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“We’ll talk about your company a lot,” he said with a quick glance at her. “But not now. I have to concentrate on my driving to get us out of the city.”
Ethan didn’t say anything else. He’d merged onto the interstate. The tall silhouettes of the downtown skyscrapers flew past the windows, and the green overhead signs on the interstate flashed past.
Spence was following them. He had to be. He’d seen Ethan grab her, and he’d tried to stop him from taking her. He would have run for his own car. Followed them, using his phone to track them. Wherever Ethan was taking her, Spence wouldn’t be far behind.
She repeated those words over and over, but a tiny doubt niggled at her brain. What if she hadn’t left the ring on the charger long enough? What if she was already too far away for Spence to track her? What if he was caught in traffic?
No. She closed her eyes and ignored the fears that welled up, trying to control her. Spence was very, very good at what he did. He was in his car behind them. Following Ethan to wherever he was taking her. He’d rescue her.
Unless she rescued herself first.
She twisted against the restraint of the seat belt, trying to reach the button that would unlock them. But no matter how she twisted her body, how she maneuvered her bound hands, she couldn’t quite reach the seat belt release.
She swallowed the lump of hopeless tears in her throat. Even if she got free of the seat belt, she couldn’t open the door and jump out. On the interstate, going so fast, she’d be killed immediately. If the fall to the pavement didn’t do it, another car would hit her.
But she’d keep trying to unbuckle the seatbelt. It would give her the advantage of surprise whenever they reached Ethan’s destination. Or stopped for gas. But she was pretty sure Ethan wouldn’t need to do that. He’d thought everything out too carefully.
In the meantime, she’d trust Spence to find her. Save her if she couldn’t save herself.
While she was waiting to get away from Ethan, she’d engage with him. Try to figure out the best way to handle him.
“Ethan, why are you doing this? Why didn’t you just come to my office if you wanted to talk to me?”
He threw an incredulous glance back at her. “That guy. The one hanging around you. He wouldn’t have let me talk to you.”
“He doesn’t control who I talk to,” she shot back. “I make those decisions myself.”
“Would you really have met with me?” Ethan asked.
“Of course I would have.” She didn’t tell him that Spence would have been there, or that Spence would have put him in flex cuffs and turned him over to the police.
Ethan was shaking his head before she’d even finished speaking. “This way is better. By ourselves. No one else to interfere. Just the two of us, the way it’s supposed to be.”
His words made her shiver. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to reason with Ethan. He had clearly planned this out carefully, even going as far as finding a secluded cabin in the mountains to hide her. He wasn’t going to let her go voluntarily.
She shifted on the seat, her shoulders already aching from having her arms pulled tightly behind her back. Should she engage with him? Or stay silent?
If she spoke to him, he might take that as a sign that she welcomed his actions. She pressed her lips together. She wouldn’t say another word, unless he asked her a question.
Right now, he seemed satisfied to have her in his car. Under his control. Unless that changed, she’d stay silent.
* * *
Spence leaped onto the stage as he saw Davies grab Zoe and yank her into the backstage area. Getting his feet beneath him, Spence straightened and charged after the two of them.
He heard the stage door close and he raced over to it. Yanked it open and stepped into the alley. Davies glanced over his shoulder, buckled a seatbelt around Zoe, whom he’d pushed onto the seat, slammed the back door of his Subaru and leapt into the driver’s seat.
Spence lunged for the car, but his fingers slid off the handle of the back seat as Davies gunned the engine and shot into the street. Spence fired at the car, missing the tires but blowing out the rear window, hoping that would stop Davies, but the car continued moving and in moments had disappeared around a corner.
Spence raced for his own car, which he’d left on the street closest to the convention center. He’d sussed out Davies most likely escape route and positioned his car to easily follow him.
Grabbing the door, he yanked it open and slid inside. Took a moment to open the app for the ring and saw that Davies was on Interstate 5, heading north.
Gunning his engine, he drove onto the interstate, flew down the ramp and moved into the HOV lane. Since it was a Saturday, the rules about two or more occupants weren’t in effect, but there was less traffic in the far left lane. As he drove, he glanced frequently at the screen on his phone to make sure Davies hadn’t ducked off on one of the exits.
Far ahead of him, Spence saw what looked like a white Subaru. Davies. He hoped. Spence kept several cars between his vehicle and the white car, hoping to shield himself.
As the flow of traffic passed the Seattle suburbs, it thinned out until there were only three cars between Spence and Davies. Spence stayed in the same lane that Davies was in, hoping the three cars between them would keep him hidden from Davies. He slowed down, allowing two more cars to merge into his lane. More cover for him. With the app for Zoe’s ring, Spence’d have no trouble figuring out where Davies had gone. And God only knew what Davies would do if he realized Spence was after him.
