Safe by His Side. Debra Webb

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СКАЧАТЬ sloping driveway. Kate took one last look around her in hopes of remembering something, anything, but nothing came.

      She studied the driver. He appeared young and almost innocent upon first inspection, early twenties maybe, but he looked as mean as a junkyard dog on closer examination. She listened to the heated conversation between the two men in back. Rick—the name still felt strange—goaded the other man unnecessarily, in Kate’s opinion. It looked as if he intended to get them both killed long before they reached a destination.

      “How does it feel to know you slept with a killer?”

      Kate jerked her head up and stared at the driver, Danny, who’d directed the question at her. “What?”

      “Didn’t he tell you?” he quizzed with a widening grin. “Rick’s a cold-blooded killer. There’s no telling how many men he’s killed. Hundreds, I’d guess.”

      Kate moved her head slowly from side to side in denial of his words. Why was he telling her this? She didn’t want to hear it.

      “Well, it’s true.” He shot her a sidelong smirk. “But he’s going to pay now.”

      Could she possibly believe anything this man told her? Who were these people? She closed her eyes. Maybe he was only taunting her, trying to scare her. He didn’t need to do that, she was already scared to death. God, her head hurt.

      Call in…

      The words skittered across her mind again. What did they mean? Call who?

      “Too bad you had to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, baby,” Vinny said as he kicked the back of Kate’s seat.

      “Kate’s a lifesaver,” Rick remarked wryly. “She gave me a second chance.”

      “A second chance at coming, maybe,” Vinny scoffed.

      “Kate?”

      Kate tensed at the sound of Rick’s voice when he said her name. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Something was about to happen.

      “Remember what I told you, Kate. You’re my only chance,” Rick said slowly. “Our only chance.”

      “Shut your frigging mouth,” Vinny commanded. Kate heard the grunt that followed a hollow thud, knowing that Rick had just been whacked across the abdomen by the goon in the back seat.

      Kate’s head swam. What was she supposed to do? How could she save them? She could feel the cold steel jabbing into her pelvis. What did he want her to do?

      And suddenly she knew.

      Slowly, while keeping a close watch on the driver, she eased her right hand across her thigh and under her sweatshirt. With a swiftness that shocked even her, she drew the gun and expertly pointed it at the driver’s head. She even held it with both hands just as she’d seen in the movies.

      “Stop the car,” she commanded in a voice she hardly recognized.

      “What the hell?” Danny shouted, almost losing control of the speeding car.

      “Give me that gun, bitch, or I’ll blow your man’s head off!” Vinny barked.

      “Squeeze the trigger, Kate,” Rick ordered coolly.

      Kate looked from Rick to the man driving the car. Was he insane? She couldn’t do that? How could she do that?

      “Gimme the gun!” Vinny roared, pressing the barrel of his own gun hard into Rick’s temple.

      Kate’s eyes darted back and forth between the men. What was she supposed to do? Everyone was yelling at once. Danny shot her quick, nervous glances, his knuckles white as he clutched the wheel. Vinny screamed vulgarities alternately at her and Rick. The car careened faster and faster down the winding mountain road, yet the events inside the vehicle seemed to lapse into slow motion.

      “Squeeze the damn trigger, Kate! Now!”

      The car suddenly swerved, Kate squeezed, the gun fired and all hell broke loose. She could hear the muffled curses and grunts of pain as Rick and Vinny wrestled for control of the gun. Danny struggled with the steering wheel, trying to pull the car out of its tailspin. A slim shaft of sunlight poured in through the small hole the bullet had made in the car’s roof. Kate peered at the perfect circle in total amazement and then at the man fighting the inertia pulling the car round and round.

      As if she had done this sort of thing all her life, Kate pressed the barrel of the gun to the driver’s perspiring temple and said, “Stop the damn car or I’ll blow your head off.”

      When the car skidded to a sideways stop in the middle of the road, Danny immediately stuck his hands up in the air. Just like in the movies, Kate thought again, a faint smile tugging at her trembling lips.

      “Put your weapon on the floor and kick it under the seat, then get out of the car.”

      It was Rick’s voice. He had Vinny’s gun now.

      “You heard him,” Kate told Danny, her aim still level with his forehead. God, this was amazing. Had she done this before?

      The two goons got out. Rick marched them to the edge of the blacktop. Kate followed behind him, her gun hanging at her side from a hand that had long since gone limp with aftereffects.

      Rick cocked his head to one side, lifted his weapon and took aim. “Now run!”

      “Hey, man, we can work this out—” Vinny began nervously.

      “Run!” Rick roared.

      “You’re not going to kill them?” Kate shrieked.

      Gunfire erupted and Kate gasped. She squeezed her eyes shut and dropped to her knees on the cold, hard pavement. Oh, God. She clamped her hand over her mouth to prevent the scream that twisted her throat. She didn’t want to see this. Didn’t want to be a part of it. Had no idea how she had gotten involved in it.

      “Let’s go.”

      Kate forced her eyes open, expecting to see two dead bodies lying in the ditch.

      No one…no bodies.

      She looked up at Rick. “I thought you shot them,” she croaked.

      He grinned, a dangerous yet ridiculously sexy widening of his lips. Kate shivered at the insane turn her thoughts had suddenly taken.

      “Who says I didn’t?” He grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

      Kate stood on shaky legs and stole another glance at the thick woods beyond the ditch. She still saw no bodies. She settled her gaze back on the face of the man guiding her back to the car. Savior or crucifier, she wondered.

      “What do we do now?” she asked, her voice thin.

      He opened the car door. One eyebrow quirked when he swung that intense blue gaze back on hers. He lifted the weapon from her loose grip and said, “We get the hell out of Dodge.”

      Chapter Two

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