Chapter Four
She woke to darkness, head pounding, stomach roiling, arms and legs bound. A cloth covered her entire head. Her mind felt fractured, her thoughts so chaotic that for a moment she feared she had amnesia. Did she know her name? Yes, yes. She was Gabriella Mendoza. Her parents, beloved and long dead, had been Javier and Meredith. The evil and powerful Luis Mendoza was her grandfather. Carlos, her brother, was rapidly following in their grandfather’s wicked footsteps.
So she didn’t have amnesia. Where was she? What had happened? Her memory was still blurred. Men had attacked them. The bodyguards had been knocked out. She and Carlos had been abducted. Was her brother here with her, too?
She struggled against her bonds. Even as her mind told her to stay quiet until she figured things out, she couldn’t stop the whimpers of distress.
“Relax,” a gruff male voice said. “You’re safe.”
Two observations hit her at once. She was in a vehicle—she could feel the vibration of movement beneath her back. She was lying on a cushioned seat, likely the backseat of the car. And she didn’t know the voice of the man. He’d spoken Spanish, but his accent held a slight oddity to it. He was an American. Why would—
If her hands had been free, she would have slapped her forehead for her stupidity. The truth of what was going on finally penetrated her fogged brain. She hadn’t been kidnapped for nefarious reasons. This was her rescue. The deal she’d made months ago. The abduction she had arranged and anticipated had finally taken place.
She moved her shoulders to ease the tension and then stiffened again. Her purse. When she’d walked out of the building, her purse had been draped over her right shoulder. Where was it now? With her hands bound and her eyes covered she had no way of searching.
“Do you know what happened to my purse?”
“It dropped on the ground when we grabbed you. Did you have medication inside it? Something you have to have?”
“No…no. Nothing like that.” Behind the hood, Gabby squeezed her eyes tight but tears seeped out anyway. The photos of her parents, her mother’s necklace. Getting them back would be impossible. It had been all she’d had left of them.
She drew in a breath, then another one. Crying over what could not be changed was pointless. Her parents were in her heart. The memory of their love would remain within her forever.
She had to look to the future. Everything would be all right. No, she didn’t know the name of the man who’d spoken. No, she didn’t know where she was going. And no, she had no clue what her future held. But one thing she did know was that she now actually had a future. One that didn’t involve her grandfather’s autocratic rule or his cruel schemes.
She was free from the Mendoza curse. At last.
Even though she was lying in the backseat and he couldn’t even see her, Wyatt sensed the tension leave Gabriella’s body. They’d had to make the abduction as realistic as possible. When witnesses were questioned and the guards found, all would report that masked men with powerful-looking guns had abducted Gabriella and Carlos Mendoza. No one would suspect that Gabriella had been the one to instigate the event. Carlos was headed back to the United States, where he would finally face justice. And Gabriella? He didn’t have a clue, but if he knew Grey Justice, the man had an agenda for her, too.
“Could I know your name?” she asked in perfect English, with only a trace of a British accent.
“No.”
She drew in a sharp breath and didn’t breathe for several seconds. His answer had startled her, but having her fearful was all right for now. She needed to be alert and on guard. Just because they had come this far didn’t mean they were out of danger. She needed to be wary—even of him. He was not her savior.
“Could I at least remove the hood?”
“It’s best for both of us that you can’t see. Be assured you’re all right.”
“I’m having difficulty breathing.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Shouldn’t I be the judge of whether I’m breathing fine or not?”
He grinned, pleased. She didn’t sound scared anymore. She sounded decidedly aggravated.
“We’ll be at our destination soon. You can take it off then.”
“Where are we going? How do I know you are who you say you are?”
“I didn’t say who I am.”
She went silent, and he knew he had made her afraid again. Strange, but he felt bad about that. Couldn’t be helped, though. He was doing the job he’d been paid to do. Mollycoddling his captive wasn’t part of the op. When he heard a slight noise that sounded like a soft whimper, he relented. “You’re going to be fine. No one will hurt you.”
“Thank you.”
Wyatt wasn’t known for his kindness, but he was human enough to want to reassure her. Besides, the last thing he needed was for her to panic and try to escape.
This time of night, with the exception of the occasional trucker, the two-lane highway was empty. He was making good time and should be at their destination ahead of schedule.
What lay ahead for his passenger once they reached the drop-off place wasn’t something he would speculate about. She would be out of his hands and someone else’s responsibility. The fact that Justice had advised him to take extra care with her was an indicator that she was under the man’s protection. Despite the need to distance himself from any kind of softness, Wyatt was glad she would be safe. The instant before he’d covered her head with the black hood, he’d glimpsed a surprising vulnerability in her dark brown eyes. Surprising, since her family was some of the worst scumbags in this world. Had Gabriella Mendoza managed to escape from that evil? Or was that, like everything else in this world, just a lie?
Headlights in his rearview mirror barely gave him a warning. A loud speaker blared the dire words, “Pull over or die.” A blast of piercing light exploded, almost blinding him.
