“You let me talk to her, or I’ll kill the Marine’s woman!”
What was going on? Tim sounded even crazier.
“Let me talk to Angela!”
Lesley whimpered, whether from fear or pain, Jill wasn’t sure. Heck, she was going to start whimpering. She wanted Law.
Stop it Girly, you have to save yourself.
“I can still want Law,” she muttered.
“Huh?” Lesley moaned.
Jill looked back to soothe Lesley, and that’s when she spotted it—a flowery scarf that Lesley had used as a belt in her jean’s belt loops.
Perfect!
She had just gotten the bandage on Lesley’s back in place when the back panel door slammed open. “Playtime’s starting sooner than we thought.”
Tim was holding his phone up high over his head as he pulled his knife out of its sheath.
“Did you hear that, asshole? I’m going to start cutting on the Marine’s woman, all because you’re not going to let me talk to my wife.”
What’s going on? Who’s on the phone?
“Get out here,” Tim screamed at Jill.
Yeah, sure. Not.
He wasn’t pointing a gun. Why was she going to get close to that knife if she didn’t have to? He’d have to come on in and get her. He put a knee up into the van and started to climb toward them. His knife looked like a machete to Jill’s scared eyes.
“Tim, it’s me, Angela.” Jill heard Angela’s voice coming out of the cell phone.
Tim stopped in his tracks. As soon as he did, Jill’s brain kicked into gear. How was it that Angela was calling Tim at just this moment? It had to be Law’s tracking device and all the talking she did into the Law’s security system.
He’s going to save me.
Tim had the phone to his ear and off the speaker. Jill didn’t know what Angela said, but he was getting agitated.
Come on Angela, be cool.
Jill cringed when she saw Tim pull the gun from his jacket pocket. “I’m not going to let them go until I see you. You know that, don’t you, Sweetheart?” His voice sounded so reasonable. Almost loving.
Lesley started making retching sounds, and Jill realized she was going to throw up again. Had she missed something? She blocked out the sound of Tim’s voice and pretended there wasn’t a knife or a gun in the vehicle. Instead, she pretended that she was in an ambulance and that she had a patient. That was all that mattered.
She turned Lesley’s head and made sure her airway was clear so she could vomit, and then found the egg-sized lump on her head.
Carefully, Jill moved her friend’s head.
“Lesley, open your eyes, Honey.”
“Shut up!” Tim yelled.
“Open your eyes,” Jill whispered.
When Lesley finally got them open, Jill wanted to groan. Her pupils were huge. She had a concussion. She needed to get her to a hospital, and fast.
“I love you, Angela, I can’t live without you. If I can’t live, nobody can. I’ll shoot them both.”
Jill sucked air between her teeth. First, get the gun away from Tim, then get Lesley to a hospital.
Easy peasy.
Think, Jill, why has Angela called?
Who arranged it?
Law had to be somewhere, right?
How can I help in my own rescue?
Law had been listening to the whole debacle as he’d driven to the construction site. There were plenty of heavy-equipment vehicles parked all around, he just had to follow the beacon to find the white van.
He stopped his truck and got out, taking his gun and phone. He had the audio plugged into just one of his earbuds so he could also hear what was going on around him. He knew where he was headed, and now he just needed to keep listening in on the phone call between Tim and Angela. It had been better when Tim had had it on speaker and he’d heard Jill’s voice.
His blood had turned to ice water when Tim said that if he couldn’t have her, then nobody else could live, either. He was close to the end of his very short rope. But Angela had kept it together—she’d lied her ass off and said she would come to him.
Law edged around one of the three large motor graders and found the white van. Tim was either extremely smart or just stupid. He had parked the van in the middle of an open space—that meant nobody could sneak up on him. But at the same time, he was out in the open and totally vulnerable. Law would’ve given anything to have his sniper rifle.
Law was spot-on accurate with his Glock at fifty yards. But he didn’t know the situation in the van, and then there was the problem of getting that close.
Fuck!
“Tim, I’m never coming back to you if you hurt those two women.”
“But you still love me, right?”
God, the man’s crazier than a loon. He killed her kid—she’s more likely to castrate him than ever return to him.
“The only way we can work this out is if you let them go. They’re my friends, let me talk to them. I want to talk to Jill.”
“No,” Tim’s voice was petulant. “I’m not going to let you talk to Jill.”
Law could swear he could hear Jill in stereo, both over the phone and in real-life. “Let me talk to Angela,” Jill was saying.
Law felt himself able to really breathe for the first time in forty-five minutes.
Jill screamed.
“Shut up, bitch, don’t interrupt me!” Tim yelled.
“If you hit me again, I’ll find a way to break your neck,” Jill yelled back at him.
The asshole laughed. But it was good news in Law’s opinion. It meant that Jill was still in good enough shape to be issuing threats. It also meant that they were keeping one another occupied as he crept up on the van. Please just don’t let her go too far.
“Don’t hurt
