“She doesn’t get everything she wants. Now will you stay in the truck?”
Kennedy nodded. “Do you need the rifle?”
“Got the Glock,” he said, stuffing it in the waistband at the back of his jeans and pulling his flannel shirt over it. “Sit tight. I’ll be right back.” Without another word, Reyes got out and closed the truck door.
Jodi saw him approaching. Her eyes widened as she twisted to look out the driver’s window, staring toward Kennedy. Her mouth opened in a warning that Kennedy couldn’t hear.
Reyes stiffened, started to turn to her, and suddenly a car came careening toward him, forcing him to jump back. He landed half over the back fender of Jodi’s car, then got badly jarred when the other car crashed into hers. He ended up thrown to the other side.
Horrified, Kennedy screamed his name. What to do? Reyes had told her to stay put, but now she couldn’t even see him. What if he was horribly hurt? What if he was knocked out, making it easy for them to kill him?
In a single heartbeat she noted there were four men, three swarming out of the car and one still revving the engine as he slowly pulled away from Jodi’s car.
Jodi was no longer in the front seat.
Mind made up, Kennedy removed her seat belt and grabbed the rifle. She had no idea how to use it, but they wouldn’t know that. Maybe she could bluff long enough for Reyes to... She didn’t know. Get his bearings? Recover?
Not die.
Just please, God, don’t let him die.
She opened the door to step out—and hard hands grabbed her from behind.
* * *
DELBERT COULDN’T BELIEVE it when he got to Jodi’s motel and found her driving away. He followed her to the mostly empty lot of a dive diner, staying back so she wouldn’t spot him, and lo and behold, Kennedy was there. He couldn’t have planned it more perfectly.
Seeing her made him want her even more. With success almost at hand, he felt the urgency burning through his blood.
Just as he pulled into the back of the lot, grateful for the thick snowfall that helped conceal him, an attack happened with a car trying to run over the big guy, no doubt to remove him so they could get to Jodi.
Didn’t take a genius to know his cohort had set up the whole thing—without even telling Del about it! What a double-crossing bastard. Now Del was glad he’d bailed without a word. Let the prick have Jodi.
Del only wanted Kennedy.
Taking advantage of the chaos, he pulled up behind the truck and crept forward on foot. Thinking to use the butt of his gun to shatter the passenger window, he was stunned nearly stupid when Kennedy actually stepped out. So she wasn’t a cowering girl anymore?
Better and better. He’d enjoy seeing her fight her fate.
Any second now that big bruiser could be on them, and Del would lose his chance.
While she was focused on the scene before her, he locked a tight arm around her throat, ensuring she couldn’t make any noise, and jammed the barrel of his semiautomatic to her temple. “Drop the rifle or I’ll kill you right now.”
Her entire body shuddered, but she held on to the weapon.
The bitch had gotten a lot gutsier.
“Or,” he breathed against her cheek, tightening his arm even more, “I’ll tell the others to kill your boyfriend. What do you think?” She, of course, didn’t know that he now worked alone, that he was as surprised as her to see men on the scene.
As she struggled for air, she dropped the rifle with a clatter.
Del looked up to see her bodyguard wasn’t out of commission after all. No, he was rapidly annihilating everyone.
“Fuck.” Spinning Kennedy around, Del smacked her hard in the head with his gun. Her eyes rolled back and she slumped hard into the door, shattering the window after all—and no doubt drawing attention to them.
She was a small woman, but her deadweight wasn’t easy for him to lift, not with his gun still in hand.
Awkwardly dragging her, he stuffed her through the driver’s door and climbed in beside her. In that single suspended moment of time, a golden-eyed gaze locked on his. Del saw his own death in those cold eyes. The big bruiser started toward him in a flat-out run.
With escape as his main goal, Del screeched out of the lot as fast as he could. He couldn’t help the shudder of dread that raced down his spine. He’d seen a lot of shit in his days, but he’d never seen rage like that.
And it had been directed at him.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, he didn’t yet see the big guy’s truck following, so maybe he had a chance. Where to go, though? Not back to the motel where Crazy lived. That bastard would probably torture Kennedy just for amusement. By the time he finished, there wouldn’t be enough of her left for Del to enjoy.
When she suddenly groaned, he glanced her way. Already a colorful knot swelled on her temple. She still looked dazed. “Be glad it’s just me, girlie. If I hadn’t left that crazy fuck when I did, you’d be dealing with real trouble right now.” He snickered. “I mean, I’m trouble. But that other dude? Even I didn’t want to deal with him anymore. I cut our association just today—and as luck would have it, I found you.”
She shifted, and it occurred to him, perhaps a moment too late, that her feet were against him. Half-watching the icy road, he tried to adjust her, but then...
Drawing up her knees, she kicked like a mule, one foot catching him in the shoulder, the other in his jaw. The old car swerved on threadbare tires, sliding sideways on the slick roadway. The gun fell to the floor near his feet as he tried to keep from crashing.
Kennedy launched at him.
What the hell?
Like a pissed-off wildcat, she clawed at his face, scoring his cheek and jaw. Damn it, it hurt. Sure, he’d wanted a little fight in her, but not this berserker shit! “Bitch,” he roared. “You’ll kill us both!” One-handed, he tried to fend her off, but she was throwing punches left and right, and somehow she managed to get him right in the junk.
Ah, hell.
Breath left him in a gravelly moan, and his hands went slack on the wheel. She took advantage, striking him again and again.
That did it. The car hit an icy spot and whipped sideways, slammed hard into a guardrail and then tumbled half over into a ravine.
He’d finally gotten Kennedy, only to die in the process.
* * *
AT THE LAST possible second, Kennedy realized they would wreck and that it would be bad. She grabbed for the seat belt, got her hand and wrist tangled in it, but didn’t have time to fasten it around her. She held on tight, trying to keep herself from being thrown around.