Luanne paced along the sidewalk at the desolate roadside rest stop. She eyed the building where the restrooms were housed and shuttered. No way was she using those facilities without a bucket of bleach and a box of rubber gloves. Evidently Jack didn’t have the same hygienic hang-ups as her when it came to bathroom facilities. Why hadn’t he gone to one of those convenience stores that advertise clean restrooms? They were everywhere on the interstate.

The bigger question was, where the hell were they? This rest stop was definitely not on the main road. She specifically remembered there was nothing but straight highway from where they were to Chattanooga when she checked his phone.

She wrapped his too-big jacket around her middle, and watched dark clouds gather in the distance. They must be the reason for the chilly air. Hopefully it wouldn’t start raining until they got to Chattanooga. That was where he’d leave her, then they’d be on their own…and wouldn’t have to deal with each other anymore.

The thought of leaving him alone to complete his task caused her stomach to churn. But her life was falling apart too. She needed time to figure out what to do, and she couldn’t do that if she was constantly vacillating between wanting to wring his neck and jump his bones.

The thorn in her side sauntered from the gray stone building. Jack never walked anywhere—he sauntered, or strode, or swaggered. He shot the paper towel he’d dried his hands on into the garbage can and made it, of course. “Hey, hotshot. My jacket looks good on you. If you ignore the fact that you look like you’re missing your hands.”

It was true. The sleeves hung three inches past her hands.

He knelt to retie his shoe string. “Change your mind about the facilities?”

“No.”

He rose, stretched his arms above his head, and yawned. “You sure? I’ve seen worse.”

The lean muscles of his arms nearly made her forget her point, but when he winked at her she remembered what she wanted to know. “Where are we, Jack?”

“At a rest stop,” he deadpanned.

“You’re like a junior high boy sometimes. You know that, right?” She took a long breath for patience. “I mean, where are we in relation to…anywhere?”

He laughed and ruffled her hair.

She slapped his arm away. “Stop that and answer me.”

He slid his sunglasses on. “We’re about two hours south of there.”

“Har-har. You’re hilarious. Why are we on this country road? The last time I looked at the GPS there was nothing but highway between Chattanooga and us. Now we’re out in the middle of nowhere without another living soul around.”

He straightened and pulled on his lawyer mask. “One, in light of the fact that your father is looking for us, prudence dictates that we take some precautions, namely getting off the main highway. Two, we are not in the middle of nowhere, but even if we were…see my previous point. And, three, there are two living souls in that car right there.” He pointed to an older model, baby-blue Cadillac.

The car came to an abrupt stop next to Jack’s car when the granny driving it ran into the curb. The other senior woman in the car jerked forward with the impact.

Jack gave a low whistle. “That Caddy’s older than the Mayflower and just as big. Looks like something my Uncle Ferris would drive.”

“Fascinating.” She crossed her arms and gave him her best cross-examination glare. “Tell me the real reason you made this detour.”

Her line of questioning was interrupted by the whisper fight the two women were having in front of their car. Oddly, they were both wearing all black from head to toe, including black flat-bill baseball caps and black sunglass, making their lily-white skin and gray hair stand out in sharp contrast. They looked like the Caucasian, geriatric version of Salt n Pepa. That thought made her chuckle. “I wonder if they’ve had car trouble.”

Jack slid his own glasses on top of his head. “I don’t know. I better go see if I can help. I’d hate to see anyone stranded out here, especially two defenseless senior citizens.”

She shook her head as she followed him down the sidewalk. Not five minutes ago, she would have sworn he was only moments from giving her a wedgie, he was acting so immature, and now Jack the Boy Scout was off to rescue two helpless females.

He was a puzzle.

The women had their backs to them, still arguing, and didn’t seem to notice as they approached. “You ladies need any help?” Jake asked.

The women turned at the same time, and Luanne screamed.

* * *

“Hands in the air.”

“Holy shit,” Jack couldn’t believe that one of the helpless grannies had a revolver. The other had a lipstick-sized container of pepper spray, and they were both aimed at them. Jack reached for Luanne and tried to pull her behind him. Of course, she didn’t cooperate and stood her ground.

“I’d appreciate it if you’d watch your language. Bobby’s in the car and foul language upsets him,” the one holding the pepper spray said.

