“Floyd.” Colin still sounded stunned. “Do you have any idea how many drug crimes he’s prosecuted? Even worse, how many he’s declined to prosecute? Damn. We should have been looking beyond the police department.”
Right that moment, Noah didn’t give a flying you-know-what. All he could think was, Cait.
“I’ll leave you on speaker,” he said, and dropped the phone on the seat beside him before pressing harder on the gas. Seventy-five. He hoped like hell they didn’t meet anyone coming toward them. Except a cop. A cop would be good.
Eighty.
What if, by engaging in a high-speed chase, he endangered Cait?
Could he risk doing nothing but riding the bumper until the cavalry showed up?
“Goddamn it, I need help here,” he snapped.
“Try slowing down. See what he does.”
He eased up slightly.
A hand thrust out of the driver’s-side window of the Camry, which swerved, then steadied while straddling the double yellow line. Wrong side of the car if the guy was trying to get rid of an incriminating item….
Something pinged off the metal of his Suburban. A rock— No. Shit.
“He’s shooting at me!” he yelled.
* * *
FLASHER GOING ON his roof, siren screaming, Colin was already driving faster than was safe. He was gaining on the patrol unit ahead.
“A sheriff’s deputy is coming from the other direction, but he’s probably ten, fifteen minutes out.”
Even through the phone, he heard the pop this time.
Noah swore viciously. “If he gets a tire or my radiator, he’ll disappear.” Then, again, “Shit!”
Colin hadn’t been so scared since the night Nell had been snatched and he’d had to pursue in a helicopter, praying she’d survive until he got there. If he failed his sister—
Long experience let him shake off the panic. Use your head. Do your job, he ordered himself.
“Drop way back, stay in visual.”
“Not happening,” Noah said with sudden calm. “I’ve got steam coming out of the hood.”
Colin’s turn to let loose an expletive. Their options had just shrunk to one.
“Can you force him off the road?”
“As soon as we come out of the trees.”
Encouraging a civilian to do something this dangerous went against every cop instinct Colin had. “When you see your chance, do it,” he said anyway, clear and cold.
* * *
THE WAY THEY’D been swerving, Cait had long since taken her hands from the dashboard. One clutched the armrest, the other her seat belt. She hadn’t known it was possible to be so terrified and live through it.
The next shot could go through the windshield and kill Noah. She pictured it, the punch through the glass, the blood blossoming, Noah slumping forward.
She could grab for the steering wheel. Or lunge across the man for the gun. Was she strong enough? What if they crashed?
She wanted the car to crash. But, God, they were going sixty miles an hour now. No, sixty-five. Her terrified gaze returned to the side mirror and she saw the black monster of an SUV closing fast again, filling the entire mirror. What was he doing?
The man beside her snarled something and started to stick the gun back out the window. The Suburban bumped the rear, and the car lurched and swerved. Cait couldn’t hold back a squeak. The man had to grab for the wheel with both hands.
The swearing was nonstop. After straightening their path, he shoved the handgun beneath his thigh before clamping that hand, too, back on the wheel. Another thump, enough to have the car rocking. She heard a high-pitched moan and realized it came from her throat.
Ahead the dry forestland ended abruptly, replaced by pasture enclosed in barbwire fencing. There wasn’t much of a ditch. Could she get her leg over the console and somehow press on the brake? Or…or even grab the wheel and try to take them off the road?
Thump. The car swerved toward the shoulder, and the wheels momentarily skidded on gravel.
Cait’s thoughts were as disjointed and fleeting as a strobe light. One instant she had her mouth open and knew she was screaming. He was fighting to get the car back on the road. Oh, God, was that smoke coming out of Noah’s Suburban? Please, please, please. She didn’t even know what she was begging for.