“The worldislike that. Especially now.”
Feeling some current run through his gut, he thought of his sister. “My sister, Willow, would disagree. She’s like this Pollyanna who doesn’t know how to be mean. She’s a lot like our mom.” He looked across the seat at her. Saw something he had no idea how to process. Could almost hear her say, “You’re being a nice again.”
And he was. No idea why. Maybe he’d just had enough of this running-for-his-life thing. Maybe seeing that merc with the gun to her head had done something to him.
Had to change the topic. Distract. “It stopped raining.”The weather? Seriously, genius?
A red light on the instrument board drew his gaze. Engine light.
“Crap!”
“What?”
“Engine light.” He scanned the dusky sky, still moody from the earlier storm. “We are either going to need to take another vehicle or walk.”
“I suddenly do not mind stealing …”
He huffed a smile, then noticing in the distance that a dull glow was invading the growing darkness. “Looks like a village up ahead somewhere. If we can get another car, should make your friend’s by nightfall.”
“Maybe there I could make a call, warn him we are coming.”
“No calls. Can’t risk it.”
“Right.” She seemed to wilt. “I am no good at this …”
The car died.
Range fought the urge to curse as he let the car drift off the road. Still had a klick or two to go. Grabbing the gear, he saw Kasra slipped on her hijab. And it ticked him off. She had no need to hide her beauty. No woman should. If men couldn’t control themselves, maybe they should be the ones hiding. Or castrated. He was all for that with pedophiles.
As they hoofed it to the village, he struggled to hide the pain. How the bullet was pinching a nerve, possibly causing internal damage. And sadly, the selection of vehicles in this town proved paltry.
“This one,” Kasra said, indicating a Corolla.
“Negative,” he bit out and kept moving.
She skipped a step to catch up. “Why?”
Not good enough …And he wasn’t thinking about himself.
Well, he wasn’t thinking at all. Because why would he be so concerned about makingherhappy—again? Who cared what vehicle they got as long as it worked?
Yeah, but if he could buy some peace with a comfortable car, then wasn’t that worth it?
Keep telling yourself that,Rage.His wound must be making him delirious.
At the far end of the road, he spotted a black Toyota. Newer model. High end, yet old enough not to have tracking. “There.” They hurried up the street and climbed into the SUV. They pulled away and headed out of town. The trip to her friend’s took just shy of two hours. They wound down a crowded street that ended in what he would loosely describe as a residential neighborhood. He eased to the curb across the street from the home.
“Let me go in,” she said, unbuckling. “He might shoot you.”
“Should I be worried about this guy?”
“He is one of the nicest people I know.”
He frowned. “You said nice people can’t be trusted.”
“Who do you think inspired that?” She threw him a smile and climbed out.
Wait …what? What was he supposed to make of that? He watched her vanish through a door in the compound wall and his gut tightened. Waiting, no idea how long this would take, he wished he had a phone. Wanted to call Dani.
