This was no random act.
The man slowly raised a hand. He had a gun.
Fuck.
Ed’s branch wasn’t any match.
“Please, no. I didn’t see anything,” Tess cried. The terror in her voice tore through Ed. What was she involved in?
He moved behind the man, carefully placing his steps as Matt had taught him when he’d shown him how to track an animal. A leaf crackled under his foot, and the man turned. Ed reacted, taking several steps forward, and used the branch like a baseball bat to smack the guy across the head. The man stumbled with a roar of pain, the gun clattering to the ground, and Tess shrieked.
Ed’s heart pounded as he dived for the gun, his fingers wrapping around the warm metal, and he pointed it at the man. “Don’t move.” He stood between the man and the van.
The man straightened, one hand on his head. “You won’t shoot.”
Every vein in Ed’s body throbbed and his hand shook, but he channelled every bad guy he’d ever watched. “You want to bet?” He prayed the gun had more than one bullet and aimed for the man’s back tyre, pulling the trigger. The shot blasted into the night, and he jumped, but so did the man. Maybe his time spent shooting cans hadn’t been wasted.
“I don’t know what the bitch told you, but she’s wanted by the police for murder.”
He’d known she was hiding something. Then he frowned. “Bullshit. If you were a cop, you would have identified yourself.”
Tess sobbed inside the van, her gasps loud and jerky.
“Tess, the keys are in the side pocket at the back. Grab them, shut the side door and climb into the front.”
The man growled. “You think you can kill me?”
Ed pointed the gun at the man’s stomach. “Plenty of places to hide a body out here.” He was proud of his even tone. Sam had told him part of any altercation was about the mental attack, making the opponent unsure. He urged Tess to hurry as the van door slid shut. She climbed into the driver’s seat. She wouldn’t leave without him, would she?
“Move away from the van,” Ed ordered.
“And if I don’t want to?”
Ed aimed for the man’s feet, and the man shuffled back a few steps. “Keep going.” Tess started the engine, and the van lurched forward. “Put it into neutral,” Ed called.
The man laughed. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with. She won’t get away.”
“Give me your car keys.”
“They’re in the car.”
The gears crunched as Tess put the van into first gear. Ed moved out of the way in case she turned on the lights and blinded him.
The passenger window slid open. “Ed, get in,” Tess called.
At the rate Tess was going, the man would catch them before they left the rest stop. “Drive the van to the road,” he said. “Press the clutch to put it into first gear, then let the clutch out slowly as you press the accelerator.”
“I can’t.”
“You can. You did it before. When you get to the road, put it into neutral and keep the engine running.” He needed her out of the way so he could backtrack to the man’s car and get the keys.
He winced as she bunny-hopped towards the road but kept his gaze on the man in front of him. Ed had to prevent him from following. His car was some kind of souped-up sedan and Ed was tempted for a second to take it instead, but until he knew what Tess was involved in, he didn’t want to risk being arrested for stealing a car. Plus he couldn’t leave his hire van in the middle of nowhere, no matter how shit it was.
When Tess reached the road, Ed moved to the sedan and opened the door. The keys were in the ignition. He slid them out. The man moved towards him.
“Don’t.” Ed shifted away and fired a bullet into the front tyre before aiming at the man again. He shut the door and locked the car, just in case the man had more weapons inside.
He might have a spare set of keys, but he wouldn’t have two spare tyres. As Ed backed closer to the van, he shot the other front tyre as well. He wasn’t taking any chances.
