Under Duress

by Meghan Carver

  Whatever was going on, this woman was scared to a degree Reid hadn’t seen in a long time. He leaned around her and spied a large black SUV completing a turn, its driver gunning the engine. There were no outward indicators that the SUV was after them, but the woman and girl scrambling into his backseat were an obvious clue that something was wrong.

  With her hand on the door handle, the woman whispered to him, “Get us out of here. Now.” She glanced back again, a hunted look creasing the area around her eyes. “Please.”

  Was this for real? This woman rear-ends his Jeep and then jumps into his backseat and demands he drive her away from whoever is pursuing her? It was like an action movie where the hunky hero saves the girl and they drive off into the sunset together. Except he was no hunk or hero, and he could guarantee that they wouldn’t drive off into a happily-ever-after together.

  He stared at her, immobile, as she pushed the girl into his backseat and then clambered in behind her. She slammed the door shut, then rolled down the tinted window a couple of inches. She poked her lips up to the opening to growl at him. “Come on!”

  Apparently he was moving too slowly for her liking. He cut-timed to the driver’s door and slid into the seat. The engine roared to life, and as he pulled away, the bumper of the woman’s compact car dropped to the ground with a clamoring clunk.

  From her hunched position in the back, the redhead held on to the shoulder of his seat. “I’m so sorry to impose. I don’t normally jump into other people’s vehicles and bark at them to drive. But we’re being chased by that black SUV, and we had to get away.” She threaded her free arm around the girl’s shoulders. “I will not let them take my Lily.”

  In the rearview mirror, Reid saw Lily lean into the woman. He stifled the urge to wrinkle his nose. In the enclosed vehicle with the air-conditioning blowing, an odor wafted from Lily as if she had been camping and hadn’t showered for a few days.

  The redhead turned to peer out the back window, drawing Reid’s gaze back to her car, abandoned in the turn lane of the busy road. The black SUV had pulled off in front of it, and a man with a blue ball cap was stalking the perimeter of the car, peering into the windows.

  “That’s him. He chased us all the way from the church.” She twisted back to the front, seeming to realize where they were. “We need to get to the police station. It’ll be safe there.”

  Reid gripped the wheel, an unsettling sensation seizing his middle. “Have you called nine-one-one?”

  “No. I smashed my phone when I hit that guy with my purse to get him to let go of Lily.” She swiped her hand across her lips. “Can we call the police with your phone?”

  “Sure.” Reid startled at how quickly he’d answered. After his multiple motorcycle crashes and resignation from the local police force a few years back, he wasn’t eager to make contact with local law enforcement, but the woman needed help. He commanded his hands to relax on the steering wheel and his voice to take a gentle tone. “In a minute. Let’s just talk about this first and see if we can figure out what’s happened.” Reid signaled to turn left, watching to see that the SUV wasn’t following. Now would be the proper time for introductions, a time to reassure her that she could trust him. But she hadn’t recognized his name earlier, and he wasn’t ready yet to remind her of his identity. “Why don’t you tell me why you’re in my backseat?”

  “There’s not much to tell. I was picking Lily up from a day camp at church, and the guy in that big SUV had his hands on her when I pulled up. I jumped out of my car to stop him and ended up hitting him in the face with my bag.” She hefted the leather tote to show him. “I think the buckle hit him because there was blood on his face. That gave us time to get away, but he shot out the back window of my car. I thought we had lost him in the traffic on the way to the police station, but then I hit you, and here we are.” She paused to take a deep breath. “I have no idea who he is or why he would want us.”

  Kidnapping. Pure and simple. If the man had wanted them dead, he could have done it right there in the parking lot. But the motive was a mystery. Why them, and what did he want?

  “You’re safe now.”

  “Thanks for letting us jump in your car. By the way, I’m Samantha Callahan, and this is Lily, my soon-to-be daughter. I’m her guardian right now, but I have the adoption in the works.”

