in my drawstring bag. It won’t be out of your sight.”
Did she have an ulterior motive? Not at first. She didn’t want to steal his gun. But... No. She wouldn’t steal his gun. Before she left, she’d hide it in the barn. It would be out of sight and out of reach of the two granddaughters.
“You might as well put your phone in here, too.” She blocked the view of him removing his weapon and placing it inside. “You can hear it if it rings.”
That would be hidden, too. Hopefully it would slow him down not to have his phone.
“Wait.” He shrugged out of his shirt. The light pink of that morning had turned a deep red. Small white spots—blisters—had formed from getting hot again. “The bag stays with me. You’re moving around. I’m staying put.”
Swinging the ax, he lodged it in a log and moved everything to the shade, taking her travel items and dropping them in his line of sight. Darn him. And it was almost time to go.
The last thing she wanted was to bring all these people into her problems. She couldn’t create a diversion without a lot of repercussions. How was she going to get out of this? She shook her head as it came to her. It was the perfect excuse to head back to the house.
She finished up the last tree. The kids and parent volunteers had been great. The heat wasn’t too bad since most of the area was still shaded. And in this little gully there was even a hint of a breeze.
I’m going to miss this so much.
But it was time to go.
No goodbyes. No tears. She set her tool near the watercooler and stuffed her gloves in the back pocket of her shorts. She’d need them later. She waited, aware of where everyone was located. As soon as a couple of the boys brought another piece of a large trunk for Bryce to split, she took them all cups of water from the cooler.
“Drink up, boys. You need to stay hydrated.”
“Thanks, Kylie,” they said between sips.
“I’m heading to the little girls’ room. So you fellows are on your own for a minute or two. Maybe even three.” She smiled. The smile that teen boys had fallen for so many years ago. She casually bent and retrieved her bag.
“I can watch that for you.” Bryce almost touched her arm but pulled it back to the ax handle. Probably remembering this morning’s toss to the floor.
“I need what’s inside. Understand?”
He nodded and those teenage boys sort of cringed. She giggled at her brilliance and waved to Richard for a lift.
The bathroom wasn’t a bad idea. She grabbed a couple of apples from the kitchen counter, a soda and two bottles of water. She couldn’t ask for them, so she left a five-dollar bill in the drawer.
With Bryce’s gun and phone well-hidden inside the barn, she grabbed Little Bit and walked her to the far side of the house. There would be lots of sunlight left when she reached the north fence. If Bryce tried to follow her, he’d have to drive half an hour to get to the road she was heading to that bordered the far side of the property.
She clicked to Little Bit and didn’t look back as she loped away.
Chapter Four
Bryce mentioned he needed a break. Everyone was exhausted so Fred called out quitting time. They all walked up the incline while Fred and Richard rode in the ATV.
He had a very bad feeling why Kylie had been gone so long. His gut told him she’d left, along with his service weapon and his phone.
“Dammit.”
“Something wrong?” Martin asked.
“Just slipped. These boots weren’t made for climbing.”
“Yeah, we noticed. But thanks for coming. You did a lot. You Kylie’s boyfriend now or something?”
“No. I live across the street. I’m helping Mrs. Mackey out for a while.” Might be longer if he’d lost his Sig to a runaway witness.
The kids gave each other fist bumps when they saw Mrs. Childers arrive with pizza boxes. It was a familiar scene. He’d grown up in a small community. There was just one thing notably wrong... Kylie wasn’t anywhere in sight.
For some reason, no one was overly concerned with her disappearance. That bugged him. Was he the only one not in on her planned escape? Did they already consider him the enemy?
The kids were sprawled across the porch cooling off. Proud of their work today, they were inhaling the pizza and soda. Richard and Fred were tallying the stacks of wood to determine which team won. Mrs. Childers and her granddaughters were bringing out cupcakes they’d made for the young people.
And Kylie was nowhere. Not in the house. Not waiting in the truck. Mrs. Childers shrugged and searched a little herself when he asked. Everywhere except the barn.
Still shirtless, because Kylie had taken that along with everything else, he cautiously walked through the barn’s double doors. Open, clean, neat. If he hadn’t been looking for something out of place, he’d never have caught the shirttail in the hayloft.
Wedged between a hay bale and the rafters, he pulled the shirt free and found his cell, badge and gun. Relief a hundred times over. No words could describe.
Since the gun was hidden, it meant that Kylie wasn’t missing...just trying to disappear. Everything in place and with his shirt on his back, he sought out Mrs. Childers for answers.
“Did you happen to drop Kylie off back in town?” He didn’t want to seem overanxious, but his insides started to grind like coffee beans.
“Well, if I had, I would have told you when you were looking for her earlier.” Lisa immediately turned her back to him but didn’t walk away.
“Funny thing about honest folks trying to lie. They don’t do it often enough to be good at it.” He stood next to her and took the empty pizza boxes from her grip, setting them on the porch swing. “You may not have taken her back to town, but you know what’s going on.”
“No.”
The worry in her eyes clued him in. She’d helped but had no details. “Mrs. Childers, I realize you’re friends with Kylie an
d you have no reason to trust me. I need to show you something.” He removed his badge and let her take a long look. “It’s important that everyone in town not know who I work for.”
“Then why tell me? Are you here to arrest Kylie? Because I won’t help you.”
“No, ma’am. It’s worse. I’m here to protect her.” Bryce put his badge away and leaned against the wall. He tried to be as casual as possible, attempting to gain any trust he could.
“If that’s true, then why would she leave?” She shook her head, one hand knotting in her apron still dusted with flour.
“She seems to be a very independent woman. Did you give her a ride?”
“No. And that’s the truth. She’s spending the night with Jan Turner and said she wanted to get to the northeast gate. The only way is on horseback. She said she’d leave the gear there and set Little Bit free. She wouldn’t tell me anything else except that it was important for her to leave without anyone knowing. Is she in danger?”
“Thanks. You’ve helped tremendously.” He took the porch steps two at a time.
“How are you going to find her?” Lisa asked behind him.
“With a lot of luck and crossed fingers.”
No local PD involvement. At least not yet. He had to try to locate her on his own. Oh, yeah. He could follow tracks. He was a Texas Ranger who had a knack for computers. But at his roots, he was a simple country boy who’d grown up hunting with his dad.
“Richard?” Lisa shouted from the porch. “Will the four-wheeler get back to the northeast quarter of the property?”
“There’s still too many downed trees,” Richard replied.
“Well, then help Bryce saddle up Tinkerbell. He needs to save Kylie.” Lisa’s voice held a slight tremor of worry.
“Save Kylie?” Richard asked, but got an elbow in his ribs from Fred. “Whatever you say, dear.”
Both men stopped what they were doing and moved to the barn. The one horse in the stall Bryce had seen earlier must be Tinkerbell.
He could approximate how long ago Kylie had left, but not how fast she could push the horse. There was also no way to know exactly how long it would take to catch up with her. The trees were thick in some parts and would make it hard to follow a trail.