Chapter 10
Grady pushed the small car’s engine to the limit to escape the gunmen.
There was a turn up ahead that he took so fast the tires squealed in protest. Then he took another turn, hoping to shake the black SUV loose for good.
The driver hadn’t anticipated he’d sideswipe him, and the last glimpse of the SUV revealed the car was off on the side of the road.
The shrill sound of police sirens indicated someone had reported the gunfire. He wasn’t sure he wanted the police to find them. At least, not yet. They’d have to report the incident, but not until they were closer to the rental car agency in Madison.
“Are we safe now?” Lauren asked, poking her head up. She turned to look at her daughter. “Lucy, are you okay back there?”
He glanced at Lucy in the rearview mirror. “Lucy, it’s okay. You can sit up now. But we need to know if you’re hurt.”
“I’m not hurt.” Lucy lifted her head and sniffled loudly. Her tear-streaked face ripped at his heart. This guy should not have been able to find them, especially since they were in a stolen car.
He forced a reassuring smile, despite the near miss. “We’re safe, Lucy. I’m sorry you were scared, but we’re safe now.”
Lucy’s wide eyes clung to his in the mirror. “Is the car broken?”
“Nope, it still works.” He hadn’t heard the metallic strike of a bullet, but he knew there was damage to the entire passenger side of the car from his ramming into the SUV.
He scanned their surroundings, looking for any sign of the police.
Seeing flashing red and blue lights up ahead, he turned into a neighborhood to avoid being seen.
“Where is the SUV?” Lauren asked with a frown.
“We lost them.” How he’d managed to do that, he wasn’t sure. Ramming into them had given him a slight advantage. “We’re still a few miles from the rental agency.” He shot her a concerned glance. “I’ll get closer to the rental car agency, but we may need to abandon this car and walk for a while.”
Lauren grimaced but nodded. “Whatever you think is best.”
He made his way through the neighborhood homes, then got back onto a main thoroughfare.
After a mile, though, he saw another pair of police cars.
Maybe whoever had reported the incident had mentioned the make and model of their car.
He found another neighborhood and turned.
Then he stopped to park on a dead-end street.
“We’ll walk from here.” He reached down for the laptop. “You carry the computer. I’ll carry Lucy.”
“She can walk,” Lauren protested.
“Maybe for a while, but I’ll carry her until we’re back out on the road.” He slid out from behind the wheel and opened the back. “Ready, Lucy?”
The little girl nodded and allowed him to hike her up into his arms. She wasn’t heavy, and his heart melted a bit when she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.
He turned away from the stolen car and cut a path through the dead end to reach the road on the other side.
Lauren followed in his wake. Grady knew they were only a mile or so from the car rental.
He’d feel better once they were in a new vehicle, but it still bothered him that the black SUV had found them.
Had they been seen leaving the outlet mall parking lot? Or had the occupants of the black SUV gotten a police scanner and heard about the stolen car?
Or was someone in law enforcement involved?
That seemed a stretch, as it wasn’t as if the police had found them.
No, the more he thought about it, the more he believed the gunmen had a police scanner.
But knowing the make and model of car they’d taken didn’t account for how they were found outside of Wild Prairie.
It was disheartening that these gunmen kept getting so close. If he hadn’t reacted as quickly as he had, the guy may have succeeded in killing him or Lauren.
Was Lucy still the ultimate target? It was hard to imagine the goal was still to grab Lucy, yet the video of Ariel’s abduction indicated the kidnapping threat was real.
And very dangerous.
“I can walk now,” Lucy said after a few minutes.
“Okay.” He bent to set her down. “But if you get too tired, let me know and I’ll carry you again.”
Lucy nodded and took a position between him and Lauren. She glanced up at her mom. “Can we make another snowman?”
“Maybe later.” Lauren glanced at him. “Do you have an idea of where we should stay?”
He shrugged. “Something like the cabin rentals we used. I liked being away from the city. I’ll search for a place once we get the rental car.”
“That works,” Lauren agreed.
A police cruiser rolled past, and Grady could tell the cop behind the wheel was watching them. Maybe because people didn’t normally walk the streets in February when it was cold. They weren’t breaking the law, though, so he hoped the officer wouldn’t pull over to ask them a bunch of questions.
