Page 87 of Hot Intent

Another round of gunfire exploded from the living room. She was relieved when shooting back at whoever gave her proof that he was still alive.

Another round of incoming fire hit the bathroom door and flung splinters of wood every which way in here. She yanked the shower curtain shut and covered her head with her arms. Something metallic and fast moving pinged off the side of the bathtub, and Alex’s order to climb in here suddenly made sense.

The bathroom door burst open and she jumped violently.

“Get up, Katie. We’ve got to go.”

“Out there?” she squeaked.

“Window,” he grunted. “Hurry. I’ve set a timed charge in the front room.”

Ohmigosh. She leaped to her feet and climbed on the toilet seat and then the top of the toilet tank as he disappeared out the open window. She stuck her head and shoulders out and he waved at her to slide down to him. She did so, and he caught her under the armpits, pulling her legs through and setting her upright.

She opened her mouth out of habit to thank him, and he pressed an urgent finger against her lips. Stealth. Got it. She nodded and followed him as he eased into the woods behind the motel.

Another round of gunfire erupted from behind them, and on cue, a tremendous explosion lit the night. The ground shook andKatie staggered into Alex’s back. He paused just long enough for her to regain her feet, and then they moved out, heading deeper into the night.

The treed area gave way to a farm. They skirted the edge of a plowed field to a big, old-fashioned barn. Alex carefully slid open its tall wooden door a few feet.

He disappeared inside after signaling for her to wait outside. She fretted for about one minute and then stared in shock as he led out a giant horse. It had on a bridle but was otherwise bare of tack.

“Give me your leg,” Alex breathed.

“You want me to get on that monster?”

“Trust me. It’s better than running all night.”

She was no horsewoman! Stunned and terrified, she let him hoist her onto the broad back of the beast, who shifted under her weight and stamped a foot. Ohgod, ohgod. It was a long,longways down to the ground.

“Easy, boy,” Alex murmured. He led the horse over to an unpainted, wooden fence, handed the reins up to her, then climbed the fence and eased onto the horse behind her.

The animal’s back was warm and wide. Scared to death, she grabbed on to a handful of the horse’s thick mane and hung on for dear life. Alex’s arms came around her and he pried the reins out of her panicked fists. She felt his legs tighten around the animal’s girth behind her and the horse moved forward.

At least Alex didn’t spur the beast into a mad gallop. Although, in her panic to get away from whomever was shooting at them, she almost wished he would send the horse on a mad dash to safety.

Alex breathed in her ear, “We’ll draw less attention moving quietly. And, this is a draft horse. He’s designed to go all day at a slow pace, but he couldn’t run a mile without being totally winded.”

He guided the horse across a road in front of the farm and into another patch of woods. The animal found some sort of path and turned onto it of his own accord. Alex gave the animal free rein and let the horse plod along in the dark.

“Where are we going?” she finally ventured whispering.

“Away from the motel. As for what awaits us ahead, I have no idea. We’ll adapt when we get there.”

The horse walked for maybe a twenty minutes at a steady, but surprisingly ground eating pace. All of a sudden, a clearing opened up in front of them. A simple, one-story building stood in the middle of it.

“That’s a one-room schoolhouse!” she murmured. “Was that farm Amish?”

“Mennonite, I think,” Alex answered. “I saw a tractor in the barn.”

The horse strode up to a hitching post with a watering trough beside it and shoved his nose into the black water. After that, no matter what Alex tried shy of beating the beast, the horse refused to budge. Period.

Finally, Alex gave up, slid off the animal and helped her down. She watched as Alex slipped the bridle off the horse and gave it a sharp swat on the rump. The horse threw up its head, startled, and turned to trot back down the path it had come from.

“If I know horses, that guy’ll go right back to his barn and maybe even back into his stall. If we’re lucky, the farmer won’t report his stolen bridle to the police.”

To that end, Alex hung the bridle on the hitching post, where it didn’t look at all out of place. “We’re on foot from here.”

Except before they could take a dozen steps, they heard something rattling toward them. Katie dived for behind the trees on the far side of the clearing and waited pensively for what would emerge from the dirt road beyond the schoolhouse.

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