Читать книгу Her Cowboy Defender - Kerry Connor - Страница 10

Chapter Two

“Throw your keys on the ground in front of my feet,” she ordered. “Don’t try anything tricky.”

Cade did his best to ignore the gun, meeting the eyes behind it. Only now did he recognize the desperation in her voice. Earlier he’d mistaken it for the understandable distress of a woman whose car had caught fire in the middle of nowhere. But this went way beyond that. The woman was seriously on edge.

That still didn’t make her actions any more comprehensible.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.

“Taking your truck.”

“It’s not much. Certainly not worth stealing.”

“It runs, which is more than I can say for that car. That’s all that matters.”

“And you’re just going to leave me out here in the middle of nowhere? No water? No shelter? Nothing to do but hope somebody else comes along?”

“I’m sorry about this. I really am. But I have to be somewhere in less than thirty minutes, and it really is a matter of life and death. I know how clichéd that sounds, but in this case, it couldn’t be more true. Now toss your keys over toward me.”

He didn’t move, the weight of his keys suddenly heavy in his fingers. He quickly considered his few options. Maybe if he pretended to throw them, distracted her long enough to dive back into the truck—

She cocked the weapon, her expression hard as stone.

“I told you, don’t even think of trying anything. If you don’t think it’s worth stealing, then it’s certainly not worth getting shot over.”

“But it is worth shooting somebody for?”

“If I have to.”

He stared at her, gauging her seriousness.

The way she handled the gun, her grip tight and unwavering, told him she knew exactly how to use it.

The way she looked at him, her eyes cold and unflinching, told him she wouldn’t hesitate to.

Damn. It didn’t look like he had a choice.

Biting back a curse, he slowly swung his arm and tossed the keys toward her. He didn’t bother to see where they landed.

She flicked her gaze down for only a second, not nearly long enough for him to make a move if he was crazy enough to try. When her attention was back on his face, she bent slowly at the knees, never losing her aim on him. As soon as she was close enough to the ground, she lowered one hand from the gun just long enough to scoop up the keys which had landed practically at her feet. As soon as she had them, she immediately started to rise again, gesturing toward him with a jerk of her chin. “Step away.”

He did as ordered, slowly moving backward, one frustrating step following another. After his first few steps, she was again on her feet and began to match his motions, stepping forward to the truck. Finally he was standing well behind the tailgate and she came to a stop next to the still-open door.

She glanced inside, then began to climb into the truck. Her movements were awkward, since she was still keeping the gun on him with one hand, but her aim remained true enough. “I really am sorry about this,” she said. “I’ll toss your phone out the window on the other side. You can call someone to come and get you.”

“You aren’t worried we’ll catch up with you?”

“By the time you do, it won’t matter anymore,” she said flatly.

Before he could wonder what she meant by that, she started to straighten in the seat, only to stop. A second later, she glanced back at him. “This is a manual.”

“Yeah, so?”

“I can’t drive a stick shift.”

He snorted. “Well, that’s too bad for you.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, staring at him long and hard. “You’re going to have to drive.”

“Excuse me?”

She jerked her head toward the cab. “Get in.”

An incredulous laugh burst from his mouth. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. It’s not enough you want to steal my truck. Now you want to hijack me into being your driver?”

“I don’t have a choice. The way I see it, neither do you.”

“Or what? You’re going to shoot me? Then who’s going to drive you?”

“If you refuse to drive me, then I’m not going to be where I need to be in time and somebody very important to me is going to die. So I might as well shoot you, because you will have just killed someone I love.”

The seriousness in her voice killed the last traces of dark humor inside him. He hadn’t considered her earlier words too deeply, but the intensity in this statement left no doubt she meant everything she said. Something was going on here. Someone she cared about was in very real danger. She believed that much.

Still, Cade hesitated. If anything, her words gave him more of a reason to want out of this. Whatever this mess was, it wasn’t something any sane person would want any part of.

She motioned with the gun. “If you think I won’t do it, I sincerely suggest you think again.”

And he saw the truth in her eyes. She would shoot him without a second thought. If he wanted to keep breathing, his only chance was to go along with her demand. And as much as he didn’t want to be killed, he didn’t really want to be responsible for it happening to someone else, either.

Matching her glare, he started forward slowly. After a few moments, she disappeared inside the cab. When he reached the open door, he found she’d slid across the seat and was backed up against the passenger door. The gun in her hands instantly adjusted so the barrel was centered right on his head.

Climbing in, he glanced down to find the keys already in the ignition. No point delaying the obvious, he supposed. With a grimace, he tugged the door shut, then reached forward and started the engine.

“All right,” he said, shifting the truck into gear. “Where are we going?”

