---

 

“Is she all right?”

Dax hated himself for rushing to Doc Sophie’s with Kiley when she got the call. He’d been at the stable with Rob. Kiley had stopped on her way out to tell them that her friend Allie had found Kendra gasping and clutching her chest on the side of the road.

Right where he’d left her.

He shouldn’t have left her there. If he’d caused something like this…

Doc Sophie came back into the waiting room, stethoscope around her neck, its business end in a pocket of her doctor-coat. 

“She’s fine. It wasn’t her heart.”

“Was she…faking it?” He stood there, kind of frozen, waiting for the ax to fall.

“You don’t fake a heartrate of two-twen—I did not just divulge a patient’s confidential stats.” Then she frowned at him and tipped her head sideways. “Why do you ask? Has she been up to her old ways?”

Sophie had gone from medical professional to McIntyre in a dragonfly’s heartbeat. She was protecting her family.

“No.” It wasn’t a lie. Kendra wasn’t up to her old ways. She had all new ways this time around.

Sophie watched his face. He didn’t know what she saw there. He didn’t much care, he wasn’t going to say anything that might lead to this kidnapping story reaching Kiley. Thinking her father was being held at gunpoint by killers could not be good for a woman as pregnant as she was. Besides, he didn’t even know if it was true.

Kiley came out of the little room where they’d taken Kendra, an angry look on her face. “So now that I’m not afraid my sister’s having a heart attack, you want to tell me what happened?” She was looking right at him, hands propped on her hips, chin jutting forward, but not as much as the belly.

“What do you mean? You’re the one who got the phone call. Allie said—”

“I mean before.”

Sophie put a hand on Kiley’s shoulder, and tipped her head sideways.

“What?” Kiley snapped.

The doc gave her a look, and apparently Kiley understood it because she looked around the room and realized they were not alone. A handful of patients were waiting their turn. “Outside, Dax,” Kiley said, pointing at the door.

He turned and went outside. Kiley spoke to Sophie, and then joined him, walking down three steps and over to where his car sat waiting. “I texted Rob to come pick me up,” she said. “He’ll be here in a minute, so talk fast. My sister shows up at the barn looking for you. Then she leaves. And then you arrive, and she’s found having a full-blown panic attack a mile from my house right about the same time. So what happened?”

“We had a fight.”

She grabbed his shirt when he started to turn away. “Tell me, Dax. She’s my sister. What the hell did you do to her?”

Rob pulled in, braked and was out of the truck and at his wife’s side all in the same breath. “What’s going on?” Hands on her shoulders, he pulled gently until she let go of Dax’s shirt.

“They had a fight on the side of the road and he just left her there,” she said, flicking a hand at Dax.

“I didn’t know she was gonna have a meltdown. How could I know?”

“You don’t just break up with someone and leave them on the side of the road—”

“She had her car, Kiley. Don’t make it sound like that. And I didn’t break up with her, because we were never together.”

“Yes, you were.”

“We were… It wasn’t…” He lowered his head. “I don’t know what it was. I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry. Rob, I’m sorry. The last thing I want to do is upset Kiley--”

“I know, buddy. I know.” Then he turned to his wife. “I don’t think Dax is the bad guy, here, hon.”

“Hello? She had a panic attack! Do you know how many times my sister has ever had a panic attack in our entire lives?” She uncurled fingers from a shaking fist to count them off. “When our father went to prison. When we were taken from our home by social workers. And when they split us up. That’s it, Dax. So you tell me, you tell me what happened between you that was on a scale that huge? And how did you think it was okay to devastate her and then just walk away? Huh?”

He just blinked, because he didn’t know what to say. “I… I gotta go. She’s okay, though, right? You guys… you’ve got her?”

“Of course we’ve got her.”

God, it hurt to have Kiley talk to him like that. They were friends.

“Go,” Rob told him. “I’ve got ‘em both. I’ll call you later.” His eyes were sympathetic.

Dax went to his Charger and fired it up.

If Kendra hadn’t been getting hit on by hot-rodders every time she pulled her little red ‘Vette in for gas, or food, or a restroom all the way from the east coast to Oklahoma, she wouldn’t have started noticing how they all sounded. But she had noticed. Hot rods didn’t sound like other cars. And they didn’t sound like each other, either.

She’d noticed right away the particular way Dax’s Charger sounded. So, when it started up outside, she knew it was him. She went to the window, still pulling on her jeans, and moved the curtain with one hand in time to see him driving away, down the road. He’d been there, at the Sophie’s office.

