The wilderness swallowed up the explosion of the gunshot and Jennie’s scream. The bullet whizzed past her kneecaps and thunked into the door near the handle.
Jennie snapped her hand back and grabbed the steering wheel as if it were a life preserver.
“Now drive.” The man sneered. “I’m not into killing folks, but there’s always a first time. If you behave yourself, you might just come out of this alive.”
“Yeah,” she muttered. “Like you’re really going to let me go.”
He shook his head. “Just my luck, I have to run into another mouthy teenager.”
“I—”
“Just shut up and get moving.”
Too scared to argue, Jennie backed the car around as slowly as she could manage without attracting the man’s attention. Maybe someone would come along—a ranger or sheriff.
Please, God, she prayed. Please let Lisa come. As soon as the prayer formed in her mind, Jennie realized the danger her friends would be in if they did show up. The guy was armed.
Scratch that, Lord, she amended. Please don’t let them be in danger. Just help me get through this.
Jennie had been in hostage situations before and always managed to get away. She just had to keep her cool and look for the best method of escape.
“Take a left,” he ordered.
“Are you sure?” The question slipped out before Jennie could stop it. A left turn would take them back toward town, which was fine with Jennie. With any luck at all, they would meet Lisa, and she’d see that Jennie was in trouble and call the police.
“What are you, deaf or something?”
“No, but—”
“Then move.” He jabbed the gun in her side. “No way am I leaving the loot in that piece of junk.”
Piece of junk? As in car? It made sense now. He must have heard the same broadcast she had. He knew the police would be looking for his car. He’d had to ditch it and was hoping to pick up another one. It happened to be hers.
News of the bank robberies came on the radio again.
“Turn it up.” He grinned, and Jennie noticed a missing molar. She also noticed a small scar on his left index finger and got a partial view of a tattoo on his sinewy deltoid.
“You’re one of the bank robbers, aren’t you?” She reached for the dial and increased the volume.
“Shut up. I want to hear this.”
The reporter gave the same report he’d given earlier about the missing car. The announcer chuckled. “Between you and me, these guys aren’t too bright. If I were out to steal a car, I’d go with something new and snazzy. Maybe a Jag …”
“A lot you know, smart face.” He silenced the radio with a twist of the knob.
“Why didn’t you steal a newer car?” Jennie asked.
“Why do you think?”
“So you wouldn’t be noticed?”
“Give the girlie a prize. People don’t notice older cars, and they’re easy to hot-wire.” He smiled again. “Went like clockwork. Don’t know what went wrong. We checked out the owner like always. Didn’t figure she’d miss it till she finished up work tonight. By then we’d have all been out at the cabin. Miserable piece of junk didn’t even run good, but it had a full tank of gas.”
“My car will be easier to spot,” Jennie said. “I was supposed to meet my friends. When I’m not there they’ll call the police. They’ll send out helicopters and—”
“By that time this baby will be clean out of sight,” he interrupted. “Too bad. It’s a nice little car. Maybe we can switch plates and change the color.” He rooted around in the glove box and pulled out the insurance card and registration. After scanning the forms, he peered at her over the top of them. “Let me guess. You’re Jennie McGrady?”
Jennie didn’t bother to deny it.
“Name’s Jon,” he offered.
Jennie didn’t want to know his name. Didn’t want to think about what knowing too much would mean for her.
“Slow down.” He scanned the road and pointed to a blue plastic bag flapping against a small tree. “Take a left here,” he ordered.
Jennie turned hard, slamming him against the door, hoping to knock him around and give herself time to escape. He didn’t seem to notice.
“Where are we going?” Jennie’s Mustang rode the bumpy, overgrown logging road like a cowboy on a bronc. She gripped the steering wheel as it whipped back and forth. Tree limbs crackled and scraped the sides of her car.
“Slow down!” Jon yelled.
About a quarter of a mile in, Jennie crunched to a stop just before the road dipped into a ravine. Below, under a canopy of vine maple and rotting leaves, she spotted the hidden car. He’d driven it down an embankment. No wonder he’d seemed so sure of himself; it would be years before anyone found it.
Jon ordered her out of the car and pushed her in front of him. When they reached the Chevy, he opened the trunk. Four big black garbage bags filled the space. Twenty-dollar bills spilled out of one. Using a twist tie, Jon quickly closed it up.
“Grab two and start moving.”
Jon kept his gun trained on her while she carried and dragged the bags up the hill and stuffed them into the trunk of her car. Within minutes they’d returned to the main road, this time heading up the mountain, farther away from town. They passed the road to the campground where she was to have met Lisa, Scott, and Gavin. They would be there by now. Jennie imagined herself making a sharp right into the campground area. Then what? Her own voice of reason ridiculed the idea. She wouldn’t make it more than a couple of yards before Jon shot her. And if her friends were there she’d put them in danger as well.
