Page 26 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
Josie feared shewas driving the narrow highway too fast. She couldn’t help feeling anxious. The deputy hadn’t called her back. Nor had she been able to reach Goldie or the café. Something had happened. She knew it, the way she knew the man she’d spoken to on the phone was responsible.
Her blood turned to ice as she thought about him having Goldie. She reached for her phone, desperately needing to talk to Cordell as she felt the darkness approaching her so quickly that—
Her hand brushed her phone lying on the passenger seat as her windshield exploded, the sound like a gunshot. She felt something hitting her face and arms. Instinctively, she hit her brakes as her gaze flew up. She caught only a blur of whatever had slammed into her windshield as it careened off to the side.
She had inadvertently yanked the wheel in her surprise and now felt the tires on the right side drop over the edge of the narrow pavement. The back of the SUV dug into the soft dirt. She had to fight the wheel to get the SUV back up on the road and to a stop.
Her hands shook as she clung to the wheel, relieved that she wasn’t in the ditch. Even more relieved that she couldn’t see any other vehicles coming from either direction. She tried to get control of herself as she looked out through the webbed windshield and willed her heart rate to slow.
She was all right. All she could figure was that she’d hit a large pheasant. Her bare skin began to burn where tiny pieces of glass had cut her. She eased her grip on the wheel, trying to decide if she could see well enough to get the rest of the way to Dry Gulch. Her worry about Goldie convinced her she had to try.
Something caught her eye in the rearview mirror. She’d been expecting to see a dead pheasant in the road behind her. But what she saw looked like a large rock. How would a rock that size have—
Her side window exploded. Something hit the side of her head. She smelled strong body odor the moment before the man grabbed her and hauled her out of the car. She tried to fight him off, but he was too strong. As he cupped a wet rag over her mouth and nose, all the fight went out of her. Darkness closed in.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Josie awoke bound and tied to a metal bracket on the floor of what appeared to be an old panel van. The light was dim but across from her she could see one cut zip tie lying on the floor next to a similar metal bracket.
She couldn’t hear anything but the wind that now rocked the van. But she knew Goldie had been here. She could still feel her friend’s fear in the van. But she couldn’t rise high enough to see out the windshield as to where they were or where Goldie might have been taken. Unlike her grandmother, visions were never clear and the harder she tried, the less she could see. Which was why she’d never trusted this so-called gift. It hurt because she’d never needed it as much as she did right now.
After a few futile attempts to free herself, Josie suddenly stopped. She’d forgotten about the gun she’d put in her pocket after leaving Esther’s. She could feel the weight of it and was surprised that Grimes hadn’t noticed it. Leaning forward, she managed to get the gun out of her pocket and into the waistband of her jeans. She’d almost dropped it when she heard someone approaching.
Hurriedly, she pretended to still be unfocused from the drug he’d used on her, closing her eyes and slumping over a little, as the side door rolled open and she felt him step inside. She smelled him as he grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him.
“Wondered when you’d come around,” he said as he pulled out a knife. “I’m going to cut you free from the floor, but if you try anything, your good friend Goldie will suffer. Got it?”
She nodded numbly, letting him yank her to her feet and shove her through the open doorway of the van. She felt the gun bite into her flesh at her waist as she stumbled but managed to stay on her feet. Unfortunately, she felt her phone also still on her.
“Wait!”he bellowed in a voice that made her freeze. Grimes grabbed her and shoved her hard against the side of the van as he snatched the phone from the back pocket of her jeans. As he spun her around to face him, Josie got her first good look at him.
He was big and muscled, his tattooed throat corded like his massive arms. Surprisingly, he wasn’t as ugly as she’d pictured him, though he had his share of scars, including the one that made his right eyelid droop.
The real ugliness she saw was inside him and shone in his eyes. They were like looking into something dark and deep and revoltingly malevolent. She shuddered as she felt those dark eyes rake over her.
“Ain’t you a little thing,” he said with a deep, hoarse laugh. “At least my stepsons have good taste when it comes to women. Come on, let’s go see your friend.”
She glanced around, feeling a chill as she took in the dilapidated old two-story house sitting alone on the hillside apparently miles from anywhere. A feeling of pain and hate and horror rushed at her. She didn’t want to go in there. Horrible things had happened there. “What is this place?” she asked, her voice breaking.
“Home,” Grimes said with a chuckle that made her gag.
Home? This man and this house were what Max and Cordell had run from. She felt sick to her stomach as he dragged her toward the house. She sensed the hell the two had gone through here and had to fight to block the sensations she knew she would feel once inside as she cursed her second sight. She tried to think of anything but what Max and Cordell had lived through in this place.
As they reached the nearly falling-down porch, Grimes dragged her up what was left of the steps and shoved open the door. Bracing herself, Josie told herself to be strong. For Goldie. If Goldie was still alive.
Where were Cordell and Max? Did they know what was happening?
Josie knew that she couldn’t plan on them finding her and Goldie. Grimes hadn’t checked her for a weapon. He’d already misjudged her because of her slight build and her gender. Her grandmother had taught her how to use a gun, so she’d also learned to respect the weapon. “Never pull your gun unless you’re going to use it. Never use a gun unless you’ve tried every way but Sunday to talk yourself out of a situation.”
She glanced at Grimes. There was a ruthlessness about him that told her everything she needed to know about why Cordell and Max had ended up in Dry Gulch alone. She’d seen Grimes’s kind before, usually in a courtroom or a jail—on their way to prison. When she pulled the gun, shewoulduse it since she had a bad feeling there was no way to talk herself out of this.
He was right on her heels, not that she was going to run. She flinched at the sight of the battered old house that looked as if it was fighting to stay standing. He shoved her toward it. Goldie would be inside, but she had no idea what shape her friend might be in as she stumbled up the rotting porch steps.
She felt the gun but didn’t know if Grimes was alone. She had to bide her time until she knew exactly what she and Goldie were up against. Not that Grimes was ever far enough away from her for her to pull the weapon and fire, not with her wrists still bound.
When Josie saw Goldie tied to a chair, her heart broke for her. She could see her friend’s fear, feel her own as the cold shadowy darkness made her shudder.
Grimes seemed to be alone except for his hostages. Josie wished she knew for sure that no one else would be coming through the door at any moment. But the man had stayed close to her, as if expecting her to try something. He hadn’t given her sufficient room to draw the gun and fire with any chance of doing more than wounding him.
