“She’d better hope he did,” Earl said, “or she’s going to be in more trouble than she’s ever imagined.”
Marie signed the credit card charge after reiterating her specific instructions to Seth. She trusted him. That would have to be good enough insurance because there was no way she could have afforded the repair bill otherwise.
To her surprise he also handed her a wad of cash.
“What’s this for?”
“I added a little to the charge so you’d have more traveling money and took it in small bills,” Seth said. “I figured you had to be running short, and since you were using the card anyway, I didn’t see how it could make things any worse. Right?”
“Right. Thanks. That was smart.” She studied his nearly blank expression. “Are you ever going to tell me how you got so proficient at subterfuge?”
“Nope.” A smile twitched at the corners of his mouth, and his eyes began to sparkle. “Not a chance.”
“That’s what I thought.” Offering her hand, she waited for him to shake it. Instead, he grasped it gently, comfortingly. “Just before you leave, I want to give you the new phone.”
“Why not trade now? I have the old one with me.”
“It’s complicated. I need to keep it for a few more hours. And I want you to promise you’ll throw it away and replace it as soon as you reach a store in West Plains or Springfield that carries the same model.”
“I don’t want to replace it. How will I know I’m getting one that won’t be traceable? Didn’t you say some come with a built-in navigational system?”
“Yes, but…”
She pulled her hands free and began waving them in front of her in a gesture of surrender. “All right. Have it your way. I figured you’d need your old phone back because of all the numbers in its memory. If you want to wait to trade, that’s fine with me. Just don’t let me forget to give it to you.”
“I won’t. I left an extra mobile charger on the front seat of your car. It plugs into the cigarette lighter so you can use it while you drive.
“Thanks.”
“Call me if there’s anything I can do for you,” Seth added. “Promise?”
“No.” She blinked back unshed tears. “You’ve done enough. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you properly.”
“I do,” Seth said. He stepped closer, bending his head to one side until their lips were nearly touching.
Marie realized he expected a goodbye kiss. She wasn’t going to give him one. No, sir. Not her. She was going to resist the urge to kiss this handsome, kind, generous, new friend, no matter what.
His warm breath tickled her cheek. His nearness made her shiver. She swayed, feeling suddenly off-balance. Seth was right there. So close. So appealing. So, so…
Raising on tiptoe, she made herself just tall enough for their lips to connect ever so briefly. She hadn’t intended to even kiss him, let alone make it the best kiss of her life, but that was exactly what it had been.
Wide-eyed, she staggered back. “Uh-oh.”
He was grinning. “You can say that again.”
“I’d rather not,” Marie countered, blushing.
Seth sobered. “You don’t have to leave.”
“Yes, I do.” Especially now.
“All right. Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll take your car for a test drive to make sure it’s running right, then bring it to your motel room later. While I’m doing that, you can drive my truck home and pack up your things. When I get there, we’ll switch vehicles—and telephones.”
“You don’t have to go to all that trouble.”
“Yes, I do.”
She could tell by his stern expression that he was not going to budge, so she capitulated. “Okay. We’ll do everything your way this time. When?”
“Here are my keys. You go now. And take Babe with you so Patty will have plenty of time to say goodbye to her. I’ll bring your car by in a couple of hours.”
Marie paused to lay her hand lightly on his forearm. “Be careful?”
“I will. You, too. Remember, that old truck drives just like a car unless you lock the hubs and put it in four-wheel drive, so don’t let that scare you.”
“Nothing scares me,” Marie insisted. She turned away before she added softly, secretly, “Except how I’m starting to feel about you.”
“The car’s still parked over there, but it looks like the woman’s leaving,” Al said. “What’re we gonna do?”
“I’ll follow her,” Frank said, reaching for the ignition key. “You and Earl get out, stay here, and keep your eyes on that car.”
“What if it leaves, too? What then? Are we supposed to run alongside it?”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Frank said, disgusted. “Okay. We’ll all go. Or we’ll all stay. Vote.”
“I say we stick with the car or go get my truck,” Al said. “We wouldn’t have this problem if you hadn’t insisted we all ride together.”
Earl agreed. “Yeah. Look, we know that’s her car. It has to be. So she’ll be back. As long as we have that car, we’ve got her. What we can’t do is tip our hand till we can catch her alone.”
“Okay,” Frank replied. “It’s fine with me if you two want to sit here and stew all night long. I’m gonna go inside and get me a cold one.”
With that, Al erupted into laughter. “Oh, yeah? Well, good luck, man. This is a dry county you’ve stuck us in. Can’t get a beer around here if your life depends on it.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Al’s glee increased. “Nope. Get used to drinking soda pop. That’s all they sell.”
“Terrific. That’s the last straw. If Roy wasn’t already dead, I’d gladly kill him for this.”
Seth realized that Marie was right about the personal information stored in his old phone. If the store had had two phones in stock the night before, his plans would have gone off without a hitch. Since they’d only had one, he figured he’d eventually give Marie the new instrument and keep the old one until he could replace it. His only real problem was the fact that he’d had no choice but to disclose the new number to Jonathan. He supposed he could have given him his old number, but that would have meant that Marie might have taken the next call and have inadvertently led Jonathan to think Seth had betrayed him.
