by Lisa Harris
Will sighed. He climbed back into the car and got her belongings, setting the brown bag on the ground and tearing it open so she could fish out whatever she wanted one-handed. Hollis sat beside it and rummaged.
“Good?”
“Huh?” She looked up. “Oh. Yes, thank you.”
Still determined to hide things from him? He had no idea what she wanted, or how she felt. He’d have to ask her later. Not that he cared. She needed to be in custody, preferably in one piece, even if that meant she was in cuffs at the hospital. He figured she needed at least a brace, if not a cast, on her arm. Was it broken or simply sprained?
Will had the flash drive in his jeans pocket, so it didn’t matter what she did. He had the evidence he needed.
Sure, he had to ignore the pang he felt from acknowledging that someone he was attracted to, and so badly wanted to care for right now, was a criminal. He needed to get her to Eric. That was all. Special Agent Cullings would decide what to do with her. Will planned to call his dad and take a vacation while the charges were filed. He didn’t want to be there.
This was hard enough. Will might have failed to realize in time that the truck intended to run them off the road. He wasn’t going to fail to get her to the FBI.
“What are you looking for?”
“Apart from gum?”
He pressed his lips together.
“I thought you were getting help, Mr. FBI Hero.”
What was that supposed to mean? It wasn’t like he was a good guy. Why else would he be an undercover agent? All the straight-laced, clean-cut, Ivy League guys worked in their offices, taking down white-collar criminals. Will had never been that guy. He was the scholarship kid. The Army brat. He mostly figured they’d taken pity on him. Then they funneled him into undercover work, and he quickly figured out why.
He was too rough for the kind of work where he’d be visible to mainstream society. Will was much better suited to donning a persona and talking his way into gangs. Biker clubs. Mercenary groups. He’d been so many different people over the past ten years, he had no idea who he’d be if he went on vacation.
Will tried again to scramble up the embankment. It took a couple of attempts, but when he reached the top, he looked back at Hollis. Triumphant. She wasn’t looking at him. She just sat there waiting for rescue. Looking around like this was a sightseeing trip, or she had all day to wait.
Maybe she did. He was the Fed here, and she was the criminal in custody. If he didn’t take her in, she could escape. Hollis would probably disappear into the distance, and he’d never find her again.
Will would never know the truth.
He turned to see the area. A semi roared down the highway, too fast for him to wave his hand in time and get them to see. Who would stop for them? If he could get a phone, then he could call Conroy or Eric and get a ride here to pick them up.
A car engine turned on.
What? Will found the source of the sound. A blue car…one he’d seen before. Following them, right behind the truck that hit them. Two vehicles? He’d dismissed the idea at the time. After all, why would more than one car be in pursuit? That didn’t make sense.
The blue compact inched toward him.
Will saw the gun barely in time. A shot cracked. He flung himself out of the way, but since the embankment dipped sharply, he wound up flying over the edge to land on the soggy grass at the bottom, beside their useless car.
Hollis’s cry of alarm rushed in his ears. Will scrambled up and went to her, gathering her purse as he said, “We’ve gotta go.”
He helped her up. She shook her head, glancing around. “What’s going on?”
“They’re still here, making sure we don’t get out of here alive. And they have a gun.” He shoved her to the far side of the embankment. “Go. We have to run.”
Chapter Nine
One of her boots slipped down the incline. Hollis planted her knee, shifted her purse onto her shoulder, and scrambled up. Will’s hands grasped her waist and together they crested the top.
A gunshot blew out a chunk of tree to her left.
Hollis squealed. She lifted her working arm to shield her head and they ran.
“Go right.”
She responded to Will’s order as fast as she could, so thankful she’d forced herself to exercise every day after she got off work the last year or so. Otherwise she would probably already be dead. They should put that in the tag line for a workout plan. She’d pay whatever they were charging.
“Now left.”
She did it, but asked a breathy, “What?”
“Change directions.” He pushed out a breath. “Makes you harder to hit.”
Still, the gunshots kept coming. “Are they chasing us?”
He looked back. “I don’t see them. But keep going. I’m not taking any chances.”
They ran what was probably another half mile through the wooded area around town. If they were even still close to it at all. Given how far they’d gone, Hollis had to believe they were miles from Last Chance. The open land, trees, and mountains—scary caves—stretched for nearly fifty miles. Hopefully they wouldn’t have to walk a marathon or more just to get help.
She’d have a blister by then. Add that to her broken arm. At least she’d thrown up the contents of her stomach. Also, it kind of felt like she had a blister already, but to be fair, she had worse problems to worry about right now.
She hissed out a breath.
“We can slow down.”
She held her right wrist against her stomach with her left hand.
“You okay?”
She glanced back, but saw only trees. No movement. Not even a scared animal racing away. “Now that I’m less occupied, my wrist hurts. A lot.”
“Do you think it’s broken?”
Hollis groaned. “I hope not. I have no idea what that’s supposed to feel like. I’ve only ever broken my toes. Never any big bones.”
