She’d been aware that he’d made the resolution of the danger the deadline for their affair. And here she’d thought she had a chance—
No, she’d known better, she thought as she slid into Kye’s room and closed the door quickly behind her.
Her friend’s room sat directly over the garage, and thankfully, Graham had pulled the pickup from the garage to make room for the vehicles that needed to be hidden whenever Natches and Dawg drove to the house rather than slipping over from Dawg’s farm through the woods.
Had the pickup been in the garage, the chances of being stopped before she ever started would have been much higher.
Knowing the truck was outside the garage had determined which keys she’d taken. She should have taken the keys to his precious Viper, she thought furiously as she moved to Kye’s vanity table, stole a bobby pin, and moved quickly to the window.
Seconds later, the bobby pin, rather than the metal strip attached to the window beneath it, was completing the circuit with the electronic box. Sliding the window up, Lyrica crawled through the opening, slid to the garage roof, and within moments was shimmying down the drainpipe with the same ease she moved down the wood support posts of the inn’s wraparound porch.
She was in the truck and accelerating from the driveway in no time, racing from Graham’s house, and his life, as tears whispered down her cheeks.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this, she thought painfully. It wasn’t supposed to end when the danger to her life was over. That was supposed to be the beginning.
—
Tracker stepped from behind the garage, his eyes narrowed as the truck pulled around the corner. A heartbeat later it was speeding away from the house toward the main road and, he knew, back to the girl’s mother’s.
Pulling the phone from his vest pocket and flipping it open, he hit the contact number. He didn’t have to wait long.
“I’m in place,” Angel said in answer. “I have the nest in my sights but nothing’s moving.”
That was odd enough.
“There will be soon,” he promised her. “The bird just flew and I suspect that’s where she’s headed.”
“Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” she asked curiously.
Tracker chuckled at the question. “A good thing, I hope. Perhaps seeing the prey will cause the wolf to make a move. Keep an eye on things and keep me apprised.”
The phone flipped closed as Graham raced from the back door, filled with panic, fear, and a man’s knowledge that something too precious to be lost had just escaped his life.
Poor dumb fucker, Tracker thought. He should have taken better care of her.
A second later Tracker was flying backward, to land on his ass with a surprised curse and a thud. Jumping to his feet, he faced Graham’s furious wrath coolly.
“Bad move, Brock,” he growled. “I don’t take kindly to that shit.”
“Fuck you!” Graham snarled in his face. “Why the fuck didn’t you stop her?”
—
Rage was like a living, burning entity searing his insides as he faced the mercenary, using every ounce of self-control he possessed to keep from killing the bastard.
“It’s not my place to stop her.” Tracker stood still, his stance one of precaution as he watched Graham carefully now. “It’s my job to keep her alive.”
“And you think—” Snapping his lips closed, he turned and hit the garage remote, bending and moving beneath the door when it was no more than halfway raised to rush to the Viper.
He’d catch up with her quickly enough.
Dawg’s place was just up the road and she would head there first. Elijah had just gotten off the phone with him and her brother knew to be waiting for her.
As the garage door lifted enough for the Viper to clear it, Graham hit the gas, throwing the vehicle into gear and racing from the interior with a scream of the tires. He rounded the curve that led to the front of the house even as he shifted gears, pushing for more speed.
Seeing his pickup race from its parking space had sent his mind exploding. Everything inside him was screaming about the danger she was facing by leaving the house. Every second she’d been with him, his body had clenched at the thought of her so much as sticking her head out the door and giving anyone a chance even to glimpse her.
It was imperative that no one see her. To keep her alive, he had to keep her hidden.