“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing you don’t know that. I’ll call you when I have her.” I hung up and turned all my attention toward theroad.
Marc called me back, and I let the call go to voice mail so he couldn’tun-appoint me as an enforcer. Then I stomped a little harder on thegas.
The needle hit ninety. I flicked my blinker on and carefully eased back into the left-hand lane. As much fun as it would’ve been, under other circumstances, to test the limits on a car I didn’t own, if I wrecked the rental, I’d have no way to get Kaci back. Or get her to safety, once Ihadherback.
I watched the mile markers as they ticked past, counting down the miles toward Las Vegas. I passed from Utah into Arizona, then half an hour later into Nevada, where I panicked for a moment until I remembered that territorial borders don’t follow US geopolitical lines. They follow natural boundaries like mountain ranges and rivers. I hadn’t left the free zoneyet.
As I drove, I scanned the cars ahead, trying to determine their color. Unfortunately, the morning sunlight glaring off the rear windshields kept me from seeing the colors of the cars. And for the ones in the distance, I couldn’t even determine size, unless there was another vehicle nearby to compare themto.
For nearly an hour, I counted the passage of time in my own heartbeats. In the miles that raced by beneath mytires.
Please let Kaci be okay. Please let me get her back. Please, please,please…
Then, up ahead, a small car swerved into the left lane, in front of a white delivery van, and my pulse spiked. I couldn’t be sure, but at a glance, it was about the right size. About the rightcolor.
Ithadto beher.
I pushed the gas pedal all the way to thefloor.
Eleven
Kaci
“Give me my phone!”But Jared ignored me, so I leaned back and kicked the plexiglass barricade as hard as I could. The whole thing shuddered. It was bolted to the backs of the seats and to the sides of the car itself, but not to the roof. There was an uneven, one- to two-inch gap all around the top. “Give me my phone, Jared!” I kicked again, and again the screenshuddered.
“You dropped your phone in the parking lot. You can keep kicking the panel, but that won’t do anygood.”
But I didn’t believe him. He’d clearly cut and installed it quickly, and less than professionally, to keep me from crawling into the front seat or kicking him in the head and wrecking the car. I might not be as strong as a tomcat, but I was a hell of a lot stronger than a human. If I kept kicking, eventually the screen wouldbreak.
Which meant he probably intended it as a temporarymeasure.
On the bright side, the very existence of the screen seemed to suggest he had nothing…personal in mind for me. If I couldn’t kick him in the head, he couldn’t touch meeither.
“What is this?” I demanded. “You can’t just kidnap people out of parkinglots.”
“You weren’t kidnapped. You were apprehended on behalf of the Southwest Pride, on one count of trespassing. And if you don’t shut the hell up, I’ll add a charge for stealing mycar.”
“Oh, come on. I left your car in a parking lot where I knew you’d be able to track it. You did more damage to it by installing this stupid shield than Idid.”
“That’s not thepoint.”
“How’s this for a point?I’mgoing to chargeyouwithkidnapping!”
“Thisisn’t—”
“You can’t just throw me into the back of your car and call it apprehending. I’m a member of the South-Central Pride, and there isno wayyou have Faythe and Marc’s permission to take me into the SouthwestTerritory.”
“I don’t need permission to remove an apprehended criminal from the freezone.”
The free zone.Shit. He was probably right aboutthat.
“Fine. But don’t I get a phone call orsomething?”
Jared rolled his eyes at me in the rearview mirror. “No, you don’t get a phone call. You watch too muchtelevision.”
“Tele—? No one watches TV anymore. We stream—”Damn it. “Did you get my bag? I need my stuff. We have to goback.”
He didn’t even dignify that with arefusal.
