38. She Learned From Him #3
“How far?”Chris looked toward Logan.Logan checked navigation.“Seven minutes.”
Chris pressed the accelerator harder.“Less than seven.”Logan gripped the handle.“That’s not how distance works.”
“It does when I drive.”Camila laughed.That sound almost destroyed Chris.He hadn’t realized how badly he’d needed to hear it.“Camila.”
“Yeah?”
“Keep talking.”
“About what?”
“Anything.”She understood.He needed to hear her.Needed proof every second that she was still alive.“So…”She looked in the mirror.“I stole a nail file.”Chris blinked.“What?”
“That’s how I got out.”
“You escaped a cartel kidnapping with a nail file?”
“Yes.”
Logan muttered:“I like her.”Chris pointed at him.“She’s taken.”Camila laughed.
“Very funny.”
“Keep going.”
“I watched the guards.”
“How?”
“Hands first.”Chris went quiet.Camila smiled.“You taught me.”His throat tightened.“I didn’t.”
“You did.”She took another curve.Better this time.
“You always watch hands.”Chris stared through the windshield.“I started doing it.”
“Good.”
“And exits.”His expression softened.“And cars.”
“Camila—”
“And patterns.”She swallowed.“I listened.”Chris’s eyes filled.All those months he’d thought he was hiding Walker from her.Apparently pieces of him had been teaching her how to survive.“I’m proud of you.”Camila’s face crumpled.“Don’t say that right now.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m trying not to cry.”
“Don’t cry.”
“Very helpful.”
“Sorry.”A vehicle appeared ahead.Stopped sideways.Blocking most of the dirt road.
Camila’s smile disappeared.“Chris.”
“What?”
“Roadblock.”His entire body went rigid.“How far?”
“Quarter mile.”
“Can you stop safely?”
“No.”
“Can you turn around?”She checked the mirror.Diego’s vehicle behind.“No.”
Chris looked toward Mercer over the radio.“Options?”Mercer studied the satellite map.
“Service road right approximately two hundred yards before obstruction.”Chris immediately spoke.“Camila, look right.”She did.“Nothing.”
“Keep looking.”Trees.Brush.Then—a narrow opening.“There’s a road.”
“Take it.”
“That isn’t a road.”
“It’s a service road.”
“It looks like a goat trail.”
“Take the goat trail.”
“Chris!”
“Brake before the turn.”She laughed hysterically.“You’re insane.”
“Probably.”She hit the brakes.The SUV slowed.The roadblock ahead suddenly came alive.
Men moved.“Now!”Camila turned.Too fast.The SUV bounced violently onto the service road.Branches scraped both sides.She screamed.Chris heard every sound.“Camila!”
“Still here!”
“Keep moving!”
“I’m moving!”The pursuing vehicle tried following.Too wide.It clipped a tree.Camila saw it in the mirror.“Oh my God.”
“What?”
“One crashed.”Chris smiled.“Good.”
“Was that me?”
“No.”
“Can I take credit?”
“Absolutely.”She laughed.Then pavement appeared ahead.“Chris!”
“What?”
“I see the road!”His heart jumped.“Good. When you hit pavement, slow down.”
“What?”
“Traction changes.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t accelerate hard until you’re straight.”
“Okay.”
“Eyes up.”
“Eyes up.”
“Brake before the turn.”
“Brake before the turn.”
“Don’t panic.”Camila smiled.“Don’t panic.”She reached the pavement.Turned.
Straightened.Accelerated.The SUV surged forward.Chris looked ahead.The intersection was coming.Less than two miles.“Camila.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re almost to me.”Her eyes filled.“How close?”
“Very.”
“Chris?”
“Yeah?”
“Drive fast.”He smiled.“Oh, sweetheart.”Logan tightened his seat belt.Chris downshifted.“You don’t have to tell me twice.”The FBI Charger roared down the highway.
Ahead—an SUV burst from a side road.Chris recognized it instantly.“THERE!”
Camila heard him through the phone.Then she saw flashing lights in the distance.Multiple vehicles.FBI.Her breath caught.“Chris?”
“I see you.”Those three words nearly broke her.She laughed through tears.
“You see me?”
“I see you.”Behind Camila, another vehicle appeared from the service road.Diego.
Chris saw that too.His face changed.“Camila, stay straight.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m coming past you.”
“What?”
“Stay in your lane.”
“Chris—”
“Trust me.”Camila tightened her hands around the wheel.
“I do.”The Charger approached at terrifying speed.For one second she saw it in her mirror.Then—Chris swept alongside her.She turned her head.There he was.FBI vest.Blood dried near his temple.Hands on the wheel.Alive.Chris looked over.Their eyes met through two moving vehicles.Camila laughed.Chris smiled.One second.That was all they got.Then his eyes shifted toward the vehicle behind her.Diego.Chris’s smile disappeared.He looked back at Camila.Pointed forward.GO.Camila understood.She looked ahead.Eyes up.Hands steady.Don’t panic.
Chris eased the Charger behind her.Between Camila—and Diego.Logan looked toward him.“You know what you’re doing?”Chris’s eyes fixed on the approaching vehicle.“Yeah.”
“What?”
“Getting between him and my family.”Ahead of them, Camila drove toward the waiting federal roadblock.Behind her—Chris Walker went hunting.And for the first time since Diego had taken her, Camila smiled without fear.Because she’d done it.She’d escaped.
She’d driven.She’d survived.She’d learned from him.And Chris had found her.Just like he always did.