Page 151 of Peaks and Promises

I opened the app and alarm hit me like a bolt of lightning. He was well outside town, moving fast.

“What’s wrong?” Summer asked.

“They lost track of Nate during a game of hide-and-seek.” I swiped to the app with the tracker I’d put in his shoe. It showed the same thing. “He’s in a moving vehicle, already outside town.”

“What?” she shrieked.

With my eyes locked on Summer’s, I stood and lifted the phone to my ear. “Annika, I have to go.”

I ended the call before I heard her reply, and a second later, Summer and I were racing out the door.

Axel

The kid sat with his arms crossed, casting me occasional wary glances. Considering I’d grabbed him at gunpoint, shoved him in a car, and raced him out of town, he was pretty calm. Maybe Summer hadn’t turned him into a total pussy after all.

No one had seen a thing, and we weren’t being followed. I’d been quick. And the gun was deterrent enough to keep him from doing something stupid, like yelling out the window at the passersby on our way out of town.

Driving down the highway, I kept an eye on my speed. The last thing I needed was some fucking cop on my ass. I knew what was going to happen. The kid would be reported missing. Steering clear of law enforcement was a priority.

I pulled out a cigarette and my lighter. “Want one?”

He shook his head.

I shrugged and cracked the window before lighting it. I took a long drag and blew the smoke toward the opening.

Nate waved his hand in front of his face and coughed. “Those cause cancer.”

“Do they?” I took another drag, and my reply was thick with sarcasm, but I lowered my window a little more. “I had no idea.”

“Where are we going?”

“Montana.”

“Is that where your biker gang lives?”

“Biker gang?” I chuckled. “It’s a motorcycle club. And no. We’re finished with those fuckers.”

“Why Montana?”

“Do you always ask so many questions?”

He shrugged and fiddled with his watch.

“We’re going to Montana because my uncle lives out there. He’s older than dirt, probably gonna kick the bucket any day. But he’ll put us up for a while on his land.”

“You think I’m just going to live with you now?”

“I’m your father. You bet your ass you’re going to live with me now. You should’ve been with me all along.”

He didn’t, but I could have sworn he was about to say “You’re not my father.”

He’d learn.

I took a drag and blew the smoke out the window. Nate twisted his watch again. Narrowing my eyes, I took a hard look at it. Some kind of smartwatch. I’d already made sure he didn’t have a phone on him. That would be easy to track. But that watch might have GPS.

“Get rid of the watch.”

He looked at me in alarm. “What?”