A knee buckled but she stayed on her feet. With a push-off from her hand against the ground, she took off again. His string of profanity didn’t stop her any better than the yelling had.
He held the poles and tried to figure out an easy way in. His shoulders wouldn’t even fit in the space, which meant he had to go over.
I should have shot at her when I had the chance.
The metal clanked as he moved down the fence line a few feet and curved his fingers through the chain links. Ignoring the rough edges slicing into his palms, he pulled his body up and over the twelve-foot fence.
By the time his feet hit the wet ground on the other side, she was gone. Not that hiding would save her. No, he was in this now. All traces of exhaustion and thoughts of sleep left his head. He would catch her, take her in and probably issue a lecture or two in the process.
She didn’t strike him as a hard-edged criminal, but she was starting to act like one. From his experience, there was only one way to catch someone determined to flee—rough and fast.
Taking turns keeping watch behind him and sweeping his gaze over the landscape in front of him, he stalked through the woods. The towering trees blocked the sun, letting only pools of light filter through. With his back against a tree, he scanned the area. A flash of red moved up ahead to his left.
Found her.
His steps quiet and firm on the slippery ground, he swung out wide, racing to her far side and hoping to come up behind her. He could see her in a clearing. Her arms never stopped working as she reached over an outcropping of rocks. She didn’t do anything to hide the crunching of sticks beneath her feet or her deep breathing.
Weapon close by, he shifted into the open area. Ahead of her a dirt road lead out and curved deeper into the forest. This close he could see he read the situation wrong. She wasn’t standing by rocks. She tugged on a large piece of tan canvas, a cloth that had blended into the landscape only a few seconds before.
Her gaze darted around, checking the area behind her but ignoring the rest of the woods. With a loud thwack, she snapped the material to the side before throwing it to the ground.
“You have a car out here?” He spoke before his brain clicked into gear.
The sunlight glinted off the metal in her hand when she spun around. “How did you—”
“And a gun. A car and a gun. How enterprising of you, Ms. Courtney Allen, or whatever your name really is.” He watched the weapon shake in her fingers and judged the chance of knocking her down without getting a bullet through his forehead.
“It’s Courtney.”
He snorted. “And why would I not believe you?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“What was your earlier comment about being innocent? Last I checked innocent people don’t have an escape plan.”
“I told you to leave me alone.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen now. I can’t have a woman racing around my jurisdiction with two names and a gun.”
His impression of her kept changing. He’d read her as a victim originally, but she sure seemed ready to pull the trigger now.
“I haven’t done anything wrong.” Her voice wavered on the words as her chest rose and fell.
“Threatening a police officer, resisting arrest, and I’m betting you don’t have a license for that.” He nodded in the direction of the gun leveled at him from a distance of less than ten feet.
“Do you think I care about a license?”
“What I want is for both of us to live through the next few minutes. The best way to make that happen is for you to lower your weapon.” He pressed his hand down, trying to get her to follow his lead and drop the damn thing. “You put it down, we talk and this whole misunderstanding goes away.”
Her gaze darted to the left then back to him. “It’s not safe.”
Since he was looking down the barrel of a gun, he had to agree with her on that one. “I have a good office, quiet and private. We can talk there. Work this out.”
“I’m leaving.”
“We both are.” He started lifting his hand to his shoulder then stopped when she stepped closer, her finger inching toward certain death for him.
“Don’t move.”
“Wait a second. I’m just trying to show you my radio. I called for backup.”
Her arms tensed to the point of snapping. “When?”
Never, actually, but he had no intention of telling her that. “There’s nowhere to go.”
She shook the weapon at him again. “Drop the radio and the gun.”
“Courtney, if I take this gun out, if my fingers get even a quarter-inch closer to the trigger, I’m going to aim it at you. Do you understand that?”
“I do now.” She pointed the gun at the car. “Get in.”
He’d been expecting surrender, thought maybe she’d even engage in a little smart panic. An offer for a ride took him by surprise.
He forced his mouth in a flat line to keep from giving his shock away. “Excuse me?”
“You’re coming with me. I’ll drop you off up the road.” She nodded her head and repeated the comment, as if getting comfortable with the idea.
That made one of them. “I wouldn’t even fit in that car, Courtney.”
The vehicle, if that was what it was, looked more like an egg with a steering wheel. With mud and leaves caked to the wheels, he doubted she could even get it to move.
And then there was the part where he wasn’t getting in. He gave self-defense presentations all the time and had one very simple rule: do everything you can to not get in a vehicle with your attacker.
She frowned at him. “Your comfort is not my main priority.”
“Clearly, but do you really want to add kidnapping to your list of crimes?”
“I want to be able to get a head start. Up the road a bit, you’ll get out and the radio will stay with me. By the time someone picks you up or you get out of the forest, I’ll be long gone.” She ticked off the specs as if she had them memorized.
“Sounds like you’ve had this plan brewing for a long time.”