He quickly assessed the situation and knew he could take them, even with Bobby in the car. He turned his charmer’s smile to one hundred watts. “Ladies, we don’t have to do this. Why don’t you get back into your car and drive away, and we’ll forget all about this?”

“I don’t think so. I want your wallet and that fancy watch of yours in this bag by the time I count to ten.” the one with the gun said. “One…”

“Oh, that’s good, Pearl, very menacing,” the other one said.

“June. We’re supposed to be incognito.”

“Darn it, I’m sorry. We did talk about this, didn’t we?”

Pearl made a ya think? face.

“Ah, ladies, if I might interrupt.” Jack started to take a step in their direction. “My wallet’s in the car, I’ll just get—”

“Not so fast, handsome, I’ll take the keys,” June said, and shoved the tiny canister in his face. He noticed the nozzle was pointed back in her direction.

“Jack, do something,” Luanne hissed.

From the corner of his eye he saw his road partner with her hands in the air and his coat sleeves flopped over like dead puppets. It was all he could do not to crack up laughing at the whole crazy situation.

He lowered his hands and straightened to his full height. He had to give it to Bonnie and…Bonnie, they didn’t flinch. “I think this has gone on long enough. We all know you’re not going to shoot us. That thing’s probably not even loaded.”

Without taking her glare from his, Pearl pointed the gun toward a tree ten feet away and fired.

Luanne and June screamed, and Jack cussed when wood splinters flew. From the backseat of the car came a plaintive wail, and up popped a little carrot-top head. He must’ve been three or four.

“Oh, for the love of heaven, Pearl, you woke up Bobby.”

“Nana,” the boy cried.

“I’m right here, Bobby,” June soothed. “Auntie Pearl’s only being silly and making a bunch of racket.”

“I’m sorry, sweetie. I’ll be quieter,” Pearl said to the boy in a sing-song voice. Then she growled to Jack, “Hand it over, right now.”

This was ridiculous. What was going on here? “Give me a second.” His brain churned to put pieces together. There was a kid in the backseat, one armed granny, and the other was about to blind herself if she wasn’t careful. Why? There had to be a reason. That was when he noticed the tires on the car were bald and there were rust spots along the side. The sideview mirror hung at a weird angle from the miles of duct tape wrapped around it. Aw, shit. His conscience was about to get the best of him, and Luanne was going to be pissed. “I’m going to reach into my pocket. Keep your finger off that trigger, Pearl.”

“Jack?” There was a question in Luanne’s voice. Yeah, he didn’t know what the hell he was doing either.

“Alright, slow and easy.” Pearl did take her finger off the trigger but kept the gun leveled on him.

He unhooked his watch and slipped it into the bag, then handed June his keys. Once she had them in her hot little hands she headed for his baby.

“I bet you’ve got one of them fancy cell phones too,” Pearl said.

“In the car.”

Pearl slowly backed away from them and made her way to his most prized possession.

“What about her?” June gestured to Luanne.

Pearl looked Luanne up and down. “Please, his thrift store girlfriend doesn’t have anything we want. I bet she ain’t got a pot to pee in, or a window to throw it out of.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know—”

“Let it go,” Jack said, and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Are you kidding me? You could’ve easily overpowered them.”

He shrugged.

She made a disgusted sound. “If you’re not going to do something about this, then I will.”

He grabbed her arm before she could take a step. “No.”

“No? Have you lost your mind? Everything we have is in that car. We can’t let them take it.”

He glanced at the boy in the back of the car. His spindly arms dangled out of the window, and he was wearing a toddler sized Dallas Cowboys jersey, so old and faded that the numbers on the shoulders were peeling off.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Memories and sympathy sliced through his mind like a serrated blade. “Let ’em have it. It’s only stuff and we can get more stuff. It doesn’t look like they can.”

June walked back to them a little sheepishly. It might’ve been convincing, but now she carried the gun, and it was aimed at them. “I’m sorry for all the trouble. You seem like nice people, and we don’t want to leave you out here with nothin’, so…” She handed him a twenty-dollar bill. His twenty-dollar bill.

“Nana, I hungry,” Bobby whined.

“In a minute, sweetie,” June cooed.

Jack stared at the money, glanced at Luanne’s hopeful face, then looked back at the too-skinny boy. “You know what? Keep it.”