His driver’s license was from Cody, Wyoming. Lauren’s was from Chicago. The minute he knew they were walking to a rental car agency, the cop would be able to put two and two together to come up with the fact that they’d stolen the car.
Grady silently prayed the cop would keep going as they made their way down the street. The officer may have tracked them in his rearview mirror, but he didn’t stop or turn around to talk to them.
When the sign for the rental car agency came into view, he relaxed his tense muscles. They’d made it. He held the door for Lauren and Lucy as a rush of warm air greeted them.
“Wait here,” he said to Lauren. He went to the counter and gave the clerk the information Rex had used to rent the car.
Ten minutes later, he had the keys in hand and was headed back outside to get their dark metallic-gray SUV. As requested, there was a booster seat in the back for Lucy.
“This is nice,” Lauren said, when they were once again back on the road. Grady headed north, away from the city. “You should stop near a coffee shop so we can use the internet to find another place to stay.”
“Good idea.” He wanted to leave the city as soon as possible, but having a destination in mind would help. Seeing a well-known coffee shop up ahead, he pulled into the parking lot and parked.
Lauren opened the laptop and connected to the free internet. After a few minutes of searching, she turned the computer so he could see the screen. “How about this place? It’s just like the cabin rental.”
He scanned the information on the screen. “Looks like they have openings and are only about an hour away. I need to stop at a bank first, then we’ll head out.”
“A bank?” She frowned. “I thought we were staying off the radar. I can pull money out of my account if needed.”
“I don’t want to use your name in an ATM transaction.
” It was bad enough he was going to use his own.
Whoever was behind these attacks likely knew his name by now.
And that was the first step to being able to track his movements.
Yet it couldn’t be helped. They needed cash, and obtaining the funds from a bank here in the city was their best option.
The bank wasn’t far, and he had Lauren and Lucy wait in the car while he withdrew the money. Having two thousand in cash made him feel better. Although he also knew they’d need to stop at a grocery store again to buy more food.
Lauren put a kibosh on buying more Captain Jack’s pizza. Instead, they settled on soup and sandwiches for lunch and dinner.
He really wanted to talk to Griff, then depending on what he learned from that conversation, he’d reach out to Agent Braun.
He empathized with Lauren’s frustration over the lack of progress on the case.
He didn’t understand why it was taking so long for the FBI to find kidnappers.
It occurred to him that if Braun had arranged to interview Eric Howington and Karla Dalton back in Chicago, then they couldn’t be riding in an SUV here in Madison, firing a gun at them.
“Turn left here,” Lauren said, interrupting his thoughts. “The next highway will take us where we want to go.”
“Okay.” He headed north to get out of the city. The cops that had been around earlier seemed to have dispersed. Maybe they’d already found their abandoned stolen car.
The trip didn’t take long, but he realized this particular section of the state was composed of several acres of farmland.
They passed one smaller farm, but the next one was huge.
Not only were there big stretches of open land, but the farm had a huge outbuilding and barn to go along with the white farmhouse.
“I haven’t seen large farms like this before,” Lauren murmured as they drove past. “I guess living in the city makes it easy to forget that someone has to grow and raise the livestock to provide the food we eat.”
“Where are the cows?” Lucy asked.
“They might be in the barn since it’s cold outside.
” He wasn’t an expert on farming either.
The Sullivan K9 Search and Rescue Ranch had horses and dogs, lots of dogs, but they didn’t run cattle or raise chickens.
When they passed the farm, he caught a glimpse of a cluster of cattle huddled behind the barn.
“There they are, seeking shelter from the wind.”
“I see them!” Lucy looked excited.
He nodded, turning at the next intersection. The cabin rentals Lauren had found weren’t far. As he followed the signs leading them to Calvin’s Cabins, he was surprised to see there was a small patch of woods on one side of the cabin rentals, while the open farmland stretched beyond the other.
Having woods on all sides had been nice, and for a moment, he debated whether to stay here or head someplace else. The cabins were somewhat secluded, so he decided to just stay there. At least for the next twenty-four hours.