“—what’s youremergency?”
“My name is Denise Reynolds. I’m driving south on Highway 401, approaching Fayetteville. I have my niece and nephew in the car and we’re being boxed in by two motorcycles and bumped by a truck behind us.” A glance to the right showed no shoulder on the two-lane country highway. One of the reasons she loved this stretch of road was the lack of traffic.Fuck.
“Ma’am, your nephew said you were hit. Is thatcorrect?”
She was losing speed trying not to hit the rider in front of her. Movement in her peripheral made her look left. The guy on the bike wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face and he was pointing a gun at her. He wagged it, telling her to pullover.
Her heart stuttered. She wasn’t afraid of guns, she’d had more than a few pointed at her, but Kaden and Kimber hadn’t. These motherfuckers were putting her kids in danger. Just bumping her to make her lose control had been enough of arisk.
“Guys, keep your seat belts on and lay on the seat.” Her fingers itched to pull her own gun and point back, but Kimber’s muffled sobs stopped her. Shooting the asshole wasn’t an option with the kids in the car. Sprocket’s tags jangled, but she couldn’t take the chance tolook.
“Ma’am, please don’t make any aggressive moves toward the other vehicles. Proceed as quickly and safely as possible to the nearest policestation.”
Fuck that noise. “Right. ‘Cause I know exactly where that is. Kaden, the pass code to my phone is one-two-three-five-eight-zero. Can you find the map app and find a policestation?”
She eased down on the gas pedal, slowly picking up speed, forcing the bike in front of her to do the same or get bumped himself. His taillight flashed, but she ignored it. His bike jolted forward and wobbled when she refused to back down. A quick glance out of the corner of her eye showed her the guy on her left had become more insistent with his signal to pullover.
“I thinkso.”
Another bump from behind snapped her neck forward. These assholes were seriously beginning to piss her off. A “curve ahead” road sign flashed by and she knew exactly where they were. A large culvert ran perpendicular to this particular section of highway. All she needed to do was clear the path ahead of them and pick up somespeed.
And hope the asshole on the bike didn’t try to shoot out hertires.
“Okay. Hang on. I’m getting us out ofhere.”
The voice on the phone continued to babble, but she wasn’tlistening.
She didn’t ease down on the pedal—she floored it. The maneuver knocked the bike in front of them, sending it sideways and crashing to the pavement. Braking hard, she swerved to the left, sending the gunman into the guardrail along the road. Then she hit the gas again. The screech of brakes echoed as she picked up speed. Checking the rearview quickly, she saw the truck stopped in the road behind them. Guess they were lucky the driver hadn’t been willing to run over hisbuddies.
She turned the headlights off, taking her chances with the ambient light cast by random street and houselights.
“In four hundred feet, turn left,” the map’s automated voicesaid.
Noting the odometer, she waited until the last minute before slowing down to make theturn.
“You guysokay?”
“Yes,” they bothsaid.
“Ma’am, are you stillthere?”
She reached between the seats and held out her hand. “Let me have the phone,buddy.”
He placed it in her hand. “Where’d you learn to drive likethat?”
“TheArmy.”
“Cool.”
Well,shit.
* * *
Denise satat the utilitarian table, absentmindedly scratching Sprocket’s head. Damn good thing they’d let her keep her dog with her. She’d be losing her shit about now if not. It was bad enough they’d separated her from the kids. The only reason she’d allowed that to happen was her parents had shown up at the police station right before the FBIagents.
The door opened and the agents from earlier walked in. They both wore black suits and she fought to roll her eyes at theMen in Blackcliché they presented. Something about one or both of them set Sprocket off, making her hackles rise and she growled low in herthroat.
“Control your dog,” the woman agentsaid.
