They kept at it, ramming them, jolting them even more with each hit.
“Listen, Echo, can you remember anything about the hideout?”
“Hideout?”
He cursed under his breath. “They’ll never believe you don’t know where half the gold is. If we’re caught—”
“I cut the brake line.” Her voice faded, but he’d heard her.
A grin inched up the corner of his mouth. “Good girl.”
“You taught me well,” she said with a smile in her voice.
He must have let his guard down; they nailed them again. This time, the wheel spun out of his grasp.
Echo gasped. Leaning over, she grabbed onto the spinning wheel, helping him. The truck lurched from side to side. But, they held strong, righting it.
She glanced back. “They’re slowing down.”
He checked the rearview mirror. They dropped speed. “I think your plan worked.” Keeping his foot on the gas pedal, he didn’t let up, just in case. He wanted to put a hell of a lot of distance between them. Catching her gaze, he asked, “Now, how ’bout you and me going to get the gold we stole?”
***
Echo felt the miles drop away and slowly fragments of her memory return.
When confronted, Gerald had denied his involvement. Murphy had accepted it. She hadn’t.
She hatched a plan to trap him. He struck first.
Gerald had set her up, forging her name to bogus accounts. He was going to frame her.
“You stepped in. You swore he was just a puppet on a string for them,” she said now, blinking through the flash of images rushing up to her.
“I convinced Jack of it, too. It’s coming back to you,” he said, his grim features speaking volumes.
Now, in Colorado, he guided them up and down long, winding mountain roads, making her dizzy.
They’d been on the road for more than fourteen hours, only stopping to fuel up. She’d gone in to pay with what little money they had scraped up between them and grab some snacks so no one would see Murphy’s bloody jeans. On one stop, they’d snuck him into a gas station bathroom and poured nearly a whole bottle of peroxide on his raw, oozing wound. Infection had begun to set in. They’d patched him up and got back on the road.
“Join forces,” he added. “Steal the gold with him, and then out from under him and them.”
“Somewhere along the way, he and his drug dealer cohorts must have realized it.”
“I’d put so many of them away over the years, they couldn’t believe I would be on the take now.” He slowed the truck to a crawl. “Do you remember any of this?”
She looked out the windshield as they came through what could only be described as a modern day ghost town. Cars were parked in front of businesses. But shutters were in place. No one could be seen. No dogs or cats roamed the streets.
“Eerie,” she said, shivering. The feeling seemed familiar.
He rolled through town and made his way down the road. “Last time, it was night. We’d gotten lost. I barely remembered how to get here myself after you were hurt. Storm helped getting the gold out of the car. But, she doesn’t know about this place and where it’s hidden. She and I agreed its better she didn’t know. She stayed with you. I got it the hell out of Dodge and came back to be with you.”
“Murphy,” she gulped hard at what he’d done. “What about us?”
“How we met?”
Tickles of him on the fringes of her memory teased her. She and Storm were bartenders on Sixth Street in Austin. He’d walked in. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. He couldn’t take his off her, either. His big, strong arms coming around her to lead her off to the dance floor rushed back now. His sexy smile and that hot, green-eyed stare melted her from the first moment they’d met. Lazy, drugging heat had followed. And it wouldn’t let her go, no matter how hard she tried.
“Where we’re going?” she asked softly.
“To bed, first.”
She chuckled. Tingles rippled through her blood. “I kinda like that idea.”
“Find Storm and Timmy.”
Echo clamped her eyes shut. “I…I think she got away. I can still feel her, sense her.”
He sighed. “Good.”
They were probably ten miles outside of town when he checked the mirrors and slowed down. The road he turned into was more like a brush-covered trail. He inched the truck along, stopped, shoved it into park, and then got out to cover the opening again. Coming back in, he shifted gears and they were moving again.
It took nearly another hour before he stopped.
“We’re here?” she asked.
Murphy nodded to the far-off ramshackle deserted mine opening and nearby dilapidated building. “Our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”
With only a couple of water bottles to sustain them, Murphy led the way. As they hiked to the entrance, he kept a keen eye out for any intruders.
Echo felt exposed, but welcomed the gun he held in his hand. Even though the black tunnel vision had slowly eased into a fuzzy gray border, she still couldn’t predict how her brain would react.
As bits and pieces of her memories rushed back over the last hours, so had the pain lifted from her skull, the pressure just a gentle buzz now. There were still missing spaces, but she didn’t feel as lost or broken anymore.
He halted at the entrance. “I’ll go and make sure nothing’s hiding in there.”
“I’m going, too.” She’d rather be in there with him than out here alone.
The cobwebs and spiders yawned across their path. Murphy knocked them away as they stepped into the black hole. They’d walked for a few minutes when he finally stopped. His boots scuffled in the dirt and soon he squatted down. The sound of a match striking and the flare of the flame came next.
She helped when he directed her to a hidden lantern. Soon, between them, they had it lit. Murphy tucked the gun in the back of the waistband of his jeans, held up the light, and then led them deeper into the tunnel.
