As I pulled out of the lot, I looked in the rearview mirror and saw him watching me leave. Taking a deep breath, I took a country road instead of getting back on the interstate. I could probably lose him on the backroads. I was just a few miles down the road when my car started wobbling, the kind of wobbling that meant I had a flat tire. Shit. I pulled over and quickly got out, looking at the driver’s side tires, which were both fine. Stepping around to the other side, I saw my rear tire was completely deflated.
Something shiny was poking out of it, so I got down on the ground and took a closer look. There was a knife plunged inside the tire. I scrambled to my feet and looked quickly in both directions. A truck was headed toward me, the same truck that was at the truck stop. Heart pounding, I opened the passenger door and popped open the glove box, pulling out the gun I had stored in there. I shoved it into the back of my jeans and quickly covered it with my shirt.
Forcing myself to calm down, I waited as the truck pulled over and the man stepped out. I left the passenger side door open in case I needed to grab my bag and make a run for it. The man stepped out of his truck, his eyes boring into me as he walked the distance between us.
He was handsome, with hair that hung around his chin and piercing blue eyes, eyes that looked very much like mine. His hair was a medium brown and he had at least two days growth on his face that he hadn’t shaved. He wasn’t really built. I could tell he had muscles, but I was pretty sure I could get away from him if I needed to.
“Flat tire?” he asked.
I swallowed hard and forced myself to remain calm. “Yeah.”
Shit, I should have taken the knife out. If he wasn’t the one that put it there, I wouldn’t be able to explain this away. On the other hand, it could be the perfect excuse for my blatant distrust of anyone that came into contact with me.
“You need some help?”
“Uh…I can take care of it.”
“Really?” he grinned. “Because you look like you weigh a buck ten.”
Appearances can be deceiving, I thought. Instead, I smiled at him, giving him a slight shrug.
“I work at the shop in town. I can have this changed for you in just a little bit.”
“I know how to change a tire,” I pressed, hoping he would get the hint and walk away. Then again, if he was the one that put the knife there, there would be no getting rid of him.
“I’m sure you do, but around here, it’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”
I snorted to myself. Gentleman. A lot of men pretended to be gentlemen, but they were all after the same thing, and I wasn’t about to fall for his country charm. He could be trying to distract me. I had been on the run for the past four years, and suddenly there was a knife in my tire. And he was staring at me, and then happened to find me on the side of the road. I wasn’t buying it. I didn’t believe in coincidences.
“Look, you should probably just go,” I said testily, hoping that he really wasn’t involved and I could convince him to leave me alone. I really didn’t want to shoot him.
He quirked an eyebrow at me, but before he could say anything, a squeal of tires had me spinning around and staring in horror at the vehicle careening toward me. I snatched my bag out of the passenger seat just as the man leapt forward and grabbed my arm, pulling me down into the ditch. We tumbled down the embankment as the crunch of metal sounded above us. My car was pushed precariously toward the edge of the road and I stared in horror as I watched it start to tip over the edge.
“There!” the man shouted, shoving me toward a fox hole in the side of the embankment. I scrambled inside just as the car started to roll over the edge and head for us. I shuffled in as far as I could go, curling up so the man could fit inside with me. I was all too aware that if whoever crashed into my car found the hole, we were both dead. The car crashed at the bottom, right where we had been laying in the dirt and finally settled right in front of the fox hole, leaving us in complete darkness.
My breathing was harsh in the darkness and I felt the man reach out and touch my hand. I jerked away from him, unsure of his intentions.
“Relax, just calm down.”
“What are we going to do now? My car is blocking us in here. We’re going to die in here,” I said, my voice reaching a panicked state. In all my years of running, I had never felt as trapped as I did right now. I had no idea who this man was, and I had no idea if we were going to make it out.
“Shh,” he said, his hand gripping onto my arm. I waited, listening intently.
“She’s probably smashed under the car,” a voice said. “I say we walk away.”
“You know he’s going to want proof,” another voice said.
“We don’t have the equipment to move the car. And we’ll have to get rid of the truck also. No witnesses.”
“We’ll get a tow truck and then get rid of all the evidence. No one will know what happened.”
His hand tightened on mine for just a moment and then we heard the sound of an engine and gravel flying.
“What are we going to do now?”
I heard him shuffling back to the entrance. “The window is in front of the hole. We need to go through it and then we can get out.”
I heard him kicking at the glass and then it cracked, leaving us an opening. “That’s not big enough for us to fit through.”
“It has to be,” he muttered. “Otherwise, when they get back, we’re dead. I’ll go first and make sure they’re gone. When we get out, we can take my truck and get the hell out of here.”
“We can’t take your truck,” I hissed. “The moment they see that it’s gone, they’re going to start looking for us. At least if the truck is still there, they’ll have to take the time to pull the car out.”
He sighed. “Let’s just get out of here and then we can decide what to do.”
My eyes had adjusted to the dark now. I didn’t see how he was going to fit through that hole. He started slipping through head first, and I heard his sharp intake of breath as he struggled to get his shoulders through. When he finally made it into the car, he picked up an old sweatshirt of mine and wiped away the rest of the glass.
“I’ll be right back. I’m just going to make sure they’re gone.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t sure if he could actually see me. Minutes passed and I thought he might not come back. Although, that might be better for me. I really didn’t need someone tagging along with me right now. But he was in this because of me. Either that, or he was the one after me and he was trying to lure me into trusting him.
“It’s all clear. We need to hurry.”
I nodded and moved forward, handing him my bag, even though I didn’t want to let it go. He shoved it behind him and then held out his hand to me. I grabbed it and allowed him to pull me through the window. When I was finally through the window, I grabbed my bag and followed him out through the back windshield that was mostly destroyed. When I stepped outside, I saw that he had a huge gash on his bicep that was bleeding down his arm. As it was, there really wasn’t any choice but to take his truck. He was right, we needed the getaway right now.
“Come on,” I said, running for his truck. I jumped into the passenger side, pretending to be terrified. I still didn’t know if this guy was involved. It was better to appear weak and let him think he had me. If I was wrong about this guy, if he was here to lure me in, it was better to allow him to let down his guard around me. It would be easier to get away. But if he wasn’t involved, then I just involved him in the shit storm that was my life, and I could let him get killed.