Page 24

Damn it.
This woman would be the death of him.
“Jess? Get your ass over here. Now,” he barked.
Her blonde hair was what he saw first as she scrambled over the rocks and onto the road.
“Sorry!” he heard her say, though the storm did its best to wash away her words.
“Get in. Now,” he snapped and opened the driver’s side.
Jessica circled around the back of the Jeep and jumped in, shoving a bag of stuff down into the floorboard.
Samuel was shifting into reverse before he even had his door shut.
“Are you okay?” Jessica asked.
“What did I tell you?” he demanded.
“I’m sorry.”
He rammed his foot on the accelerator and the Jeep shot backward, down the lane leading to the recovery center.
“What did I tell you?” he demanded again.
“I know. I’m sorry. I was waiting, then I got scared, okay? What if something happened to you? What if you needed help?”
“What if something happened to you? What if a stray bullet hit you? What then?” His anger was fizzling. No part of him could hold on to his irritation with her headstrong ways when all she was worried about was him. The damn woman needed to concern herself with her safety first, not his.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
He twisted around as they came to the bottom of the hill. He cranked the wheel. The tires skidded slightly, sending them almost into the ditch before the tread found purchase. He shifted into drive and though he wanted to push the Jeep hard, he held back. Mountain roads were twisty, winding things. It would be easy for them to finish the job themselves if he drove recklessly.
“We’ll need new wheels,” he said.
“What’s wrong with this?”
“GPS.”
“I can fix that.”
Samuel couldn’t find it in him to be surprised. Instead, he calmly turned his head and looked at Jessica. She never failed to surprise him.
“How?” he asked.
“The OBD port. Jeeps like this, that’s where any tracking equipment is going to be.”
“How do you know this?”
She rolled her eyes. “I might have disabled all GPS on our family vehicles at one point or another.”
He shook his head. Samuel was familiar with a few variety of devices, but his experience with them began and ended with issuing requests for details for investigation purposes. He’d never had to install or disable an onboard GPS device.
“Are you okay?” Jessica asked as he pointed them east.
“Fine.” Though now that the adrenaline was mostly burned through, he was beginning to feel shaky. He’d keep that to himself. “You okay? Laptop dry?”
She had long red marks that went across her face, probably from getting slapped in the face by a branch. She was so pale any mark would stand out.