“Are you okay?”
No! She wanted to scream, but was in too much shock to even speak. A couple of seconds went by before she could respond. “You must feel even worse than me. You had to kill a man and it doesn’t even have anything to do with you.”
Another exit came up, and he took it at the last second without signaling. “You don’t have to worry on my account.”
His tanned face never flinched. His sharp gaze was fixed on the road before them, but the muscles in his jaw were relaxed, as was the rest of his body. She was having a heart attack and he looked as if he was on his way to breakfast. Of course, the driver of the brown van was probably not his first casualty. The thought did nothing to settle her stomach.
“If they caught up with us, they would have done the same.” He spoke to her in an even voice, much like an EMT or policeman trying to calm an upset citizen.
“I know.” She closed her eyes, trying to get a grip on what was happening to her life. “It’s just that—I’m not used to people getting killed in connection with me.”
He nodded as he turned on the global positioning system and rolled onto a narrow country road, raising a billowing cloud of dust behind them.
“How close are we?”
“Not close enough to get there on a flat, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Her hands began to shake again, as her brain downgraded her already-not-too-optimistic forecast for survival. They’d have to walk. And somewhere out there the shooter was still after them.
Alex flipped the car into four-wheel drive then rode off the road into a field of wheat, following what looked like tractor tracks. As the SUV rattled over the uneven ground, she prayed they would reach the cover of the trees before the brown van reappeared on the road behind them. But when they finally got to the trees, finding cover proved to be harder than she had anticipated.
Precious seconds flew by as they searched for an opening in the thick tall brush. Then Alex found it. He pulled the car inside the small patch of woods far enough so they wouldn’t be seen from the road, then turned the vehicle so anyone coming after them would be met head-on. When he got out, she followed his example.
“You stay inside.” He walked to the back.
“Are you leaving me?” She hadn’t considered that. She had thought they would walk to the safe house together. “Are you going for help?”
He looked at her as if she were crazy. “I’m changing the tire.”
“Oh.” She sagged against a tree.
The heat was oppressive even this early in the day, a physical presence pushing down on her. For days she’d been hoping for a good storm to break the heat wave, some much-needed rain to cool everything off, but according to the weather service there was no relief in sight. She wiped her forehead as she watched the man. If the soaring temperature bothered him, he didn’t show it.
He pulled the spare from the back then grabbed the jack. Dappled sunlight glinted off his black hair as he moved with fluid motions. “Get in the car.”
Too drained to bristle at being ordered around, she did as she was told, but left the door open so they could talk and she could breathe. The air stood still in the small grove of trees. “Do you think he’ll come after us?”
“Probably.”
“Will he find us?” Stupid question. The man, Alex, wasn’t a fortune teller. But she was desperate for reassurance.
“Not likely,” he said and looked away too quickly.
“But?”
“Nothing.”
“If you were him, could you track me down?”
“If someone is determined enough, they’ll always find a way.”
Great. Bloody peachy.
He snapped the jack into place. “I’m going to make it as hard as I can for him. Don’t worry. I think we lost him for now.”
He was probably right. It would have taken the shooter a while to move his partner from the wheel, break out the shattered windshield so he could see, and get the van back on the road. Most likely, Alex and she were out of sight by then and the man could only guess where they had gone. Alex had been checking the rearview mirror the whole time. He would have seen the guy if he had managed to catch up with them.
She had to think positively. Couldn’t afford to give ground to the panic that fought to take her over, wouldn’t allow it to distract her. Not now. She could do this. She had to. She needed to remain calm and ready for whatever was to come.
She felt the car lift from the ground and wanted to offer to get out. She was about to ask but then changed her mind. He had made it clear where he wanted her, and she did feel safer inside. Marginally. She might never feel completely safe again. People were trying to kill her. She wanted back her sane, ordinary world where things like that didn’t happen.
He was done in minutes and back in the driver’s seat next to her. “Are you ready?”
She wasn’t ready for any of this, but they couldn’t stay there in the middle of a field. She nodded.
He wiped his dirty hands on his jeans, then turned the key in the ignition, bringing the engine to life. He put his right hand on the wheel. His left held his gun out the open window, the barrel resting on the top of the side-view mirror.
The gesture had such a movie-like feel, she had trouble grasping the reality of it. Just that morning she’d been thinking how well her life was coming along. Sure, she was nobody’s idea of a perfect woman and would probably never fit into size-four pants, but she’d learned to live with that. She had a great house, two argumentative zebra finches, and a smoothly running consulting business she’d built with her own two hands.
“I keep thinking I’ll wake up to find all this was a nasty dream, brought on by eating too much chocolate before going to bed.”
Only when Alex turned to fix his attention on her, his dark eyes intense, did she realize she had spoken out loud. He hesitated for a second, as if weighing her words. He probably thought she was a complete idiot.
But he didn’t scoff at her. “That’s not going to happen, Nicola. I need you to be able to deal with the here and now.” His voice was calm and serious, the expression on his face somber.
She took a steadying breath then nodded as the truth of his words sunk in. She would handle whatever came their way. Because her only other option was to die.
Chapter Two
The General’s grip tightened on the phone at his ear. “What happened?” How was it possible that the girl had gotten away?
He leaned back in his leather armchair and rubbed the awakening ache behind the barely visible burn marks on his temples where the electrodes had been placed during the endless torture. Since then, when he got tense, he was prone to violent headaches.
“Forgive me, General. There was a man—”
“Get rid of the car and the body.” He stumped out his cigar. If someone saved her, it meant she had been watched, protected. He hadn’t expected that. A tactical mistake. His enemy was shrewd and the men behind him many. “And don’t come in.”
“Yes, General.”
He got up to pull down some of the bamboo shades, the glaring sunlight aggravating the headache. “Make sure you are caught soon. You know what to say.”
“Yes, General.” The answer took longer to come this time, but he had no doubt his men would follow his orders—even to their death.
He hung up the phone and looked out into the courtyard patrolled by