8
The yellow dotson the highway raced past, as fast and furious as her erratic heart. Audra clutched the wheel with both hands, leaned forward, and accelerated. Were they followingher?
She glanced out the rear view mirror for the hundredth time in the past 10 minutes only to see empty blacktop behind. Still, she kept pressing on, not slowing down. She had to get away, had to run. They weren’tsafe.
No matter how safe she’d felt in Diggs’arms.
And how stupid was she, because every other heartbeat she wanted to turn around and run back to Diggs. But she couldn’t allow herself to be lulled by a false sense of security. As soon as he found out her identity, she’d betoast.
These past couple of weeks had been nothing but a nightmare of constant fear and anguish, anguish that culminated with nearly losing Trigger. Thank God, he was still out in the backseat. She was taking the curves like a damn speedway racer, but she couldn’t slow down. Not now. She had to figure out somewhere to hide, and thenregroup.
She could do this alone. She was strong and independent and had always taken care of herself. But investigating her brother’s death and possible involvement by his unit in the military would be a whole differentstory.
Sweat broke out along her hairline and her insides trembled. She hadn’t done anything adventurous in her entire life. As a matter of fact, these past two days had been the most exciting thing she’d ever been part of. She had no intention of giving up the fight to bring justice for Jeremy’s death. Even if it meant singlehandedly taking on Jeremy’scommander.
Audra glanced in her rear view again and reached back to give the unconscious Trigger a reassuring pat. Diggs had handled Trigger so gently. Why did he have to be military? It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair. Not Jeremy, not her father, and notDiggs.
An unexpected sob hitched in her throat and Audra bit her lip, jamming her emotions back down deep. She couldn’t afford the emotional breakdown that had been looming since her brother’s funeral. Not now. Not until she finished hermission.
A sharp curve appeared and she braked, yanking the wheel right. Trigger slid across the backseat bumping into the door. Crap. She had to slow down before she hurt him. Not even sure of where she was heading, Audra slowed to the speed limit and pulled up the GPS on her car. A little round circle appeared as her smart car sought for service out here in the country. While it was thinking, she tried to formulate a plan. She could rent a motel room, somewhere near a veterinary clinic. But what would she tell the veterinarian when she brought in her badly injureddog?
Trigger running out in front of a car just didn’t seem plausible, he was too smart for that. From videos she’d seen of his training, this dog was an athlete. He was intelligent and loyal. The thought of telling someone he’d blindly raced into the road into oncoming traffic put sawdust in her mouth. But still, what choice did she have? He needed medications that she couldn’t provide without the help of aprofessional.
Finally, her GPS loaded and Audra hit the talk button on her car’s navigation system and said, “Veterinaryclinics.”
The GPS zoomed ahead about 50 miles to Washington, DC. Dozens of clinics were highlighted on the screen. No, that was too crowded with too many witnesses. She needed a smaller town, somewhere out in the country—or did she? Maybe she could blend in better in the city, where people came and went without noticing each other in the least. Audra glanced back at Trigger—there would be no blending in with him strapped to a stretcher like that, no matter where shewent.
She glanced at the GPS again, swiped across the screen and paused over a town with one clinic in it. She needed to alter her path, maybe that would throw Diggs off, if he was chasingher.
Her decision made, Audra drove for another thirty miles and then turned left, headed to Wilderness,Virginia.
She made it to the motel before sundown, at which point she put the car in park and lowered her head to the wheel, taking in a deep breath as she attempted to get all the tiny muscles in her back to unclench. She’d made it. She could relax. As long as she laid low, she’d befine.
Audra repeated that chant over and over in her head as she grabbed her purse and got out of her car. She walked to the front desk, where her blood-stained shirt got some strange looks while she paid for a motel room. When she got back to the parking lot and opened the back-seat door, Trigger was awake. She squatted down and ran a hand over his head, careful to keep from touching anywhere that was injured. “How are you feeling, boy? Does ithurt?”
Trigger didn’t whine or even move, he just stared at her with his deep dark brown eyes like he was trying to tell hersomething.
“What is it? I wish you could talk. I wish you could tell me whathappened.”
He let out a low, soft keening whine and shifted his front paw toward her. A hard lump formed in her chest. The white bandages were standing out stark against his dark fur. “I’m so sorry I didn’t make it in time. But I swear I’ll never let anyone touch you again,” she whisperedbrokenly.
Trigger lifted his head about an inch off the stretcher and nudged herhand.
Audra’s breath hitched as she stroked his cheek. “Are you trying to comfort me? You crazy dog. No wonder my brother loved you so much.” Audra lowered her head and placed a soft kiss on Trigger’s head. “I’m the one who’s taking care ofyou.”
Trigger growled as a shadow fell across them. Audra jumped to her feet. A tall man wearing a plaid button up, in jeans and cowboy boots took a hasty step back, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Didn’t mean to startle you, ma’am. Saw you down there and thought you might need somehelp.”
It took Audra a moment to process the Southern accent and Wranglers, but not Trigger, she figured. Trigger let out another growl, and Audra shifted between him and the man, trying to put up a barrier. “It’s okay, I was just checking on my dog. Everything’sfine.”
Trigger growled the third time and Audra glanced over her shoulder and shot him a glare. “Trigger,hush.”
The dog completely ignored her and continued to stare at thestranger.
“He been in some kind of accident?” the man asked in a soft Southerndrawl.
Audra took a deep breath and cast Trigger an apologetic look before answering the man’s question. “He ran in front of a car. I’m trying to find a localveterinarian.”
She could practically feel Trigger’s disgust. They both knew he would never run out in front of avehicle.
