“You think,SeñorCain, because you are rich, you make the rules? The woman drives the truck—Joe Drake’s granddaughter. Or the boy comes home in pieces.”
Her stomach twisted. She grabbed Linc’s arm, dug her nails into a powerful bicep to get his attention, and started furiously nodding, warning him to agree.
When Zach shrieked in the background, Carly forgot to breathe.
“All right,” Linc said. “Carly drives the rig. But I go with her. That’s not negotiable. I go with her to run your errand and bring the boy home.”
A long pause, then Zapata chuckled, the grating sound sliding over her nerves like barbed wire. Carly thought he was enjoying having a powerful man like Lincoln Cain at his mercy.
“As you wish,SeñorCain. It is a long journey. Perhaps it is best to have another driver along. You and Ms. Drake will make the pickup, then deliver the load as instructed and pick up the boy. You understand?”
“Yes.”
“Deviate from the plan in any way and the boy is dead.” Zapata hung up the phone.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Carly wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted to pound her fists against the wall and tear out her hair. With a steadying breath, she battled the feelings down and fought to gain control of her emotions. “What are we going to do?”
Linc looked down at his heavy stainless wristwatch. “Barring any problems, it’s a little over six hours from here to Victoria. It’s ten after six right now so we have time, but not a lot. First we need to phone the Wellers, make sure they don’t call the police, let them know we’re going to bring Zach home.”
She swallowed. “They must be terrified.” Her hand shook as she punched in Amanda Weller’s contact number. Her throat tightened when she thought of how scared Zach must be.
She looked up at Linc and her eyes burned. “Could you talk to them? I’m afraid I’ll cry and I don’t want to frighten them any more than they are already.”
Linc took the phone, holding on to her hand for a moment before he let go. When Tom Weller answered, Linc asked if he was okay. Apparently he was battered and bruised but all right. Linc told him they weregoing to meet El Jefe’s demands and bring Zach back to them. Speaking calmly, he reassured them, told them he wouldn’t let anything happen to the boy.
Carly knew it was a promise he would do his best to keep, but there was no way to be sure.
She clamped down on the hysterical sob that rose in her throat. A little boy’s life was at stake because her grandfather had stood up for the principles he believed in. Donna had been right. Joe would have refused to pay the money El Jefe demanded, just as he had refused to be involved in the man’s criminal activities.
Carly took a shaky breath and forced herself under control. There was no time for emotion, not with so much at stake.
The trip to Victoria was pushing four hundred miles. Taking the less-traveled route El Jefe had laid out, they could be there by oneA.M.but they needed to get on the road.
“I’ll bring up the truck,” she said. “If anyone’s watching, they’ll see me behind the wheel when we drive out of the yard.” Earlier, she’d mentioned the Glock beneath the driver’s seat. Linc hadn’t seemed surprised.
“I’ll talk to Frank,” he said, “send him to join the rest of the security people back at the ranch.”
While Linc went to find Frank, Carly locked up and went to get the rig. The big white eighteen-wheeler with the winged Drake logo on the side had recently been washed and the tank filled. Carly climbed into the cab, adjusted the seat so her feet were flat on the floor, and checked on the Glock under the seat, along with a spare magazine. She buckled her seat belt and started the big Cummins diesel, felt the rumble of the engine roaring to life.
The truck had a standard transmission instead of an automatic. Joe was old-school; he’d liked the extra control. As Carly shifted the powerful vehicle into gear, an odd calm settled over her.
She could do this. Together she and Linc could make this work. They could pick up El Jefe’s load, deliver it, and bring Zach safely home. The cameras would collect at least some of the evidence they needed to stop the maniac threatening all of their lives.
She could do this. She wouldn’t allow any other thought into her head.
As she drove the truck forward and pulled up in front of the office, Linc opened the door on the passenger side and swung up into the cab. She shouldn’t have noticed the huge bicep with the barbed wire tat threatening to tear through the sleeve of his black T-shirt. She shouldn’t have felt a tug of sexual awareness, but she did.
Clearly she wasn’t dead yet.
As she eased out of the yard and turned the big semi-truck and trailer onto the road, Carly prayed they could rescue Zach and manage to stay alive.
* * *
With fear for Zach riding on her shoulders, the first two and a half hours seemed like ten. Linc had offered to drive after the first hour and several times since then. Carly told him she’d turn the rig over to him in Waco, which was near the halfway point and would be coming up very soon.
It was dark inside the cab, just the glow of the speedometer, tac, fuel, temperature, and oil gauges illuminating the dashboard. She and Linc were both too wired to nap on the twin mattress in the sleeper compartment behind the seats.