If he hadn’t had the mind of a spy, keeping it all straight would have driven him crazy. As it was, he’d worked out the details of the phone exchange to his satisfaction and was merely biding his time until he could make the switch and let Jonathan know that the former number was no longer viable. Once Marie ditched that phone and bought a new one, there would be no more ties to her at all. In theory, it was a perfect plan.
If Seth hadn’t had a niggling suspicion that it was too good to be true, he might not have broken down and phoned her at the motel.
She answered immediately, sounding a bit breathless. “Hello?”
“It’s me, Seth,” he said.
“I’m glad. You won’t believe all the people who have called this number wanting to talk to you. I finally started taking notes like a secretary.”
“Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. How long before you bring my car?”
Seth chuckled. “Why? Are the children running you ragged?”
“Only the two-legged one. Babe is curled up on the rug and taking a nap. I think Patty wore her out.”
“Okay. I have one stop to make before I deliver your car and we switch phones. Wait for me?”
“I have a choice?”
He had to laugh again. “Not really, unless you plan to steal my truck. I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s pretty decrepit.”
“So, are you telling me that the mechanic’s truck needs repair?”
“Something like that.” It was good to hear humor in her voice, to sense the lightness of her spirit for a change. Maybe leaving town was the right thing for her to do after all. She certainly seemed to think so.
Heading for her car, he backed it out o
f the garage and turned toward the street. The engine was running smoothly and without any sign of its previous fuel problem. That was good. Seth knew Marie would never believe him if he told her there was more tinkering needed. He’d been fortunate that she’d shown as much patience as she had.
He drove east on Highway 62 toward the cutoff to his home in Heart. It would take him only a second to transmit the other phone number to Jonathan and explain the change. If he hadn’t been so befuddled by his thoughts about protecting Marie, he’d have used his head and found a way to handle the phone situation differently to begin with.
His grip tightened on the car’s steering wheel as he glanced in the rearview mirror. There had been no sign of any suspicious white van in or around Serenity for several days, yet he was starting to get the impression that he was being followed. If they thought it was Marie in the car instead of him, perhaps he could turn the tables and find out who they were and why they were on his trail.
Seth started to lean toward the locked glove compartment to retrieve his .38, then realized it was in his truck. He was good in a hand-to-hand fight, but he was not foolhardy—he’d spotted at least two men in the car behind him, perhaps three; that ratio drastically cut his chances of easy, painless success.
Accelerating, Seth whipped along the dirt road, splashing muddy water from potholes as he bounced through them. He was glad he didn’t have Babe with him, because his speed over the rough terrain would have tossed her around no matter how hard she’d tried to keep her balance.
He deliberately sailed on by the drive to his farmhouse. The other car, a low-slung, black Caddy or Buick, slewed wide on several corners and nearly skidded off the road into one of the drainage ditches that bordered the roadbed.
Seth smiled. Every few hundred yards the road curved and he lost sight of his pursuers. Then they’d drive back into view again. They were stubborn, that was for sure, but thankfully, whoever was driving was a novice off the pavement. That was good. If he did manage to outdistance them, they would probably not be able to catch him again.
In that case, the smartest thing he could do was head straight for the motel. Once he’d escorted Marie safely out of town, he’d return to his house, e-mail Jonathan and get the confusing cell phone situation straightened out.
Seth glanced in the rearview mirror in time to see the heavier car bounce out of a pothole, smack down crooked and career into a ditch. The driver tried to correct but the massive vehicle bottomed out, coming to a halt in a spray of brown water and rocks.
Three men clambered out. One of them started kicking the front tires as if the car were responsible for its own predicament.
Seth reached for his new cell phone and used it to call the sheriff to report the accident. That car wasn’t going anywhere soon, and if law enforcement hurried, maybe its occupants wouldn’t be bothersome much longer, either.
In the meantime, they were blocking the easiest, quickest way back to his house—and to his computer—so he’d have to contact Jonathan later. Right now, he had to get to Marie and see that she was on her way, ASAP, while the guys in the black car were still out of commission.
TWELVE
Marie had been packed and pacing for over an hour when she finally heard her car stop outside the motel room. Without remembering to be cautious, she jerked open the door.
Seth was climbing out of the car. He grinned. “Hi. Looks like you missed me.”
“What took you so long?”
“I had to make a detour,” he said, still smiling. “Sorry about all the mud.”
She peered past him and began to frown. “No kidding. I thought I was only supposed to cover the license plates. What did you do, decide to plaster the whole car and make it brown?”
“No. I took a side trip on a dirt road. Since the rain, it was pretty messy. If I’d had a chance, I’d have hosed it off for you or at least run it through one of the creeks that cross the road out by my place.”
“That’s okay. As long as it’s running well, I really don’t care how bad it looks.”
“It’s humming like new,” Seth said. “And I left the other cell phone on the front seat, hooked to the mobile charger. It’s turned off. Don’t turn it on unless you absolutely have to, okay?”
