by Kathy Ivan
She just didn’t know it yet.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“No, I’m happy to help, Mr. Olson. I can meet you there in thirty minutes, if that works for you?”
“Wonderful, Serena. I’ve had my eye on this piece of property for the past three years, and heard they listed it this morning. Didn’t even call me, like they promised, which ticks me off, but what am I gonna do, right? I’m afraid if I wait, somebody is going to snatch it up before I can even see it or make an offer.”
“It’s no problem. I’ll pull the details and contact the agent representing the property, and see what we can do about making a deal, okay?”
“I know I can always count on you, Serena. See you there.”
Serena stared at her phone, feeling a bit guilty. She’d promised Antonio she wouldn’t leave the Big House without one of the Boudreaus or somebody from the sheriff’s department going with her. Ridge was around somewhere, having been dragged into being her babysitter today. She knew she should let him know where she was going, but he’d insist on tagging along, and she didn’t want to upset a client by bringing somebody along on their walk-through. Mr. Olson was a good client, and she’d been dealing with him exclusively since she’d moved to Shiloh Springs. He’d been her very first sale with Boudreau Realty, and they’d done a few transactions since then, mostly with rental properties he owned and the company managed. Between the trip to visit this prospective property and getting back, she wouldn’t be gone more than a couple hours tops. Besides the commission would add a nice chunk to her bank account, and she’d need the money if she had to take off and start over again.
For a second, she contemplated shooting Antonio a text, but he’d try to convince her to stay put. Honestly, she was going a bit stir crazy. Everybody had been over-the-top nice, but being around so many people kept her already frazzled nerves on edge. She was used to living alone, and missed having some quiet time all to herself. Grabbing a pen, she scribbled a quick note, and stuck it to the fridge with one of the cute magnets Ms. Patti collected. With a quick move, she grabbed her purse, shoved the phone inside, and sprinted for the door. So far, so good. No sign of Ridge.
Once on the road, she glanced in the rearview mirror, the Big House fading away in the background. A twinge of remorse assailed her, but she shook it off. Darn it, she wasn’t a prisoner, and she wouldn’t feel guilty for leaving without telling anybody. She was a grown adult, and could come and go as she pleased. Besides, she needed to do her job if she wanted to be able to make her mortgage payment and pay her bills.
Tapping the button on the steering wheel, she turned on the radio. A country music oldie poured forth and she smiled. She’d never admit it in a million years, but since moving to Shiloh Springs, she’d grown to love country music, especially the older stuff. Humming along with the melody, she studied the road ahead. Since it was the middle of the afternoon, there wasn’t a whole lot of traffic to contend with, and she should be right on time for her meeting with Mr. Olson.
She drove a couple of miles, her fingers tapping on the steering wheel to the rhythm of the next song. Staring through the windshield, she noted a car headed toward her. They had to be going to the Big House, because theirs was the only property on this stretch of road from Shiloh Springs. As it drew closer, she noted it was a dark sedan, one she didn’t readily recognize. The Big House had lots of folks coming and going all the time, so it wasn’t unusual she didn’t recognize the car. The Boudreaus were well liked in their community, and people stopped by all the time to talk with Ms. Patti and Douglas.
The sedan continued getting closer and was almost even with her when it swerved into her lane. Her foot slammed on the brake and her car fishtailed on the pavement, swerving sharply to the right. It skittered off the asphalt and onto the rocks and grass bordering the road. Hands gripped tight around the steering wheel, she struggled to straighten the car, and felt a rocking jolt as the other car sideswiped hers. Her body jolted against the seatbelt, and the back end of her car slid down into the culvert beside the road. It lurched to a sudden stop, and the airbags deployed, with an explosion of powder. Her body slammed forward into the airbag, the seatbelt strap taut against her chest.
It took a few seconds for it to sink in, to realize what happened. She blinked furiously, trying to dispel the powder from the exploding airbag, and swatted ineffectively at the deflating fabric. The ringing in her ears obliterated all sound, and she coughed, reaching for her seatbelt. Every move hurt, her body screaming in protest to each movement.
