Pretending she wasn’t here in the swamp was worth a try.
The man’s progress stopped short ahead of them. He let out a soft chortle. He’d read it! That had to mean he had his phone on him. The next moment, a text appeared on Eva’s screen: “I’m right in front of you. You’re not scared, are you?”
Did he know where they were? No, he was bluffing. Cole channeled his inner Eva and wrote: “Uh, say what? Why would I be scared of you?”
Eva’s brow arched up at him, as they both waited for the guy’s reply. It didn’t take long: “Nice try,” the guy wrote. “I see where you parked. You’re here. Why don’t you come out and say hi?”
Cole knew exactly how to get at him: “Wow, you’re dumb,” he texted as Eva. “I’m making Cole meet my daddy in Nashville. You’re too late. Ha. Ha. Ha.”
The man groaned to the side of them. They were horribly close now. “You expect me to believe that?” The text appeared on Eva’s screen.
“I don’t care what you think,” Cole wrote back. “Have an awesome time in small town Harvest Ranch… if that’s where you really are, loser. You’re never getting a piece of this.”
By now, Eva’s eyes were huge as she watched him. It was like speaking another language, but he knew hers well.
“Just try and get me,” Cole added to the text. “Spoiler alert—you won’t.”
“Eva’s not here!” the man shouted out at the other one.
Wait. Had it really worked? Eva’s fingers clenched to his.
“Why do you say that?” the other guy asked.
“She’s… she’s on her way to Nashville.” The stalker began cursing that spoiled little piece of trash. His hatred came out in the obscenities flying from his mouth.
Cole took a deep breath to steady his own anger. He felt Eva’s body shake under his fingers.
“She’s taking her little boy toy with her.” Cole was the next to feel of his wrath with a string of cuss words that normally would fill him with amusement if Eva wasn’t in danger.
“What’s with the pickup?” The other guy wasn’t so quick to drop the hunt.
“Some fisherman out here or–or… Let me see that TalkieTalk. Did we see their pickup in that?”
Eva’s hands were faster than Cole’s. She scrolled through her phone, skipping through the apps until she found TalkieTalk. She deleted the video.
“It’s gone,” the other guy reported after a second.
Her shoulders sagged in relief.
“C’mon,” her stalker said. He sounded impatient. “I know how to cut them off. We gotta move fast. We can’t let her get to her daddy. This makes things a little harder, but I’m not letting her slip through my fingers this time.”
“You’d better be right.”
“Get going. I don’t pay you to question me.”
What? Who were these guys? Again, suspicion rammed a fist into Cole’s stomach as it recoiled in disgust. Thishadto be Lacy Lynch, and it sounded like he’d never give up.
The next instant, Eva got another message: “Oh honey, you’re going to wish that you hadn’t run. I’ll make you pay for that.”
Eva took over this time. “Get a life. You’re pathetic.”
Another gunshot ricocheted through their ears as the man on the other side of that text message let out his steam. It felt too close. Cole scrambled to get Eva under his arms. He covered her, even while he listened to the men argue. They began to move… farther away. He let out a relieved breath.
Thank God! For now, she’s safe!
Slowly, painfully so, the men traveled back to wherever they came from. There had better be no proof that Eva had been in his truck.
Her boots were in the mud somewhere. Her sweater? Had she taken the time to take it from that trapdoor?