“Huh?”
“You’re going forty in a twenty-five zone.”
Her gaze hit the dashboard, and she backed off the accelerator. She was so distracted, she hadn’t realized how fast she had traveled.
“You need to focus. You’ve got a bag of drugs sitting next to you. The last thing you need is to give the police a reason to pull you over. It wouldn’t look good for you. Would it?”
Fear shot through her. He’d pin this on her if they got caught. Asshole.
“Take a right on County U. It’s coming up.”
She saw the sign and flipped on her blinker.
Jonathan laid the gun on his lap and then held her phone with one hand and tapped the screen with his pointer finger on his other hand. Her gaze always seemed to find its way back to that gun.
“We’re going to LaSalle Park. It’s about a twenty-minute drive.”
“What are we going to do there?” she asked.
“Exchange this bag of drugs for Carly and our lives,” he replied in a grim tone.
Emma’s pulse raced, and her stomach swirled with anxiety. Would these guys really leave them alone if Jonathan gave them the drugs? Or, did they prove themselves to be too much of a liability? How long had Jonathan been working with these people? Was he an asset to them? For her sake and Carly’s, she hoped so.
“So, you give them the bag, and they give us Carly. It’s that simple?” she asked.
“I hope to hell so.”
That wasn’t very reassuring.
“Then what?”
He turned his head and looked at her.
“I’d better find that first bag so I can deliver it to the person this bag was supposed to go to.”
“So, we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
“You got it. I know you probably think I’m some sort of low-life piece of shit, but know that with everyone thinking I’m dead, I could have just run.
“Why didn’t you?”
“Fear they’d find me anyhow. The Garcias have a reach beyond your wildest imagination. If we can find the other bag, I can still get out of this mess.”
Me. I. His words struck her hard. He really didn’t give a crap about Carly or her. He was trying to save his own ass and used his supposed concern for her and her friend to get her to help him. Plus, he still needed her help to find the missing bag. Low-life piece of shit was right. In any case, she needed to do all she could to save Carly.
The heavy rain hammered against the windshield to the point she could hardly see, keeping her speed at a snail’s pace. The storm kept the sky dark, making it feel like it was midnight, but the clock on the dashboard read four forty-six.
“Can’t you go any faster?”
“First, you told me to slow down; now you want me to go faster. Just shut up! I can’t see,” she snapped.
“We’re supposed to meet at five. So get us there.”
“I’m trying.”
“There’s the sign. Turn into that parking lot.”
“Where? I don’t see it.”
