“Come on,” I groaned. “Come to Mama. Be good now, that’s it.”
My fingers caught the cell’s edge, and I pulled it a fraction of an inch before I lost my grip. Panting, sweat stinging my eyes, I rested without taking my fingers away. I shut my eyes, focused on my breathing, regaining my focus, ignoring the pain of protest my knees offered up. The burning in my shoulders and wrists.
Something rustled in the underbrush. My eyes shot open, searching for the source of the noise. Austin? Had he come back to kill me? I nearly shifted in my panic, risked going dragon, despite the chance I’d be blown to smithereens if I did.
A medium sized shape emerged from the thicket. My eyes had long adjusted to the darkness, but the creature wasindistinct. A shadow. It paused, perhaps studying me as I stared at it.A coyote. Coyotes sometimes attack people.I sat still, neither offering a threat while controlling my fear.
Maybe it can sense the dragon in me. Perhaps it can smell what I am. If it attacks me, we’re both dead.
The coyote, if that’s what it was, moved back into the bushes and was gone.
I breathed heavily. “Shit.”
After a long, few moments, I felt ready to try again. “Come to Mama.”
I tightened my fingers’ grip on my cell’s edge. Cautioning myself to not hurry, to take it slow, I gently pulled on the phone. It came with me. Holding my breath, not daring to let go, I slid my two fingers further down for a better grip.
“Glory halleluiah.”
I breathed deeply as my phone left my pocket and filled my palm. I relaxed my shoulders, rolling them to relieve some of the stress while flexing my hands. I turned the phone around, seeking the on button. I pushed it.
A moment later, I was rewarded with the light from the screen and the reassuringdingsaid it powered on.
“Come on, Brody,” I whispered. “Come find me.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Brody
I rolled the Ram onto an unmarked, dirt side road just short of the store, and shut the lights and engine off. The place stood quiet as far as I could see, the lights from the store’s interior shining out into the parking lot. The only vehicle parked there was a battered red Volvo, most likely owned by the clerk inside.
No other customers seemed to be around.
I stepped from the cab and walked up the exit ramp to the store’s parking lot. If Rivers had arrived early, I wanted to know before he saw me. Walking around to the back, I saw no cars, no Austin. And no cops, either.Stay away, Skinner, and don’t call the state patrol.
In hiding, I leaned against the building, concealed in the shadows, watching the highway and the ramps. From here, I’d see anyone approaching from the highway. And should Austin drive up from behind, I’d hear his tires on the gravel.
Belatedly, I thought of Lindsey’s guns, and whether I should have grabbed one. I shook my head. I couldn’t shoot Austin down, not until he told me where Lindsey was. I hadtalons, teeth, fire, and a very bad attitude. That should be enough to deal with chicken shit Rivers.
A car’s headlights splashed across the store parking lot. I backed further into the shadows and watched as it exited the freeway, and turned toward the store. At that moment, my cell pinged.
Risking the time to look at it, I yanked it from my pocket. “Thank, God,” I breathed, studying the app. “Good job, Lindsey. I’ll be with you soon.”
Austin’s black Lincoln stopped near the store entrance, then the lights and engine quit. He opened the door, got out, and looked around. Obviously for me. He’d passed my truck, but perhaps didn’t see it, or didn’t recognize it as mine.
I sucked in a deep breath and paced into view.
Rivers saw me instantly. He nodded. “Brody. You brought my cash?”
“Nope.” I walked toward him, readying myself for battle. “I lied.”
His face tightened into a savage anger. “Then you condemned Lindsey to death.”
“Wrong.” I drew closer, watching his every move, waiting for him to shift. “I know where she is. As soon as I kill you, I’ll have her free and in my arms.”
“Stupid fool,” he spat. “She’s wired with C-4. You try to get her out, you’re both dead. She shifts, she’s dead. You should’ve brought my money.”
My lips numb, my blood frozen, I said, “I never stole your dope, dumb ass. You killed her for no reason.”
