Page 7 of Valor (Long Hot Summer: Christian Romantic Suspense #2)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Owen’s chest tightened as he watched the approaching car. If he managed to get a glimpse of the Sullivan K9 logo along the side, he’d run out and flag down the driver, hoping he could convince Doug to take Emily while leaving him behind.

But if the driver wasn’t Doug or anyone else from the Sullivan ranch, then he had to assume the gunman was lying about being alone. Or maybe the gunman’s injury hadn’t been as bad as he’d thought. The guy may have gotten back to his car to come looking for them.

Emily was tense as she huddled beside him. Thankfully, Bear didn’t bark or growl. Owen was growing attached to the little guy, but he was also concerned the puppy could give away their hiding place. Bear was still young and while the pup seemed to be doing well as far as being house-trained, the little guy was impulsive and liked to play. Bear could wiggle away from Emily and bark at any moment.

The approaching headlights grew painfully bright. He thought he and Emily were well concealed in the brush, yet the brightness had him second-guessing his decision. What if he was wrong and the driver could easily see them?

They should have left the area when they had the chance. Now he feared it was too late. That any movement they made would draw the driver’s attention.

Emily seemed to understand the need to stay frozen in place. Even Bear seemed to understand he shouldn’t move as the lights approached.

The oncoming vehicle was moving so slowly Owen knew the driver was looking for them. He held his breath as the car finally passed by. It was a dark SUV without any markings.

He waited another two minutes before leaning toward Emily. He kept his voice at barely a whisper. “Did that car look familiar?”

She shook her head. “I can’t say for sure if that was Doug’s SUV.”

“I didn’t see any stenciling on the side to indicate it was from the ranch.”

“No, but Chase Sullivan has been getting the SUVs repainted to remove that stenciling as he’s been worried the cars draw too much attention to them.” She shrugged. “Could be that Doug drove one of those unmarked SUVs here.”

He hadn’t known about the plan to remove the stenciling. Not that it mattered. There’s no way he’d risk flagging the car down without knowing who was behind the wheel. Talk about a good way to get shot. “Stay here.” He rose to his feet, taking two tentative steps toward the road. When he could still see the glow of headlights, he turned and came back, lowering himself beside Emily.

“What’s wrong?”

“We can’t leave yet.” In truth, Owen wasn’t sure they should risk getting back on the highway at all. The lack of traffic here would make them easy to spot. And he wasn’t convinced they could avoid running into the bad guys.

Then again, maybe they’d eventually run into Doug Bridges or some of the other Sullivans. That he wouldn’t mind as much. As long as he could hand Emily over while being able to continue with his plan.

“How much longer do we have to sit out here?” Emily whispered.

He wished he had an answer. He inwardly debated their options. They weren’t that far from the Elk Horn Lodge to avoid being found. Two miles wouldn’t keep them hidden for long. They needed to move, either via the stolen truck or walking deeper into the woods, going on foot to reach their next destination.

To where? He didn’t think there was another town close enough that they could walk to. Everything out here was so spread out and far away from each other.

Grimly, he acknowledged he didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t drag Emily and Bear through the woods for miles and miles. They’d have to take the truck. He sighed and leaned toward Emily again. “We’ll head out in the truck soon.”

She gave a jerky nod, stroking her hand over Bear’s head. The pup had settled down in her arms with his eyes closed.

Owen waited another five minutes before venturing closer to the road. There was no sign of the headlights in the distance. Either the vehicle had kept going, or the driver had pulled off the road and killed the lights to wait for them to come out of hiding.

Troubling to consider they could be heading into a trap.

As if reading his mind, Emily whispered, “Maybe we sit inside the truck for a while.”

Checking his watch, he silently acknowledged that wasn’t a bad idea. It was two in the morning. A good two to three hours from dawn. They weren’t that far from the Elk Horn Lodge, yet if someone walked through the woods toward them, they stood a better chance of escaping via the vehicle. He could just start it up and bulldoze out of there.

“Okay, we’ll wait inside.” He stood and moved toward the passenger-side door. The interior dome light flashed on, but he gestured for Emily to bring Bear. Once she and the puppy were settled in the seat, he grabbed the bag of dog food and the doggy dish, setting them on the floor of the back seat. Then he slid in behind the wheel.

“I wish I still had my phone.” Emily sighed. “If that was Doug driving by, he could come back to pick us up.”

He hoped she meant her and Bear, not Owen. He grimaced. “I couldn’t take the risk the bad guys would find us again.”

“Okay, but I still don’t see how a bunch of drug dealers could track my cell phone. Especially since the signal isn’t that strong out here.” She looked exasperated. “I barely had two bars at the cabin.”