HOLDING THE GUN STEADY with her right hand, Piper pulled the map from her bag and held it out to him. “Here.”

He took it from her with some reluctance, giving it a perfunctory glance. “What is this?”

“Where I need to go.”

He looked at it again, frowning slightly. “This is Cartwright.”

“What’s that?”

“An old ghost town in the middle of the desert. There’s not much there now.”

“Well, there will be in twenty-five minutes.” At the very least someone. Several someones most likely, but there was only one she truly cared about being there. “If you know where it is, then you must know how to get there.”

“Yeah.”

“Then drive.”

Clenching the map in his hand, he pulled back onto the road and started forward.

“Can we get there in twenty-five minutes?” she asked.

“Probably.”

“That isn’t good enough. Drive fast—but not fast enough that anything bad should happen. Neither of us wants this gun to go off accidentally.”

The muscles on his neck bulged from his clear tension, but he didn’t respond. The truck accelerated smoothly, picking up speed without jostling her.

She kept her eyes on him, not about to let her guard down when so much depended on him cooperating and getting her where she needed to be. He stared straight ahead, his jaw clenched. It was a strong jaw, perfectly fitting his plainly masculine profile. He had to be in his late thirties, his skin tanned from the sun, faint laugh lines worn into the corners around his eyes. It was a nice face. She suspected he was a nice guy. She remembered the clear thread of concern in his deep voice when he’d first pulled over. All he’d wanted to do was help her. And she’d pointed a gun at him and threatened to kill him.

Guilt, sharp and painful, stabbed at her. She ruthlessly pushed the feeling aside. The people she was dealing with weren’t letting anything stop them from getting what they wanted. She couldn’t afford to, either. And given a choice between Tara and this stranger, there was no question what she would do. The only thing that mattered was getting to the rendezvous on time, whatever it took.

Then it hit her. No, that wasn’t all that mattered. What happened at the meeting also mattered a great deal. She’d had a plan, a risky, dangerous, improbable plan, but the only one—the only chance—she had. The rental car had been a key part of that plan. Without it, this wasn’t going to work.

Unless…

She sharpened her gaze on the man behind the wheel, studying that hardened face. He’d wanted to help her once. He must be a good person, or at least good enough for what she needed him to do.

“I need to ask you a favor,” she said.

“Lady, you’re holding a gun on me. You’re not asking, you’re ordering.”

“Not with this. This is for when I’m gone and don’t have the gun on you anymore. I need you to do something for me then.”

“Why the hell would I do anything else for you, lady?”

“Because I’m hoping that the kind of guy who couldn’t drive by and leave a woman standing on the side of the road won’t leave an innocent woman in danger, either.”

He snorted. “I hate to break it to you, but you’re kidding yourself if you think you’re innocent.”

“I’m not talking about me. My sister’s been kidnapped. We’re making the exchange at this location. I’m not going to give them what they want until my sister is safely out of there. My original plan was for her to drive away, but obviously that’s not an option anymore. So I need to ask you to please stay long enough to get her out of there.”

“What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me. She’s all that matters.”

His frown deepened. “Who are these people? Why did they kidnap your sister?”

“That’s not important.”

“The hell it’s not. If you want me to stick around these people, I need to know what I’m up against.”

“They kidnapped her to force…me to provide them…with some information they want.”

“Even if they let your sister go before you give it to them, what do you think they’re going to do to you after you give it to them?”

“I told you, don’t worry about me.”

“It sounds like somebody needs to. What’s going to happen to you after you give them what they want?”

“Her name is Tara,” she said as if he hadn’t spoken. “She’s only twenty years old. She has her whole life ahead of her.”

“And you don’t? You can’t be much older than thirty, if that. What about your life?”

“Please. I know I don’t have the right to ask you for anything, but I’m doing it anyway. Please save my sister. If you want me to beg, if that’s what it will take to get you to agree, then I will do it. It should be clear by now that I am willing to do anything to save her. So I’m asking you, begging you, please save my sister.”

Something in his face softened slightly, and hope burst in her chest at the indication that she might have swayed him.

He never had a chance to answer.

The rear window suddenly shattered. Glass sprayed into the interior of the truck. Piper cringed, instinctively turning away from the blast. Almost immediately, she whipped her head back to see what had happened.

A car had pulled up behind them without her noticing. She hadn’t been paying close enough attention while she’d been speaking to him, hadn’t even considered that she would need to.

Then she saw the arm reaching out of the driver’s side window, the glint of a gun clutched in a hand, just before a dull thud struck the metal of the truck.

Realization struck as hard as the impact of a bullet. Someone was shooting at them, trying to force them off the road before she could even get to the rendezvous point.

Oh, God.

She should have known they wouldn’t play fair.