bottle for her inspection.
Kate took the bottle and twisted off the cap. She peered at the small blue pills it contained, then shrugged as she recapped it. “Are they mine?” She met his watchful gaze. Why did he look at her like that?
“They were in your purse, so I would assume they belong to you.” He plucked the bottle from her hand and jammed it into his coat pocket. “There was a duffel bag in the trunk, I’ve already put it in my Jeep. Are you ready?”
“I’m ready,” she told him, somehow as anxious to be away from him as he appeared to want to relieve himself of her. Though she didn’t quite feel threatened, something about him made her uneasy.
Katherine followed the man out into the cold sunshine. It looked to be late afternoon. The sun hovered just above the tops of the evergreen trees surrounding the cabin and the small clearing. A gravel driveway veered down the slope and off into the woods. Did she know this place? Had she been here before? With him? Her gaze darted to the handsome stranger who appeared to be her reluctant savior.
He reached to open the door of his Jeep, but hesitated. He cocked his head and listened, his gaze narrowed. “Damn,” he muttered and quickly shoved her against the closed door.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, frowning at the throb in her head generated by his sudden move. Then she heard it too. The distinct sound of gravel crunching beneath tires.
He spouted another curse and then turned to her, his gaze fierce. “Listen to me, Kate,” he said harshly. “If that’s who I think it is, we’re in deep sh—”
“I don’t understand,” she broke in, fear snaking around her chest and squeezing like a boa constrictor.
“Listen,” he growled, giving her a little shake. “They won’t hesitate to kill both of us, do you understand that?”
Kate nodded, ignoring the intense ache it caused. She couldn’t breathe…she couldn’t think. Kill them both? What was he talking about? Why would anyone want to kill her?
Call in…
The phrase flitted through her mind. What did it mean? Oh, God. What was happening? Her panic was complete now, fueled by her inability to comprehend the situation. She shuddered against it. Closed her eyes to make it go away.
His hands were under her sweatshirt, probing the waistband of her jeans. Kate snapped her eyes open. “What are you doing?” she cried, tears burning behind her lids.
“Kate, you’re our only chance at surviving this little party.” He captured her gaze with his, and the sheer determination there forced her to pay attention. “This—” he shoved something hard and cold that she somehow recognized immediately as a gun into her waistband. She instinctively recoiled, but he caught her by the waist and held her still “—is our only chance.” His cold blue gaze pierced hers. The feel of his roughened palm against her bare skin felt strangely soothing. “Just listen to me, and when the time comes, do what I tell you—don’t hesitate—just do it no matter what it is. Can you do that?”
Before Kate could respond, a car skidded to a halt right beside them. Two men jumped out of the black sedan, big, ugly guns in hand.
Oh, God. They were going to die. And Kate didn’t even know why. How had she gotten in the middle of all this? She lifted her gaze to the man standing beside her. What had this man done to deserve to be hunted down like this? Wary and uncertain as to how to react, she aimed her attention at the two men stalking purposely toward them.
“Well, well, Danny, looks as if we’ve found our man,” the larger of the two men said with a sneer. He waved his gun and added tauntingly, “And it looks as if he’s got the little woman with him, too.”
The man beside her shifted his body closer to hers. “She’s just a lay I picked up in town last night.”
Instinctively, Kate started to refute his words, but before she could speak, the goon with the gun moved closer.
Vinny grabbed her purse from beneath her jacket and looked inside, fishing out her license. “She looks a little worse for wear.” He winked at Kate and shoved license and purse back at her. “What’d you do, Rick, ride her all night?”
Rick… His name was Rick. Kate looked at the man standing next to her and tested the name. She frowned. He didn’t really look like a Rick. But what did she know?
“Maybe she’s still got a little fun left in her.” The goon moved closer, snagging Kate’s chin in his beefy hand.
Kate gasped. Rick pushed between them. “Don’t touch her,” he warned in a voice so deadly it sent shivers skipping down her spine.
“You ain’t in no position to be giving orders, Ricky boy. Pat him down, Danny,” he directed the other goon.
Rick stood stone-still while the man named Danny frisked him. The whole scene took on a surreal quality. It suddenly occurred to Kate that this was just like in the movies. Two big guys in black suits arrived in a black sedan carrying scary black guns and…she was going to die.
The urge to vomit burned at the back of her throat. Kate fought the impulse. She felt certain that such a move would not endear her to these men. If they thought she was sick they might just shoot her on the spot.
“That’s it, Vinny,” Danny announced as he handed the other man a gun that looked very much like the one they both carried.
Rick had been carrying that gun. Kate suddenly recalled that she, too, carried a gun. Did it look like that? She tried not to breathe too deeply now, remembering the cold steel object tucked into her jeans. Her head throbbed insistently.
“How the mighty hath fallen,” Vinny sneered, the words filled with sheer hatred. He stepped closer, until he was toe to toe with Rick. Vinny stood there for a long moment and stared before he spat in Rick’s face.
“You don’t deserve to live another minute. If I didn’t have strict orders to take you to Dillon, I’d kill you myself, right now.” Vinny’s mouth twisted in anger. “But the old man, he wants you to look him in the eye and tell him what you did. Otherwise I would do you right here.”
Rick rubbed his hand over his face to rid himself of the man’s spittle, then cocked his blond head. “What’s stopping you, Vinny? I won’t tell if you don’t,” he said in a patronizing tone.
“Shut up, you piece of crap,” Vinny bellowed as he shoved the tip of his gun barrel under Rick’s chin. “I might forget orders for once.”
Kate’s heart almost shuddered to a stop then, but Rick only laughed derisively. “Don’t kid yourself, Vinny, you’re a made guy all the way down to your Gucci loafers. You don’t take a piss without orders.”
“Get in the frigging car.” Vinny shoved Rick in the direction of the sedan.
Rick pulled Kate close to his side. She didn’t have time to decide if being near him was a relief or not. Gun barrels stuck in their backs, Kate and Rick were ushered forward.
“You, up front,” Vinny said, and propelled Kate toward Danny.
Danny half dragged her to the passenger side of the car and pushed her inside. Kate glanced at Rick in the back seat. She wondered if he had
