No Ordinary Day , Tate, Harley [ebook offline .TXT] 📗

And he was supposed to shut it down. Holly had already lost her father and now he was supposed to take Emma away, too? Tank might be able to comfort her, but a dog was weak compensation for being orphaned.

John pressed his palms to his closed eyes. What choice did he have? Dane wasn’t exactly accommodating in the completion department. Either the assignment got done or someone else did it for you. When Travis washed out the year before—too much stress with a baby on the way and a wife asking questions—Willy had cleaned up the mess.

Willy. John never liked the man. Not part of the original battery, he hadn’t been there in the desert. A nephew of Dane’s, he’d come along after, full of piss and bravado and unearned ego. Always a loose cannon. Always a potential chink in the armor.

Willy would eliminate John without hesitation if he thought he’d been compromised. Dane would order it, too. Of that John had no doubt.

He shoved the unwelcome thoughts aside and focused on the road, pounding the pavement with every step. He needed to stay focused. Stay on mission. If he couldn’t take Emma out, well, then at least he could say he tried. No giving up here.

John walked and walked, keeping to a quick three to four mile an hour pace. He’d covered five miles when the sound of a rumbling engine grew louder by the second. He hustled to the tree line and blended into the dark as a motorcycle blasted through.

What he wouldn’t give for some wheels.

As day began to dawn over a sleepy little area of horse farms and homesteads, John pulled out the tracker and checked the signal. Based on his calculations, Emma should be at Gloria’s by now, but the tracker showed her much closer. No more than four miles at the most.

Strange. Had they run out of gas? Did the old truck finally give up?

John picked up the pace. If they left the truck behind and took off on foot, there was a good chance her work pants and the tracker locator had been left behind. If so, they would be in the wind. Without Emma or the tracker, he would never find the Sanchez’s cabin.

He gritted his teeth. Losing them now wasn’t an option. Not when he was so close.

Chapter Twenty

Emma

Holly shrieked as she slid off the bench seat, landing in a tangled heap of blanket and gangly limbs on the floorboard. Tank turned in circles on the worn upholstery, whining and pawing at the window.

The blankets on the floorboard shifted and Holly’s head appeared. “Have you lost your mind?”

Emma kept her eyes on the road and braced as the truck bumped onto the asphalt. She cranked the wheel and pushed the gas pedal to the floor. The poor old engine groaned in protest, but the truck picked up speed. Twenty, twenty-five, thirty. At forty miles an hour, the entire vehicle shimmied and wobbled, and Emma backed off.

Unless John transformed into a cheetah, he couldn’t catch them even at this pace. She sucked in a breath and tried to slow her runaway heart. “John’s not who he said he was. We can’t trust him.”

“I don’t understand.” Holly clambered back onto the seat and squinted into the rear window.

Emma checked the mirror. The road stretched on behind them in the dark with no sign of John. Tank shoved his nose under Emma’s arm, but she pushed him off. “We can’t go back, I’m sorry.”

The dog whined in protest, but finally eased down onto the seat.

Holly didn’t give up so easily. “What are you talking about? John’s been nothing but nice to us.”

Emma reached into her pocket and fished out the phone. “It’s all in there. Read it yourself.” She rattled off the password as she handed it over.

 Holly unlocked the phone and began to read. After a few minutes, she lowered it with a shake of her head. “This doesn’t prove anything. He knew who you were. So what? There’s no message in here saying, now go blow their brains out. It doesn’t even mention you by name.”

“Klein confirmed. What do you think that means, Holly?’

“It could mean anything. Right after, it says changed circumstances. That could mean my dad’s dead, get your butt up there and keep an eye on Gloria, too. You’re reading way too much into this.” Holly waggled the phone in Emma’s direction. “ For all you know, he’s been sent to keep an eye on us to make sure nothing happens.”

Emma snorted. “Like your dad?” As soon as the words came out, she wished she could take them back.

Holly shrunk back as sure as if Emma had struck her. Her voice came out small, but defiant. “The man who killed my father was nothing like John. He was cold and heartless, and he laughed before he killed him. You weren’t there. You don’t know.

“I’m sorry,” Emma rushed to apologize. “You’re right. I don’t know. But I’ve had a feeling about John ever since we met. Something was off, I just didn’t know what.”

“Why would he stay with Gil and Irma, take Tank along, and drive us all the way up here into the mountains if all he wanted to do was kill you? He could’ve done that the second you got into his car.” Holly mimed a gun to the head and pulled the trigger. “Boom, done. It makes no sense.” She crossed her arms and flopped back against the seat.

Laid out like that, the girl had a point. But it didn’t change what Emma read or her nagging feelings. “Maybe he’s not as evil as the man who killed your father, but he’s not all sunshine and rainbows. You saw what he did to those two men. He shot them like they were no more consequential than a pair of rats. And he left them injured to fend for themselves.”

“But he didn’t kill them. He could have shot them in the chest, just