Page 7

Six

KELLY SEARCHED the Las Cruces bus depot overflow lot. Her knee bounced, nearly hitting the steering wheel. Where was he?

Her heart hammering in her throat, she tapped the wheel. Come on. There aren’t that many rows. She eased down the first one and started her systematic search again. He had to be here. He’d left directly for Cruces while she made the drops, but his cobalt blue 4Runner would have stood out.

She blinked back tears. I hope they didn’t get to you. Just before she broke into a worried sob, Jared’s car entered the parking lot. Relief and questions swirled inside her. She released her death grip on the steering wheel, her palms moist. She drove toward the row he parked in and found a spot two down from his.

She climbed from her car, her heart still thumping in her chest, and strode on shaking legs toward him. “What took you so long?”

“I had to get the tickets, and I also stopped at a friend’s to get a little insurance on the way.” Jared opened his coat and flashed a glimpse of a gun in a side holster.

“A gun?” That had never been part of the plan, but it definitely couldn’t hurt if he knew how to use it. She hadn’t fired one a day in her life.

“We know the men coming after us will be armed. Figured we’d better be too.”

“Speaking of tails, I lost mine.” She scanned the restaurant lot across the street and the buildings around it. He could be lurking anywhere.

“Great. I think I lost mine too.”

“ Think ? This isn’t a time for guessing.”

“I lost him on the pass into Truth or Consequences, where my friend who gave me this lives.”

Snow filtered down in small flakes, not bothering to stick to the asphalt. Where they were headed would be quite the opposite.

“You ready?” she asked.

He nodded. “Grab what you need from your car. I’ve got all the supplies ready.”

She nodded, and, in a flash, grabbed her duffel and gear bag from her trunk and tossed them into his 4Runner. She just prayed Roni didn’t do anything rash and report her missing to the police or to Riley MacLeod. She needed Riley protecting the key, not tracking them. She was the best tracker, and if she got on their trail, it would take them to the brink of their limits to avoid being found.

“Ready?” he asked, opening the passenger side door for her.

“More than ready. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us, and time’s a-wasting.”

He nodded, his brow creasing. Good. Jared needed a little worry. He was too casual and cocky in thinking they could outsmart whoever was sent after them.

He turned the ignition and flipped on the wipers for the flakes that melted as soon as they hit the windshield. He shifted into gear, and they reversed out of the spot, leaving her car behind.

“You think they’ll buy that we’re headed for the border?”

“We have two bus tickets saying so, plus your car left in the lot. I still say it should throw them off our trail for a while.”

She held her hands in front of the heat register, rubbing them together. “I sure hope you’re right.”

He reached for her hand, and she slipped hers in his. “Me too.”

She cleared her throat, the antsiness in her quite unbearable. “What do you think about the velvet pouches?” She shifted side ways, managing to stay buckled. “I mean, I get the cash and the passports, which now gives us a handful of his aliases, but why the stuff in the pouches?”

“I have no idea but I’m glad they’re safe,” he said, tapping the wheel as they pulled out of the bus depot lot, heading back north on 25 but only until 60, then they’d take the back roads west and then hit 191 to continue their northern trek.

She hoped all the backtracking they’d planned would pay off and the men would concentrate their search south, while they headed in the opposite direction. Their path, though farther west, passed not far from the retreat center. The thought of being within a hundred miles of the place squeezed her lungs. But he was convinced it was the best route, so she’d go with it. Just as he’d go with her to their next stop, where they’d disappear into the mountains. If anyone figured out they weren’t on the bus, surely trekking through the San Juan Mountains would knock them off their trail. Wouldn’t it?

His gaze flashed to the rearview mirror, then he looked over his shoulder.

She stilled. “What is it?”

“I thought I saw the black SUV that was following me a few cars back.”

She stiffened as she looked over her shoulder. “Are you sure?” She scanned the cars, not seeing it. Then a white car with a roof rack filled with kayaks exited the freeway, clearing her line of sight to the SUV. “Gun it!”