Page 11 of Preying Heart
Bingo. Her face pales at the mention of her brother and the Feds.
She recovers by rolling her eyes. “I thought you said organized crime earlier.”
“Same difference.” I swerve around a slow-moving tractor and race off down the road.
“But what if Gavin is rescuing me?”
“You don’t believe that.” I shoot her a glare in the rearview mirror. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have run when he said Gavin’s name.”
ChapterFive
Remi
The van hurtles like an out-of-control roller coaster, bouncing and swerving from side to side as we pass slower-moving traffic and make sharp turns. I’m petrified, but I force myself to crawl into the front passenger seat. I have to see where we’re going. I’m not a side of beef to be fought over, and I have unanswered questions.
“What are you going to do with me?” I press Lone Wolf with the most important question.
“We’re going to ditch this van, first thing, and get ourselves a change of clothing.”
I jab his arm. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He spares me a glance and cuts across three lanes to exit the highway. “You want me to let you go? Because I can pull over and drop you off.”
“Not here in the middle of nowhere. You promised to take me to a bus station.”
There’s nothing I can see but scattered plots of farmland, a junkyard filled with old trailers, and a scattered house or gas station clustered around a dusty crossroad.
“If that’s what you want, then I can do that. But we have to ditch this van and walk.”
“Walk? How far?”
“As far as it takes.” He turns into a dusty lane lined with worn-out houses fronting a forested lake.
“I get why you have to ditch the van, but I don’t see any car rentals here.”
“Who said anything about renting a car?” He pulls the van down a rutted road deeper underneath the trees. “Here’s the thing. Once I shut off the ignition, I won’t be able to restart it. See how it’s complaining that the key fob is missing?”
“Yes, so what do you want me to do?”
“Look for a yard with a car, mail stuffed in the box, newspapers thrown on the porch.”
“You’re going to steal a car?”
“I’ll leave payment.” He glances from one side of the road to the other at the tiny cabins nestled beneath the trees. “I want you to walk to that one and ring the bell.”
“Why?”
“So you can see if anyone’s home.” He points to a dilapidated clapboard house with peeling paint and an overflowing mailbox. A clunker sedan, a boxy Oldsmobile, is sitting in the yard overgrown with weeds.
“Why me?”
“Do as I say, Remi. We don’t have time for arguments. Whoever sent those two suits is tracking this van. Once those two report us missing, they’ll be swarming the countryside trying to find us.”
“They’ll be after you. I wasn’t the one who stole the van.”
He cocks an eyebrow at me sky high. “They were told to collect you, and somehow you were too scared to go with them that you threw your lot with me.”
“I did not. I was trying to get away from all three of you.” Even though I deny it, I was afraid of going back to Gavin without my problem resolved.