  Of course, Samantha. One of the Callahan twins and the smartest in their law class. He should have known by her assertiveness that she wasn’t the sweet and optimistic Mallory.

  She scanned the passing buildings as they merged into a commercial area. “You’ve passed the police station. If you turn right up here, we can circle around.”

  Reid sucked in a breath. There was no avoiding it. “You don’t need the police.”

  “Why not?” Her hand clutched the back of his seat, pulling the fabric away from his shoulder. “You look familiar. Who are you?”

  He turned as Lily leaned against the back of the front seat. “Are you a giant? You’re really big. I don’t think I know anyone as big as you.”

  That was a new one. But then he hadn’t spent much time around kids who spoke their minds freely. Maybe this was a perfectly acceptable question.

  Samantha shushed her. “You can’t go around asking a stranger if he’s a giant. Maybe we need to work on your manners.”

  “What’s wrong with that? I’m making conversation. I’m trying to look him in the eye, but he’s driving. And I didn’t get a chance to try out my firm handshake since you shoved me in the car. I’m being polite.”

  “Lily.” She dragged out the last syllable.

  Reid held up a hand. “It’s fine.” He turned enough to meet Lily’s gaze for a nanosecond then returned his attention to the road. In his peripheral vision, he caught her smile. “No, I’m not a giant, technically. I’m only six feet four inches tall.”

  He met Samantha’s gaze in the rearview mirror and forced a lopsided grin. Frustration glinted in her blue eyes. “I’m Reid Palmer,” he repeated. “We attended our first year at law school together.”

  The color slid from her face, and she licked her lips before she could recover her composure. “Reid.” She drew out his name as if fighting to keep her tone steady. “Yes.”

  She sat back against the seat and turned her attention to the window.

  His mind blanked on what to say as he surveyed the surrounding area for the big SUV. A simple you-can-trust-me speech seemed inadequate. They hadn’t known each other well in school, but from what she probably remembered of him, her anxiety was warranted. Mere words wouldn’t matter to her now.

  Samantha swiped a hand through her hair. “I still need to involve the authorities. At least file a report or something.”

  It wasn’t exactly the timing he had hoped for to make amends with his buddies. But he couldn’t just drop her off. And even though he hadn’t witnessed what had happened at the church, he’d seen the black SUV that was after them.

  Another thought niggled the back of his mind. This was his chance to prove to himself that he had changed since the last time he was in town. That his personal dragons had been slayed. That even though he didn’t trust himself in a romantic relationship, he was a gentleman not only capable of protecting and serving but also eager to do so.

  For her own safety, he had to convince her that she could trust him. This wasn’t exactly the way he wanted to be reunited with his former brothers on the force, but it was too late to enact his original plan of bringing gifts of a case of pop and a couple buckets of chicken wings. Dark thunder-boomers dotted the sky, scudding and bumping into one large mass, as Reid turned his Jeep toward the police station. The first streak of lightning jagged across the sky.

  TWO

  “If you aren’t taking us to the police as I requested, then legally, we’re still kidnapped.” Samantha’s tone of accusation cut to his c
ore, and Reid swiped his hand across his jeans to keep from digging his fingernails into the flesh of his palm.

  He surveyed the side and rearview mirrors, but they appeared to be free from a tail. The storm clouds gathering out the front windshield mirrored the foreboding in his soul. There was a storm coming, and it wasn’t going to be just a gentle rain.

  A growl threatened to escape from his throat, but he tamped it down. He shouldn’t be surprised at her accusation. Lawyers excelled at pointing the finger and sidestepping the blame. But neither could he let her place sole fault on him. “Fine.” He pointed out the windshield. “Notice we’re headed toward the station. But remember, you’re the one who jumped into my backseat. What was I supposed to do? Kick you out?”

  “You were supposed to take us straight to safety. To the police station.” She enunciated her words carefully, as if giving instructions to a three-year-old. “And it was either you or that thug.”