“I don’t know, Emily.” He didn’t like feeling defensive. “How else can we explain how the gunman was creeping toward your cabin? We weren’t followed. The guy had to have identified you as being there somehow.”

“Process of elimination?” She sighed and rested her head back against the seat. “None of this makes any sense. I’m no threat to these men.”

He looked away. She wasn’t a threat, but she could be used to get to him. If the guy he’d wounded outside the cabin had gotten to Emily, and she couldn’t help him, he suspected the response would have been to either hold her hostage until they could find him. Or kill her.

Likely both.

“You’re in this mess because of me. Because my team kidnapped you to care for my wound.” He dragged his hands over his stubbled cheeks. “But you won’t be in danger once I eliminate the guy in charge of the operation.”

“Eliminate how?”

He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.” Emily grabbed his arm. “Killing in self-defense or in defending another person is one thing. Tracking a guy down to murder him in cold blood is very different.”

He didn’t answer. Slouching in his seat, he kept his gaze trained on the road. The lack of headlights from other vehicles should have been reassuring.

But it wasn’t.

How many bad guys did Hernandez or the possible law enforcement leak have out there looking for him? The way these guys were tracking down Emily first at her house then again here in the mountains convinced him either DEA Agent Colin Granger was dirty or the Denver cop Will Minor was. Unless Juan Sanchez and Domingo Hernandez had found a way to up their game.

She was right that it would take someone with juice to track her phone. Not to mention figuring out he’d recuperated at the Double D Ranch to eliminate the retired couple who were also no threat.

He clenched his jaw. The only man who should be dead is Hernandez and whoever was working with him. Not Doc and Dee.

And certainly not Emily.

“Please, Owen,” she whispered, breaking into his thoughts. “Please don’t do this. Let’s work with my brother. I know he’ll do everything in his power to help you.”

“Can he bring my brother Oliver back from the dead?” He turned to glare at her. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. I’m not turning myself in, Emily. So you can stop asking.”

“I didn’t know your brother died.” Her voice was soft. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

He let out a harsh laugh. “There’s a lot about me you don’t know.”

“Okay, so tell me.” Her voice held a pleading tone. “Help me understand how you got here.”

It was tempting to dump his life’s story in her lap. But what was the point? She would only use whatever he told her as ammunition to convince him to go straight.

As if that was really a possibility.

“It doesn’t matter how I got here.” He glanced at his watch again. “All that matters is that Hernandez killed my brother, and I’m not going to stop until I take him down.”

She was quiet for so long, he thought he’d finally convinced her to drop it. But she didn’t. “Revenge isn’t going to bring Oliver back. And somehow, I don’t for one minute believe your brother would want you to risk your soul by killing on his behalf.”

“My soul is already gone.” The words felt heavy in his heart.

“No, see, that’s where you’re wrong.” She shifted in the passenger seat to face him, taking care not to upset the sleeping Bear. “You’ve protected me, kept me safe, and that’s the first step on the road to redemption. Jesus is there for you, Owen. All you have to do is hear God’s word, believe in Him, and accept Jesus as your savior. Jesus will forgive your sins. That’s how you can get on a new path where you turn your life around.”

Call him a cynic but that sounded too easy. He glanced at his watch again, realizing an hour had passed since the SUV had driven slowly past. Maybe it was time to hit the road. Just as he reached forward to start the engine, he noticed a faint glow of light coming from the road.

Dropping his hand, he glanced at Emily. “Scoot way down in your seat so that we can’t be seen from the road.”

She glanced fearfully past him, then did as he’d asked. She leaned toward the center console, keeping Bear in her lap. He had little choice but to do the same, bending toward the center console as well, so close he could have kissed her.

The glow of light grew brighter and brighter. And he found himself hoping that if God was watching over them, that He would spare Emily’s life.

Owen would never recover if she died because of him.

* * *

Emily held her breath, her face inches from Owen’s as they waited for the car to pass them by. There was a part of her that wanted to push out of the car and run to the road in hopes that Doug happened to be the one driving. Yet she couldn’t seem to bring herself to leave Owen.

Obviously, there was a chance that Doug wasn’t the one driving past. It could be the gunman or even another total stranger. With their heads down, she couldn’t even figure out which direction the car was coming from.

But she had a bad feeling it was the same vehicle as earlier. From what she could tell, traffic through the mountain was pretty much nonexistent at this hour.

Owen lifted and angled his head slightly. She could tell he was trying to use the side mirror to see the oncoming vehicle. His musky scent sent a shiver of awareness down her spine, and she had to hold back the impulse to close the narrow gap between them to kiss his cheek. What was wrong with her anyway?

