Page 84 of Tempting Fate
“Get your hands off me.” Raylene pushed her, a tactical error because Stringy tightened his arm around Harper.
“Don’t push me again, bitch.” Tiny reached in Raylene’s pocket, found the phone, and threw it against the barn wall.
Time for another plan. The problem was Raylene didn’t have one. And Harper…not again… Raylene wouldn’t let them put her or her parents through any more trauma. They’d already been through so much.
“What. Do. You. Want?” she asked through gritted teeth.
“We want the map.” Tiny backhanded Raylene across the face. She might have been small, but the slap stung so hard Raylene’s eyes watered.
The map? It took a few moments for her to process what they were asking for, then it all became clear. They were the ones who’d stolen the pickax, broken into her car…and possibly killed someone in Utah during a home invasion robbery. That third piece of the puzzle chilled her to the bone.
“I don’t have it with me.” Raylene held her throbbing face, trying not to look at Harper, afraid her fear was so palpable she’d scare the girl even worse.
“Well, that’s a problem, isn’t it?” the woman said, and Raylene knew she’d miscalculated. She, not Stringy, was running the show. Tiny exchanged a glance with Stringy and he stroked Harper’s arm.
“You’re not going to get it unless you let her go,” Raylene said, knowing it was an empty threat. The more she protested on Harper’s behalf, the more they’d use Harper to their advantage.
Tiny laughed before turning to Ferret. “Search her.”
He took his time, emptying Raylene’s pockets and running his hands under her clothes. Her purse was in her truck. The map was in Gabe’s.Gabe. She silently prayed that he’d show up here, instead of her property.
“Nothing,” he said.
“Check the truck,” Tiny demanded.
“My boyfriend has it.” Raylene tried to block Ferret. “Let me call Gabe. He’ll bring it, and you can leave us alone.”
“You mean the boyfriend who’s on his way?” Tiny snorted and signaled to Ferret that he should search Raylene’s Ford.
With him gone, Raylene considered her odds against Tiny and Stringy. She wished she had something she could use as a weapon, and scanned her immediate area as discreetly as possible. During the commotion, Gunner had wandered closer to his stall. The curry comb sat on the mounting block, but Raylene didn’t think it was capable of doing any real damage. Her fear was she’d only antagonize the trio and they’d take out their anger on Harper. Whatever she did had to be enough of a distraction to give Harper time to make a run for it. Before she had any more time to contemplate it, Ferret came back, holding her purse.
“It’s not in here, or anywhere in her truck,” he said.
“Give me that.” Tiny swiped Raylene’s handbag and started sifting through it herself.
In her frightened state, Raylene couldn’t estimate how much time had passed since Drew had left. An hour? Ninety minutes? Something like that. She held out hope that when Harper didn’t show up home he’d come looking for her. Sneaking a glance, Raylene was surprised to find that Harper was holding it together. Stringy no longer had his arm around her, and she’d managed to put a half-foot distance between them. Raylene tried to communicate with her using her eyes.
When I say go, you run!Don’t look back, just get help.
Harper gave Raylene an imperceptible nod. Good girl. Now Raylene had to come up with something. What would Gabe or Logan do? Who was she kidding? They’d beat the living daylights out of all three of them. None of them appeared to have a weapon, and if it wasn’t for Harper, Raylene would’ve taken her chances by hightailing it out of there.
Tiny threw the purse at Raylene. “Where is it, bitch?”
“I told you, my boyfriend has it. Just let me call him and you can have it.”
Ferret looked at Tiny, and Tiny’s lips curved up in a sick smile that made Raylene’s blood curdle. “Fine. I’ll wait here with you, and these two will take your little friend to a secure location. She doesn’t go free until I safely have the map.”
No way in hell was Raylene letting the two men take Harper anywhere. Furthermore, she didn’t believe Tiny. Neither of them was going free, otherwise she and Harper would blow the whistle and the authorities would nab Tiny and her two friends while they dug for the gold.
“That won’t work,” Raylene said. “She and I stay together, that’s non-negotiable.” Probably not the best idea to challenge three psychopaths, but what choice did she have? She wasn’t leaving Harper alone with any of them.
That’s when she saw it. A pitchfork leaning against the wall next to the mounting block. How she’d missed it before, Raylene didn’t know. It was less than three feet away. All she had to do was stretch out her arm and grab it. But could she wield it against the others and hold them off long enough for Harper to get away? And did she have the stomach to actually stab someone with it? To assure Harper’s safety she thought she could…no, she knew she could. No one was going to hurt that sweet little girl. No one.
Stringy turned slightly to say something to Tiny and that’s when Raylene made her move. She lunged forward, clutched the handle of the pitchfork, and brandished it like a sword, jabbing it first at Stringy. Then she swept it through the air, thrust-and-parry style, at the other two.
“Run!” she shouted to Harper, who faltered at first, then took off out of the barn as fast as her small legs would carry her.
Ferret started to go after her, but Raylene stuck him with one of the prongs of the pitchfork, buying Harper more time. He yelped, which brought the other two to action.