She glanced frantically around the front seat, searching for her purse. Her instincts screamed to find her phone and call for help. The purse lay on the floorboard on the passenger side, its contents spilled and tossed in every direction. Leaning over the center console, muscles screaming in protest, she reached forward, her fingers scrambling for the cell phone. She needed to call for help—she needed Antonio. Too bad the darned thing was out of reach. The tips of her fingers barely brushed against the cool metal case, only succeeding in moving it a little further away.
Straightening in her seat, she took a deep breath, and latched onto the door handle. The other driver, she needed to check and see if they’d been injured. She hadn’t noticed anybody else in the car, but because she hadn’t seen anybody didn’t mean there wasn’t. Everything happened too fast for her to be sure. Pulling on the handle, she pushed, but the door refused to budge. Bracing herself for the pain she knew was coming, she rammed her shoulder against the door, trying to force it open. No use.
Something sticky and wet trickled into her eye, and she touched it. Her hand came away with bright red blood coating her fingertips. Using the back of her arm, she whisked away the dripping blood with her sleeve. Looking around, she tried to figure out how to get out of the car. The windshield was intact, so she couldn’t climb out, and she definitely wasn’t strong enough to break it from the inside. Which meant she had to climb out the passenger side.
Great.
Maneuvering across the center console and onto the passenger seat took a lot longer than she’d thought it would, muscles screaming with every movement, but finally she managed to grab onto the door handle and push the door open. Sliding across the seat, she swung both legs out the open door, only stopping long enough to grab her cell phone.
On shaky legs, she stood, and a wave of dizziness swamped her, and she latched onto the doorframe hoping it would pass. She rubbed absently at the center of her chest, right along where the seatbelt strap hit her torso. It had probably saved from a whole lot worse injuries, but it was beginning to ache.
Bracing herself on the car, she shuffled her way around the back end of the car, slipping and sliding a couple of times on the muddy roadway shoulder. The black sedan who’d hit her blocked both sides of the road, the engine dead. The front of the car faced away from her, and she couldn’t see the driver. Gingerly, she made her way to the passenger side, and peered inside.
A dark-haired man sat slumped over in the driver’s seat, facing away from her. His body rested against the steering wheel. It didn’t appear the airbag had deployed. One arm rested atop the steering wheel, while the other dangled at his side. Knocking on the passenger window to get his attention, she watched, but he didn’t move. Maybe he was unconscious?
Serena made her way around to the driver’s side. The entire front driver’s side was crushed, the wheel well caved in, the tire flattened from the impact. Jagged gouges from the crash scraped along the driver’s door, and she prayed she’d be able to get it open and help the injured man.
“Sir, are you okay?”
The driver slowly raised his head and she got the first clear look at his face and gasped. Mixed feelings of recognition and dread coiled deep inside. Her first instinct was to run away, as fast as her legs could carry her, because once he saw her face, any hope of remaining in Shiloh Springs unrecognized disappeared like a puff of smoke. Despite her trepidation, she couldn’t leave him. What if he was hurt—or worse? Sh
e’d never forgive herself if she ran away and left him to die.
“Jonathan?” As gently as she could, she reached through the shattered window, and eased him back against the seat. He groaned, the sound pain-filled, though she couldn’t see any blood. When he turned to look at her, she saw the moment recognition struck. He tried to move, and moaned in pain.
“Sharon, is it really you? Or am I hallucinating?”
“Sit still, I’m going to call nine-one-one. Help will be here soon.”
“I wouldn’t do that, Sharon.”
She looked up at his words, her fingers hovering over the keypad. The gun in his hand pointed straight at her. She didn’t know a lot about guns, but she’d watched enough television and movies to recognize a nine-millimeter, knew the damage it could do at close range.
