Chapter 7
She hated him. She thought he was a criminal. He struggled to put the pain of that and the rest of his reeling emotions aside. It was too late to change anything for her and dividing his focus could prove disastrous.
Mentally, he blasted Pickering and the FBI order to stand down. He resented that what should be a golden opportunity had devolved into a mess of epic proportions. The shock, disappointment, and anger he’d seen in Evie’s expressive gray eyes would haunt him for the rest of his days.
Of course, those days might not add up to much if Baker didn’t get control of the vehicle.
All his life, despite the ugly rumors and uglier truth that cycled through town about his mom, Evie had stood by him.
Stood up for him. For as long as he could remember, she refused to lump him into the same category as his addicted mother.
At every opportunity, she’d spout off about anything good he’d done, from acing a spelling test to helping her rebuild a snowblower.
And how had he repaid her? He’d left without saying goodbye.
She had valid cause to hate him long before he’d returned to Deadwood. Shame coursed through him for hoping he might have gotten in and out of town without seeing her. Although, in light of the situation, it clearly would’ve been better if he’d never seen her.
So many things could have gone differently, if only he’d trusted her. Then and now.
He sensed the shift in her body. Never one to give up, she was looking for the opening and fighting to break out of the zip ties so she could take it when it came.
“Ease up on this curve, Baker,” he said.
The man gripped the wheel harder. “You wanna drive?”
“I will if you can’t,” Wyatt replied.
“Baker drives.” Tate ended the discussion. “You said this road would get us to the spur.”
“In clear conditions we’d be halfway to the turn-off by now,” Wyatt said. If he knew Evie, she’d figured out Cordell’s intended destination, but he wanted to make it clear. “You should’ve kept the original schedule,” he added to get under the man’s skin.
Tate twisted in his seat. “If I’d waited, we’d have bad roads and cops on our tail. This is better.”
In their initial calls, Cordell had struck Wyatt as an average thief and he wasn’t sure why the FBI was so hot to catch him, aside from the embarrassment that he kept escaping with small, prominent fortunes.
In person, the well-above-average cunning came through.
On the job, the man was intimidating and left no doubt about who was in charge.
And now that he was sitting in the middle of the operation it was easier to understand how and why Cordell’s crew evaded the authorities.
Cordell might appear to be acting randomly, but he’d thought through and anticipated every detail.
He kept loyal men with him and created redundancies that protected them all from the new guy.
Evie was a redundancy Cordell wasn’t ready to relinquish.
He believed Evie and Wyatt were interchangeable.
When it came to local trails, in clear weather, he was mostly right.
But if Cordell had relied on coincidence to find a backup for Wyatt, the FBI would’ve caught him a long time ago.
Despite the distraction of nasty weather, the man had to be somewhat suspicious of Wyatt taking this particular woman hostage.
Based on the FBI’s background, a suspicious Cordell was a ruthless and dangerous man. With ice gathering on the inside of the windows, his priority shifted to protecting Evie over the FBI’s agenda. How was he going to get her out of this safely?
Although Baker was learning how to handle the icy curves, Wyatt couldn’t shake the feeling that they were walking a tightrope.
He’d been out here in storms only half as bad as Holly and he knew it was a matter of time before the roads became impassable.
Plus, he’d hauled Evie out of the casino with no protection against the elements.
Her uniform of black slacks, a crisp cotton shirt, the black and silver vest, western bolo tie, and the black heels would be no help when she did try to escape. And she would.
Her best chance was if he could get them to turn back toward town. “It’s possible the spur we need hasn’t been plowed,” he said. “Or even salted.” That was assuming they could find the turn-off at all. Visibility was dwindling with every minute.
Cordell shook his head. “You’re just now mentioning this?” he asked, his tone rumbling in a low growl. Ruthless. Dangerous.
There was little point arguing, but Wyatt held his ground. “I mentioned it earlier. This morning and yesterday. You said the rendezvous schedule wasn’t negotiable.”
Evie pressed her lower leg to his. He didn’t deserve anything close to support right this second, but he was damn happy to have it.
“That’s why we moved early.” Cordell swore. “Figure it out, Jameson. There must be more than one road in this state.”
Wyatt stopped Evie before she could say something provoking and tried to make sense of what he could see through the windows.
