She almost panicked. But she was close to Jacobsville, where she could get help if she needed it. Her father’s admonition about checking the truck before she drove it made her heart skip. She knew he’d checked the car, but she hadn’t counted on being followed. Someone was after her. She knew that her father’s friends were watching her, but that was in Jacobsville.
Nobody was watching her now, and she was being chased. Her cell phone was in her purse on the floor by the passenger seat. She’d have to slow down or stop to get to it. She groaned. Lack of foresight. Why didn’t she have it in the console?
Her heart was pumping faster as the car behind gained on her. What if it was the shadowy assassin come for a second try? What was she going to do? She couldn’t outrun him, that was obvious, and when she slowed down, he’d catch her.
She saw the city-limit sign up ahead. She couldn’t continue at this rate of speed. She’d kill someone at the next crossroads.
Groaning, she slowed down. The black sedan was right on top of her. She turned without a signal into the first side street and headed for the police station. If she was lucky, she just might make it.
Yes! The traffic light stayed green. She shot through it, pulled up in front of the station and jumped out just as the sedan pulled in front of her, braked and cut her off.
“You damned little lunatic, what the hell were you thinking!” Carson raged at her as he slammed out of the black sedan and confronted her. “I clocked you at a hundred miles an hour!”
“Oh, yeah? Well, you were going a hundred, too, because you were right on my bumper. And how was I supposed to know it was you?” she told him, red-faced with embarrassment.
“I called your cell phone half a dozen times, didn’t you hear it ring?”
“I had it turned off. And it was on the floor in my purse,” she explained.
He put his hands on his slim hips and glared at her. “You shouldn’t be allowed out by yourself, and especially not in a car with that sort of horsepower!” he persisted. “I should have the chief arrest you!”
“Go ahead, I’ll have him arrest you, too!” she yelled back.
Two patrol officers were standing on the sidelines, spellbound. The chief came out and stopped, just watching the two antagonists, who hadn’t noticed their audience.
“What if you’d hit something lying in the middle of the road? You’d have gone straight off it and into a tree or a power pole, and you’d be dead!”
“Well, I didn’t hit anything! I was scared because I saw a car following me. Who wouldn’t be paranoid, with people watching you all the time and my father having secret phone calls...!”
“If you’d answered your damned cell phone, you’d have known who was following you!”
“It was in my purse and I was afraid to slow down and try to grab it out of my pocketbook!”
“Of all the stupid assignments I’ve ever had, this takes the prize,” he muttered. “And why you had to go to San Antonio...?”
“I went to buy a dress for the Valentine’s Day party!”
He gave her a cold smile. “Going alone, are we?”
“No, I’m not.” She shot back. “I have a date!”
He looked oddly surprised. “Do you have to pay him when he takes you home?” he asked in a long, sarcastic drawl.
“I don’t have to hire men to take me places!” she raged back. “And this man doesn’t notch his bedpost and take in strays to have somebody to sleep with.”
He took a quick step forward, and he looked dangerous. “That’s enough,” he snapped.
Carlie sucked in her breath and her face paled.
“It really is enough,” Cash Grier said, interrupting them. He stepped between them and stared at Carson. “The time to tell somebody you’re following them is not when you’re actually in the car. Especially a nervous young woman whose life has been threatened.”
Carson’s jaw was set so firmly she wondered if his teeth would break. He was still glaring at Carlie.
“And you need to keep your phone within reach when you’re driving,” he told Carlie in a gentler tone and with a smile.
“Yes, sir,” she said heavily. She let out a long sigh.
“She was doing a hundred miles an hour,” Carson said angrily.
“If you could clock her, you had to be doing the same,” Cash retorted. “You’re both lucky that you weren’t in the city limits at the time. Or that Hayes Carson or one of his deputies didn’t catch you. Speeding fines are really painful.”
“You’d know,” Carson mused, relaxing a little as he glanced at the older man.
Cash glowered at him. “Well, I drive a Jaguar,” he said defensively. “They don’t like slow speeds.”
“How many unpaid speeding tickets is it to date? Ten?” Carson persisted. “I hear you can’t cross the county border up around Dallas. And you, a chief of police. Shame, shame.”
Cash shrugged. “I sent the checks out yesterday,” he informed the other man. “All ten.”
“Threatening to put you under arrest, were they?”
“Only one of them,” Cash chuckled. “And he was in Iraq with me, so he stretched the rules a bit.”
“I have to get home,” Carlie said. She was still shaking inside over the threat that turned out to be just Carson. And from Carson’s sudden move toward her. Very few people knew what nightmares she endured from one very physical confrontation in the past.
“You keep under the speed limit, or I’m telling your father what you did to his car,” Carson instructed.
“He wouldn’t mind,” she lied, glaring at him.
“Let’s find out.” He jerked out his cell phone and started punching in numbers.
“All right!” she surrendered, holding up both hands. “All right, I’ll go under the speed limit.” Her eyes narrowed. “I’m taking that sword to a rune forge tonight. So the next time you meet me on a battleground, Hordie, I’m going to wipe the ground with you.”
He pursed his lips. “That would be a new experience for me, Alliance elf.”
Cash groaned. “Not you, too,” he said. “It’s bad enough listening to Wofford Patterson brag about his weapons. He even has a dog named Hellscream. And every time Kilraven comes down here, he’s got a new game he wants to tell me all about.”
“You should play, too, Chief,” Carlie said. She glanced at Carson. “It’s a great way to work off frustration.”
Carson raised an eyebrow. “I know a better one,” he said with a mocking smile.
He might not mean what she thought he did. She flushed helplessly and looked away. “I’m leaving.”
“Drive carefully. And buckle up,” Cash told her.
“Yes, sir, Boss,” she said, grinning.
She started the car, pulled it around and eased out of the parking lot.
She really hoped that her father wouldn’t find out how she’d been driving his pet car. It would be like Carson to tell him, just for spite.
Odd, though, she thought, how angry he’d been that she’d taken such chances. It was almost as if he was concerned about her. She laughed to herself. Sure. He was nursing a secret yen for her that he couldn’t control.
Not that he ever would ask her out or anything,