“You have ten seconds.” She started walking, backing her way toward the car before bracing her shoulders against the door.
The move took away the option of wrestling her to the ground, or at least made it harder. “Or?”
“I’m going to shoot you.”
“I doubt that,” he said, even as he believed the opposite was possible at this point.
“I have nothing to lose. Do you really want to test me?” She whispered the words but they echoed through the woods with the force of a fierce shake.
He read the desperation in her eyes. Worry and fear showed in the tight lines of her face. People pushed to the edge often did dumb things. Add in a weapon and the chance for idiocy tripled.
At this range, she’d likely hit some part of his body, and he had quite a few he wasn’t ready to lose just yet. That left only one or two options, none of them good. He could draw his weapon, likely get off a shot before she knew what hit her. He could rush her and risk a bullet. Even if he hit her, one or both of them would get hurt.
Or he could wait it out as he tried to figure out who she was and what had her so willing to throw her life away to get out of Aberdeen. The curious part of him wanted to go with the latter. Something about her had him intrigued. Probably had something to do with this being the first time he stood on the wrong side of a gun held by a woman. He’d had plenty of males shoot at him, men and boys, but she was the first female.
He lifted his hand away from his gun and raised his palms in the air. “My shift is over, by the way. I should be at home sleeping.”
She shrugged. “You’re the one who came to my door.”
The woman has an answer for everything. “And believe me when I say I regret that.”
“Drop the radio on the ground and kick it to me.”
Rather than debate, he unclipped it from his shoulder and threw it at her feet. When she smashed her heel i
nto the speaker and kicked the broken shell into the thick underbrush to her left, he winced.
“Was that necessary?”
“Yes. Now the gun,” she ordered.
No way was he giving up his weapon. Didn’t matter that he had another one at his ankle and a small knife at the ready in his back pocket. Getting disarmed by a hundred twenty pounds of lady trouble was not on his daily agenda. “I told you what would happen if I touched it.”
“I can’t trust you not to pull it on me in the car.”
“True.” He took a step toward her. “But I could have drawn numerous times during the last half hour and didn’t. I’ve decided to ride this out. Until you give me reason to think otherwise, I’m content to keep the gun in the holster.”
The seconds ticked by. With the rustle of branches and squawking of birds, the sounds of the forest surrounded them. Neither of them moved.
When the human silence threatened to blanket them, she opened the passenger-side door with a creak and put one foot inside. “Go around and get in, but keep those hands in the air.”
“I’m driving?”
“Unless you want to ride in the trunk.”
He followed her gaze to the back end of the car. He doubted he could get a leg in there. Next thing she’d suggest tying him to the roof.
He opened one hand. “Keys?”
She reached into her pants and pulled out a single key. “Thought you’d pick that option.”
“You mean you hoped I would.”
She threw the key. “That, too.”
Chapter Three
Courtney’s arms ached from holding the gun. The small car bounced as they drove over deep divots and through holes filled with yesterday’s rain.
The bumps vibrated through her. Her head whipped from side to side, and her body fell back against the seat. In an attempt to stay steady, she braced her foot on the floor and faced him. Her muscles burned as the weight of the metal in her hands sapped all her strength. So did the mind-numbing terror flowing through her at a speed that threatened to choke her.
She’d been on the run in one form or another since she was seventeen, so that part wasn’t new. Being found, having an armed police officer track her and even now be close enough to take her down, added a new layer of anxiety to her already convoluted life. After logging in hours at the shooting range, she knew how to use the gun, but pointing it at another human being, someone other than her intended target, turned out to be harder than she expected.
“What’s the plan here?” Jonas shifted his gaze between her and the old running trail they bumbled over on their getaway.
He’d been right about the tight fit. His hair brushed against the roof and his shoulders swallowed up his seat and part of hers. The way he doubled over the steering wheel only made his driving worse.
“I told you,” she said.
His handcuffs and baton rolled around at her feet where she’d thrown them minutes before, but his hands stayed on the wheel. “Right. The dump-the-guy-with-a-badge scheme.”
“Would you rather I shoot you?”
“There’s probably a middle ground.”
“If you say so.” She pointed. “Take the road to the left.”
He leaned in close enough to the front window to press his nose against the glass. “You see a road?”
“Right here!” Her teeth rattled as he hit the brakes and the car shuddered underneath her. She grabbed on to the back of the seat and saw his gaze bounce to her gun, which only made her hold it tighter. “The rangers use it for emergencies.”
“Guess that explains how you hid the car.”
“I moved it every few days to keep hikers from uncovering and reporting it. Many folks out here complain about the trash in the forest and organize groups to go out and pick it up. Imagine what they’d do about a car.”
“I’m impressed with your preplanning.” He exhaled. “Now tell me why you think it’s necessary.”
She guessed his goal was to throw her off, but the quick change in conversation didn’t work. She’d lived with her secrets and researched in the quiet darkness long enough not to lose control that easily.