“You won’t get away with this.” Jennie glanced over at him and wished she hadn’t.
He took direct aim at her. “Who’s going to stop us? You?” He tipped his head back and laughed. “Listen, little girl, we’ve managed to sidestep the law in ten states, and we’re about to make it eleven. So don’t be getting any fancy ideas about stopping us.”
As much as Jennie wanted to tear down his inflated ego and boast about the law enforcement agencies in the area, she didn’t. No sense getting him mad. She’d bide her time until she got her bearings. What he didn’t know was that Jennie had resources of her own. She was a cop’s kid—strong and intelligent. Most importantly Jennie had no intention of giving up without a fight.
“Eleven states.” Jennie pretended to be impressed by his success. “How did you manage that?”
He eyed her suspiciously for a moment, then went into a spiel about how easy it was to catch most bank robbers. “Anybody can rob a bank. But they get caught because they don’t plan their getaway with enough detail. Maude and Junior and me … well, we got it down to a science.”
“Really, how’s that?”
“We’ve always got alternative plans. When problems come up, we got ways to circumvent them.”
“I’m sure most bank robbers think they have it all figured out, too, but eventually—”
He cut her off with a sharp look. “They don’t keep switching cars.”
“What do you mean?”
“We switch getaway vehicles as much as two to three times a job. Sometimes we buy old clunkers for cash from private owners. Other times we just steal them. Never with people in them, of course. We don’t like leaving witnesses behind.”
“Then why didn’t you just take my car and leave me behind?”
“You can ID me. I told you I’m not a killer. This here was an emergency. Wouldn’t have been very neighborly of me to leave you stranded, now, would it?” He chuckled. “Not so close to the cabin, anyways. Don’t want the police snooping around out here. I had planned on ditching that old dinosaur in another day or two anyway. This works out just as well. Lucky you happened along.”
“Yeah, lucky. Then again, maybe not. The police are going to comb this entire mountain looking for me.”
“It’ll take a while for your friends to figure out you’re missing and not just late. Or maybe they’ll think you ran away. By the time they get to looking for you, both you and your car will have vanished.”
“What are you going to do with me?”
He used the barrel of the gun to scratch his forehead. “Don’t rightly know as yet. Have to see what Maude thinks about it. Chances are we’ll just leave you at the cabin. Figure you can’t get into too much trouble way out here.”
Jennie’s hopes soared.
“Or we could take you along as a hostage.” He frowned. “Only that might draw too much attention to us. We wouldn’t want that.”
“No, you wouldn’t.”
“Now that I think about it, describing us to the police won’t do you much good. We look pretty ordinary.” He grinned at her again, letting the gun rest on his legs. “That’s another thing we’re good at. Every job, we wear different disguises.”
Like the armed-guard uniforms and the beards they’d worn yesterday. The facial hair and bullet-resistant vest were gone, but Jennie thought he might have been the guy hauling the money out of the bank. She wondered if he recognized her. Must not have. Of course, he hadn’t been looking at her either. But his partner had. Maude. But that was a woman’s name.
Jennie suddenly realized what had been so odd about the guard who’d held them hostage. She’d assumed because of the facial hair it had been a man. Thinking back now, Jennie realized he must have been a she. Jennie kept her thoughts to herself. Hopefully he and his partners wouldn’t realize she’d been a witness at yesterday’s bank heist.
“Where are we headed?” Jennie asked.
“We got a cabin. We’re good at that too—picking places to stay. Nice, cozy little spot. Off the beaten track. Owners obviously like their privacy. It’s at least fifteen miles to the nearest neighbor.”
Fifteen miles. It would be rough, but she could hike out. Provided they let me go or I can escape. She shoved aside the negative thought. “Owners? Is someone letting you borrow it?”
“In a manner of speaking.” There was that sly grin again. “Belongs to some people in Vancouver. It’s their summer cabin, but they won’t be coming up for a while.”
“How do you know that?”
“We checked the family out. Mrs. Graham is out of town until next week. Kids have some kind of outdoor survival thing going on next week. We’ll be cleared out by then.”
Graham. Jennie memorized the name. She’d have another piece of evidence to give the police.
Stupid, Jennie thought. The guy is really stupid to give me so much information. If she could keep him talking she’d know more than enough to help the police build a case against him and his creepy accomplices.
Be careful, McGrady, her voice of reason warned. Don’t underestimate him. He may not be as dumb as you think. Maybe he’s telling you all this stuff because he doesn’t plan on letting you live long enough to do anything with it.
On the other hand, maybe nothing he’s telling you is true. He could be stringing you along. But what if he isn’t? What if the time comes for them to leave, and he and Maude and Junior decide you know too much? What then?