Farther in, there were five intersections. He glanced up and she followed his gaze.
Murphy went to one to his left, reached up, and then brushed off the dirt over the arch. He uncovered two dots. She shook her head, but went with him through that one. Deeper still, they came upon even more entrances. Again, he chose one, this one off the side, and cleared away the grime. A curved line pointing up was underneath.
He smiled, and then grabbed for her hand. Unfurling her curled fingers, she opened her hand to him. On her palm, he drew a smiley face. She chuckled.
“Remember, Echo. The first night I met you, I drew this on your palm. Later, on your bare belly...”
She sucked in a breath. Even in the damp recesses of this old mine shaft, he could still make her hot all over. “Before you kissed me there.” A tug, low and deep, shot through her.
Murphy nodded to the arch and redrew the smile on her flesh.
Echo gasped in understanding. The dots over the other arch were the eyes and now this curve was the smile. All she’d had to do was remember that and she’d find the right tunnels to the gold.
He tugged her behind him as he went under the archway. In the cramped space, he counted off steps, and then stopped and pointed to the left. He went to wall, felt around, and then squeezed his way between one of the outcropping of rocks. She crawled in behind him. They were in another hidden chamber.
Murphy began to dig. She helped him. A foot down, he stopped and yanked on the rope of a bag. He undid the ties and pulled out a small, shiny gold bar.
“We’ve struck gold,” he said with a smile in his voice.
When she held out her hand, he gave it to her. It wasn’t as heavy as it looked. But, she turned it over in her hands and stared in awe.
He hefted out the bag. Nodding to the opening, he said, “It’s a tight fit, so we’ll drag this one out and come back for the others. We should get them all out before dusk. Tomorrow, we go fetch the other half of the loot in another hidden location miles away.�
��
It took some maneuvering, but they dragged the bag and squeezed it through the narrow passage.
“You’re not keeping it,” she said. A fragmented conversation rushed back to her as they walked back through the maze of tunnels. “Jack. Your friend. You were undercover.” It hit her in the gut now. His friend and he were trying to do the right thing. “You tried to get your brother to give it up.”
“Not mine.”
“Murphy’s Law, right?”
“One of many,” he said.
“You don’t take what isn’t yours.”
“In this case, I don’t keep what isn’t mine,” he agreed, the creeds of his mother instilled in him still burned bright.
“Fair enough. Who then?”
“Jack’s gone. The feds? No one would believe us. They didn’t then. What makes us think they will now? Jack’s not here to speak up for us, defend us. We can’t give it back. Aiding and abetting. Accessories. We’d get nailed with a list of charges.” He shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about all those families I met in the hospital while you were in a coma and later in rehab. They need help. Money to pay the bills, to tide them over, pay for babysitters and essentials, to not have to work so they can be there with their loved ones.”
She swallowed hard. He’d been shaken by what happened to her and others. “A new Murphy’s law?”
The entrance came into sight, the light guiding them.
“Help when and wherever you can.”
He held her back, going first.
Echo heard the cock of the triggers before she saw the men. They stood in a semi-circle a few feet from the entrance.
Murphy stilled and tried to shield her.
“Don’t move, brother. Daddy and the boys got no excuse to keep you alive now.”
“How?” Echo asked, slowly reaching for the gun where Murphy had put it in the back of the waistband of his jeans. But she kept her hand and the gun hidden.
“Phones, planes, and...” Their father nodded toward the truck. “Tracking devices. You taught me that much, Murphy.”
“Fuck,” Murphy cursed.
“Fucked, is more like it. ’Cause that’s what you are,” the younger fresh-faced kid said, now sporting a big, black eye.
Murphy held up the bag of gold. “You want it, come and get it.”
Echo shouted. “Throw it, Murph!” She stuck out her foot in front of his shin, shoved him down on the ground, tripping him, and then landed on his back. She aimed the gun and opened fire…
The End
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Next in the Bounty Hunter series:
Riley’s Rules
About the author:
Bestselling author Laurie LeClair writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction. Laurie’s habit of daydreaming has gotten her into a few scrapes and launched her to take up her dream of writing. Finally, she can put all those stories in her head to rest as she brings them to life on the page. Laurie considers herself a New Texan (New England born and raised and now living in Texas). She lives in Central Texas with her husband, Jim. She loves to hear from readers.
You can contact her at:
https://twitter.com/LeClairbooks
https://facebook.com/laurieleclair.75
Books by Laurie LeClair
The Bounty Hunter Series:
Murphy’s Law – Book 1
***
The Long Journey Home
***
The Heart Romance Series:
Secrets Of The Heart – Book 1
Crimes Of The Heart – Book 2
Lies Of The Heart – Book 3
***
Once Upon A Romance Series:
If The Shoes Fits – Book 1
Waking Sleeping Beauty – Book 2
Taming McGruff – Book 3
Contents
Title page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
About the author:
Table of Contents
Title page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
About the author:
Murphy's Law (The Bounty Hunter Series - Book 1) Page 7
