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“Are you kidding me?”
“Do it!” Fuck. I’d been right about their search grid. The assholes had figured she wouldn’t be removed until daylight. Damn it. I should have followed my initial instinct, immediately heading for the cabin. My second guessing could cost us our lives.
Trembling, she did as I asked, crawling into the back. “They found us.”
“Yeah, but not for long. Just brace yourself. This could get rocky.” Real fast. I continued pushing the Mustang until we were going over ninety. And the fuckers kept coming. When a second vehicle careened off the exit ramp onto the interstate, I waited until the last minute to turn the wheel, taking the same exit, rolling up the ramp. They kept coming, the screech of tires heard over the roar of the engine.
The road was known for sharp curves, but I knew my baby could take it. I concentrated on driving, hoping by some miracle they wouldn’t be able to remain close. I was wrong. Whoever the hell was driving knew what they were doing. I swung around a series of curves, the inertia straining the Mustang’s capabilities. At this rate, we’d be placed in a bad position within minutes.
“Hold on, Isabella. Things just went from bad to worse.”
She whimpered only once when I was forced to slam on the brakes in order to make a turn, her body pitched against the front seats.
The car directly behind me wasn’t able to make the curve, slamming headfirst into a bank of trees, the sound of the crash penetrating the thick walls of the car.
“Oh, God. Oh!”
“Quiet,” I snarled, glancing once into the rearview mirror before cursing under my breath. The second car rolled right through the wreckage, still headed in our direction. At least it had slowed the driver down by a few seconds. If my memory served me, there was a blind curve up ahead, and a few turnoffs for a park. This would be dicey as fuck, but likely the best choice I had. As I rounded the corner, slowing almost immediately, I continued cursing up a blue streak, hoping like hell I could make the turn. As soon as I did, I slammed on the brakes again, jamming the gear into park and immediately jumping out, the rush of adrenaline intensifying. “Stay here.”
Wasting no time, I grabbed the rifle, racing toward the edge of the road, taking aim. As I’d learned years before, timing was everything. I’d had two seconds to spare, the car racing by at an excessive speed. I took aim, rapidly firing.
The car shifted erratically, heading toward the edge of the road, careening off the side and tumbling down a ravine. I waited until I heard the explosion before lowering my weapon.
The nightmare continued. Time to get the hell out of Virginia.
* * *
Tennessee. My mother had grown up in the mountains in a little town, finding her first true love at the tender age of sixteen. But it hadn’t meant to be, his parents forbidding their union. At least that’s what she’d told me on the days before she’d succumbed to years of personal abuse. Drugs. Alcohol. Prostitution. She’d done her best to provide a decent life for her only child, even if it meant selling her body to provide food on the table.
While she’d found another man, getting pregnant almost immediately after they’d gotten together, the marriage hadn’t been made in heaven. I had no fleeting memories of the sperm donor but from what she’d told me, the man wasn’t her knight in shining armor.
She’d spent her dying days talking about Tom, reminding me that love should hold a place in my heart. Not if it dragged me into the same kind of state of mind she’d shoved herself into. She’d never forgotten about him. After her death, I’d found letters they’d written, never resorting to emails. She’d kept every one of them. She’d even directed me to them only two days before her death. Inside the box was a gift Tom had left her a year before. Now it belonged to me.
A cabin.
I’d ignored it for three years, but after leaving the military, I’d craved a simpler life. Solitude. I’d found it in the cabin. Located in the Great Smoky Mountains twenty miles outside of Cosby, a rural town that had held onto its old-world charm, it allowed me peace of mind with no intrusions.
Now it would serve as a safehouse that wasn’t on anyone’s radar.
I’d used a scrambler to try to avoid being detected, but a flyover had remained dangerous. That’s one reason I’d stuck to as many of the backroads as possible, which had added three hours to the trip.
By the time I made the last turn, it was already dark, the long drive more exhausting than usual. We’d experienced no additional trouble, but what few stops we’d made had also been in rural locations. I’d kept a close eye, not allowing our stops to last for more than the time needed to fill up with gas or grab a bite to eat. She’d said very little, eaten even less, but at least had gotten a few hours of sleep.
I remained wired, convinced getting away couldn’t have been that easy.
“Where are we?” she asked, her voice barely registerable.
I debated telling her but at this point there was no chance she could mention our location to anyone. The very limited satellite reception I’d boosted, but it remained behind locked doors and she would not be given access.
“Tennessee.”
“The mountains.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“It’s safer here.”