It was a little flicker of light in the dark hole that had opened in her chest. Maybe he still gave a damn. Maybe she could still make it up to him.

She took a deep breath and buttoned her jeans. Then she gathered up her bag and headed back out into the waiting room, just as Kiley and Rob came in from outside. Kiley came right to her, took her arm like she needed help.

“I’m good, sis,” Kendra said. “If anything, I should be helping you to the car.”

“I think you should come and stay with us, Kendra,” she said. “I want to keep an eye on you.”

“No.” She smiled at her sister and shook her head. “I like my space. You know that.”

“I know that,” Kiley agreed. “But…just for tonight?”

“I’m okay, I promise.” Jack would be calling just as soon as he possibly could, to let her know he’d been released. If he’d been released. He might’ve called already, if the damn headline had worked. She couldn’t even imagine taking that call with Kiley nearby and not giving something away. She couldn’t even check her phone until she got somewhere private.

Kiley said, “If you want to talk about…whatever happened between you and Dax—”

“It’s not my style to slobber all over my sister every time I get my nose broken. I’m all right. But I do need to be alone to…process some things.”

“I get that.” Kiley sighed, nodded at the truck. “We’ll drive you back to The Long Branch, then.”

So they dropped her off in the parking lot and drove away, and she walked around back to use the outdoor stairs because she wasn’t in the mood to make small talk with whoever happened to be inside the saloon. She made it all the way to her room, closed the door behind her, and finally pulled out her phone to check for anything from Jack.

An alert was flashing on the lock screen.

PHONE FINDER ACTIVATED

Jack woke up so cold his teeth were chattering, and had no idea where he was or how he’d… Right, right. Vester Caine, the farmhouse, his body pounding down those basement stairs. He sat up slow as it all came back to him. It was daylight. He was on the ground, in a thin patch of scrawny trees. Saplings. His arm was throbbing and his head hurt. He remembered prying the casement window out, and crawling through the hole it left in the wee hours before dawn. He thought it a pretty good bet that it wouldn’t matter what showed up in the Aurora Free Times. He’d pissed off Vester Caine, drugged his men, and tried to steal his cigars. He was going to be shot if he didn’t get out. So he got out.

He wondered how far he’d made it before he’d passed out. A mile? More?

Somewhere, a door slammed. “Move it!” a deep voice roared. “Find that sneaky sonofabitch!”

Okay, he hadn’t made it a mile. He hadn’t even made it a hundred feet. When he looked in the direction that voice—Caine’s voice—had come from, he had a clear view of the old farmhouse with its peeling white paint and weed-patch border.  Ace and Phil were heading into the woods, in two directions. Caine was heading in another. None of them were coming directly toward him.

He got to his feet, but stayed in a low crouch, keeping them in sight, moving to the furthest spot from them, around behind the farmhouse. He wasn’t going to get away from them. Not on foot, he wasn’t. His grave would be a shallow one in this scrub-lot if he didn’t put some distance between him and them fast.

He checked his pockets again, found his phone with the shattered screen. He’d known that already. He’d tried to send a distress call, hadn’t he?

No time. Not now. He might have a chance, and it might be his last one. He crept to the edge of the trees, right up to the waist-high weeds that had once been the farmhouse’s back yard. He could hear Caine and Phil and Ace crashing through the woods, looking for him.

Fine. He had one chance, the way he saw it. If it didn’t work, he was dead, but he was dead if he didn’t try it too. He dashed through the weeds to the back door. It was unlocked, the first piece of good luck he’d had so far. He opened it and ducked inside, racing through that place like his feet were on fire. Kitchen. Nothing. Dining room, nothing but the humidor and the whiskey. Living room. Score. A set of keys on a Cadillac keyring right on the makeshift coffee table. He grabbed them. Then he ran back through the dining room and paused.

Yeah, why not?

He grabbed the whiskey and cigars, and headed back through the kitchen, and out the back door again. He took time to listen for them. He couldn’t hear much, which probably meant they’d gone farther away. So he crept around the house, and quiet as a mouse, put his treasures into the Caddy, closed the door so softly it didn’t even latch. Then he yanked his pocket knife out and went to the SUV that belonged to either Phil or Ace. Probably Phil. He jabbed the knife into three tires, stabbing into the sidewall and ripping forward to ensure they’d go flat faster. As he got to the fourth tire, front driver’s side, he saw through the window that the keys were in the switch. Well, hell. He took them and ran back to the Caddy.

