She awoke immediately. “Wha-what’s wrong?”
“We have company.”
She turned backward and looked behind them, where the police car rode Hank’s bumper. She looked back at Hank. “Were you speeding?”
“No. At least I didn’t think so.” He pulled to a stop on the shoulder, the police car just behind.
Several cars whizzed by them before the officer got out of his car and approached Hank’s window. The bad feeling inside Hank escalated. “Afternoon, Officer,” he greeted the tall, pock-faced man who leaned down and peered into the car. “What’s the problem?”
“I need your license and registration,” the officer replied.
“I’ll like to know why I was stopped,” Hank replied. Every instinct he owned cried out that something was amiss.
“Routine check. Your license?”
Hank pulled his wallet from his back pocket, removed his driver’s license and handed it to the officer. Routine check? Usually a routine checkpoint was set up with more officers than a single one.
“Just sit tight. I need to call this in, then you and Ms. Connor can be on your way.” The officer stepped back to his car.
“Hang on,” Hank muttered to Colette. “We’re in trouble.” His gaze didn’t leave the rearview mirror. He was grateful she didn’t say anything, didn’t ask questions and scatter his concentration.
The officer sat in his car as several more vehicles went by in both directions. As the highway stretched empty of traffic once again, he got out and once again approached Hank’s car.
As he reached the back fender, Hank saw his right hand move toward his gun. Hank shoved the car into gear and pulled away, his tires spewing gravel and dust before gripping the hot pavement and shooting forward.
Colette gasped and gripped her seat as he accelerated. Hank knew he had two things going for him, the element of surprise to gain him a head start, and enough horsepower under the hood to keep whatever lead he’d managed to gain.
He took the first turn he came to, getting off the highway and onto a county road. From there he made a series of turns until they found themselves on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.
Slowing his speed, he allowed himself to take a deep breath and relax momentarily. There was no sign they had been followed and he suspected he’d managed to lose the patrolman.
“Why did you do that?” Colette finally spoke.
“Because if I hadn’t, somebody would have found our dead bodies along the road.” He pulled off the side of the road into a grove of trees and brush. He needed to take a moment to allow his adrenaline to die down. He shut off the engine and turned to Colette, whose eyes were wide with fear. “That cop was one of Collier’s men.”
“How do you know?”
“I felt it in my gut. Besides, he had no reason to stop us, and he called you Ms. Connor. There was no way he should have known your name.” He opened his car door. “I need to walk a little bit.”
She shot a glance into the back seat where Brook slept, then opened her car door. “Mind if I join you?”
He shook his head. Together they got out of the car. The afternoon heat shimmered, but beneath the foliage where the car was parked, the air was cooler, not unpleasant. He sat on the car hood, needing to think, to plan where they went from here.
Colette scooted up next to him, her fear almost palpable. “How did he find us? How did he know to stop us?”
“Collier must have my license plate number. He must be calling in markers all over the U.S.”
She leaned against him. “What are we going to do, Hank? We can’t hide from every policeman along the way.”
“It’s not every cop we have to worry about, just those dirty ones trying to do Collier’s work.”
“How do we tell the difference between the two?”
He sighed. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” He was having problems concentrating with the warmth of her body against his, the scent of her perfume filling the air.
“What we need to do is ditch the car, get on a bus or a plane or something.”
“You’re right.” He raked a hand through his hair and frowned thoughtfully. “There’s a map in the glove box. Would you get it for me?”
