Her Cowboy Defender

He didn’t reply, frowning slightly. She watched his eyes lower to the panel in front of him. It was only then she realized they were gradually losing speed.

“Why are you slowing down?”

“Something’s wrong.”

She cocked the gun. “Knock it off. We don’t have time for this.”

“I’m not doing anything,” he snapped. “I think he got one of the tires.”

“He couldn’t have. The tire would have blown.”

“Then something must have ricocheted into it or we hit something.”

Dread shot through her. “Ignore it. Keep going.”

“I can’t ignore it. The truck isn’t going to let me.”

“How much farther do we have to go?”

“Too far. We’ll never make it.”

Before she could argue further, he was already easing off the accelerator and pulling over onto the shoulder.

She opened her mouth to tell him once more to keep going, but even as she did, she could feel the truck was starting to list on its left rear tire.

The cowboy shifted the truck into Park and shut off the engine, then opened his door and stepped out without even acknowledging her. Piper quickly scrambled across the seat and followed.

To her horror, the tire was already half-deflated. It must have been a graze or a nick or something, since the tire hadn’t exploded, though it might as well have for what the damage meant.

They didn’t have time for this. “Change the tire,” she ordered.

“I’m going to,” he grumbled. “It’s the only way I can get out of here.”

“How long is it going to take?”

“Long enough.”

“I only have fifteen minutes!”

He finally glanced back at her. This time there was a trace of sympathy in his eyes that shook her more than anything he could say. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I don’t think you’re going to make it.”

She raised the gun at him. “Not good enough.”

He simply shook his head and turned away. “You can shoot me, but it won’t change anything.”

She didn’t want to believe him. She wanted to scream, call him a liar.

But as she watched him work, she realized with a sinking heart that he was right. Changing a tire on a pickup truck was a bigger task than on a passenger car. He didn’t seem to be taking his time, but it was still taking far too long. And even if he managed to get the tire changed quickly, they still had to travel to their destination.

She peered down the road, raising a hand to her face to shade her eyes. There was nothing but the strip of highway and endless stretches of desert as far as the eye could see. No indication that they were anywhere near where she needed to be.

Finding it suddenly hard to breathe, she pulled the cell phone out of her bag with one hand, even though there wasn’t much of a point. She couldn’t even call the kidnapper to beg for more time. The two times she’d spoken with him, he’d called her from an unlisted number. All the contact came from his end. She had no way of reaching him.

All she could do was stand there, feeling time—and Tara’s life—slipping away from her with each passing moment.

She watched in horror as her watch counted down to the appointed meeting time all too quickly, then reached it.

No.

She stood frozen, waiting for something to happen. Something should happen. The end of her world, the end of her sister’s life, couldn’t just pass like this, uneventful, in silence.

At exactly two minutes past, the cell phone suddenly rang. She glanced at the screen even though there was no one else it could possibly be. As expected, the caller was identified only as “Unlisted Number.”

She quickly took the call. “Hello?”

A long silence echoed across the line before the silky, superior voice she expected finally spoke.

“It would seem I overestimated how much your sister means to you, Ms. Lowry.”

“I would have been there if your people hadn’t tried to force me off the road! What were you trying to do, get the drive without having to release my sister? We had a deal!”

She’d responded without thinking, the panic and anger inside her too fierce to hold back in the face of the man’s condescension and everything that had just happened. She fell silent just as quickly, a fresh wave of panic washing over her. She couldn’t afford to make him angry, not if there was any chance left of getting Tara back, not when he held all the cards.

His silence lasted for a torturous eternity.

“I assure you, Ms. Lowry, no one who works for me tried to force you off the road. It’s like you said. We have a deal. I wouldn’t jeopardize that with foolish tactics that could prevent me from getting what I want.”

Of course he was right. If she’d been thinking clearly she would have realized that. “Then who—”

“It would seem that someone doesn’t want you to give me the information.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask who that was, but that was exactly what she couldn’t do.

“So what happens now?” she made herself ask calmly instead.

Another silence. She almost wondered if the bastard was really considering his answers this carefully or if he simply enjoyed tormenting her by dragging them out.

“We will have to arrange another meeting,” he said finally. “I will be in touch—”

“But Tara—”

“Your sister is fine for the time being,” he interrupted with a trace of impatience. “And will remain so as long as you do as you are told.”

“How do I know you’re telling me the truth? How do I know you didn’t try to get to me because my sister is already dead and you didn’t have anything to exchange?”

“I suppose you have no choice but to trust me.”

“Not good enough—”