Wyatt slammed his foot to the accelerator and growled, “Stay down.”
He kept one eye on the road, another on the rearview mirror as he pressed a button on his steering wheel. The moment the call was answered, he said, “I’ve got trouble.”
“Where are you?”
“Route 23. About ten minutes away from the drop-off.”
“I’ll head your way.”
The call ended. Wyatt knew not to go to the original destination. Best he could do was outrun them until backup arrived.
“Are you going to pull over?”
The soft, quivering voice coming from the backseat barely penetrated Wyatt’s consciousness. His concentration lay on staying alive and on the road.
“No. Just stay down and keep quiet. You’ll be fine.”
“That voice belongs to a man named Horatio Powers. He’s in charge of my security. He won’t give up.”
“Yeah…well, I’m not big on giving up either.”
Wyatt adjusted the rearview mirrors to block out as much of the piercing light as possible. If he could elude them, he would. He had his doubts that would be possible, but he’d do his dead-level best.
Luis Mendoza would not want his granddaughter injured, of this he was sure. They wouldn’t shoot at them while the Jeep was moving, and since he wasn’t about to pull over, he figured they’d just follow him until he had to stop. The man coming would take Gabriella to the safe house, and Wyatt could leave her in the capable hands of her protector.
The SUV behind him lightly bumped the Jeep. Wyatt cursed. They might not be willing to kill Gabriella, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try to run him off the road. If that happened, he was a dead man. No way would they allow him to live.
“Do you have a gun?”
The question startled him. “Yes, but shooting while driving on an icy unfamiliar road isn’t—”
“I can shoot.”
“You?”
“You needn’t sound so surprised. I am proficient in many things.”
“Okay, sit up and lean forward so I can uncover your head.”
She popped up, and Wyatt reached back and jerked the hood from her head. He didn’t have to look at her to see the relief she must feel.
“Turn around so I can untie you.”
It was a little tricky with one hand, but he had her hands loose in a matter of seconds. Pulling his secondary weapon from his ankle holster, he handed it to her. “This is a SIG Sauer with a—”
“No need for instruction. I know its capabilities.”
Impressed at her calmness, he put both hands back on the steering wheel and glanced in the rearview mirror. “Hopefully, you won’t have to use it.”
“I don’t care what they try. I am not going back. I’ll take death over returning.”
Gabby took a brief second to look around and get her bearings. They were on a two-lane, winding road. It was midnight dark, but the spotlight from the truck behind them cast a brilliant glow. Her vision wavered. She squinted at the vehicle, cursing the drugs she’d been given. She had bragged about her proficiency with a gun, and while her claim was true, she wasn’t sure she could hit the broad side of a slow-moving train in her condition.
The interior of their vehicle was so bright that she knew if anyone had been trying to kill them, they’d be easy targets. Fortunately, her grandfather’s men wouldn’t shoot for fear of her getting hurt by a stray bullet or a car wreck.
“How much farther to our destination?”
“Doesn’t matter. I can’t lead them to where we’re going. We’ll keep going until we—”
As abrupt as a light switch, bright lights exploded from the opposite direction. A cellphone buzzed. The man behind the wheel pressed a button. A voice that was gravelly low and hard as steel said, “In three seconds, switch to the other lane. Three. Two. One. Now!”
Before Gabby could ask what was going on, the man behind the wheel had switched lanes and the oncoming car was now heading straight toward the SUV carrying her grandfather’s men.
Kneeling on the seat, she looked out the back window, watching in horror. “What is he doing?”
“Playing chicken.”
“He’s going to get himself killed.”
His eyes on the rearview mirror, he growled a low curse. “Probably someday.”
The two vehicles came closer and closer to each other. Seconds from crashing head on, the SUV swerved off the road and disappeared down a steep embankment. The car with the daredevil driver jerked to a stop and made a U-turn in the middle of the road.
The voice spoke again. “Let’s go ahead and make the exchange up ahead.” This time, he sounded bored, maybe a little annoyed. She was supposed to get in the car with him? This man who’d had the nerve to play chicken with her grandfather’s men?
They traveled a few more yards and then pulled into a clearing on the side of the road. The other man pulled in behind them.
The adrenaline rush now draining from her body, Gabby felt the world whirling around her. Drugs, along with fear and exhaustion, were rapidly taking their toll. She told herself she couldn’t let go. She didn’t know these people. Just because they had helped her escape didn’t mean they didn’t have their own agenda. She needed to stay alert and wary.
The door beside her opened, and she looked up into eyes the color of dark green moss. A memory hovered, just out of reach. Her blurred brain reached frantically for it, as if letting her know this was important information.
Without a word, the green-eyed man extended a hand. Gabby took it, vaguely noting how warm, large, and rough it seemed as she was pulled from the backseat.
Her feet touched the ground, and despite her self-lecture about staying awake and aware, she collapsed into the man’s arms. She was conscious only long enough to hear the man say, his gruff voice sounding slightly amused, “Hello, princess.”