“Jonathan, what are you doing? Let me call for help—”
“Toss the phone on the ground. Now. Don’t make me hurt you.” He shoved his shoulder against the car door, and it opened. Keeping the gun trained on her, he unhooked the seatbelt and climbed from the driver’s seat. Instinctively, she took a step back, before stopping in her tracks at his angry scowl.
“I’m won’t ask again, Sharon. Toss the phone on the ground.”
Knowing she didn’t have a choice with the gun pointed at her, she complied. Her gut tensed when he rammed his heel against the phone, crushing it. He gave it a second stomp, making sure the screen cracked beneath his shoe.
I can’t stand here and let him shoot me. I’m not ready to die. Not without ever getting the chance to tell Antonio how I feel.
“What are you going to do? Shoot me in the middle of the street? There’s not a lot of traffic on this road, but it won’t be long before somebody comes by and sees us.”
“I didn’t mean to hit you quite so hard. You’re okay. My car isn’t going anywhere. We’ll have to take yours.” He looked at her Camry, partway off the road on the shoulder, then glanced at his. “It’s a rental, so no big loss. Not in my name, anyway.” He took a step toward her. “You’re a very hard person to find, Sharon. Or is it Serena now?”
“I’ll never be Sharon Berkley again.”
“You’re right, you won’t. Big Jim is very unhappy with you. He wants you dead.”
“And he sent you?”
Jonathan shook his head, chuckling at some private joke. “Hardly. Last time I saw your uncle, I told him where you were. He ordered me to put a hit on you.”
Serena swallowed at his words. If her uncle knew where she was, she was as good as dead. He’d never tolerated anybody going against the family, or more importantly, him. To do so had been the ultimate act of betrayal, and he’d never let it stand.
“You decided to do the job yourself?”
“Nope. Your uncle has gone ’round the bend in a big way. He’s crazy as a loon, and I want out from under his thumb. You’re my ticket to freedom, Sharon, and I intend to cash in, and I’ll never have to deal with Big Jim or anybody like him ever again.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t. Get in the car and I’ll explain everything, but we need to get out of this Podunk town before the locals show up. You drive, since you know the roads, and the quickest way back to civilization.”
Serena’s brain raced, trying to come up with a plan. If she got in the car with Drury, there was a one hundred percent chance she’d end up a corpse. There had to be another option. She took a step toward her Camry. The driver’s door wouldn’t open. She’d had to climb over the center console to get out, which meant Drury couldn’t get the driver’s door open, either.
“You’re going to have to drive. My vision’s still blurry from banging my head, I’m afraid I’ll crash.”
She heard Drury murmur something under his breath, before spinning her around. “Don’t try anything stupid, Sharon. I’ve got nothing to lose at this point, because if your uncle finds out what I’m doing, he’ll kill me right after he slits your throat.”
He shoved her and she stumbled forward, catching herself before face-planting on the asphalt. Drury was steps behind her as they headed around to the passenger side. She only had one shot at this, and her timing had to be perfect. As Drury braced his hand against the door frame and began looking inside the car, she pushed the passenger door closed with all her might, slamming it on his hand. Too bad it wasn’t the hand holding the gun, but she had to hope the pain was enough to distract him.
Drury let out a shout of pain as the door collided with his wrist, cursing a blue streak. Serena didn’t wait around to see what he’d do. Instead, she took off running toward the trees along the side of the roadway. She sprinted between them, her legs pumping, her breath soughing in and out of her chest as she ran. Her only thought—get as far away from Drury as she could and find someplace to hide.
Behind her, she heard footsteps crunching on the ground, the dead leaves littering the dirt magnifying each step. But she didn’t dare stop running, because that meant certain disaster. Drury thought her uncle was insane, but she wasn’t convinced they shouldn’t be sharing side-by-side padded cells in the loony bin. She had no idea where she was headed, but it didn’t matter. The only thought she could focus on was keeping each foot in front of the other, and putting distance between her and the man with the gun.
More curses filled the air, and they sounded a lot closer. Serena didn’t dare look back. He was gaining on her, and even with the adrenaline coursing through her veins, her body was tiring. The trauma from the accident, combined with the sudden burst of activity, rapidly drained what little energy she had left. She struggled to keep running, moving forward.