  “From what you tell me, there’s nothing for the police to go on. You don’t have any identifying characteristics. You don’t know the model of his black SUV. You don’t have a license plate number. Chances are excellent, if he didn’t peel out and leave tire marks in the parking lot, that he left no evidence at the church. And it sounds as though a bullet didn’t lodge anywhere in your car.” She was definitely in a predicament. A sense of foreboding settled between his shoulder blades as he turned toward the station.

  “Wait.” Hope tinged her voice as she reached toward the girl. “We could tell you what he was wearing, a button-up shirt that hung open enough to reveal his holster. And a blue baseball cap with a white horseshoe on the front.”

  “Yeah, he was kinda mean looking.” Lily pushed hair off her forehead. “I’m sure I’d recognize him again.”

  “Of course you would, sweetie.”

  Reid grimaced. They were probably fist-bumping in his backseat, feeling victorious regarding their evidence. Now was definitely not the time to mention the unreliability of eyewitness accounts.

  Reid turned his head to look out his side window before he rolled his eyes. No need to rile Samantha up any more than she was already. “You mean an Indianapolis Colts hat?”

  “That’s it.”

  “That’s no good.” He approached the intersection where Samantha had rear-ended his Jeep moments ago. The SUV was gone, and he turned onto the road that led to the police station. “At least half the men in the greater Indianapolis area own that hat.” He turned and nodded toward the back. “Reach under the passenger seat.”

  Samantha disappeared from his rearview mirror as she leaned toward the floor. A loud exhalation later, her hand appeared over the seat, grasping a blue baseball cap with a white horseshoe on the front.

  “There has to be something to go on. Evidence at the crime scene, or maybe I could work with a sketch artist?”

  “Was he wearing sunglasses? Did he have a mustache or beard that he could shave off?” She’d been watching too many police procedurals on TV. A cop’s life wasn’t that exciting. It included long stretches of boredom and paperwork followed by a lapse in judgment caused by too much anger and then a career change. Case closed. He corked the sigh that threatened to bubble up.

  “Well, at least we’re headed in the right direction. The police will help us.”

  “Sam, I’m starving. Can we stop to eat?” The quiet voice piped up from the backseat.

  “How can we stop to eat when we don’t know where the bad guy is, Lily? We have to get safe first. Talk to the police. Then we eat.”

  Reid hadn’t been around children much, but when he had been about that size, his appetite had been insatiable. He patted his stomach and noted that the time on the dashboard clock did indicate it was past suppertime.

  He pulled the Jeep up to the front of the redbrick station and parked in the empty lot. “Don’t get out yet. Let me check around.” He surveyed the area in his mirrors, then turned and stared out the back windshield for several minutes. Dread twisted in his abdomen, but Samantha was right. She ought to at least make initial contact with the police. If she needed them later, it would be helpful that they already knew her name.

  A couple of police motorcycles were parked just inside a tall gate to the side of the building. Disturbing memories riddled his brain like so many bullets. Three separate times he had disregarded police policy that condemned a reckless disregard for safety and taken a motorcycle over one hundred miles per hour. Far over that limit, in fact. The last time, he hadn’t even caught the suspect, and in his anger at his failure had raged against the bike, pushing it to the ground and kicking it, until he’d severely damaged it. His chief had not looked kindly on the destruction of property and suggested he resign his position. Reid shook his head as if that could dislodge the images.

  “It looks clear. I doubt a suspected perp like that would get too close to the station anyway. Let’s go.”

  The three slid out of the vehicle, and Samantha held Lily’s hand as they approached the front door.

  Inside, a lone officer in uniform sat behind a tall countertop. The Friday-night shift at the front desk was usually a lonely one. The officer pushed aside his hunting magazine and first looked over Samantha and then slanted his eyes at Reid. “Well, well, well. Back in town?”

  “Cody.” Reid gave him a polite nod. “How you been?”

