“Exactly. She’s got to be behind everything.”
“I still have a ton of questions.”
“Let’s get Heather back so we can get some answers.”
Travis stared at the empty road in front of them and despaired once more of that happening.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
Heather gripped the seatbelt Gina had told her to put on. Not out of any concern for her safety, but most likely as a restraint. Gina held her weapon in her lap, her left hand still aiming it at Heather while she drove with her right. The roads had turned icier and she had to go slow even with the chains.
“Where’s the shirt?” Gina asked.
“In my closet.”
“Don’t lie to me! It wasn’t there.”
“How do you know? Was that you in my room the night of the party?”
“No.”
“Then who? Sam or Donnie?”
Gina cut her a sideways glance. “Donnie.”
“The shirt was there. It’s just in a box in the top right-hand corner.”
“Of course it is,” Gina muttered.
“How do you know him?”
“He was a friend of Brad’s. And just as angry as I was that Brad was killed the way he was. We were talking one night, and I told him that Benny didn’t deserve to live. He needed to die.”
“So, you tried to kill him by forcing a kid to wear a bomb,” Heather whispered, her stomach turning at the bitter hatred pouring from the woman. A woman she had trusted. That she had considered to be a friend.
“I did. If I’d had more time, I could have probably found a suicide bomber who would have done it voluntarily, but you can’t just put an ad in the paper for one of those, can you? And I needed to do something fast. I was at a café one afternoon and saw the family on the street. I could tell the older boy adored the younger. I figured he’d do pretty much anything for him.”
“Including die.”
“Yes. But we see how well that worked out, don’t we?” She shook her head and her jaw twitched. “Do you know what it took to set that up? All of my careful work and planning, and he didn’t follow through. If I hadn’t already released his brother, I would have had him killed too.”
“You were with us on the trip. You’d just gotten back. You had no time to release anyone.”
“Money talks. You know that as well as I do. It only took a phone call.”
True. Unless Gina gave a name, she’d never know who’d been willing to do her bidding. “Just like it took a phone call to detonate that bomb.”
“I couldn’t believe it when I stepped out of the tent and saw him warning you. If I’d been two seconds later, he would have had that bomb off of him . . .”
“So, you just pressed the button.”
“I did.”
The woman was a monster. But she hadn’t always been that way. She’d fought as hard as Heather to save patients.
Heather shut her eyes, trying not to envision everything Gina was saying.
“Anyway, when I said Benny Silver needed to die, Donnie asked me how much it was worth to make that happen. I told him to name his price. It took quite a bit of Brad’s death benefits.”
“You paid him money you got from the Army for Brad’s death?”
“I did. Once Donnie told me it was done, all was well. I was moving on, finally had some peace that Benny was dead and Brad was avenged. And then the night of the party, I overheard you talking about that shirt. Brad’s favorite. The one I gave him the day he asked me to marry him. He loved that shirt, and I thought it fitting that his murderer would be killed by the person wearing it. I thought it had been destroyed when the bomb went off. I saw him take it off, but I . . .”
“You were watching.”
“Of course. And I saw him take the shirt off and warn you, but—”
“But you were so busy blowing up a teenager, you didn’t notice he’d dropped the shirt.”
Gina slapped the wheel and Heather jumped. “Don’t say it like that.”
“How do you want me to say it, Gina?” The woman didn’t answer, and Heather let out a shuddering breath. “No wonder you left the party early.”
“I was in shock, panicked. I had to figure out what to do. One thing I knew, I had to find that shirt and find it fast. It was the only thing that tied me to that kid—to the bombing. If you flashed that shirt around or even wore it, and someone remembered it was Brad’s—” She stopped and shook her head. “I couldn’t take the chance.”
“So you called your friend Donnie to come help.”
“And he was more than willing—for a price, of course.”
Heather processed the fact that Gina wasn’t even trying to hide what she’d done. Which meant Gina didn’t plan to let her live much longer. “You set all of this up. This elaborate . . . whatever . . . just to find that shirt?”
“I had to get it back.”
“That kid had a family who loved him, and you used him like he was nothing.” It was unfathomable.
“Shut up! Just shut up! I need to think!”
Heather sat silent for a moment. She needed to think as well. The longer she stayed in the car, the farther away she’d get from Travis and help. They were no longer on the ranch property, but if she calculated their location correctly, they were on the road that ran parallel to the north side of the ranch.
She rested her arm on the door next to the window and let her hand dangle near the handle. She’d have to hit the lock button with her thumb and pull the handle with her other hand. Unfortunately, Gina was driving too fast now for Heather to risk it. If she broke a bone during her escape, it would be for nothing. Hopefully, the snow would soften the landing. “How long have you been planning all of this?”
“All of this? Just in the last few days. Revenge against Benny Silver and that blasted hospital that let Brad die? Since the day I learned it was friendly fire.”
“Brad’s death was an accident, Gina. A tragic, awful accident.”
“Which doesn’t make Brad any less dead or make his mother hate me any less, does it?”
