Sudden Recall

Immediately, the man in front of her yanked her arm almost out of its socket as he took off at a run, forcing her to match his punishing pace toward his truck. He pulled her down on the passenger’s side and drew his weapon. The fast rat-a-tat of automatic gunfire slammed the metal of his truck, across the hood. He lifted up and returned fire.

More machine-gun fire replied. Air hissed out of the tire on the far side from where Sienna was hunkered down. Glass shattered in a spray across the pavement.

He pulled her up and shoved her toward the trees. “Plan B. Run!”

Sienna tucked her elbows in and ran into the forest. On her weekend runs, to mix up her workout some, she often ran at this pace for thirty-second spurts just to see if she could. After two minutes now her lungs started to burn. Branches slapped her arms and legs as she sped between trees, and the sound of booted feet pounded the dirt behind her. She glanced back for a second to make sure it was him and not one of those masked men.

Her foot hit something and she stumbled. The man grabbed her arm while she righted herself. “Faster.”

Faster? She was almost ready to drop right there and then. Her lungs were about to explode, and he didn’t sound much better. Either he had asthma, or...

Sienna looked up at the darkened sky. “Is that a helicopter?” The words came out with each pant of her breath.

He didn’t slow down. He glanced behind them, not even losing his stride. “Left.” His voice was barely above a whisper.

They angled in that direction toward a tight collection of bushes. When they reached the copse, he pulled her down. Sienna slammed onto her hands and knees hard enough to leave bruises. Did he have to act like this? Sure, those guys in black were trying to kill them...or him...or just her.

She frowned and whispered, “Why do I feel like I shouldn’t be trying to run away from this but should be facing this head-on instead?”

He shook his head and put his finger to his lips.

Was she the kind of person who fought back? She wouldn’t have thought so, given how her stomach was roiling. Sienna peeked out of the bushes. Moonlight gave her enough visibility that she could see two figures in the distance make their way toward them. Careful to keep her voice low, she said, “Did you kill one of them?”

“I aimed high, probably just winged him,” he whispered. “They were trying to kill us, you know. Instead, they killed my truck.” The figures moved closer. “We’re going to have to outrun them. One has a camera that is likely thermal imaging. They’ll be able to see us hiding.”

Thermal imaging? The cover of bushes wouldn’t mean anything to someone able to see heat signatures. Sienna and...whatever his name was would be lit up like two beacons.

“Let’s go.”

She nodded and took his outstretched hand. Going with him was simply the better of the two options. One being death, the other being rescued by a handsome hero. No contest, really. Still, she needed to be careful. She’d been duped by better-looking men than him.

Or at least she thought she might have.

Sienna crept along behind him. How did he make no noise when she seemed to step on every snapping twig in this forest? She should be as good, if not better, than him. Why, she didn’t know, but it seemed like that should be a thing. Like she’d learned this, or done this.

But what kind of person knew the best way to run for their life?

* * *

Parker glanced up through the trees as the helicopter shone a searchlight over the forest. He angled them to avoid the beam as it swept north to south. His battered body was heavy with fatigue. Old injuries stretched and woke up to let him know they didn’t approve of how fast he was moving.

What Parker wanted to know was whether the masked men and the helicopter were here for Sienna or for both of them. It was the first time they’d been alone together. Was that the trigger which had brought this attack down on them? It seemed a long time to wait, a whole year of her living in this town, when these guys could have taken Parker and Sienna out separately. The timing had to mean something.

Maybe she knew the answer. But would she tell him?

He signaled her to split up, circle around and meet back at the road. Halfway through his series of hurried hand motions, she shook her head and whispered, “I don’t know what that means.”

He wasn’t going to explain it. “What’s wrong with you?”

The helicopter turned in their direction again. Parker ducked behind a tree and checked the position of the two guys in pursuit. They had dropped back. Were he and Sienna in the clear, or was their retreat a signal things were about to get worse?

She huddled beside him like he was home base. Only this wasn’t a game.

Parker said, “Sienna, enough with the act. It’s going to get us both killed, so quit pretending you don’t know what to do. You’re not some untrained civilian, and you need to be all-in or we won’t get clear of these guys.”

“And I’m supposed to, what, fight them by myself?”

Why was she being so cautious? He wouldn’t have signed to her that they should separate if he hadn’t known she could handle it.

“I’m not about to help when you’re endangering both of our lives by pretending to be helpless.” They were almost nose to nose, his voice a hard whisper that sounded scary even to his own ears. But maybe she would listen. Instead, the moonlight glinted off the tears in her eyes. Seriously, now she was going to act like the terrified victim? “Give it up, Sienna.”

“Tell me why you know my name. Tell me yours. Tell me anything but that you’re going to leave me here to die.”

“You know my name.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know anything. I didn’t even know my name until Aunt Karen told me.”

“You don’t have an aunt Karen. You said you had an uncle Bill, but that was it. Or did you lie about that, too, along with everything else?”

Her lip trembled. “Please just tell me your name.”

Parker couldn’t believe he was actually going to placate her. “Jackson Parker. Most everyone calls me Parker.”

Which she already knew. Only his dad had ever called him Jackson, and he remembered his mom calling him Jack. That was why he only ever told people his name was Parker. He wanted as much separation as possible between who he was now and that scared kid who never thought he’d get away from his lazy, drunk father still pining for a woman who hadn’t wanted either of them.

She looked down at the badge on his belt. “A...US marshal?”

He nodded. “Fugitive apprehension task force.”

“Am I a criminal?”

“No. Why would you think that?”

“Because I don’t know who I am. I have amnesia. I don’t remember anything before a year ago, Parker. And the year before that I was in a coma.”

Amnesia? Parker stared at her, dumbfounded.

She was looking at him like maybe he could help her sort this out.

The reality was, he probably could. He had to get them out of this first before he unraveled the loose threads in her stories. If she was lying—again—he’d find out sooner or later, and he’d know never to trust her or any other woman. Ever.

If she wasn’t lying, Parker wouldn’t stop until he got to the bottom of what had happened to her. Something had turned the strong, capable woman he’d known into the scared and shaking one in front of him. And he was going to find out what.

He took her hand again and started walking. The helicopter was overhead still. Parker cut right, then left, then right again, working his way back to the road. Why had he left his cell phone in the cup holder in his truck?

He needed to call this in, get his whole team here to battle these guys. Making arrests, interrogating suspects and seeing justice done was his life now.

As for Sienna, he didn’t know what her life entailed. None of this made any sense, except her not being able to remember who she was. Amnesia actually fit everything he’d seen so far, but how could that have happened? A year in a coma? Where was the CIA now? Even harmless and unable to go on missions, surely they kept tabs on an asset like her.