“Why not?”
“Because I had to give the number to one other person and I’d rather you not use it except to make the call to activate the new one you promised to buy. Remember?”
“What’s all this confusion about the phones, anyway? Isn’t one as good as another?”
“In most cases, yes. Just trust me on this. Please?” He reached into his pocket, took out several bills and passed them to her. “Use this so you can save your money for other things. As soon as you’ve bought the new phone, I want you to destroy the one I got for you.”
“That’s ridiculous. It’s a perfectly good phone, isn’t it?”
She saw his expression harden, his eyes narrow. “Look, Marie, we don’t have time to squabble. I think the men who’ve been following you are in town. That was how I got the mud on your car—outrunning them. So I suggest you and Patty hit the road. ASAP. Got that?”
There was no hint of the usual tenderness in Seth’s gaze, nor did his demeanor leave room for argument. On the contrary, everything about his attitude had begun to make her edgy.
“All right. I’ll go. We’re packed. Help me put the bags in the car?”
Seth was one step ahead of her and had already started to gather her belongings while Babe ran in circles at his feet and Patty chased after the exuberant dog.
As Marie picked up her purse and followed the others out the door, she offered Seth his old cell phone. “Here. Don’t forget this.”
“Thanks.” He loaded the suitcases into the trunk, slammed the lid and handed her the keys. “I’ll follow you in my truck till I’m sure you’re safely back on the highway.”
“Why? I thought you said you’d lost the bad guys.”
“I did. And if the sheriff gets to them before they manage to get their car out of the ditch, they won’t be a problem. I’d just rather look after you for a few minutes longer.”
“All right.” She quickly transferred the booster seat from the truck to her car and saw that Patty was safely belted in.
Before getting behind the wheel, she turned to Seth. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Just stay safe,” he said.
For a fleeting instant, Marie thought she glimpsed deeply felt sentiment in his eyes. When she paused to study him, to look beyond the external and search for hidden emotions, however, it seemed as if a shield had dropped. He was clearly, purposely shutting her out.
She took his hand. “Goodbye, Seth.”
“Goodbye. Be careful out there.”
“I will.” Oh, how she hated to leave, to pull away from even that brief touch of his warm, steady hand. But she knew he was right. She had to go. And soon.
Blinking back unshed tears, she turned, slid behind the wheel and quickly slammed the car door.
As she started to drive away she saw Seth climbing into his truck with his wonderful dog already occupying the passenger seat. She was really going to miss that man. If only…
Setting her jaw, Marie reminded herself that she had no choice. She had to leave. She had to keep running. No matter how much her heart was breaking, she had to escape. For Patty’s sake, if for no other reason.
Three unidentifiable trucks had arrived at three separate cell towers within minutes of one another. Their coordinator, seated close by in a plain, black sedan with darkly tinted windows, was in constant radio contact.
“Have you got it pegged yet, Mac?” he asked.
“Almost, Mr. Eccles. We were getting a good, strong signal from Pilot Knob before we lost it a few minutes ago. The hills were interfering to the south and west, and I need a clear, steady signal from all three points.”
“Thousands of dollars worth of equipment and it won’t handle a few little hills? What kind of
tech are you?”
“A careful one. You want this triangulation to be accurate, don’t you?”
“Yes, yes.” Eccles started his car as he spoke into the microphone of the headset he was wearing. “I’m going to drive through town, see what I can see. Stay on this line so you can tell me the minute you get a signal again.”
Pulling away from the curb, he cruised slowly toward the Serenity square. All but one of its side streets had been cordoned off and groups of workers were obviously setting up some kind of a street bazaar.
“Stupid civilians,” Eccles muttered to himself as he was forced to detour along side streets.
There was only one advantage that he could see—with such a big crowd milling around town and everything already disrupted, he and his men were far less likely to be noticed.
Marie drove northwest, heading out of town. She was doing her best to think clearly, but her mind kept arguing that there must be a better way to handle her predicament. Perhaps she ought to give the police another chance to help. After all, they were the good guys and she was on the same side of the law, wasn’t she?
Her thoughts kept jumping back to Seth, as if he were the only important focus. She glanced at the cord running from her cigarette lighter to the new phone and something in her subconscious clicked.
“Oh, no!”
Patty’s eyes widened. “What’s the matter, Mama?”
“Seth’s—Mr. Whitfield’s messages. I forgot to give them to him.”
“Can we go back?” the child asked, sounding eager to do just that.
“No, honey. We can’t.” Marie glanced in her rearview mirror, hoping to spot Seth’s truck. The setting sun was so blinding she couldn’t be sure if his green truck was part of the traffic behind her. Worse, it would soon be so dark it would be impossible to tell one vehicle from another. If she stopped and got out here, hoping Seth would soon catch up to her, she might be unnecessarily exposing herself and Patty to danger. The only sensible thing to do was to phone him and hope he could convince Clarence to let him back into the motel room to retrieve the messages she had so carefully jotted down.
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