An Unexpected Clue

No! Ben fought the urge to race after them, his mind grappling with his best options to rescue Ava without her coming to harm in the process. He ducked behind a row of cars and, keeping his head lowered to window-level, he moved as quickly and quietly as he could. When he was within one car length from the others, he paused, looking for his opportunity.

“Is this the fastest you can go?” the woman asked, jerking Ava’s arm.

“You try carrying a thirty-pound bowling ball in front of you,” Ava retorted, yanking her arm out of the woman’s grip.

“Where’d you park the damned car?” the man barked.

“That’s it, three cars down.”

Ben hunkered low and ducked behind the cars, moving another three cars over before he slipped between the vehicles and waited in the shadows for the two to make their second mistake. The first had been to mess with Ava.

The electronic beep of a car lock and the blink of taillights pinpointed the vehicle they were headed for. The man opened the back door. “Get in.”

“No.” Ava pulled back, her feet planting on the pavement.

“Don’t piss me off, lady.” He pointed his gun at her belly. “Get in the damned car.”

Ava hesitated only another second, then quietly bent and slid onto the seat. The man and the woman stood outside the car, their backs to Ben.

That’s when Ben made his move. He hunched and charged across the open space between the lines of parked cars and barreled into the woman. On impact she crashed into the man, causing the gun in his hand to fly through the air, landing a yard away from where they lay sprawled on the pavement.

Ben crawled over the man and woman, reaching for the gun. “Get out of the car, Ava! Now!” When he thought he had the weapon in his grip, a large hand grabbed his ankle and yanked him back.

Behind him, the woman was climbing to her feet.

Ava swung the car door open, slamming it into the woman’s backside, sending her flying yet again. She landed on top of the man, hitting him square in the chest.

Air whooshed from his lungs and his grip on Ben’s ankle loosened.

Ben scooted out of reach, grabbed the gun and rolled to his feet all in one movement.

When the woman got to her feet for the second time, she reached beneath her blazer.

“I wouldn’t, if you value your life,” Ben growled.

Her hand stalled in midair. “You wouldn’t shoot a woman, would you?”

“No, but I’d sure as hell shoot a criminal.” He held the pistol level with the woman’s chest and nodded. “Ease the weapon out of your jacket with two fingers and toss it behind you. If you even twitch an eyelid, I’ll shoot.”

The woman’s lips pressed into a thin line, her eyes narrowing as if she were trying to gauge the sincerity of Ben’s promise to shoot. Her hand reached inside the jacket and she hesitated.

When she jerked it out, Ben pulled the trigger on his own weapon, hitting the woman in the shoulder, spinning her around and slamming her into the car next to her. Her weapon dropped to the ground and skidded under the car. She slid to the pavement, holding her shoulder and cursing like a sailor.

The man scrambled across the pavement toward the fallen gun. He reached beneath the car, stretching as far as he could.

Ben leaned over the man and pressed the gun to his head. “Don’t.”

The car door opened on the other side and a hand reached beneath the car retrieving the gun. Ava slid out and stood, walking around to the end of the car. “Looking for this?” She held the gun in her hand, her finger on the trigger.

“Good, God, Ava. Put that thing down before you shoot yourself.”

“I know how to handle a gun.” She pointed it at the man’s chest. “Want me to demonstrate? Anyone who’d threaten an unborn child deserves a little pain.”

The man glared at her.

“That won’t be necessary.” Ben nodded toward the car. “Anything in there we can use to tie these two up?”

Ava stared at the man on the ground, for a long moment refusing to lower her weapon, her eyes blazing. Then her hand dropped to her side. “Yeah, the duct tape they’d planned to use on me.” She hurried back to the car and returned with a roll of thick gray tape.

Ben jerked his head toward the woman. “Start by securing her good hand to the car and taping her feet together.” He looked at the woman. “You hurt her in any way and I won’t aim for a shoulder this time.”

She glared at him. “I’ll kill you. You just wait.”

“Yeah, yeah. If Wayne doesn’t do it for me. You two bungled an easy job. You can’t even kidnap an eight-months’ pregnant woman without screwing it up. You think you’ll last long in his organization at that rate?” Ben snorted. “If I were you, I’d head out of town and keep going until you run out of road. Even then, I’d keep an eye on my back.”

After she had the woman’s good wrist firmly secured to the handle of a car, Ava squatted down and almost toppled over.

“Wait.” Ben moved around the man, still pointing the gun at him. “Here, you hold this. If he so much as sneezes, kill him.”

He passed the gun to Ava and took the roll of tape. He quickly wrapped the woman’s ankles and reached for the man’s hands, yanking them behind his back. “If you ever point a gun at my wife or my baby again, I’ll kill you,” he said as he pulled the tape tight enough the man would be hurting. After he’d secured his feet and laid a strip of tape on the thugs’ mouths, he flung the roll of duct tape across the parking lot.

“Ready?” He hooked Ava’s arm and walked her to his rental car.

“I can’t leave my car here.”

“You can’t take it. They know what it looks like. You’re not safe in it.” He sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “Please, Ava, get in the car.”

“No.” She pulled out of his grip and marched across to her car.

Ben followed her. “Where are you going?”

“It’s none of your business.” She climbed in and would have shut the door if Ben hadn’t grabbed it and held it open.

“Maybe you don’t get it.” He leaned close enough to get right in her face. “Your life is in danger.”

“So, I’ll be careful.” Tears hovered on the edges of her eyelids as she jammed the key into the ignition and started the car.

The tears ate at Ben’s empty gut, twisting in it like a knife. “You can’t go alone. At least let me come with you.”

“I need time to think.” She rested her forehead on the steering wheel. “Time without you in it.”

Although she whispered, Ben heard every word. Her rejection hurt. More than he ever thought it would. His hand fell away from the door and he stepped back, his heart like a dead weight in his chest.

Ava shoved the shift into reverse, and slammed her foot to the floor. As she pulled out of the parking space, her tires squealed.

Ben stared after her in numb silence. After all the weeks he’d spent dreaming of his homecoming, he didn’t expect this. And it caused him more pain than all the wounds he’d received during Nicky Wayne’s torture sessions.

Before Ava cleared the theater parking lot, Ben came back to his senses with a jolt. He couldn’t let her get away. He had no idea where she’d go or when Wayne’s organization might strike again.