Why was she so attracted to this man?

What had Maya Sullivan said back when she and Doug had come to rescue her? Emotions were rarely logical. That phrase couldn’t have been more accurate.

No matter how many times she told herself to ignore Owen, to remember he was a criminal who’d done terrible things, she was still drawn to him.

Despite learning the truth beneath the lies. To hear from his own lips that his goal was to eliminate another human being! She had no illusions about what that meant.

She had to find a way to convince him to give up on that task. So despite her desire to get to Doug, she stayed where she was.

Waiting and watching Owen. After what seemed like eons, Owen sat up. She gingerly did the same. When he reached over to start the truck engine, she felt a moment of panic.

“Are you sure it’s safe to leave?”

He grimaced. “No. But that car came back down from the opposite direction it had taken earlier, so I’m fairly certain it’s the same one who drove past earlier. We can’t stay here all night.” He put the truck in gear and drove through the brush toward the road.

Then Owen turned left onto the highway so that they were heading away from Elk Horn Lodge. To where? She had no idea.

For long moments, neither of them spoke. Owen drove without lights for a few minutes, but when he narrowly missed a curve in the road, reluctantly reached over and flipped them on. Twisting in her seat, she looked at the road behind them but didn’t see anything.

Slightly reassured, she tried to relax. She was still exhausted, but Owen hadn’t gotten any sleep, so she blinked and did her best to stay awake.

“Lean your seat back as far as it can go and get some rest,” Owen said, obviously noticing her wide yawn. “No sense for both of us to be up.”

“I’d rather talk to keep you awake.” She forced a smile. “Tell me more about your brother. I remember you saying he was a mechanic. Was he older or younger than you?”

“Younger. But I don’t want to talk about Oliver.” His clipped tone did not invite more questions. “Get some sleep. I’m hoping we reach another dot-on-the-map town soon.”

She didn’t want to give up trying to convince him to change his path but decided this might not be the best time. Hard to blame the guy for being tired and crabby. “I can drive.” The offer popped out of her mouth before her brain could register it. “It’s not like I can make a wrong turn.”

“No thanks.” Maybe it was her imagination, but his voice was softer now. “I’m fine. Get some rest.”

With a sigh, she gave in. Finding the seat lever, she reclined back as far as she could go. Bear shifted on her lap, then let out a sigh. With a smile, she closed her eyes.

When Owen hit the brake hard, she jerked awake. Sitting up, she caught a glimpse of a large shape moving across the road. “What was that? He’s huge!”

“Bull moose that came out of nowhere.” He shook his head. “I’m glad I didn’t hit him.”

“Pretty sure he’d have wrecked the truck if you had.” The large animal disappeared into the brush. She glanced at Owen. “How long did I sleep?”

“Thirty minutes. I saw a sign for a road that leaves the highway to some smaller campgrounds.” He shrugged. “I’m not sure if we should get off Highway 14 to hide within one of the campgrounds or stay on until we reach the other side of this mountain.”

“We don’t have any camping gear.” She frowned. “I don’t know what to suggest. I’m afraid we’ll be too easily remembered if anyone stops by asking questions. How long can we stay in the campground without food or water?” She tried not to panic at the thought.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Probably better to stay on the highway until we get to the other side. We’re going to need gas sooner or later anyway.”

The next hour passed with excruciating slowness. But then she could see that they were finally getting close to the next town. “Dayton? I’ve heard of Dayton, Ohio, but not a city by that name in Wyoming.”

“The town looks larger than I expected,” Owen admitted. “Like some people actually live here year round.”

She nodded but doubted that the town was big enough to hide them. As they grew closer, she saw signs for restaurants and a couple of hotels.

Too bad they’d wasted two hundred dollars back at the Elk Horn Lodge. Money they could have used here in Dayton. If they could find an ATM, she could withdraw some cash.

But she knew Owen wouldn’t want to leave an electronic trail. Not after he’d forced her to leave her phone behind.

“Let’s hope one of the restaurants opens early,” Owen said. “We should eat, gas up, then keep going.”

“Keep going?” She arched a brow. “Do you intend to leave the state of Wyoming all together?”

“Maybe.” He tapped the dashboard. “It may help considering we’re riding in a stolen truck.”

Owen had a point, but she wasn’t keen on the idea of driving all the way east to South Dakota. Or heading north to Montana. The state police communicated across state lines, didn’t they? Then again, Owen had changed the license plate with electrical tape.

“Food sounds good,” she said. “Coffee too.”

As they rolled into Dayton, Owen didn’t stop at the first gas station they came upon. Instead, he drove through the town to a gas station that was in what appeared to be the Dayton downtown area.