  “Better’n you, I suspect. Still got my shield and weapon.” He tapped two fingers on the badge fixed on his uniform. “Heard you got religion.”

  Samantha slid him a funny look as if she wasn’t too sure of the direction of the conversation or what it had to do with her predicament. She probably doubted the religion part as well, considering what she’d known of him in law school.

  Reid felt the muscle tic in his jaw but forced a polite tone. “You could say that.” In his peripheral vision, he saw Samantha’s eyes widen. That was enough catching up, though, for the visit had nothing to do with him. It was about getting help for Samantha and Lily.

  It wouldn’t go over well with Cody if the old Reid reared his ugly head and reached across the counter to punch some sense into him. The new Reid shoved his hands into his pants pockets and focused on the need next to him, the red-haired beauty in the summer skirt with flowers all over it. “As glad as I am to be back in Heartwood Hill, this isn’t really about me. My friend and her daughter need your assistance. Why don’t I just wait over here in case they need me, and you can help them?” He took a step back.

  This wasn’t the way he had wanted it to go. He had planned to call an old buddy he thought might receive him better, someone who would be willing to ease him back into communication. He watched Samantha step up to the counter, her arm curled around Lily’s thin shoulders. Samantha deserved better than this. She shouldn’t have to suffer because of his past impropriety as an officer with the Heartwood Hill Police Department. Cody always was a bit high-and-mighty, but Reid couldn’t change who was pulling desk duty that night. A fresh wave of regret and repentance sloshed through him. Now Samantha had to pay for his past mistakes and poor choices.

  He took another step back to distance his past from the present.

  * * *

  Why would Reid be treated like this at the police station? What had he done to deserve being snubbed?

  Samantha had thought that the police were always supposed to be helpful and friendly. The bright white walls, fluorescent lights and tall, clean counter of the reception area certainly spoke of professionalism. A tall potted plant by a window added a touch of hospitality. But officers were people, too, with their own troubles and dramas happening in their worlds. Perhaps this Cody had had a bad day, had been chewed out by his superior or was suffering the effects of a fight with his girlfriend. Whatever the history between the two, Reid at least deserved some common courtesy.

  Of one thing she was relatively sure: the thug who had tried
to kidnap them wouldn’t dare to enter the police station to get her.

  But considering this officer’s dubious attitude, she had a sudden surge of gratitude for Reid’s calm handling of the accident and his acceptance of her jump into his backseat. That, and his ability to defend her if needed, judging by his muscular physique.

  Cody leaned toward her on the desk with a pointed look at her empty ring finger. “So, miss, maybe now that we’ve got that guy out of the way, why don’t you tell me your name?”

  Samantha took a deep breath. Now she was getting somewhere. “Samantha Callahan, and this is Lily—”

  “And is there a Mr. Callahan?”

  “My father, but what does that have to do with—”

  “Are you injured?” His penetrating gaze crawled over her hair and face. “’Cause you look as if you’re in pretty good shape to me.” A crazy grin tilted across his face.

  “I’m fine. No injuries.” Why wasn’t he getting out the proper forms? A large file storage unit hung on the wall at the end of the counter, filled with neat stacks of preprinted papers. “But shouldn’t something be done? That’s why I asked Mr. Palmer to drive me here.”

  Cody held up his hands in a surrender gesture. “Fine. Yes. Tell me what happened.”

  She repeated her story, including the Colts baseball cap and how she’d jumped in the back of Reid’s Jeep Cherokee. She finished with a plea. “Please, Officer, I don’t know if that guy is still out there. He might be waiting for us. What happens next?”

  He flipped through some forms in the wall unit and selected one, then retrieved a pen from a cup on the counter and pushed both toward Samantha. “Fill out your name, address, phone number and email. Then write down here—” he jabbed at the bottom half of the paper “—what you remember about the incident. Include what happened, in detail, and who might have seen it.”