When she didn’t immediately respond, he snapped a finger. “Any chance I could get an answer?”
“Evil.”
His gaze stayed on her for an extra second this time. “Is that a first or last name?”
“You think this is funny?”
His foot eased off the gas and they sputtered to a stop as he faced her. “No, Courtney. I think you’re in big trouble and it’s getting worse with every decision you make.”
“You don’t know anything about me or my life.”
“The way I see it you have two choices.”
She could only see one: hide until she figured out who killed her family and why.
She cleared her throat, trying to wipe out the debilitating emotion that always poured through her when she thought about them. “You’re going to go over this hill then cut to the left. And I mean fast. If you hesitate, we’ll hit a tree.”
“Good to know.” He hit the gas and the car chugged along the rough road.
Something in his light tone made her smile. “You won’t see it until—”
“What is that?”
She turned to see what had him swearing. “I don’t see—”
“Where did he come from?” Jonas’s hands tightened on the wheel. As he started shouting, his knuckles turned white.
She watched in horror as a truck with a huge front grill barreled right at them on her side of the car. It appeared out of nowhere, gobbling up branches and dragging them under its tires.
She sat down hard in the seat facing forward and dropped the gun to the floor. With her arms locked, she balanced her palms against the dashboard. “Move!”
“I see it.”
“He’s going to hit us.”
“Get down!” Jonas turned the wheel sharp to the left. The car bobbled as tires spun, kicking up mud and squealing in protest.
Just as the traction grabbed, the truck smashed into the back passenger side. Metal crunched as the doors crashed in and the roof buckled with an earsplitting thunk. Her body rocked in her seat until the belt dug deep into her skin.
Pain raced up her arm as she watched Jonas struggle to keep the car upright. Then the world spun around her. Her stomach rolled in time with the car when it turned over. She screamed until she lost her breath.
When the rocking stopped, she lifted her hands and they fell until they hung in front of her. The dashboard pressed up against her knees and her vision blurred, cutting in and out. Something clicked in her neck when she turned to look at Jonas. His eyes were closed with his arms bent underneath him. Blood covered his eye and ran along his forehead.
They were upside down.
His first name floated through her mind. “Jonas?”
She whispered through a scratchy throat just as footsteps thudded around her. She couldn’t make out the direction, but her stomach plummeted at the sound.
She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, a face popped up outside the broken window next to Jonas’s head. A scream raced through her but she swallowed it. “Who…who are you?”
The man with the blond military-cut hair and chin stubble smiled. Feral heat radiated off him. “It’s time to go.”
“Why?” She felt underneath her stomach for the abandoned gun. Stretching out her hands, she touched it but it danced off her fingertips.
The man smacked his hand against what used to be the bottom of the car. “You’re worth a lot of money, and I intend to collect.”
“I can’t move.” She looked at Jonas’s holster—empty—then her gaze skipped to his face. His eyes were open. Dark and furious he stared at her. She tried to read the look and decided he needed time. She focused on the attacker. “I think I’m injured.”
“You can slide out or I can come get you.”
The attacker’s words skidded across her nerves, leaving an icy trail in
their wake. “Give me a second.”
In a blur, Jonas moved. He brought his gun up in a flowing arc. At the last second he lifted his head and shot right out the window without aiming. One second the attacker hovered there, leering. The next leaves rustled and red sprayed across the broken glass. The only sound was the lone beep as Jonas’s elbow hit the horn when his arm flopped back down.
The whole thing took a second but moved in a slow motion that played more like hours. She’d never been a big fan of the police, but she was grateful for Jonas.
“Is that guy dead?” she asked.
Jonas rubbed his head and came away with a hand stained with blood. “Hurt or not, I don’t miss from this range.”
“I guess that’s a yes.” The horror of death washed over her. The man, whoever he was, died because of her. “I can’t believe this.”
“Courtney.” Jonas’s husky voice broke through the screaming in her brain. “Are you okay?”
Her hands shook hard enough to bang against the dashboard. “You’re bleeding.”
“It’s minor.”
She touched her fingers to his forehead and trembled against his skin as the haze settled over his eyes. “We have to get out of here. Can you move?”
Reaching down, he unclipped his seat belt and his body slumped closer to the ground. “I can’t make it out of this window at this angle. We need to rock.”
“What?”
“Try to tip the car on its side.” He shifted and his eyes closed.
“Jonas.”
His eyes popped back open. His forehead creased. He didn’t yell or complain, but the muscles in his cheeks tightened. “I’m okay.”
“I can get out.” She had no idea if that was true. The seat pinned her knees under her, and the numbness in her right shoulder had spread down to her fingertips.
“Any chance you have a phone?” he asked.
“No, and for the record I’m sorry I chucked your radio into the trees.”
His mouth kicked up on one side. “Makes two of us.”
“I can slip out—” She hissed when her weight shifted to her thigh and a string of pain ran down to her feet.
When She Wasn't Looking Page 2