It was all a haze of white, nearly impossible to distinguish the shadows of trees from rocky outcroppings.
Cordell had researched the diamonds, the casino, and the people.
Why hadn’t the man put more effort into researching the terrain?
Because he’d hired Wyatt, an expert on the area who was disenchanted with all things legal after the military cut him loose for getting injured on a patrol. Then he’d tried to use Evie as research but this blasted winter storm interfered.
The SUV slowed as Baker eased off the gas and coasted to a stop. Snow had drifted into a high bank that blocked the road. “What now?” He used the rearview mirror to shoot a dark look at Wyatt.
“Remind me never to doubt the weather girl again,” Evie said. “At least she still has her job. Thanks to you, I’m sure my career at the Silver Aces is over.”
“Better a job than your life,” Wyatt said. Dealing poker wasn’t a career for Evie anyway, but this was hardly the time to point that out.
“Guess you’ll have to turn back,” Evie quipped. Her false cheer filled the vehicle and Wyatt knew he was the only one amused. “Can you manage a three-point turn or do I need to handle it?” she asked sweetly.
Wyatt bumped her knee. “Knock it off.” He appreciated her attempt to be annoying enough that Cordell would toss her out, but it wasn’t in her best interest. They were too far from any shelter for her to survive the storm. He had to come up with something and fast.
“Miss Cotton, listen to your pal and shut up,” Cordell agreed. “I’m waiting for a solution, Jameson.”
She fixed her gaze on the windshield and wisely kept quiet.
He did the same, watching the wipers slap uselessly against the heavy snowstorm.
“Either we get out and hike from here or we back it up and take the next available road,” Wyatt said with a sigh.
“In my opinion, we’re better off going back.
A longer drive, but less risk of exposure in this weather. ”
Cordell turned to Evie. “You agree with him?”
“I don’t know where you’re going,” she said. “Though the clearest route out of the storm is to the south.”
Cordell scowled. “Of course you’d want us to go back through town.”
Evie shrugged and Wyatt drew the thief’s attention.
“Clear is relative,” he said. “This storm is massive.” But if they were closer to town, he could get her out of the car before guiding Cordell and his men the long way around to the ghost town.
The GPS tracker in his wallet was built to hold up so the FBI could pick up their quarry.
Every hour he could keep them in transition gave Evie a better chance to notify the authorities of their destination.
“Do it,” Cordell said to Baker. “Turn around.”
Baker’s hesitation was almost imperceptible, but it was something. Wyatt filed the reaction away. If he could get the others to turn on Cordell, their chances of survival increased. Slowly, with extreme caution Baker backed up until he had the space to turn the car around.
“Excellent,” Evie declared. “You’ll get caught and I can clear my name. Hundreds of cameras cover the highway in Deadwood. No industry has more watchdog tendencies than the casinos.”
He recognized her ramping up into a tirade and let her ramble, just to see Cordell’s reaction.
“The law around here doesn’t cater to thieves and kidnappers,” she continued. “Even if you get away today, Sheriff Russell will track you down. You should—”
He shoved his elbow into her ribs. “That’s enough, Evelyn.” He said her name with a sneer that he knew would get under her skin. One of the perks of knowing another person so well.
She gawked at him. “You’re the worst.”
He wished he could assure her he wasn’t. It was just more motivation to get both of them out of this in one piece so he could explain everything and prove he hadn’t given up on being an honorable man.
“I’m not going to post bail or visit you in prison,” she said, nose in the air.
“Shut up!” Cordell roared. “Or I’ll just shoot you and dump you in the snow for a bear.”
“The bears are hibernating,” she said. The woman never knew when to quit.
Cordell aimed a small revolver at her. Wyatt hadn’t known he was carrying that one in addition to the bigger, semi-automatic he’d used in the robbery.
At this range the revolver could be deadly enough.
Beside him Evie paled. “Easy,” Wyatt said.
“She’s a complication we can turn to our advantage, especially in town. ”
“We’ll see.” Cordell lowered the gun.
Evie didn’t look all that grateful. Wyatt knew she was fuming and plotting her way out of the vehicle. He didn’t blame her. In her place, he’d do the same thing. He just hoped she had the patience to let him assist.