AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Bridger angled around in his seat. “Jane. Honey. We gottago.”
She had to think. There had to be a way around this. But the wound in Bridger’s arm, and the red marks from the steel cuffs encircling her wrists brought reality crashing back. For now, she was a fugitive.
“There’s a hay delivery coming this afternoon,” she told Tai.
Face set in an uncharacteristically stern manner, he stared her down. “We. Got. This. Now go!” He slapped the roof again.
Head buzzing, she slammed the Jeep into gear. “Okay.”
Tai waved her onward.
“Head around the back,” Bridger ordered her.
Jane’s heart pounded as they raced through the alley behind the hardware store. The stench of rancid machine oil assaulted her nose, but she barely noticed. All she could think about was getting as far away from those men as possible. And how to talk Bridger into getting treatment.
“Which way?” she asked. North on the highway was obviously out, but that left three other directions.
“South,” Bridger answered calmly. “We’ll get off the highway as soon as we can.”
Jane tore her attention away from the blood seeping through the makeshift bandage and tried to focus on the road. But she couldn’t get her mind off the men.
“The bald guy flashed a badge. Claimed they were FBI,” she said.
Bridger’s jaw tightened. “Something’s not right. Feds would’ve called ahead or shown a warrant.”
“I know, I just?—”
“Panicked. Understandable.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Tai’s got the jerks on camera. Paige and the others’ll have IDs on them inside an hour. Then we can make a plan.”
Jane nodded, adrenaline and trust propelling her forward. She didn’t know where they were going, only that Bridger would protect her.
Bridger tilted his seat back. “Now would be a good time to tell me what’s going on.”
Jane checked the mirrors. The only vehicles in sight were two semis and a late-model RV. She drummed her fingers on the wheel and flicked a look at Bridger. He waited patiently. Once he realized what a fool she’d been over Pete, he’d never look at her without pity again.
She blew out a huge breath and dove into the sordid tale, keeping the details of her short marriage to a minimum and ending with the last encounter at the fishery.
Once done, she risked a glance at Bridger. Expression blank, he was staring out the windshield. The only sign of tension was the muscle at the edge of his jaw. “Why didn’t you tell me? We could have helped.”
Nothing but the truth would do now. “I was embarrassed.”
“So you handed the guy––” He stopped himself. “Never mind. You thought you were doing a good thing.”
“I wanted to get Kellen back as quickly as possible.”
“Understood. I respect that.”
The truth in his words was like a warm balm. At least he respected something about her actions. She wasn’t sure she did.
“Jane?” He waited until she met his eyes. “We’ll get him. We’ll get Kellen.”
“Okay,” she whispered, mostly to herself.
What had she been thinking, keeping Bridger in the dark? This whole thing could have been avoided, if only she hadn’t been so set on protecting her pride. Lesson learned.
Despite the way her neck prickled, she held the vehicle to a reasonable speed. “Do you think Pete sent them?”
“Not likely.” Bridger scanned their surroundings. “I don’t see an upside for him in doing that. But let’s not jump to conclusions yet. We need more intel.”