They were gonna hear him start the motor. There was no question about it. And there was only one road. He held his breath, cranked the key, slammed the car into gear and stomped it. The back tires spewed dirt and gravel, then caught. He took off like the very devil was after him, keeping his head low in case they came out of those trees shooting.

But they never did.

 

“Oh, God, oh God, oh God,” Kendra whispered, pushing back her hair with one hand, tapping the phone locator app with the other. Jack must’ve activated his, and if he had, that meant he was in trouble.

He was always about the backup plans, and he loved technology. Said it had revolutionized the business. She was grateful for that as she read the notification on her screen.

 PHONE FINDER has been activated for one of the devices on your account. That device has been located.

She could hear her father’s voice just as clearly as if he was standing there beside her. 

 “Old-school scammers have to adapt or go extinct. Tech is either an opportunity to con better than ever before, or the end of your career. You get to choose. Me? I’m gonna ride the wave.”

Jack Kellogg, con-man philosopher.

She tapped the “Send to Map” button, and it opened, showing a road map with a pulsing blue dot on it, and a “Start” button for turn-by-turn driving directions. 

Her father was in Oklahoma. And not very far away, either. An hour, in the ‘Vette.

She pocketed the phone and yanked opened the closet to pull out a small hard-shell case. It was ivory-colored with lavender blossoms all over it and looked about big enough to serve as a makeup bag. It was a case she’d hoped never to have to open, but she had to now. She took out her handgun. It was shiny silver, brand new. She’d never even fired the thing, but she knew how. Jack made sure his daughters knew how to handle firearms, just in case. He hated the things, said any con who had to resort to violence, much less gun violence, shouldn’t be in the game. But he also believed that in their business, it was better to have one and know how to use it, than not. There was no telling how mad a mark might get.

The gun, a 9-millimeter Ruger, had been a Christmas present from Jack two years ago. She checked that the safety was on and the barrel empty, then filled the magazine. She was already wearing jeans, but her blouse had to go. It was low-cut and sexy, chosen with Dax on her mind. She took it off and pulled on a T-shit that fit snug and moved easy. Her stilettos would be useless in a fight, so she traded them for soft socks and lightweight black hiking shoes. She put the black leather jacket back on, shoved the gun into her right pocket, spare clip in her left. She grabbed her purse off the bed where she’d thrown it, and started back outside, but her phone rang.

She was so wrought up, she answered it without looking first. “Jack?”

“No, it’s me,” Dax said.

“Oh.” She sighed, disappointed to her bones. “I can’t talk now, Dax, I—”

“What’s going on? You sound upset.”

“Having your father threatened by killers is upsetting. Sue me.” She went outside and down the back stairs.

“Shouldn’t he be free by now? Isn’t that what your ruse with the newspaper was supposed to accomplish?”

“Yes, it is, and no, he isn’t. I don’t—” Her voice broke. Her eyes burned. She hurried around the building to where someone had parked her ‘Vette, unlocked it. “I don’t know if he’s okay. I don’t know if he’s already…”

“You haven’t heard from him,” he said.

“He activated a phone location app. Hours ago, and I had the damn sound off because I was all wrapped up in…” You, was the word she didn’t say. “He wouldn’t have done that if he wasn’t in trouble.”

“So, wait, you know where he is, then.”

“I know where his phone is.”

“Okay, good. Then we’ll go—”

“I’m already going.” She put him on speaker, pulled-out the car’s ashtray drawer, and used it as a phone holder.

“Alone? Kendra, wait for me. I’m on my way.”

She put the car into reverse and backed out of the spot. “I don’t have time to wait. Any second might be one second too long, Dax.” She shifted and drove out of the parking lot and up the curved drive to the road. She hit the pavement, and his Charger skidded to a stop just before hitting her. 

“I’m already here,” he said.

She never slowed down. If anything she went faster. But he followed. And the call was still connected. She kept looking into the rearview mirror. He kept on coming.

She said, “I need you to stop, Dax. Go back to Big Falls.”

“I can’t.”

“Why the hell not?”

 He hesitated for long seconds as she caught gears and picked up speed. “I’m just doing what I feel I have to do, okay? So where are you going? Where does this app thing say his phone is?”

