Sweat poured down my back as I slid into the booth. I had no more than an hour before everything crashed down on my head. Gran knew. She wouldn’t come out and say it, but something in her eyes that morning told me all I needed to know.

When she took Zig out to the barn, I knew I wouldn’t get a better chance. I found the black backpack Axle packed for her under the bed in her room. There weren’t too many other places she could have hidden it in there. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I pulled it out and clutched it to my breast. I had a niggling sensation that Gran had wanted me to find it. That she’d set the whole thing up so I could get away. Zig hadn’t wanted to go with her, but she’d pulled on his arm and insisted. She jokingly asked him if he was afraid of a little old lady and gave me a wink as she took him to the barn.

I ran and never looked back. The weather turned brutal as I ran as fast as my legs would carry me down the dirt road away from Gran’s to the main highway. From there, I remembered a gas station just a mile west. I sweet talked my way into a trucker’s cab. God, just a month ago I’d think I was out of my mind to hitch a ride with a perfect stranger. But “Dale” was an old-fashioned Texan with a smile a mile wide. It was his sixtieth birthday and he said my cheery smile was all the present he needed. He took me as far as another truck stop in Corpus Christi and that was as far as I’d push my luck with a stranger.

Heart pounding, I ordered a sandwich and a glass of ice water when the waitress came. How long did I have before Zig realized I was gone? As I pressed my head against the back of the booth, my phone buzzed in my pocket. The answer was not long at all. Axle’s name popped up on my screen and my heart stopped.

I set the phone on the table and watched it skitter across as it vibrated. My guts felt ripped into a million pieces. Axle had been lying to me all along. He knew Junior DiSalvo wanted to keep me from testifying. The club had been dispatched to handle me. Axle was the club enforcer. Oh God.

Had it all been a lie? Every breath? Every kiss? Every moment I’d bared my soul to Axle? Had he just been trying to keep me quiet? It made horrifying sense. How many times had he asked me not to leave Gran’s farm? A dozen? More? Had he just been waiting for the final call from his club president or whoever called the shots for Junior? Then he had me in the perfect spot, tucked away from everyone I knew.

No sooner had the phone stopped ringing before it started up again. Axle was nothing if not persistent. I hit the decline button then blocked his number from my phone. I’d have to get rid of it. Did the club have the power to trace me using my cell phone?

As the waitress brought my food and drink, I thanked her and put a twenty on the table. No matter what happened, I wanted to leave quickly. As soon as she left with it, I unzipped Gran’s bag. Her words echoed in my brain.

“Honey, if you care about my grandson, if you really plan on having some sort of life with him, have a backup plan. There might come a time when you have to make yourself scarce for a while. There’s heat that follows that club and sometimes, people around them get burned by it.”

When she said it all, I had just given her a condescending smile. God. Had she known? Is that what her look had been about this morning? So stupid. I’d been so, so stupid for trusting him.

Gran had very little in her bag. Toiletries, a wad of cash, and a cell phone, the kind you get at the grocery store. I think you called them burner phones. But how could I trust that Axle himself couldn’t trace that phone? I dropped it back in the bag. No, better to get my own when I found the time. I thumbed through Gran’s money clip. She had close to five thousand dollars there in tens, twenties, and hundreds. It made my stomach churn again. It could be Gran’s life savings here. And I’d stolen it. It made me no better than Axle. I dropped it back into the bag and buried my hands in my face.

“You okay, honey?” My waitress came back to the table.

“What? I’m fine. Thank you. I just need some peace and quiet, if you don’t mind.”

She smacked her gum. The girl was probably younger than I was. She had a huge head of dyed red hair and too much blue eyeshadow. But her smile was genuine and she seemed so normal as everything around me swirled with chaos.

“Just give a yell if you need something,” she said, then turned to deal with a booth in the back yelling for more coffee.

I weighed my options. I couldn’t go back to my apartment. No doubt Junior and the club would have eyes there. I couldn’t go home. Sure, Michigan seemed like another planet, but I wouldn’t drag this to my family’s doorstep. Tears threatened to spill but I sniffed them back. I had to keep my head. I had to find a way out.

I fingered the screen on my phone. Maybe I could just start over somewhere else. Hop on a bus to California or Washington State. But for how long? No. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t let Junior or the Dark Saints M.C. steal everything I’d tried to build.

With no other choice, I tapped the phone. Taking a deep breath, I pulled up my recent calls and chose one. All I could do now was pray it was the right thing to do. It had to be. It was the one thing everyone else had tried to stop me from.

“Detective Langley?” He answered on the first ring.

“Yes, ma’am?” he said, his Texas drawl thick.

“It’s Maya Ballard.” I had a speech in my mind but as soon as I got my name out, it died in my throat. The courage I’d mustered threatened to fade.

“Miss Ballard,” he said, sounding deflated with relief. Somehow, it transmitted through the phone and eased my own nerves. “Thank God. Where are you? Are you okay?”

I clenched my teeth and fingered the rim of my water glass. “No,” I finally answered. “I’m not. But I’m hoping you can help me fix that.”

He let out an audible sigh. “I can. Holy hell, I’m glad you called. It’s going to be all right.”

“Detective, I have reason to think I’m in a considerable amount of danger. I believe what you told me about Mr. DiSalvo’s reach. I need to know that you can keep me safe.”

I heard something creak on his end of the phone and guessed that he’d just pushed his chair back. “Well now, I think I can work that out. We’re going to get through this. Okay? You’re doing the right thing. Calling me was the first step. Next, we need to get you off the street. I know it’s not going to be easy after everything you’ve been through, but I need you to trust me for just a little while longer. Can you do that?”

