the punches. Hopefully her success rate inside a classroom put the odds in her favor as she attempted to uncover the truth. Nothing would stop her, not even the handsome man in front of her.
“The only person here with a warrant is you.” The man inched closer. He remained calm, confident.
She was not.
Going left or right would wouldn’t work. Too many people to maneuver around. Any one of them might grab her for him.
“So, what are you going to do? Bury me in an unmarked grave somewhere or take me back to Drew so he can kill me himself?” Several more customers stopped what they were doing. Many chose not to look directly at her. “I’m not going with you.”
“You don’t have a choice. You kidnapped your niece.”
Other people watched her and the man, as though enjoying a tennis match, as their conversation continued.
“I didn’t kidnap her. I’m protecting her.” Although Drew spent most of his marriage hitting Erin, he hadn’t hurt Charlotte, according to the little girl. Jamie had made sure to ask. Often.
He shook his head. “The courts don’t agree.”
“The courts are full of obnoxious old men who don’t have a clue what a true villain Drew Timmins is.” When the man took another step toward her, she backed up. “Please. My niece and I are in danger. Don’t you have a heart?” Make a decision. Which way should she run?
Metal clinked behind her. The closest computer geeks leaned over to glance around her.
Jamie jerked to one side so she could keep an eye on the man while assessing the latest threat. A woman, shadowed by the darkness of the hallway behind her, approached with handcuffs dangling from her fingers. “Please don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
“Lil, I told you to wait,” the man grumbled.
Okay, if this woman was working with him, then they were definitely not Drew’s employees. Her brother-in-law would never hire a woman.
“I thought you and Ms. Carter could use a hand.”
Fear shot through Jamie. Once those metal bracelets clinked around her wrists, her attempts to eventually earn Charlotte a safe life would be over.
Which way should she go?
“Let me handle this,” the man said through what sounded like gritted teeth. He moved a little quicker but with the hint of a limp.
The woman continued walking closer to Jamie. A few inches shorter, several pounds lighter and with hesitation in her step. If the lady tried to grab Jamie, could she fight her? Adding another assault charge to her growing list of offenses wasn’t ideal, but protecting her niece meant more.
Once Jamie had gathered enough evidence of Drew’s illegal activities, maybe the charges against her would be dropped. Although, maybe not because she had actually assaulted her brother-in-law. But somehow she’d convince the courts to award her full custody of Charlotte despite Jamie’s crimes. Unless God still wanted a good laugh.
“Ms. Carter.” The man’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Let us take you in and put an end to your running.”
“Never going to happen.” She shifted her focus to the woman, now within two feet of her. “I’m sorry.” Jamie moved forward, slammed her heel onto the other woman’s foot and shoved her shoulders back with as much force as possible. While the woman teetered, Jamie crouched down and swiped the woman’s feet out from under her. As the lady’s body fell backward, Jamie turned and ran.
* * *
“Wait!” Zack’s gut clenched as his sister fell like a ten-pound bag of potatoes. The metal door from the back of the room slammed against the outside of the building as the woman ran through it. Adrenaline surged through him. Several people from the last row of computers scrambled from their seats and slid in beside his sister. He barely glanced in Lily’s direction, though, as he broke into a run after the fugitive.
Heat hit him as soon as he stepped outside. He glanced to his right and saw only an overloaded trash bin. To his left, a car moved slowly as though the driver searched for a parking space. Jamie had just passed it.
Zack took off after her. His badge slapped against his chest. As he moved, he slammed pressure onto a not-quite-healed leg. Pain jolted through his knee from when he wiped out on his surfboard. “Carter!”
The woman rushed between a set of trees at the end of the parking lot, a long ponytail waving behind her. A loose-fitting dark T-shirt and blue jean shorts would help her disappear into the wall of trees, leaving him in the dust, looking like a fool.
Zack stopped running and bent over. He set both hands on his thighs and prayed for the pain in his leg to diminish. What had he been thinking? Stupid decision to come after a bounty with his inexperienced sister and his less-than-ready body.
Yikes. Lily. He’d bailed on her. When he turned around, a sea of faces greeted him from just outside the internet café. Questions flew at him as he hobbled back to them.
“Who was she?”
“What’d she do?”
“Want us to go after her?”
They crowded him as he crossed the back entrance and into the hallway. “It’s all right, guys. We’ll get her another time.” Business patrons passed by him and shuffled through abandoned chairs. Voices buzzed once again.
Several people crowded Lily as she sat in a chair and rubbed the back of her head. “Lil?”
“I’m okay.” Once she stood, she closed the distance between them. “What about you?”
He scanned the room. Several people had returned to their work, with the few remaining stragglers backing away. “Kyle was right. I’m not ready to go back in the field.” His older brothers had relegated him to the office of their bounty hunting business for another few days, as though he, a grown man, couldn’t decide when his body was healed enough.
Clearly, they had a point.
The jabbing pain along his leg dulled to a throbbing ache. He shifted his weight to his uninjured knee.
“Do you want to sit down for a few minutes to rest your knee?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m good. Let’s get out of here.”
“Don’t worry.” Lily wrapped her arm around his back and leaned her head on his shoulder. “We still have the advantage with Carter.”
“How do you figure?” Zack steered her toward the checkout counter.
“You were able to find her once. You’ll be able to do it again.”
“Maybe.”
A man around his age rushed to the counter. His name tag read Randy. “How can I help you?”
“Sorry about the ruckus.”
The guy waved them off. “Forget it. No one
