Page 46 of Lawson & Jill

What’s going on? Who’s on the phone?

“Get out here,” Tim screamed at Jill.

Yeah, sure. Not.

He wasn’t pointing a gun. Why was she going to get close to that knife if she didn’t have to? He’d have to come on in and get her. He put a knee up into the van and started to climb toward them. His knife looked like a machete to Jill’s scared eyes.

“Tim, it’s me, Angela.” Jill heard Angela’s voice coming out of the cell phone.

Tim stopped in his tracks. As soon as he did, Jill’s brain kicked into gear. How was it that Angela was calling Tim at just this moment? It had to be Law’s tracking device and all the talking she did into the Law’s security system.

He’s going to save me.

Tim had the phone to his ear and off the speaker. Jill didn’t know what Angela said, but he was getting agitated.

Come on Angela, be cool.

Jill cringed when she saw Tim pull the gun from his jacket pocket. “I’m not going to let them go until I see you. You know that, don’t you, Sweetheart?” His voice sounded so reasonable. Almost loving.

Lesley started making retching sounds, and Jill realized she was going to throw up again. Had she missed something? She blocked out the sound of Tim’s voice and pretended there wasn’t a knife or a gun in the vehicle. Instead, she pretended that she was in an ambulance and that she had a patient. That was all that mattered.

She turned Lesley’s head and made sure her airway was clear so she could vomit, and then found the egg-sized lump on her head.

Carefully, Jill moved her friend’s head.

“Lesley, open your eyes, Honey.”

“Shut up!” Tim yelled.

“Open your eyes,” Jill whispered.

When Lesley finally got them open, Jill wanted to groan. Her pupils were huge. She had a concussion. She needed to get her to a hospital, and fast.

“I love you, Angela, I can’t live without you. If I can’t live, nobody can. I’ll shoot them both.”

Jill sucked air between her teeth. First, get the gun away from Tim, then get Lesley to a hospital.

Easy peasy.

Think, Jill, why has Angela called?

Who arranged it?

Law had to be somewhere, right?

How can I help in my own rescue?

* * *

Law had been listening to the whole debacle as he’d driven to the construction site. There were plenty of heavy-equipment vehicles parked all around, he just had to follow the beacon to find the white van.

He stopped his truck and got out, taking his gun and phone. He had the audio plugged into just one of his earbuds so he could also hear what was going on around him. He knew where he was headed, and now he just needed to keep listening in on the phone call between Tim and Angela. It had been better when Tim had had it on speaker and he’d heard Jill’s voice.

His blood had turned to ice water when Tim said that if he couldn’t have her, then nobody else could live, either. He was close to the end of his very short rope. But Angela had kept it together—she’d lied her ass off and said she would come to him.

Law edged around one of the three large motor graders and found the white van. Tim was either extremely smart or just stupid. He had parked the van in the middle of an open space—that meant nobody could sneak up on him. But at the same time, he was out in the open and totally vulnerable. Law would’ve given anything to have his sniper rifle.

Law was spot-on accurate with his Glock at fifty yards. But he didn’t know the situation in the van, and then there was the problem of getting that close.