his worn jeans that stretched over his well-muscled thighs, nor the long-sleeved black T-shirt. He looked very different up-close-and-personal, the deliciously intriguing image of him she had developed during their morning workouts forever ruined by the handgun resting on his thigh.
Her girlish daydreams of him seemed ridiculous now. He was probably a Secret Service agent, everything she didn’t want in a man. The bullets bouncing off the hatch window were a good reminder.
The car swerved to the right. He swore in Spanish as he brought it back to the road and steadied the vehicle. “They got the tire.”
Her brain held only one thought—it bounced screaming inside her skull. I am going to die.
The two men were close behind them, with two guns and a van that would now easily outspeed Alex’s SUV. And Alex couldn’t even shoot back, it took both hands to keep them on the road with the flat.
“Can you take the wheel?” He threw her an assessing glance.
What other choice did she have? “Yes.”
She grabbed on, and they swerved for a moment when he let go and the vehicle jerked to the right. She corrected and brought it back straight and steady.
Alex still had his foot on the gas and kept the speed, much faster than what she would have been comfortable with even if it weren’t approaching rush hour, and they didn’t have a flat tire and she weren’t driving from the passenger seat. Nicola gripped the wheel. She had to handle the car. Their lives depended on it.
Alex rolled down the window and leaned out, his foot steady on the gas pedal. He fired one shot, then sat back inside and took the wheel from her.
She turned to see the brown van come to a halt in the ditch, its front window shattered.
“How long can we go on a flat?”
“Over thirty miles on these tires.” He drove by an exit.
“Shouldn’t we get off the highway?”
“Next exit. They’ll expect us to take the first.”
“You think they’ll still come after us?” She felt the blood leave her face at the thought.
“He. The driver is out.”
She watched her hands tremble as she rolled down the window a finger width to gulp some fresh air. It didn’t help. Nothing would, short of waking up and realizing all this was a dream.
“Are you okay?”
No! She wanted to scream, but was in too much shock to even speak. A couple of seconds went by before she could respond. “You must feel even worse than me. You had to kill a man and it doesn’t even have anything to do with you.”
Another exit came up, and he took it at the last second without signaling. “You don’t have to worry on my account.”
His tanned face never flinched. His sharp gaze was fixed on the road before them, but the muscles in his jaw were relaxed, as was the rest of his body. She was having a heart attack and he looked as if he was on his way to breakfast. Of course, the driver of the brown van was probably not his first casualty. The thought did nothing to settle her stomach.
“If they caught up with us, they would have done the same.” He spoke to her in an even voice, much like an EMT or policeman trying to calm an upset citizen.
“I know.” She closed her eyes, trying to get a grip on what was happening to her life. “It’s just that—I’m not used to people getting killed in connection with me.”
He nodded as he turned on the global positioning system and rolled onto a narrow country road, raising a billowing cloud of dust behind them.
“How close are we?”
“Not close enough to get there on a flat, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Her hands began to shake again, as her brain downgraded her already-not-too-optimistic forecast for survival. They’d have to walk. And somewhere out there the shooter was still after them.
Alex flipped the car into four-wheel drive then rode off the road into a field of wheat, following what looked like tractor tracks. As the SUV rattled over the uneven ground, she prayed they would reach the cover of the trees before the brown van reappeared on the road behind them. But when they finally got to the trees, finding cover proved to be harder than she had anticipated.
Precious seconds flew by as they searched for an opening in the thick tall brush. Then Alex found it. He pulled the car inside the small patch of woods far enough so they wouldn’t be seen from the road, then turned the vehicle so anyone coming after them would be met head-on. When he got out, she followed his example.
“You stay inside.” He walked to the back.
“Are you leaving me?” She hadn’t considered that. She had thought they would walk to the safe house together. “Are you going for help?”
He looked at her as if she were crazy. “I’m changing the tire.”
“Oh.” She sagged against a tree.
The heat was oppressive even this early in the day, a physical presence pushing down on her. For days she’d been hoping for a good storm to break the heat wave, some much-needed rain to cool everything off, but according to the weather service there was no relief in sight. She wiped her forehead as she watched the man. If the soaring temperature bothered him, he didn’t show it.
He pulled the spare from the back then grabbed the jack. Dappled sunlight glinted off his black hair as he moved with fluid motions. “Get in the car.”
Too drained to bristle at being ordered around, she did as she was told, but left the door open so they could talk and she could breathe. The air stood still in the small grove of trees. “Do you think he’ll come after us?”
“Probably.”
“Will he find us?” Stupid question. The man, Alex, wasn’t a fortune teller. But she was desperate for reassurance.
“Not likely,” he said and looked away too quickly.
“But?”
“Nothing.”
“If you were him, could you track me down?”
“If someone is determined enough, they’ll always find a way.”
Great. Bloody peachy.
He snapped the jack into place. “I’m going to make it as hard as I can for him. Don’t worry. I think we lost him for now.”
He was probably right. It would have taken the shooter a while to move his partner from the wheel, break out the shattered windshield so he could see, and get the van back on the road. Most likely, Alex and she were out of sight by then and the man could only guess where they had gone. Alex had been checking the rearview mirror the whole time. He would have seen the guy if he had managed to catch up with them.
She had to think positively. Couldn’t afford to
