Relentless Protector. Colleen Thompson
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Название: Relentless Protector
Автор: Colleen Thompson
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Ужасы и Мистика
Серия: Thriller
isbn: 9781472036063
isbn:
A MPED UP ON THE candy bars she seemed to live on, his lover drove in a dangerous, lock-jawed silence that even Lee Ray Hardy was afraid to interrupt. He didn’t kid himself that “Evie,” as she’d demanded he keep calling her, did much more than tolerate him at the best of times, but the drugs were great, the sex mind-blowing and he found her fascinating, like a glittery-scaled cobra that might strike at any moment.
Might strike him dead, he dimly realized, but he was powerless to pull away. Especially as long as she kept him supplied with the crystal meth that had consumed whatever chance he’d ever had at an ordinary life.
Beside him, the boy’s eyelids drooped, thanks to the cold medicine Evie had used to spike the juice box from her duffel. Fighting sleep, he studied Lee Ray’s inked arms until his face screwed up with disapproval. “Teacher says you’re not s’posed to let people draw on your skin,” he said sleepily. “She says you can get in real big trouble for it. With the principal.”
In spite of himself Lee Ray grinned. “Yeah, well, there’s not much any principal can do to me that ain’t been done already,” he said. “Besides, these’re the kind of pictures that don’t come off.”
“Not even with soap?”
“Already tried that,” Lee Ray joked, though he couldn’t recall the last time he’d had a bath or shower. It was one of those things he never thought of on his own, but Evie always made him before sex. Not that there’d been much of that since she’d grown so obsessed with tracking down the woman whose photo she’d spotted in some newspaper story.
“So you have to keep them always?” the boy asked. A cute kid, Lee Ray had to admit, with those drowsy blue eyes peering up from beneath the shaggy blond-brown bangs. And except for a rash of tears after Evie had ordered Lee Ray to get rid of that snarling, snapping little mutt of his, the boy had barely cried.
“Always,” Lee Ray answered him. “Don’t you like my tats, dude?”
Though he held on to the stuffed octopus for dear life, the kid peered at his arm and neck critically, then pointed at the scowling pirate on his left arm. “I like that one, sort of. Except he looks a little scary. You got any cartoons?”
There was one cartoonish naked lady splayed obscenely across his chest, but Lee Ray shook his head instead of lifting his shirt.
“No cartoons,” he said, “but you see this?” He showed off what once had been a decent biceps. “This one here’s an eagle.”
“Shut the hell up back there, will you? You’re givin’ me a mother of a headache, all that yackin’.” Evie’s warning sliced him, sharper than the look in her violently blue eyes.
It was a reminder, too, that he had no business getting attached to any rug rat. Especially not one his volatile girlfriend had planned on taking from the start.
He had no idea what she meant to do with the kid, since she’d never seen fit to clue him in on her plans. But whatever it was, he thought as dread tightened his gut, it was bound to be a lot worse than what had happened to the dog.
Chapter Four
The first of several officers on the scene, Deputy Trace Sutherland had never seen a damned thing like this in his sixteen years with the Tuller County Sheriff’s Department. Sure, the area had its share of property crimes and assaults, even the rare murder, but a bank holdup in broad daylight, with a hostage taken?
All around him, witnesses continued jabbering, from bank employees to the only other customer who’d been here, to another man who’d seen an armed assailant force a dark-haired woman into his truck.
“He acted like he just wanted to ask that poor girl for a date or something,” the customer service manager repeated as she twisted a wad of tissue into pieces. Her eyes wide and wet, she added, “I warned everyone when I saw him going for his gun. He claimed his name was Cole, Cole Sawyer, and that he’d recently left the army.”
“Probably needed money,” the witness from the parking lot interjected. “Lot of them veterans’re having trouble finding work.”
As the group rattled on, basically rehashing the few facts they had already given, a feminine cry interrupted from across the lobby. Excusing himself, Trace made a beeline to where the EMTs were helping the very shaken, very pregnant teller, who lay curled with her hands clutching her abdomen and her face screwed up in a grimace.
“Her water broke. We’d better get her on the ambulance,” said one of the EMTs as she and her partner raised the gurney.
“That’s fine,” Trace said, then looked down at the young teller, his expression softening at the terror in her eyes. “You just worry about yourself and that baby right now, Mrs. Rowan. We’ll send somebody to interview you about the incident once you’re feeling better.”
At least they would be able to question her later. The security guard, already en route to the hospital after three shocks had failed to restore a normal cardiac rhythm, wouldn’t likely survive.
If he did die, or if, God forbid, the teller lost her baby, their suspect would face charges of murder in addition to attempted armed robbery and abduction. Which meant they’d better damned well find the culprit fast.
Trace’s boss, the rotund but always-competent Sheriff Stewart, hurried over, pulling his phone from his ear. “We’ve got a report, some kinda chase situation out on Sunset. Suspect’s black Ram pickup appeared to be pursuing an older silver Camry as it fled the scene of a motorcycle wreck. Accomplice, maybe? Anyway, you take Jill and head out that way. I’ll have the dispatcher contact you with more info as it comes in.”
“Take my—take Jill?” Trace’s stomach dropped as his gaze cut toward the tall, uniformed woman now sorting out the witnesses, her sleek wheat-colored ponytail hanging halfway down her back. Not her. Not now. He wasn’t ready for this. What was she even doing working his shift today?
“Yeah. Her unit’s in the shop, and all our reserve cars—you know our budget issues. She’s been playing chauffeur for me today, but I can drive myself.”
“Yes, sir,” Trace said, because it was the only possible answer. He wasn’t about to hold up something this urgent simply because he dreaded riding with his ex-wife. They were both professionals, so they could suck it up and do their duty.
“We’ll see if we can track down this Sawyer fella’s plates and put out a BOLO on him,” the sheriff said.
“That’d be great.” A “Be On the Lookout” alert to all surrounding counties could easily result in a quick capture—and less time on the road with a woman who despised him.
A woman he would do anything to go back in time with to undo his mistakes.
* * *
“W HAT IF I picked wrong?” Lisa asked Cole for the third time as they sped toward the tiny town of Coffee Creek.
He had no idea how to answer, since all the what-ifs were eating him alive, too. That, and the undeniable fact that dusk was staking its claim. If they didn’t catch a break by nightfall...
“No more,” he said firmly. “We both agreed they’d be more worried about getting caught on the СКАЧАТЬ