“No,” I said. “I can’t trust you. I can only trust myself. So, here’s how this is going to go. I’ll meet you. Only you. And not in Port Azrael.”

From where I sat, I could see the boardwalk along the North Beach. It was teeming with life. Shoppers and tourists bustled along the narrow walkways and ships pulled into the docks. It was the most open, public place I could imagine and I figured the best I would get.

“Miss Ballard,” he said. “I can send a crew for you. We’ll bring you into the station. You’ll be surrounded by uniformed police officers. I can assure you, that’s as safe as you can be. We’ll find you a safe house. We’ll protect you.”

“Corpus Christi,” I said. “The Beachview Bar. A little bistro near the pier. I’m going to be sitting at a table with a blue umbrella near the aquarium.”

He sighed. “I think I can find it.”

“Good. Sit at the third park bench from the end of the pier. I’ll come to you.”

I clicked off the phone then took the battery out. The waitress nodded at me from across the room. She came to refill my water glass then moved to the other end of the diner.

God. Could I do it? Was I brave enough? Could I even trust Detective Langley? I figured a yes answer to two out of three was the best I was going to get. I got up to go to the bathroom and put another five-dollar bill on the table.

I looked at myself in the mirror, and almost didn’t recognize myself. My face was bronzed from the time spent out in Gran’s garden. My sun-bleached blonde hair had gone platinum white. After today, I would change it. I’d crop it short and dye it red. I’d always wanted to experiment with being a redhead. Maybe I’d ask the waitress what shade she used.

Sweat beaded at my temples. I wiped it away and straightened my back. Now that I’d set on a course, there was nothing to do but follow it. One way or the other, Junior DiSalvo would be in my rearview mirror by the end of the day.

I thought about Cory Kline. He was just a sweet, dumb jock. Working at Cups was probably the best job he’d ever had. His connection to Junior had made him feel important. If things hadn’t ended how they did for him, where might he have been in five years? Ten? Cory had placed his trust in the wrong people and ended up at the bottom of the bay for it. I just prayed my plan would keep me from suffering the same fate, even if it meant Cory might not get the justice he deserved.

I walked out of the bathroom and went to the front door of the diner. I could see the table with the blue umbrella and the benches by the pier. Both were empty now but throngs of people walked by. The clock behind me told me almost forty minutes had passed since I hung up with Detective Langley. Time to make my way to the pier.

I took a zigzag path. Winding my way in and out of some of the tourist shops along the way. I made a point of stopping and picking up merchandise. I asked the clerks in every store a random question. “Do you have this in blue?” “Will this be on sale soon?” Anything. Everything. Just to make eye contact and be seen by as many people as possible.

Finally, I emerged from the shop closest to the bench where I’d told Detective Langley to wait. Although it had been an hour and ten minutes since my call, the bench remained empty. That didn’t alarm me. I knew the traffic between Port Azrael and Corpus Christi on a good day could be hell. It didn’t matter. He’d be here. I waited in the shade at the entrance to one of the stores.

Maybe ten minutes later, I saw a man emerge from one of the other stores. His back was to me but he wore a cheap, dark-brown suit, ill-suited for the blinding heat of the Texas sun on a June day.

Langley.

With his back still to me, he cupped his hand over his eyes and looked out at the water. He never bothered to look at the tables where I’d told him I’d be. My blood turned cold. Why didn’t he look there?

Clutching Gran’s backpack to my chest, I turned. I had no other plan but to recede back into one of the shops and wait until he left. Something didn’t feel right. He never sat on the bench. He never looked for me.

“Shit,” I muttered. Looking left and right, my best shot was to try to blend in with the tourists and hightail it out of there. I could regroup. I could catch a bus or a cab and go anywhere but here.

Someone slammed into my shoulder going the other way, knocking me two steps sideways. I kept going. At the end of the boardwalk, an empty cab waited. Another twenty yards and I could slip inside.

I never got that far. As I crossed the threshold of another shop, a shadow crossed in front of the window. Leather and musk filled my nostrils, making my knees weak.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me back against his chest. Even now, as terror gripped my heart, his hot breath against my cheek stirred me.

“Don’t scream,” Axle whispered. He nipped my ear, sending a shockwave through me.

“Fuck you,” I whispered back. Hot tears spilled down my cheeks.

“We have one chance to get the hell out of here with you in one piece. Keep walking.”

I tried to pull away from him. The crowd I thought would ensure my safety seemed indifferent to the terror gripping me.

“Maya,” Axle said through clenched teeth. “I’m so sorry.”

“Fuck you,” was all I could manage to say.

“Maya. You need to come with me. Right now.”

He let go of me. I whipped around to face him. Axle’s eyes were wild with fear. I couldn’t imagine what mine looked like.

“You’re insane.”

He looked nervously left and right. “Baby, I know what you think. I can explain everything. But right now, you need to come with me. You aren’t safe here. Neither of us are.”

I turned, intending to scream and run. But Axle was faster. He grabbed my arm and pulled me against him. Only this time, I felt the outline of a gun beneath his leather cut. He led me away from the stores and down the alley where he’d parked a black SUV.

“Baby,” he said. “I’m not going to hurt you. But I’m not going to let you go yet either.”

He had a vice grip on my arm and propelled me toward the car. Stumbling, he pushed me into the front seat. I scrambled to the other side and tried to open the door, but it was locked. Axle got in the driver’s seat and drove away as I started to scream.