Bear woke from his nap, looking around curiously. Once Owen stopped the truck at a gas pump, she pushed out of the car. Owen frowned, then realized the dog needed to go out.

She set the puppy on the grass where he instantly did his business. She praised him lavishly, wishing again that she had a treat for him. Although the praise seemed to make him happy, his little body wiggling and his tiny tail wagging.

“Go on, run around a bit,” she encouraged as Owen filled the gas tank. She found a stick and threw it for him. Bear ran and pounced on the stick, thrilled with the game of fetch.

She played with Bear until Owen came over to join them after he’d gone inside to pay, emerging with a six-pack of water. “Maybe we should get food to go.” She gestured to the puppy. “We need to feed him too.”

“No such thing as a fast-food restaurant here from what I can see.” Owen nodded toward the main road. “I would rather eat at the café down the street.”

“Okay, but I’m bringing Bear inside with us.” She scowled, bracing for an argument. “I don’t want to leave him in the truck.”

“Fine with me. I doubt he’ll be a problem.”

She hoped he was right. She picked up Bear and carried him to the truck. When Owen pulled into the café parking lot, she was glad to see they were open despite the early hour. Probably because May was the start of their relatively short tourist season.

Good thing she had the weekend off, or she’d feel worse about missing work. The emergency department generally experienced a surge of patients seeking care during the summer months.

She quickly sat in the booth, keeping Bear tucked on her lap. The puppy squirmed for a minute but settled down before their server approached. She leaned forward to read the menu, using her upper torso to hide Bear from view.

“Coffee?” The woman’s name tag read Angela.

“Yes, please,” she and Owen said at the same time. It didn’t take long for Angela to return with their coffee and to take their breakfast order.

Keeping one hand on Bear, she sipped her coffee. The café was cute. No sign of a pay phone unfortunately. Not a surprise in the age of cell phones. She eyed Owen. “Are you serious about going all the way to South Dakota?”

He stared down at the table for a long moment. “I’m not sure what to do,” he said, surprising her. “I need to find Hernandez, but I can’t do that until you’re safe.”

“Or you give up searching for Hernandez and let me call Doug to bring us both in safely.”

He scowled. “I told you to drop it.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t do that, Owen.” She wanted to grab him by the shoulder to shake some common sense into him. “I care about you. And I don’t want you to be hurt.”

He shook his head. “You can’t stop me, Emily.”

Angela took that moment to return with their breakfast. It seemed awfully fast, but they were the only customers in the place.

“I’d like to say grace.” She knew Owen wouldn’t necessarily appreciate it, but she bowed her head. “Dear Lord Jesus, please guide us on Your chosen path. Please show Owen the way to God’s love and to accepting Jesus. Please bless this food we are about to eat. Amen.”

He didn’t echo the sentiment but was quiet for so long she had to wonder if the prayer had found a way through the towering walls surrounding his heart. Then he dug into his meal with gusto.

She picked at her eggs but forced herself to eat.

When they finished, Owen sat back. “How’s Bear?”

“Good.” She glanced around for Angela. “Don’t give us away. He’s been quiet enough that she hasn’t noticed him.” After a pause, she added, “Owen, will you please reconsider your plan? I wish you would trust me when I say Doug will treat you fairly.”

“No. Excuse me.” He abruptly stood and headed toward the restrooms. He passed Angela who was coming over to refill their coffee cups with their bill in hand.

“More coffee?” Angela held up the pot.

“Yes, but I need a favor. Can I borrow your phone?” She darted a glance over her shoulder. Owen wouldn’t be in the restroom for long. “Please, it’s important.”

Angela frowned. “Are you in trouble, hun? Is that man gonna hurt you or something?”

“No, he won’t hurt me, he’s saved my life several times. But I still need to borrow your phone.” If Angela kept dawdling, then she’d never get a call through to Doug in time. “I’m begging you.”

“Yeah, sure, hun. That’s fine.” Angela drew the phone from her pocket, placed it in front of her face, then handed it over. “You take as long as you need.”

She quickly entered Doug’s number. He answered on the second ring. “Bridges. Who is this?”

“Emily. We’re in Dayton, Wyoming. A gunman found us at the Elk Horn Lodge.” She spoke fast without giving Doug time to say anything. “We’re in a gray truck with altered plates. This is someone else’s phone. I’m sorry I have to go.”

“Em, wait...”

She pushed the red “end call” button, then quickly turned Angela’s phone off and handed it back. “Don’t say anything,” she pleaded.

“I won’t.” Angela slipped her phone away just as Emily heard the bathroom door open and close. She stroked Bear’s fur, hoping and praying she could keep Owen in Dayton long enough for Doug to find them.