“About eighty miles east. Hang on.” She glanced at the phone while driving, which was stupid, but she had to see the Share button to tap it. So she did, briefly, and the app texted Dax the coordinates. “Just in case you can’t keep up.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

Kiley smiled very slightly. She’d given in too easily, and she knew it. She didn’t want her kind of trouble touching Dax any more than it already had. But the truth was, she was afraid she was going to walk into some cheap motel room or abandoned hovel and find her father with a neat round bullet hole his forehead. The truth was, she felt better knowing Dax was right behind her. She’d feel better yet if he was in the car beside her, but she hadn’t dared take the time to switch cars.

She looked in the rearview mirror, saw him behind her. It felt good. “Thanks, Dax.”

“You’re welcome.”

She sniffled and swallowed, a giant wave of relief crashing over her like a breaker over a dry and thirsty shore. And just as quickly it receded and something else came. Something cold and dark. She still had ice water running up and down her spine. Jack would have to be facing certain death to send his location and scare her this badly. And it had already been hours. She’d had her stupid fight with Dax and subsequent panic attack like an amateur. Caring about people was the stupidest thing a con could do.

And she’d done it. She’d done it in spades. She loved her sister more than she’d ever realized, and she loved Kiley’s cow-eyed husband too. She loved little Diana more than words could say and she hadn’t even met her yet.

She loved Dax Russell.

She did. She loved him. Good God, there was no hope for her now.

She pressed harder on the gas and she drove.

The pulsing blue dot led them to a cheap motel called the Roadside Lodge. It had two long narrow buildings with rooms, each with a front door and a back door, and parking spots outside both. The only car there was a sweet-ass Caddy parked behind Room 2. She skidded the ‘Vette to a halt right beside it, dove out of the car and lunged toward the door as Dax’s Charger stopped behind her, making way too much noise. He was out of it before the engine even had time to quit.

“Kendra, wait!”

For a big guy, he sure could move fast. He was behind her clasping her shoulders before she even made it to the white door with the tacky metallic gold trim and a 2 stenciled dead center. The owners hadn’t even sprung for the metal kind that you had to attach. Just paint and a stencil. The gold had bled onto the white. She wanted to slam that ugly door off its hinges and go get her father. But Dax squeezed gently.

“Just in case someone’s in there with him,” he said soft, near her ear. “Let’s just take a peek before we go bustin’ in.”

Her hand clenched and unclenched on the gun in her pocket. Dax’s nearness couldn’t break the hold fear had on her. If Vester Caine had hurt Jack—She slid her fingertip back and forth over the safety catch. She’d never thought she had it in her to shoot someone, but now she wondered if maybe she did.

“Come on.” Moving beside her, Dax let one hand rest on her opposite hip, and crouched low as they crept to the small window. They peered inside through the bottom edge of the beige curtains.

Jack Kellogg was sitting up on the bed, one arm behind his head, watching TV. He had a motel issue water glass half-full of amber liquid in his hand and a cigar clenched in his teeth. It was fat and brown and sending a ribbon of gray smoke to the ceiling where it became a cloud. She could smell it from where she was. A bottle of whiskey stood on the nightstand beside a wad of cash. Jack smiled at something on the TV while its light and shadows shifted on his face.

“That son of a—” Kendra lunged away from the window and pounded on the ugly door beside it. “Jack! It’s Kendra. Open up!”

There was shuffling, swearing, and then Jack opened up the door, still hopping to get his pants up over his boxers. “Kendra! Damn I’m glad to see you.” He patted her shoulder in lieu of a hug and gave her his best fake smile, which wasn’t good enough to fool her. “Good news, little girl. I got away.”

She punched him right in the face. His nose cracked and his body turned sideways from the force of the blow. The impact recoiled through her fisted hand and up her arm.

Jack stumbled backwards, and bent over, holding his nose with one hand. There was blood. “You better start explaining fast, Jack or I swear to God—”

“You’re reading this all wrong, kiddo.” The words were muffled by his hand. He lifted  his head but didn’t look her in the eye. “I fed the two thugs chili-con-Benadryl and they went out like lights, but when I headed out the door, there was Vester Caine himself on his way in.”

“Save the bullshit,” she said. “You broke the code, Jack. You don’t game family.”

“Uh, yeah, your sister broke it first. And you helped.”

She felt her eyes widen.

“Yeah, I know you helped her pull one over on the old man. But that’s beside the point.” He held up the arm that wasn’t busy with his nose. The entire forearm was purple and brown. “Caine threw me into the basement, broke my freakin’ arm, I think. Scrambled my brain a little bit too.”

She wouldn’t put it past him to cause his own injuries. She’d seen him do it before, to lend credence to a story. But maybe not this bad. His arm looked damn awful.

Dax said, “Your nose is bleeding, Jack.”