“No, it doesn’t.” She was coming down to the now-or-never timing. She had to get out of the car. A plan had formed, but would it work? Keep her talking. Distract her. “Donnie was waiting in my closet that night, wasn’t he?”
Gina laughed. A harsh, humorless sound that scraped up Heather’s back like fingernails on a chalkboard. “Yes. He texted he couldn’t find the shirt, so I told him to grab you and bring you to me. I’d get you to tell me, then Donnie would . . . take care of you while I went and got the shirt.” Her lips tightened and she shot Heather a narrow-eyed glare. “Only you ran. What tipped you off?”
“The clothes on my couch were moved. They looked off, along with a few other things. The big thing was my bedroom door was almost shut. Barely cracked. I always leave it wide open. My nerves were screaming at me that someone was in there. So I ran.”
“Of course you did.”
“One of the big things was the picture on my refrigerator. Donnie had drawn little red dots on all of my friends’ foreheads.”
“He did what?!”
Heather raised a brow. “Yes. Between that and the cracked bedroom door, I wasn’t hanging around to find out what was going on.”
“What an idiot.”
“That’s the pot calling the kettle black, isn’t it?” Before Gina could respond, Heather thought of another question. “You put the trackers on the cars.”
“I had to find you. I figured one of them—probably the lovesick Travis—would lead me to you.”
Heather’s heart clenched at Travis’s name. She could only pray he was looking for her. Again. Gina’s betrayal burned and fury bubbled beneath the fear. But it all made sense. Everything pointed to someone who knew her well. She just hadn’t been able to pinpoint anyone who could have that much evil in them. “You were supposed to be at the cabin, but you never showed up. Why not?”
“I had just started that s
tupid job that I had to take because all of my money went to hiring people to take care of things for me. I was getting ready to leave when my boss came in and told me he needed me to work an extra shift.” She huffed a short laugh. “I tried to get out of it, but he said if I didn’t stay, not to bother coming back. I stayed. I called Donnie and he was angry, but when I mentioned I couldn’t pay him if I didn’t do the shift, he changed his tune pretty quick.”
Heather leaned forward slightly, like her stomach hurt, but in truth, was hiding the fact that she’d released the seatbelt.
“What are you doing?”
“My stomach is in knots. Are you surprised? I’m a little stressed.”
When Gina glanced at her, Heather looked out the windshield. “Watch out!”
Gina stomped the brake and jerked her head back around. The chains grabbed the ice and the truck skidded but slowed enough. Heather jammed her thumb against the unlock button and pulled the handle. Going with the motion of the suddenly slowed vehicle, she threw herself from the seat. She hit the snow-covered asphalt hard, but nothing broke. She rolled to the edge of the road, scrambled to her feet, and dashed into the woods.
Gina’s screams echoed behind her, as well as the woman’s exit from the vehicle and the crunch of her footsteps over the snow and brush. However, Heather kept going, not looking back, focused on getting away. Heart pounding, adrenaline pumping through her, she aimed for Travis’s ranch and prayed she was going in the right direction. When he’d shown her around the property, he’d pointed out the property lines—including the road Gina had been on.
Once again, she placed one foot in front of the other, begging God to protect her. Travis had to know she was missing at this point. Didn’t he?
Oh, please, know I’m missing.
“I’m going to kill you!”
Over the blowing wind, Gina’s shout echoed too close. Heather’s footprints would lead Gina right to her if she didn’t do something. A childhood game of hide-and-seek in the snow flashed through her mind. She had nothing to lose. She ran in one direction, then backtracked in her footprints and darted behind a massive tulip tree, planting her back against it. The brief snow squall that had lessened visibility was letting up. Maybe the wind was a blessing in disguise—she could only pray the swirling new snow made it harder to see her footprints.
While her heart thundered in her chest, she pulled in three deep breaths and listened.
Nothing but the wind.
Gina must have stopped to listen as well.
Okay then. That was good, right? That meant Gina had lost her. Maybe?
Heather darted to the next tree. Then the next. The trees weren’t too thick in this area. From her current hiding spot, she could see the pasture. But she couldn’t make it all the way across there to the house without Gina having the opportunity to put a bullet in her back.
The crackle of underbrush kept her moving.
“Stop now or I’ll go down to that house and shoot everyone in it!” Gina’s enraged shout spurred Heather on.
No she wouldn’t. Gina couldn’t take the chance that Heather would manage to slip away and find a phone. Like the one in the barn. Or the bunkhouses.
Heather ran along the tree line, surprised she wasn’t gasping for breath at this point. Maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was the knowledge that if she stopped, there would be no hope for escape. Whatever the reason, she headed for the nearest path that would lead her up and hopefully to a place where she could hide.
When she found the trail, she scrambled along it, dislodging rocks and other debris in her climb, sometimes slipping and having to catch herself. Her hands felt like blocks of ice, and she quickly huffed a warm breath of air on them before continuing her way up.
She made a point to deviate from the path every so often in order to stay behind the protection of the trees. However, she could still hear Gina behind her in spite of the wind.
When she reached the top, she stopped, looked back. Gina raised the weapon and aimed. Heather dropped to the ground and rolled off the path behind a tree. Please, Jesus, help me.