“Really?” He walked alongside her. “Never?”
She shrugged. “Nope.”
“Wow.” He grinned, face flushed. Skin smeared with grit from the road, which she was absolutely not going to brush away with her good hand.
Maybe if this was Phil she’d have done it. But the lying, weasely FBI agent who’d arrested her didn’t deserve even that much kindness. Never mind that he’d recently saved her from being shot.
“Why do you look mad now?”
Hollis glanced at the terrain in front of them. To the left, it angled up. The top was snowcapped since they were high enough in elevation to get those gorgeous white flakes in October. She was just glad it never snowed in town where she’d actually have to deal with them. The air was chilled, but that was fine with her because exertion and pain had left her sweating.
She thought over the contents of her purse and whether anything would actually be useful to get them out of this mess in one piece. Or if she even had the energy to dig around for something.
Will sighed. “Why do I feel bad that you’re mad at me? Like I should apologize, or something.”
“Maybe you should.”
He was quiet for a moment. Then finally, he said, “Maybe we should just not talk about that. First priority is getting to a phone, or finding a ride out of here.”
She could see that being a good idea. Better than arguing while they were out here, exposed. No food. No water.
She motioned to the southeast. “We should head in that direction.”
It wasn’t like there was a trail out here. Or any property boundary lines. This was all Bureau of Land Management acreage. Maybe they could find a ranger station. Get help by using a radio—and raid the snacks.
As if on cue, her stomach rumbled.
Will chuckled. “I second that.” He rubbed his own abdomen, and she studied him out the corner of her eye until he said, “What?”
“You just…look different, I guess.” She wasn’t sure why she’d said that, or even how to explain. “I got used to Phil.”
“Bec
ause you could control him. You knew where you stood, and that he’d do what you wanted.”
“That was really who you wanted to be in the relationship? You could have chosen any persona, and that’s what you chose?” Never mind that he thought she’d been all about Phil purely because she wanted someone she could manipulate. He’d played a part in all this as well.
He shrugged. “It served a purpose.”
Gah. Why did he have to tie her up in knots? So what if he was right. She hadn’t manipulated Phil, but he’d been a safe place where she didn’t have to face anything she didn’t want. Maybe too safe. She’d been content to leave, if only because she felt the need to start over somewhere no one could tie her up and drag her down.
Hollis was done drowning.
It was time to swim.
“Yeah.” She lifted her chin and tried to sound cold, like she’d only been after what she wanted in the relationship. “I guess it did. And now it’s done.”
Let him think she didn’t care. That she’d, in her own way, been using Phil as much as he’d been using her. She wasn’t going to mull over whether or not that was true. It was done, so she might as well let it go. Focus on what was right in front of them instead.
Like the fire road they were coming up on.
Her shoe was beginning to seriously rub on the back of her right foot. Given how much her wrist hurt, it didn’t factor too much on her list of priorities. But she was going to retitle the mental list. Instead of “Problems,” she figured she could call it “Things Will Briar Did to Ruin My Life.” Might not mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but it was pretty satisfying.
“There it goes again.”
Hollis ignored his assessment of her mood. “You’re the one who agreed we should leave it alone. So, don’t bother bringing it up again. I think you’ve done enough already, considering we’re lost in the middle of nowhere with no way to get back to Last Chance and armed men right behind us.”
“I know.” His tone was dark, but a whole lot softer than she’d have thought. “I could use a weapon to defend us right about now.”
She stopped. That inventory she’d done of her purse.
Will swung around and faced her.
Hollis held one strap of her purse open with her good hand. “Inside zipper pocket.”
He lifted one eyebrow. “What am I going to find?”
Scary girl things, no doubt. But also, something helpful. “Small canister.”
He tugged it out with minimal rummaging. “Pepper spray?”
She grinned up at him. “Pepper spray.”
“This is good. Thanks.” He didn’t break their locked gazes, just stayed there with his body close enough so she could feel the warmth of him even though they weren’t touching. Finally, he said, “How is your arm?”
“Can you get that white bottle at the bottom?” She had drugstore pain meds. Even if they did nothing to cut down on the pain, she still wanted to give the full dose a try. Hollis winced. She’d have to swallow them without water.
He shook a few pills into her good hand.
She threw them back and gagged a couple of times, but managed to get them down. “Yuck.” Hollis shuddered.
“We should keep going.” And yet, he hadn’t moved.
Hollis strode around him. She headed toward town, refusing to care how long this was going to take. Or that she should probably have also had him get a bandage from the little First Aid kit she had in the side pocket. But the irritation in the back of her foot was a good trick to remind her she shouldn’t get comfortable. This man had arrested her.
He actually thought she was West. Which was crazy.
She might not have done everything right, and she might have people in her life who were prepared to do whatever they wanted—regardless of the legality of it—but that didn’t mean she was like them.
Which was exactly why she’d been prepared to leave town. To get away from all the negative influences.
Until Frankie was kidnapped.