“I’m aware of that, Dax.”

Kendra stomped past her father and into the bathroom, where she cranked on the cold water and soaked a couple of washcloths. “Keep talking.”

“Caine was gonna shoot me right there, when he saw his guys out cold like that. Would have, if not for you, Kendra. Your text saved my ass, made him decide to keep me alive until morning.”

 She came out of the bathroom while he was still talking, handed him an ice cold, wet cloth and he pressed it to his bleeding nose.

Dax was looking at her, a question in his eyes.

“I texted the kidnappers that there would be proof I’d complied with their demands in the morning edition of the Free Times.”

Dax lowered his chin, aimed his eyes past his own left shoulder, like he couldn’t look at her. Like the reminder of her deception caused him physical pain.

“I reclaimed my phone and a pocket knife during my first escape attempt. Idiot didn’t bother to search me before kicking me ass over elbow down that flight of stairs. I didn’t remember if I’d managed to activate that phone locator app or not before I passed out. Didn’t know if it would even work. Screen was shattered. Apparently, it did.”

“And then what?”

“I passed out for a while. When I came to, I pried out a casement window and ran for my life. Wasn’t sure if that newspaper text was a ruse or not, and I was pretty sure Caine was gonna off me either way, so I got my ass outta there. Passed out in the woods before I got very far.”

“Uh-huh.” She was eying the room, the whiskey, the cigars, the other set of keys on the nightstand. “And you what, went shopping while running for your life?”

“Slipped back inside when they started searching the woods for me. Took the keys to the only other vehicle, slashed its tires, and helped myself to some cash, whiskey and cigars for my trouble. Took Caine’s car, too.” He sounded proud of it. “He’s gonna realize he messed with the wrong guy.”

“He’s gonna be furious. He’s not gonna let this go, Jack.”

“I don’t plan to be anyplace he can find me,” he said. “Matter of fact, I was just about to leave for parts unknown.” He sent her a quick look. “I was gonna call you first, tell you goodbye, of course.”

“That’s real thoughtful of you, Jack. So you just hurl a hornet’s nest at Kiley and me—at your baby granddaughter—and then run like hell. That’s real nice.”

“What do you…?” But he knew. She saw when it dawned on his face.

“That’s right, Jack. If Caine can’t find you, who the hell do you think he’s gonna take it out on?”

A phone rang. Jack answered it.

“Put it on speaker!” Kendra’s voice came out so hard and commanding she didn’t even recognize it. Then she lunged at her father, snatched the phone from his hand, and tapped the speaker icon herself. The glass screen was shattered, just like he’d said.

“Nice job getting Russell to accept the track and call off the snooping CPA,” it said. “Needless to say, though, you are not getting paid. You broke the deal.”

Paid ? Kiley shot her father a look of disbelief, her brain going into overdrive.

“Meanwhile, I have your daughter. Didn’t know you had a grandkid on the way. I’d say

congratulations, but it might be premature.”

Kendra whispered Kiley’s name. It felt like all the blood in her body turned to ice and fell to her feet. She was dizzy. Jack’s face went white. Every bit of swagger and cockiness just dissolved.

Dax moved closer and leaned in. “This is Dax Russell. I assume I’m talking to Vester Caine.”

“You assume right.”

“Mr. Caine. You can do whatever the hell you want with the track. You can run it, for all I care. Just don’t hurt Kiley.”

“That’s real nice of you, Mr. Russell, but with all the trouble you and Jack were making for me, I went ahead and made other arrangements for my needs. You can shove your damn racetrack. Turn your back on a fucking fortune cause you’re mad at Daddy. Who does that? Listen, I don’t want your track. I don’t need it anymore. All I want right now is Jack Kellogg and if I don’t get him, I’m gonna kill his daughter and his grandkid.”

Jack reached out and snatched the phone. “It’s Jack. Let me talk to her.”

“You can talk to her when you keep the bargain.”

“If I don’t hear her voice, there’s not gonna be a bargain.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Kendra yanked the phone from him and turned away.

“Don’t listen to him. I’ll bring him to you myself, just… are you there? Hello? Hello?”

He was gone.

Kendra lifted her stricken gaze to Dax’s, then turned toward her old man. “Are you trying to get my sister killed?”

“He’s not gonna hurt your sister,” Jack said.

She stood there blinking at him, wishing she could shoot him and wondering why she didn’t. “You hate her for betraying you.”

“This hasn’t got anything to do with that.” Jack grabbed the Caddy keys off the dresser, then started gathering up all the rest as well. It was more than he could carry in one arm, the humidor, the bottle.

