But as he started to take a step, he was hit with a sudden prickling on the back of his neck that felt like a premonition. He looked behind him. Through the front window he saw Gerald outside talking on his cell phone. Phil was looking at his own phone in the dining room and not paying any attention to him. And yet Collin had the strongest sensation that if he went all the way down these steps, one of them would slam the door and lock him in the basement.
He quickly turned out the light, closed the door and locked it. “Everything’s fine downstairs,” he called to Phil as Kate came out of the bedroom rolling her suitcase behind her. He hurried to get his. The sooner they got out of here, the better, he thought. Until he was in the car and on the road, he wouldn’t feel safe.
The thought almost made him laugh. As if crossing the border with a shitload of drugs and a woman who hated him was safer.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
JON HAD BEEN about to wriggle out the basement window when he’d heard a voice just outside. He stepped back, caught movement by the large pines at the front of the house. At first he couldn’t make out the words.
But then Gerald moved closer. He was talking on his phone. Jon listened, catching enough to feel his blood pressure rise. It was all he could do not to storm upstairs and take his chances. Fortunately good sense kept him hunkered just below the window as he listened until Gerald finished his call and went back inside.
Hurriedly wriggling out the window, Jon dropped down behind the dense pines at the front of the house. He was still shaken by what he’d heard Gerald saying on the phone. His mind raced with what to do about the information. The vehicle that had brought him and Kate to the house was still parked outside. A pine tree blocked it from sight out the front window.
He made his way to it, expecting to find the car locked. Crooks often worried about other crooks robbing them. But there was little inside—except for Jon’s duffel, which had been tossed on the passenger-side floorboard where it still lay. Were his phone and guns still inside it?
Quickly picking up the duffel, he ducked down as another vehicle came roaring up the street, followed by another. The first one Jon recognized as the SUV Collin had been driving in Buckhorn. The second was an old pickup that was in the process of being restored.
The driver of the SUV parked it behind the car where Jon was hunkered. He worried for a moment that the man would head for the house. But instead, he left the SUV and walked back to climb into the pickup.
Jon had only a couple of seconds to get moved around to the far side of the car where he was squatting before the pickup roared past. He could feel the hair rise on his neck. He had to hurry. He stared at the SUV, thinking about what he’d heard. How could he let Kate get into that vehicle?
He had no choice. Any other option would get her killed sooner. He figured it would be a while after Kate and Collin left for the border before they would find him missing from the basement. He would do what he had to and hope it was enough.
The first step was retrieving his pickup from the hotel. The weight of the duffle told him that everything was still inside it. He wasn’t sure how much time he had before Gerald had law enforcement looking for him. He hadn’t gone far when he spotted a mountain bike in one of the neighboring backyards. He vaulted over the fence and minutes later was racing toward downtown Moose Jaw.
* * *
KATE COULD FEEL Collin’s gaze going from her to the rearview mirror to the highway and back as he drove them out of Moose Jaw, headed for the US border. She wondered why he was so nervous. Because he didn’t trust Gerald any more than she did? Nor did she trust Collin. What would happen at the border? Worse, what did he have planned after they crossed?
Neither had spoken since leaving the house. She’d looked back to see Gerald watching them go as they’d left. His expression was hard to read, but she suspected he was worried that Collin was going to screw this up. Or maybe it was her he was worried about.
“What were you going to do with that stupid little knife?” Collin demanded, without looking at her. There was a hard edge to his voice, a bitterness mixed with fury and fear.
She looked out at the snow-covered passing countryside. Collin hit a bump in the road. Something shifted behind her. She glanced back to see that the rear seats had been folded down to accommodate a large white box.
“It’s your wedding dress,” Collin said. “I asked you a question. What were you planning to do with that knife?”
“Defend myself,” she said, turning to meet his gaze.
“From who?” He swung his gaze toward her. She said nothing and saw the well of anger he was fighting to control. “You would have stabbed me?” He sounded disbelieving and hurt along with furious.
It made her laugh. “You can’t be serious. I know you’re planning to kill me once we cross that border. Do you think I’m an idiot?”
He growled under his breath and gripped the wheel so hard his knuckles turned white.
She knew that was the real source of his anger—not her. She’d witnessed how Gerald had demeaned him in front of her. So she wasn’t surprised that Collin would take that anger and frustration out on her if she wasn’t careful. “I wasn’t thinking of you when I took the knife.”
Those last words seemed to take some of the fury out of him. He drove, breathing hard, checking his rearview mirror often. Did he think Gerald had hired someone to follow him to the border?
“This isn’t what I wanted,” he said after a few minutes. He sounded sad and unbelievably naive.
“What did you think was going to happen?” she asked, regretting the accusation in her tone when she saw him bristle.
“Well, I certainly didn’t think you were going to fall in love with someone else.”
She looked away, thinking of the kisses, the caresses, the lovemaking and the passion. She’d made love with Jon. She hadn’t cared if he was Danny or not. She swallowed the lump in her throat at even the thought that she’d now lost him. Her need for him was even stronger after what they’d shared. She ached inside at the thought that the odds were good that neither of them would get a chance to see each other again—let alone survive this.
“I didn’t think you’d brought me to Montana for a drug deal,” she said.
“Like I could have told you the truth about the financial trouble I was in. You would have run like hell.”
“You don’t know that.”
He flashed her a look. “Don’t kid yourself. You can hardly stand to look at me now.”
Kate shook her head, staring at him with disbelief. “You’ve blackmailed me, kidnapped me and my daughter, involved me in drug smuggling. Of course I’m furious with you.” It was more than that, and he knew it. She couldn’t stand the sight of him because she knew that once they left that house those men back there weren’t going to let Jon go—no matter what they’d said. She held Collin responsible for some of it and herself for the rest.