The Closer He Gets

“I know,” she whispered, and she did. Integrity, common sense, even dignity, felt unimportant compared to this almost painful need she had to touch him, to melt into him.

She was so shaky, if he’d taken even a step toward her, Tess knew she couldn’t resist.

But she saw him conduct an internal battle and then back away, nod and leave.

Staring at the closed door, she wanted to cry. Instead she turned the dead bolt then leaned against the door, forehead pressed against the cool surface, and breathed.

* * *

ZACH’S EYES SNAPPED OPEN.

He must have dozed off, at last, but his mind cleared instantly.

Metal screamed and glass exploded. Son of a bitch. A car accident—

He was on his feet, yanking on the pants he’d left draped over a chair, wishing his window looked out on the street. He heard the deep rumble of an engine...singular.

Another slam of metal on metal could have been heard two blocks away. More glass exploding, crumbling.

Suddenly he understood. He grabbed his Glock and ran through the house, barefoot, bare-chested. Out the back door, so they wouldn’t see him coming.

When he came around the corner of the house, he was momentarily blinded by the headlights of a big pickup or SUV. From his ramshackle detached garage came sounds like a foundry in full production—metal being tortured into twisted shapes by impossible forces.

A voice shouted out a warning, making him realize he had to be silhouetted by the headlights.

Zach yelled, “Police! Don’t move!” and ran forward, prepared to fire, but he saw two dark shapes burst from the garage. Seconds later vehicle doors slammed and the pickup—no, it was an SUV—rocketed backward. Someone whooped.

Despite the gravel cutting into his feet, Zach raced out to the street, taking up a stance in the middle of it. But the big, dark vehicle was receding at criminal speed. It had to be going fifty or more in a residential neighborhood.

Lights were coming on up and down the block. He heard voices calling out to him.

“I’ve called 911,” someone said, and he waved his thanks as he made his way more gingerly up the driveway to the garage, holding the gun, barrel down, alongside his thigh now.

The double doors stood open. He stubbed his toe on something and, looking down, realized it was the padlock. Inside, the darkness momentarily defeated his eyes. Swearing viciously under his breath, he felt his way to the light switch.

In the harsh glare, he stared incredulously at what had been his truck.

Every window was shattered. Fenders, doors and roof smashed in. A few steps inside and he could see that the hood had been, as well.

The truck hadn’t been alive, but, in that moment, he felt as if it had been. A killing rage rose in him.

Zach kept his back to the neighbors he knew now clustered on his front lawn, because he couldn’t let any of them see his face. In the distance, a siren wailed.

He shook with his anger...until something crept from beneath it. A fear so terrible, it wasn’t the truck he saw but Tess.

Her body, battered until he barely knew her.

What if...?

Zach bolted for the house.

* * *

SHE WOULD NOT ANSWER, Tess decided when her phone awakened her from an uneasy sleep. Why give them the satisfaction?

But she fumbled for her phone to see the number displayed. What if it was Dad?

Zach.

Apprehension gripped her as she answered. “Zach?”

“Are you all right?” His voice was hard, urgent, threaded with something that lifted the hair on the back of her neck.

“Yes. Yes. Nothing’s happened.” Not here. Not to her.

They had gone after Zach instead, she realized.

Clutching the phone, she whispered, “Oh, God. Are you hurt?”

“No, not me.” He swore. “I shouldn’t have called. Scared you.”

“Someone is hurt.”

“Only my pickup.” He’d regained a measure of calm, or was pretending he had. “It’s totaled, Tess. There were three of them. I saw them. They cut the padlock off the garage door and took something like steel mauls to my truck. Smashed all the windows, doors, fenders. It’s a goner.”

“Oh, Zach.”

“They blinded me with headlights on high beam. I did see two men run out of the garage and jump into a big-ass SUV. There was already someone behind the wheel. They took off like a shot. I stood there mourning the damn truck and then suddenly I thought...” He went silent.