Chapter 22 #2
“We need to get off the road.” My phone buzzed. It was Stone. “How far out are you?”
Stone's tone had an edge to it, clipped and terse. “Fifteen minutes. You okay?”
“Yeah. Gunman got away. Julia and I are unhurt, but we need two cars to disappear.”
“On it.” Stone hung up.
“Get whatever you need from your vehicle. Stone will be here in about 15 minutes. These two vehicles will be taken care of—”
“My car?”
“I’ll buy you an identical one to replace it.” I moved closer, resting my hand on her shoulder. “You’re okay. That’s what matters. Don’t worry about the car.”
She nodded and slipped off her shoes. “These were definitely not made for hiking.”
As she climbed back through the window, her body stretched and twisted in ways that made my mouth go dry. The curve of her hips, the long line of her legs—I had the sudden, overwhelming urge to grab her and pull her back out, forget about the car entirely.
She moved with an unconscious grace that nearly made me forget someone had just tried to kill her. Nearly. The anger simmering beneath my desire reminded me why we were standing in a meadow in the first place.
Someone wanted her dead.
Over my dead body.
I called Dino again and he picked up this time. “Dino, pay attention…”
A few minutes after explaining the situation to Dino, Stone pulled up on his bike. “Looks like quite the shootout.”
“Just like the wild west.” I pointed to the spot the blue sedan had come to a stop after I’d rear-ended it. “He was about there, you can see he didn’t have a good line of sight to where I was, which is why he gave up sooner rather than later.”
“I’m glad you’re safe. I’ve got a car on the way to pick you up. I’ll get rid of these ASAP.” Stone pointed toward Julia. “She’s okay?”
“Yeah, she didn’t have a weapon—something I’m going to fix going forward—but she drove like a champ and didn’t get a scratch.”
“Although my perfectly nice outfit is totally ruined.” Julia smiled. She held a small bag in her left hand and her shoes in her right. “This is all I care about from the car. Keys are still in the ignition.”
“Anything in your car you need?” Stone gestured to me. “Better get it before your ride shows up.”
I retrieved a few personal items. Julia and I waited as a bright red four-door Jeep Cherokee with massive tires pulled off the road. It rolled to a stop next to Stone.
He opened the back door and grinned. “Your chariot awaits.”
I took Julia’s elbow and helped her with the big step into the Jeep.
“That’s Felicia.” Stone pointed to the driver. “She works for a friend of a friend. She’ll drop you at the garage on West Street so you can pick up another vehicle. I mean, unless you—”
“No, the garage is fine.” I followed Julia into the Jeep, waved at Stone, and shut the door. “Thanks, Felicia. We had a rough night.”
“I can see that.” She pulled onto the highway, crossed the divide, and turned up the radio. “Country okay?”
I answered before Julia could. “You’re the driver. We’re good.”
“That’s right.” Julia smiled. “I’m so glad nobody is shooting at me—I wouldn't care if you were listening to trap, techno or even Helium Vola.”
“What’s Helium Vola?” I couldn’t resist asking.
Julia laughed. “Electro-medieval. Trust me, you don’t want to know.”
Felicia pointed at the radio. “This is Megan Moroney.”
“Yeah, Tennessee Orange, right?”
“Yeah.” Felicia turned the volume up loud enough to drown out the hum of the mud tires.
I shook my head and gave Julia a smile. “I can’t hear a thing.”
“What?!”
I shouted my answer. “I can’t hear a thing!”
Julia lifted both her hands and wiggled her fingers. “I’ve got them.”
“What?!”
“My RINGS! I got them all.” She patted her handbag. “I even found a lost earring.”
I closed my eyes, smiled, and leaned my head back. The music wasn’t half bad—not my taste—but I was just a passenger and not in a position to complain.
Felicia pulled into the West Street garage twenty minutes later. The multipurpose facility provided support to various businesses I owned. It also employed a handful of mechanics who serviced all company vehicles, as well as my personal ones.
Several sets of keys hung in the cabinet—trucks, vans, support vehicles.
I turned to Julia. “Let’s see. What should we drive you home in?
” I gave her a silly grin in an awkward attempt to lighten the mood.
“You want a white service van branded as Joe’s Flowers and Gifts, or one with Smith & Sons Plumbing in bright red?
It’s complete with a fake 1-800 number claiming 24-hour service.
Or should we stick to the unmarked Ford Ranger 4x4? ”
“Does it have a gun rack, oversized tires, and all the radio presets tuned to FM country stations?”
I laughed and agreed it probably did. “Or, here—” I selected a set of keys that were labeled Nissan “—we’ve got a 2020 370Z in Chicane Yellow. The color choice for those times when being discreet is not an option.”
“Are you serious?” Julia’s eyes widened. “Why in the world would you have a banana-colored Nissan?”
“There are times when you want a spotter spotted. It’s a diversion. You put a country girl in a halter top—think Daisy Duke—and have her speed through a stakeout or slow down and wave at some cops who you need to take their eyes off someone else. Works like a charm.”
“And we’re all about being non-discreet right now?” Julia’s brows rose, like she thought I was crazy.
“I highly doubt our pursuer would be out looking for us in a car like this.” I walked over to the covered sports car and revealed it like I was Criss Angel pulling a velvet cover off a motorcycle.
“Voilà! We’ll stick out like a—um—” I pointed to Julia’s ruined clothes “—hot sauce on a beautiful blouse.”
"It's silk. I'm sure it'll wash out."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah, totally. Let's get out of here. Seriously, I'm starving."
I opened the passenger door. “Let me take you to dinner?”
“As long as you run me home first to change clothes, you’ve got a date.”
“Deal.”
Julia stared at her ruined blouse with the kind of grief usually reserved for funeral announcements. “Nothing with hot sauce.”
“Wasabi okay?”
Julia got in and strapped on the seatbelt. “We’re in a banana-colored Nissan. If you’d suggested anything other than sushi, I was going to call a cab.”
I fired up the engine and eased out of the garage. Once on the street, I channeled The Fast and the Furious and smoked the tires. A grin spread across my face. Julia was sassy, sarcastic, and sophisticated—exactly my type.