Sweat trickled down her temples, and she swiped it away while she assessed her location. At least her exertion was keeping her body warm.
Twenty yards away she spotted something that gave her an idea. But she’d be exposed trying to reach it. Then again, would Gina risk the sound of a gunshot that would bring ranch hands to investigate?
With renewed energy, she pushed off the ground, praying she could make it to the cave near the ledge and get out of sight before Gina realized where she was.
Of all the stupid—
Donnie slipped through the underbrush, fighting the freezing wind and watching the unsuspecting Gina follow Heather. The more he walked, the more his rage grew. The double-crossing wench. Making him hike through a blasted ice jungle, treating him like he was no one once she got what she wanted from him. This was not what he’d signed up for. If she’d just paid him like they’d agreed, he’d be sitting on a Caribbean beach somewhere, soaking up some much-needed sun.
Why hadn’t she given him the money? He’d done everything she’d asked. Including dealing with the explosives. And leaving Sam for dead. He still felt kind of bad about that. Not so much for Sam, but for Tammy. But a simple phone call to the hospital to check on him had revealed Sam was recovering and under strict supervision.
At that point, Donnie had known the game was up. At least for him. Sam wouldn’t mean to blow the whistle on Donnie, but he’d thought it was all a game and that would be his story—and he’d tell them all about Donnie Little, the man who’d asked him to play.
Once he’d figured law enforcement would eventually put everything together—including his involvement—Donnie had to come up with another plan. The one he’d settled on was slipping over the border to Mexico with his money to live a life of leisure. He’d envisioned doing a little deep-sea fishing or opening a dive shop. He’d turn his life around, maybe meet a woman who didn’t nag him to death. He’d miss his kids, but maybe he could have a few more. Raise them right. With the money Gina owed him, it had been a distinct possibility.
Now his dreams smoldered like a pile of ashes. Thanks to Gina and her stupid self.
He’d thought she was different, but no . . . she was just like every other female on the planet. Looking out for herself—and cheating him out of his payday.
He’d thought he could trust her. She’d paid him for offing that guy, Silver, in Michigan, but he knew she wasn’t going to pay him for this one. He bit off a curse. The little two-timing backstabber. He’d get rid of Heather Fontaine, then take Gina to the nearest computer. Once she’d transferred the money she owed him—and maybe a bit more, he’d get rid of her too. It might be the one time he actually enjoyed the kill. He’d wrap his hands around her throat and watch the life fade from her eyes.
He kept an eye on her as she stormed after Heather, who had scaled the side of the steep cliff like a billy goat, reached the top, and then disappeared behind a copse of trees.
Donnie picked up the pace. The last thing he needed was to lose them.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Travis didn’t think his blood pressure would ever return to normal. They’d lost her again. Travis listened to Caden map out a plan to find her. The man had already passed on the vehicle make and model, along with the license plate, to the chopper he’d requested. Assuming it could even make it into the air with all the snow.
So far there’d been no sign of Gina’s vehicle. “How did she just disappear like that?” She should have been on the road in front of them. Gina might not have law enforcement training, but she did have military expertise—and a weapon. And that made her a deadly foe. “Turn around,” he said.
Chris glanced at him. “What?”
“Turn around. She must have somehow doubled back.”
“But wouldn’t we have seen her?”
“Depends on where she turned around. We’ve been going this
way for the past fifteen minutes. If she was ahead of us, we’d have caught up to her by now.”
“I don’t know,” Chris said. “She’s got chains on her tires just like us. She might be going pretty fast.”
Travis thought about it. It was a valid observation, but . . . he didn’t think so. She’d turned off somewhere, probably in order to throw off anyone who might be after her. “Turn around. We’re going to go back and check the side roads. You want me to drive?”
“I got it. It’s the one thing I can still do around here.” One-handed, Chris expertly spun the Jeep around, chained tires crunching on the still accumulating snow, to head back the way they came, while Travis mapped the area in his head. There were two ways she could have gone, driving from the direction of the ranch.
“Travis, you there?” Caden’s voice jerked his attention back to the phone.
“Yeah. Tell the chopper to head back toward the ranch. There are two roads that go near the ranch. Highway 29 goes behind it and Harrison Road runs perpendicular. If she’s headed back that way, she’s on one of those two roads—or one of the side streets. But all of the side roads come out on those two main roads. I’m thinking she may have turned off this main road just in case she was followed.”
The chopper would be able to spot the vehicle a lot easier than he and Chris. Maybe. If she’d pulled into a garage or under any kind of shelter, she’d be virtually invisible from the sky. The thought sent waves of worry and fear through him. He was banking on Gina not wanting to get as far from the ranch as possible. Going in the other direction than Chris saw her go.
Caden passed the information along, then came back to Travis. “It’s heading back that way, but he’s reported the wind is really blowing him around and he’s going to have to put her down.”
Not what he wanted to hear. “I understand. Just . . . tell him to find her first.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think we should meet you at your ranch, and we’ll start formulating a strategy to find her just in case the chopper has to land. And I think it’s going to. Like now.”
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