“What did he mean, about you not getting paid?”

“No idea.”

She blinked at him as the pieces clicked together in her mind. “You did this. You did all of this, didn’t you? You weren’t kidnapped at all. You made a deal with Caine. You tricked me into conning Dax again, when you knew…you knew…”

“What did I know?”

She shook her head. “You knew I couldn’t do it anymore. That the last time…changed me.”

“I thought it might help you get your edge back. I was doing you a favor. You’d be thanking me if it had worked.” He shrugged. “But you were too slow, Caine got impatient, and everything went sideways. I’m lucky to be alive.”

 “I can’t believe you. I can’t believe I left my sister to try to save your worthless ass. I can’t believe I ruined the only good thing in my life to try to save yours, when it wasn’t even real.”

“You’re right. I played you,” he admitted. “Kind of makes us even, doesn’t it?”

“That you can run out on us, after you’ve caused so much harm—how can you do that?”

His back was toward her, but he’d gone still. He dropped the whiskey and the humidor onto the bed. “I’m not running out. I’m coming with you to save Kiley.” Then he turned slowly, blinking like a blind man when light somehow gets through. “You really think I’d run out on my own kids, Kendra? I mean, I was going to leave, yeah, but I hadn’t thought it through far enough. I would have, before I got very far. I’d have come back. How can you think otherwise? Have I been that bad a father?”

“Yeah. You have. Come on, Dax.” She was out the door a second later, and striding through the parking lot purposefully. Then she got into her Corvette, and started it up.

Dax stood beside her car, so she didn’t shut the door. “If he’s coming, he should ride with you,” she said. “God only knows what kind of tracking that asshole Caine has on his Caddy.”

“Okay.”

She looked up at him. “I’m sorry, Dax. I thought I had no choice, and it was all for nothing, and I fell for it like a rookie. And I’m sorry.”

He said, “I am too, Kendra.”

“This is it,” Kiley’s kidnapper said after forcing her to hike what felt like miles uphill, through dense woods and undergrowth. “I told you it wasn’t far.”

“It was far for me.” She wrapped her arms around her belly, as if she could protect the baby. They had reached a shack that looked like it was on the verge of falling down.

There were two men. The one in charge was a tall man, and way too well dressed for hiking through the woods. His suit was shiny. He had dark hair, male pattern baldness, a pock-marked face, and an oddly high-pitched voice. There was another guy with him, a big guy with carrot colored hair and freckles and eyes as cold and heartless as marbles. His name was Phil. The boss was “Mr. Caine.” At least that was how they addressed each other.

They didn’t speak to her much at all, except to give orders. She’d asked over and over what this was all about, but they wouldn’t say.

 “Is that an outhouse, over there?” she asked, pointing at the sturdiest piece of construction in sight.

“Yeah,” Phil said.

“I need it.”

“No.” That was Caine, the boss.

“I’m nine months pregnant. There’s an eight-pound baby sitting on top of my bladder. If I don’t pee in the outhouse, I’m going pee in my pants. You want to smell that the whole time we’re here?”

Mr. Caine studied her for a moment. “Go ahead but uh—don’t try anything.”

She strode to the outhouse, opened its door and poked her head inside. Quick as a minute, she snapped off her smart watch and tucked it behind a board. That way, it could keep beaming her location until help arrived. If these two douchebags found it, they’d smash it.

Then she backed out again. She hadn’t even stepped all the way in. “I’ll just go behind a tree or something. I think there are things nesting in here.”

“Fine, just don’t try anything funny.”

“What am I gonna try? Sprinting through a forest, ten miles from anywhere? Idiot.”

Only, she wasn’t ten miles from anywhere. She’d been trying to pay attention to the landscape as they’d hiked, and she thought she was about a mile from the Falls, and Edie Brand’s place wasn’t far past them. She had that giant dog, Sally, too. Even if no one was home, Sally would protect her.

But Rob would be coming or her. These animals hadn’t hurt her yet. Maybe they didn’t intend to. And Rob would think to trace the watch. He’d be here.

So she didn’t try anything. She went behind a tree, and peed, and found a tissue in her pocket to use. She was pretty sure the muscle, Phil, could see her the whole time, and she didn’t give two nickels about that. He had his gun out, like he’d shoot her if she took off through the woods. So she stroked her belly as she walked back toward him, and sang a lullaby to her baby, and looked him right in his cold marble eyes.

He looked away.