was assembling backup for Nate. She only prayed they wouldn’t need it, that they could resolve this here and now.
“Can you try to shoot out the tires or something?” she asked.
“Not with the kids inside. Too risky.”
Of course, it was. She obviously wasn’t thinking clearly and wouldn’t until she had her baby safely in her arms. “How will we get it to stop?”
“Grayson will have someone at the other end of this road. Once the guy realizes he can’t escape, he’ll stop.”
Maybe. And maybe that shoot-out would happen, after all. Darcy tried not to give in to the fear, but she got a double dose of it when the van sped over a hill and disappeared out of sight.
“Are there side roads?” she asked. She’d never been on Elmore or in this particular part of Silver Creek.
“Yeah. Side roads and old ranch trails.”
That didn’t help with the fear, and she held her breath until Nate’s car barreled over the hill. There, about a quarter of a mile in front of them, she could see the van. But not for long. The driver went around a deep curve and disappeared again.
It seemed to take hours for Nate to reach that same curve, and he was going so fast that he had to grapple with the steering wheel to remain in control. The tires on her side scraped against the gravel shoulder and sent a spray of rocks pelting into the car’s undercarriage. It sounded like gunshots, and that made her terror worse.
They came out of the curve, only to go right into another one. Nate seemed to realize it was coming because he was already steering in that direction.
Darcy prayed that it wouldn’t be much longer before Grayson or someone else approached from the other side of the road so they could stop this chase. She didn’t want to risk the van crashing into one of the trees that dotted the sides of the road.
She could hear the chatter on Nate’s cell, which was still on speaker. People were responding. Everything was in motion, but the truth was Nate and she were the ones who were closest to the van. They were their children’s best bet for rescue.
“Hold on,” Nate warned as he took another turn. “And put on your seat belt.”
Her hands were shaking, but she managed to get the belt pulled across her. She was still fumbling with the latch when their car came out of yet another curve followed by a hill.
The moment they reached the top of the hill, she saw the van.
And Darcy’s heart went to her knees.
“Stop!” she yelled.
Nate was already trying to do just that. He slammed on the brakes. But they were going too fast. And the van was sideways, right in the middle of the road. The vehicle wasn’t moving, and there was no way for Nate to avoid it.
Darcy screamed.
Just as they crashed head-on into the black van.
Chapter Three
Nate heard the screech of his brakes as the asphalt ripped away at the tires. There was nothing he could do.
Nothing.
Except pray and try to brace himself for the impact.
He didn’t have to wait long.
The car slammed into the van, tossing Darcy and him around like rag dolls. The air bags deployed, slapping into them and sending a cloud of the powdery dust all through the car’s interior.
It was all over in a split second. The whiplashing impact. The sounds of metal colliding with metal.
Nate was aware of the pain in his body from having his muscles wrenched around. The mix of talc and cornstarch powder from the air bag robbed him of what little breath he had. But now that he realized he had survived the crash, he had one goal.
To get to the children.
Nate prayed they hadn’t been hurt.
He lifted his head, trying to listen. He didn’t hear anyone crying or anyone moaning in pain. That could be good.
Or very bad.
Next to him, Darcy began to punch at the air bag that had pinned her to the seat. He glanced at her, just to make sure she wasn’t seriously injured. She had a few nicks on her face from the air bag, and her shoulder-length dark brown hair was now frosted with the talc mixture, but she was fighting as hard as he was to get out of the vehicle. No doubt to check on her son.
“When we get out, stay behind me and let me do the talking,” Nate warned her.
Though he doubted his warning would do any good. If the kidnappers hadn’t been injured or, better yet, incapacitated, then this was going to get ugly fast.
Nate got a better grip on his gun and opened his door. Or rather, that’s what he tried to do. The door was jammed, and he had to throw his weight against it to force it open. He got out, his boots sinking into the soggy shoulder of the road, and got a good look at the damage. The front end of his car was a mangled heap, and it had crumpled the side of the van, creating a deep V in the exterior.
Still no sounds of crying. In fact, there were no sounds at all coming from the van.
“I’m Lieutenant Nate Ryland,” he called out. “Release the hostages now!”
He waited, praying that his demand wouldn’t be answered with a hail of bullets. Anything he did right now was a risk and could make it more dangerous for the children, but he couldn’t just stand there. He had to try something to get Kimmie and Noah away from their kidnappers.
In the distance he could hear a siren from one of the sheriff department’s cruisers. The sound was coming from the opposite direction so that meant Grayson or one of the other deputies would soon be there. But Nate didn’t intend to wait for backup to arrive. His daughter could be hurt inside that van, and he had to check on her.
Darcy finally managed to fight her way out of the wrecked car, and she hit the ground running. Or rather, limping. However, the limping didn’t stop her. She went straight for the van. Nate would have preferred for her to wait until he’d had time to assess things, but he knew there was no stopping her, not with her son inside.
“Noah?” she shouted.
Still no answer.
That didn’t stop Darcy, either, and she would have thrown open the back doors of the van if Nate hadn’t stepped in front of her and muscled her aside. This could be an ambush with the kidnappers waiting inside to gun them down, but these SOBs obviously wanted Darcy and him for something. Maybe that something meant they would keep them alive.
“Kimmie?” Nate called out, and he cautiously opened the van doors while he kept his gun aimed and ready.
It took him a moment to pick through the debris and the caved-in side, but what he saw had him cursing.
No one was
