'What's that supposed to mean?'
'Never mind.'
She was doing a slow burn. Out of all the people in the world, she had to get stuck with the most obnoxious one.
'You think you've got me all figured out, don't you?'
'Just about,' he drawled.
Avery concentrated on the road. Thankfully, Jungle Boy didn't have any other sarcastic remarks to make. His scowl could
have been chiseled in stone.
She thought she heard something, quickly rolled her window down, and strained to listen. 'Do you hear that?'
John Paul flipped off the heater blower, rolled his window down, and then nodded. The sound of running water was faint, but there. 'We went farther than I thought if we're close to the river. Maybe it's a tributary. It sounds like a waterfall.'
They came to yet another crossroad. This one was traveled more than the last. And there was a sign nailed to a tree:
The road curved downward. They hit a deep rut and lurched forward as they once again broke through the trees.
'The store's got to be around the bend down there,' he said as he shot across the road and up into the trees on the other side. There was just enough room to turn the car around. Satisfied that they were concealed from the road, he put it in park and turned the motor off.
'How much time do we have left?'
'Twelve minutes,' she said. 'You think that's the spot?'
'It's gotta be the place. It sticks out, doesn't it?'
He was right. Please, God, let him be right. She could just make out a small rustic building through the trees. It sat on the bank
of a river and was a place where river travelers could stop for supplies.
He unhooked his seat belt, reached under the seat, and pulled out a SIG Sauer. When she saw the gun, her mouth dropped open.
'I'm leaving the keys,' he said, ignoring her reaction to the gun. 'If you hear gunshots, you get the hell out of here. You hear me?'
She wasn't about to leave him, but she thought he'd want to argue if she told him the truth, and so she simply nodded.
'Is it loaded?' she asked as he opened the door.
'Hell, yes.'
Stupid question, she thought. Of course it was loaded. 'Be careful.' She moved into the driver's seat.
'Hand me the watch.'
'You're taking it?' she asked.
'You think I'm going to leave it here with you and let Monk know exactly where you are? Give it to me.'
'What are you going to do?'
'Go hunting.'
Chapter 14
Time had run out. Avery had just decided to go after John Paul when he opened her door. She never heard him coming.
'Monk isn't close. He could be on his way, but he isn't here now.'
'Are we driving down or walking?'
'I'll drive.'
She scrambled back into the passenger seat, bumping her knee on the dashboard. He slid in and started the engine.
'How do you know he isn't hiding behind a tree or a bush somewhere?'
'Because I looked. There weren't any signs.'
'You would have seen them?'
'Of course I would have seen them.'
She was reassured by his arrogance. 'Okay, then.'
'There's a trailer behind the store about thirty yards to the south, and next to it is an old beat-up truck. No one was inside the trailer.'
'You went in?'
He didn't answer. 'There's a man and a woman inside the store. The woman's in the back office using the phone, and the man's in front, working the counter. He keeps looking out the window like he's expecting company. While I was there, a milk truck pulled out and another guy was unloading cases of beer. There are three or four customers.'
He drove onto the road and continued down the slope. His gun was in his lap.
'Do you see that man looking at us?' he asked. 'He's on the right by the door.'
They watched a young couple herd their two little boys out the front door, then saw the man inside slam the door.
'What the hell?' John Paul muttered when the man turned the sign over in the window. 'Closed, my ass.'
He parked close to the side of the building so that she would be protected when she stepped out. He turned the motor off,
slipped the keys into his jeans, and as he sprinted around the hood of the car, she saw him tuck the gun into his waistband.
They heard rap music blaring as a car pulled into the parking lot. John Paul went to the corner of the building and looked out
front. Four young men in their late teens piled out and stood laughing and guzzling their beers. On top of the old Chevy were two kayaks roped to the roof.
John Paul motioned to Avery to stay put, retraced his steps, and said, 'I'm gonna check out the back again.'
He let the man at the window watch him walk into the woods, then circled around, swung over the railing at the back door, and looked inside. The woman was hunched over the desk, still talking on the phone.
Even though she was much too young, she reminded him of Ma Kettle from the old movies he used to watch on television when he was a kid. Dressed in dirty overalls and a muted plaid flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up, she was rattling off numbers into the phone as she turned the pages of a Sharper Image catalog. She didn't notice him watching her. He stepped back as the swinging door opened. A man poked his head in the room and braced the door with his hand to keep it from hitting him.
'Chrystal, we got us a problem,' he said in a thick hillbilly accent. 'There's two cars out front now. Four drunks just got out of one car. They're most likely stoppin' to stock up on more beer, I expect, but I'm most worried about that gal in the other car. She's gonna be knockin' on the front door any second now. I think maybe she spotted me peekin' out the window at her 'cause that car she was in is parked on the side of the building now. Think she's the one?'
'Can you hang on a minute, hon?' Chrystal said into the phone. She turned in the swivel chair and frowned at the dark-haired
man. 'Most likely she is, but I'm not finished with this catalog yet, and you promised me I could-'
He interrupted. 'Maybe she ain't the one. Maybe she just needs to use the facilities. There was a big fella with her, but he went off into the woods to find his own facilities, I expect, like those four drunken boys. One of
