Run, Hide - By Carol Ericson Page 0,3
a far distance as a spasm of fear twisted her gut.
The black truck loomed horizontally across the lane ahead and cars flowed around it on either side. The bus wouldn’t be able to squeeze past the truck. They’d have to stop. Right in front of the truck. Would Marti’s killers be brazen enough to snatch a boy from a public bus?
She’d bet on it, but not her life and not her son’s life.
Jenna scrambled back to her seat and grabbed Gavin, tucking him under her arm.
“We have to get off. Now.”
The bus driver eyed her in the rearview mirror. “Lady, we’re in the middle of the street. You can get off when we stop ahead because there’s no way we’re getting around that truck.”
Jenna kicked a booted foot against the back door of the bus, rattling its windows. “Let me out of here.”
The other passengers turned wide eyes on Jenna, huffing and puffing by the door.
The more commotion the better.
She battered the door again with her other boot and screamed. “Open the door.”
The doors squealed open and she stumbled down the steps. Looking both ways, she hopped into the street.
Gavin wailed. “I wanna snowboard.”
She jogged to the sidewalk, glancing over her shoulder. Was the man by the truck looking her way?
What now? She hadn’t gotten too far from her house...and Marti’s dead body. She couldn’t go back. She couldn’t get her car—the mechanic just got the part this morning.
Think, Jenna.
She couldn’t put any more lives in danger. She’d have to hop on another bus and get to the main bus depot in Salt Lake City. She had cash...lots of cash. She could get them two tickets to anywhere.
Hitching Gavin higher on her hip, she strode down the snow-dusted street in the opposite direction of the truck—like a woman with purpose. Like a woman with confidence and not in fear for her life.
She turned the next corner, her mind clicking through the streets of Lovett Peak, searching her memory bank for the nearest bus stop.
“Where are we going, Mommy?”
“Someplace warm, honey bunny.”
Half a mile away, in front of the high school. That bus could get them to Salt Lake.
She’d start over. Build a new life. Again.
She straightened her spine and marched through the residential streets on her way to the local high school.
When the sound of a loud engine rumbled behind them, her heartbeat quickened along with her steps as she glanced over her shoulder at an older model blue car.
When the car slowed down, its engine growling like a predatory animal, she broke into a run.
She heard the door fly open and a man shouted. “Jenna, stop!”
She stumbled, nearly falling to her knees. She’d know that voice anywhere. It belonged to the man responsible for her life on the run.
Cade Stark.
Her husband.
Chapter Two
The emotions that galloped across Jenna’s face in rapid succession—fear, shock, loathing—punched him in the gut.
But he had no time for explanations, no time for apologies. Two trained assassins lurked just blocks away.
“Get in the back, Jenna, and duck down.”
She hesitated for a split second, glanced at Gavin’s face, alert and curious, and started for the car.
Cade’s gaze roamed hungrily over Gavin’s small frame and regret crawled across his skin like a fungus. He had no time for remorse, either. Not now.
As soon as Jenna threw open the back door to the car, Cade ducked back into the vehicle. When the door slammed, he peeled away from the curb with a squeal and heard a thump of bodies against the seat.
Regret number two hundred and fifty-eight.
When he hit the intersection, he eased off the accelerator and stopped at the red light like a normal person. He looked in the rearview mirror, getting a glimpse of the top of Jenna’s head, disheveled blond hair gleaming in the wintry sun.
His California beach girl living in the snow. Never thought he’d live to see the day. Never thought he’d live to see a lot of days.
“Scrunch down farther.”
“Who’s the man, Mommy?” Gavin’s head popped up and Jenna tugged him down again.
“H-he’s going to give us a ride, Gavin.”
Cade gulped back the dull rage and sharp words. What did he expect? He’d take being his son’s ride...for now.
Sirens blared amid the oncoming traffic and a cadre of emergency vehicles, lights flashing, turned the corner in front of him. Had the black truck caused more trouble on the street? Even the cops couldn’t stop the men in that truck. Not the entire Lovett Peak P.D.
Gavin’s head appeared in his rearview mirror again, bouncing