Must get far away from the man with the gun. I don’t want to die.
Drawing in as much air as she could, she put on a burst of speed, sprinting toward a large patch of overgrown bushes. If she could get behind them, she’d have a chance at hiding. She stumbled forward as her foot caught on something, and landed hard, knocking the air out of her. Yet she struggled to keep going, crawling and dragging her worn-out body the last few feet, until the deep green foliage screened her from Drury’s view. Her palms were crusted with dirt, and she used the back of one hand to swipe at her forehead, which had started bleeding again after her fall.
Frantic, she looked around her, searching from something—anything—she could use as a weapon. It wouldn’t do much good against a nine-millimeter, but she wasn’t giving up without a fight. She wanted to live. She wanted an end to the running and hiding. She wanted a life with Antonio because she loved him. And if she got the chance, she’d make sure he knew how she felt.
Wrapping her hand around a thick branch, she curled up behind the bushes, making herself as small a target as possible. And prayed Antonio would find her—before it was too late.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Antonio’s cell phone vibrated on his belt, where he’d clipped it earlier. He’d turned off the ringer while he met with Rafe. The fewer interruptions the better, because he needed to concentrate on Serena, and figure out a way to extricate her from the mess she was in. SAC Williamson was on his way to Shiloh Springs, at Antonio’s insistence. He wanted to explain Serena’s situation face-to-face, and have the man meet her in person. Let him realize she was more than an FBI file, a case to be closed and shuffled off to those higher up the food chain.
“Hey, Ridge, what’s up?”
“Bro, we’ve got a problem. I came in from the barn, and found a note for you on the fridge from Serena. She’s gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean, she’s gone?”
“She left to meet a client. Says she’ll be back in a couple hours. I swear, I wasn’t in the barn more than fifteen, twenty minutes tops. She must have snuck off while I was there.”
Antonio rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and finger. The headache he’d fought all morning roared into full force, fueled by anger, adrenaline, and fear. Attorneys for the Justice Department had held a press conference earlier, covered by the national
news, stating Big Jim Berkley had been granted a new trial, and the press was having a field day, rehashing all the facts from the previous trial. Serena’s identity wouldn’t be a secret much longer, once the good folks of Shiloh Springs saw the pictures on the internet and on TV of Sharon Berkley. He needed to get to her ASAP.
“Does the note say which client she’s meeting?”
“No. I’m heading out now, see if I can catch up to her.” Worry laced Ridge’s voice. “She knew she wasn’t supposed to go anywhere without one of us. Why didn’t she wait? Or come get me. I wasn’t far away.”
“Do me a favor first. Call Mom’s office, see if they know who she’s meeting. I’ll head toward the Big House, see if I can catch her before she gets too far.”
“Will do. I’ll let you know what I find out.”
Antonio hung up and walked into Rafe’s office. “We’ve got a problem. Serena’s on her way into town.”
Rafe raised a brow. “Ridge with her?”
“Nope. She left a note, saying she needed to meet a client. He found it and called me. I’m going to head back toward home, see if I can catch up to her. Ridge is calling Mom’s office to see if we can determine who she’s supposed to meet. Then he’s going to head this way. Between us, maybe we’ll catch up to her before—”
“Hang on, I’ll go with you.” Rafe grabbed his hat, shoved his cell phone in his pocket, and headed for the door. After a quick conversation with Sally Anne, who was covering the front desk, they piled into Rafe’s car and headed toward the Boudreau ranch.
They rode in silence for several minutes, and the knot in Antonio’s gut grew with each passing mile. He thought he’d convinced Serena to sit tight, let them look out for her, until he and Williamson could figure out how to keep her safe. He hadn’t spoken with Williamson since the news of Big Jim’s new trial broke. Now more than ever it was imperative to keep Serena safe, because her testimony was the only thing keeping Big Jim behind bars, where he belonged.