Hollis looked at the sky, fighting back tears. She’d just tell him it was about her wrist if he asked. Will didn’t need to know. He was a cop, and she wasn’t supposed to tell any of them what was going on. She’d have to get that flash drive back from him—how, she had no idea. Then, she needed to charge her phone.
After that, she’d contact them and find out what she was supposed to do to get him back, now that everything had gone wrong.
And why hadn’t she figured it would all fall apart? Everything else in her life did, so why not this too? Hollis scoffed aloud. She was such an idiot. Of course it would get messed up. The worst would happen.
It always did.
This was probably just some kind of cosmic justice directed at her for trying to leave and find a better life. If she believed the world worked like that, which she wasn’t sure she did. Hollis had tried to fit in at the church. She’d even tried to join the choir, wearing her nicest clothes. That old church lady had taken one look at Hollis’s knees and curled her lip. Then she’d commented, something about loose women.
Hollis hadn’t gone back.
Her life was supposed to have gotten better, and it had not.
When Frankie had been kidnapped, she’d told only her mom. And then not only had Will been beaten, but her diner was set on fire, and she was arrested. Hollis didn’t know if there was one perpetrator in all that, but if there was, she’d point her finger squarely at her mother.
Like always.
When her phone was charged, after she spoke with the kidnappers and figured this out, Hollis needed to have a serious chat with her mother.
The ground dipped to a stream in front of her. Probably shin deep, maybe to her knees. She’d bet it was ice-cold snow runoff. Just thinking about going in made her shudder, but Hollis didn’t see a way across.
“Let me.” Will moved around her. Mr. Special Agent assessed the situation, walking down the bank, until he said, “We can cross here.”
She went to see what he’d found. Several big boulders. “Those look slippery.”
“Maybe so, but unless you want to add drenched to your list of ailments—as well as freezing and injured—these are our best bet.”
“I don’t gamble.”
He lifted one eyebrow, but said nothing. “I’ll go first, just in case.”
Hollis just waited. If he wanted to play the hero, that was fine with her. When he tumbled over and was swept downstream, she would continue on without him. No point trying to find him when her time would be better served going for help and leaving his rescue to the professionals.
Keep telling yourself you don’t care about him.
She didn’t, so that was fine.
Will could go his way, and she would go hers. Though, if he arrested her again, that might be difficult. Maybe it was better to just ditch him somewhere. Get away, figure this out. She could talk to his FBI colleague afterwards and explain everything. Prove her innocence.
But she couldn’t do that with Mr. Undercover here trying to take her in. Determined to believe what was on the flash drive was more than a fabrication—someone’s attempt to implicate her.
She could keep herself safe. Especially if there was even a tiny chance Will had something to do with it. After all, she’d been given a flash drive of false evidence, and he just happened to find it? That was way too much of a coincidence.
She had to do this alone if she was going to stop the kidnappers from killing Frankie.
“Seems sturdy enough.” He took another step. The boulder shifted. Will held his arms out to steady his balance. Waiting to see if he was going to fall, or if the boulder would hold.
Hollis cut right and ran along the bank, desperation fueling every step.
She had to get away from him.
“Hollis!”
She didn’t stop. She just kept running.
Chapter Ten
Will shifted to go after her. His boot slipped on the boulder, and he overcorrected. He shifted
his body upstream so he didn’t wind up falling downstream and getting swept away. He hit the water and hissed as his knee and one hand landed in the freezing stream. Will had just enough wherewithal to keep the pepper spray can out of the water.
He didn’t need to lose his only weapon.
The cold was a shock that eclipsed all thought, but he forced his mind to keep moving. Hollis. Thinking of her got him through it.
He scrambled up and got out of the water. Will’s entire body shuddered, but he shook it off. It occurred to him he probably looked like a dog shaking off water. Why was he thinking of such nonsense right now?
Get moving.
He took off after her, boots squishing in the soft embankment beside the stream. She’d seriously ditched him. Will could hardly believe she’d waited until he got halfway across and then just raced away, leaving him alone in the middle of nowhere. Staying together was better. Even if they were at odds with each other.
Now she was so far ahead that he could barely make her out.
The woman was a fast runner, he had to admit that surprised him. Sure, she’d walked without complaint or tiredness so far. She ran for her workouts—she’d told Phil that. He pushed through all the fatigue and lingering aches and went after her. Annoyance and frustration fueled him, providing the energy he needed to try and run faster than her.
Will had to face the fact then that he was probably just a bull-headed special agent. One who had misjudged this woman. Not that she’d proven to be more heinous than he thought. No, but she’d surprised him. Hollis had stuck with him. She’d run from bullets with him. She could have used that pepper spray on him, but she hadn’t.
She’d given it to him instead. So that he had a weapon if he needed one.
But why give up her only weapon? Unless she knew she was in no danger.
The thought spurred him on. The men chasing the two of them? They might be trying to rescue her, not hurt her. She would get away. From him, as well as getting away from the consequences of her actions. Whatever they had been, she clearly saw a reason to ditch him and keep her secrets intact.
