Riggs. Riggs was here. Annie’s thoughts came in splintered fragments. Dallas. The pill.
Right. The pill.
Going on the pill had been the right decision. No matter what Dallas thought. If he had let her explain, he no doubt would have understood. But he didn’t love her. At least not enough to trust that she’d had a valid reason for her lying to her husband.
Riggs nudged her again. “You’re in luck, sweet Annie. It seems you have an admirer who’s willing to pay good money for your return. Let’s not disappoint him. Or me.”
The throbbing inside Annie’s head felt like a machine gun. Admirer? Good money? Riggs was obviously delusional. No one would give money for her return. No one even knew she was gone.
The buzz of Riggs’s cell phone hammered in her ear.
“Riggs,” he said.
Annie strained, feeling every synapse of her brain firing, trying to understand his words and make sense of them.
“I’m at the second exit…” Riggs’s voice trailed off. Then, “Abandoned shed…money…no cops.”
He clicked his cell phone shut. “Now we wait.”
* * *
Dallas’s stomach gnawed at him as he exited the highway in the small ghost town of Foghorn, New Mexico. He drove along the desolate dirt road until he saw the abandoned wooden shed to the east. Turning, he noticed a car parked behind the shed, invisible from the road. He pulled his pickup over and stopped. “You need to stay here, fella,” he said to Jet. Dallas carefully took his loaded sharpshooter out of its case and tucked it in the back of his waistband. “You won’t fail me, will you, Jake?” He pulled his T-shirt over the gun and grabbed the suitcase full of bills. “Wish me luck, boy.” He gave Jet a quick pet on the head. “I’m coming, Annie,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’m coming, baby. He’ll never hurt you again.”
He exited the vehicle, leaving the windows open slightly for his dog. He dialed Riggs once more. “I’m here,” was all he said.
“No tricks,” the irrational voice said into his ear. “Bring the money behind the shed, to the car.”
“I want to see her first.”
“I’ll have her. You just keep your part of the deal.”
“You hurt her and the deal’s off.”
“Funny man. Who’s holding the cards here? Just get back here. Don’t come more than a hundred feet. You lay down the cash when you see me.”
“Understood.”
He walked toward the shed, and then gasped when he saw the man holding Annie’s limp body, a knife to her throat.
“Christ, what have you done to her?”
“Don’t come any closer. The cash, please.”
Annie’s cheeks were tear-stained and her eyes sunken. She had a glassy look about her, as though she wasn’t sure what was happening. He had beaten her. The bastard would pay.
Dallas held out the cash, buying himself some time. Riggs held Annie to his left, attempting to use her as a shield. But he wasn’t the brightest bulb. He left several areas wide open. Dallas surveyed each possible entry point quickly. A few might graze Annie, and he wouldn’t risk hurting her.
But Riggs’s right calf was wide open. Perfect. He’d be disabled but not seriously injured.
Dallas slowly laid the suitcase full of cash on the ground.
“Now back away,” Riggs said.
“Not without her.”
“You’ll get her when I get the cash.”
“Have it your way,” Dallas said.