Decoded

“Wait.” Maggie tugged against his hold.

“We can’t stop.” He started forward once more, but Maggie didn’t budge.

“Go on without me. The police will find me and I’ll swear I don’t know which way you went.”

Explaining why that wouldn’t work would be complicated. They had to keep moving.

Rather than argue, he released her hand and swept her off her feet. With her in his arms, he trudged forward.

“You can’t carry me,” she argued. She squirmed against his chest.

The feel of her hip grinding into his chest had tension firing in his muscles. “Stop fidgeting and this will go a lot more smoothly.” He tuned out the feel of her body. Just as swiftly he banished the images of all those nights they’d spent together in her bed.

Five minutes more and endless gritting of teeth to keep the haunting images at bay and they reached the fence that separated the tree line from the expanse of state-owned right-of-way that ran along the side of the road.

He settled Maggie onto her feet and surveyed the five-foot chain-link wall that stood between them and their destination. Moonlight sifted through the darkness, pooling around their position. The low hum of traffic on the interstate offered the only indication the whole world wasn’t asleep.

She wouldn’t be asleep. Slade’s jaw tightened. She was out there somewhere assessing the feedback and directing every minor reaction as meticulously as a conductor leading an orchestra.

“I’ll climb over.” Slade pushed aside what he could not control and focused on what he could. He turned to Maggie and pointed to the diamond shapes the metal fencing formed. “Use the pattern as finger-and toe-holds. Once you’re up and over, I’ll help you down.”

She drew in a shaky breath. “All right.”

Slade scanned the highway once more, then scaled the fence. He waited on the other side as Maggie slowly climbed the same path. It wasn’t that high, but she was a lot shorter than he was, so he understood her trepidation.

When both legs were on his side of the fence, he placed his hands on either side of her waist. “Let go. I’ve got you.”

There was a hesitation before she followed his instructions. His hands around her waist, he lowered her feet to the ground and she swayed into his chest. He steadied her.

“Thanks.” She squared her shoulders and stepped away from him. “What now?”

Slade surveyed the dark highway. “We head toward the on-ramp and flag down a ride.” And watch for the cops, he didn’t add. If they were lucky, an APB hadn’t been issued yet and there wouldn’t be extra patrols.

“Okay.”

To his surprise she began walking before he did.

The motel was only a few miles behind them. The crisscross route they had taken had brought them back around to where they needed to be. He’d kept to the woods until they were near the on-ramp. His instincts nudged him with the urge to run, but he resisted. Maggie couldn’t run anymore. They stayed close to the fence, trudging through the knee-deep weeds.

“If you spot any headlights, get down,” Slade warned.

“Will the police be looking for us?”

It sounded like hope in her tone. “Yep.”

“We can’t explain what happened and get their help?”

That would seem like the logical thing to do if he were living in a fantasy world. “It’s not the police we need to be afraid of.”

She hurried a little faster. “If we have nothing to fear from them, why can’t they help us?”

“The police can’t protect us, Maggie.”

She stopped. “I need you to explain that part.”

Slade admitted defeat on the issue and turned around. “Fine. It’s not like we’re in a hurry or anything.” If he hadn’t blown a few critical circuits the last couple of years, he would have pulled his weapon and this discussion would have ended already. But, stupidly, he’d allowed complacency to dull his instincts.

“First,” he said more loudly and with far more drama than he’d intended, “if I’m not charged with kidnapping and murder, and we’re put in so-called protective custody, she will have us eliminated. No one can protect us from her. Do you get that? No one.” He didn’t wait around for her response.

“How can anyone be that powerful? Who is this woman?” Maggie hurried to catch up to him.

Light flickered.

“Down.” Slade crouched, tugging Maggie with him.

The headlights grew closer. Not a car. A truck. A big one.

“Go to the side of the road and wave. Maybe the driver will stop. You get the ride and I’ll catch up.”

Maggie searched his face a moment, then shot to her feet and rushed forward, quickly wading from the knee-deep grass to the recently mowed roadside. She waved her arms, moving closer to the pavement.

There was the possibility that if the driver stopped she could use the opportunity to escape. It was a risk he had to take. Any driver was far more likely to stop for a woman alone.

The truck’s air brakes whined as it slowed. As soon as the tractor-trailer came to a complete stop, Maggie rushed to the passenger-side door. She stepped up onto the running board and the window powered down.

Slade braced to run.

Her usually calm voice sounded a little high-pitched. He couldn’t make out what she was saying. She did a lot of gesturing.

“Hurry, Maggie,” he muttered to himself.

She reached for the door handle. He moved forward, staying low enough to use the landscape as cover.

As he neared, he heard Maggie saying, “I really appreciate this. I didn’t know how much farther I could make it.”

Slade dashed across the final expanse of shorter grass and lunged up onto the running board just as Maggie settled into the seat. He had his weapon in his hand before the driver could grab the one stored under his seat.

“We don’t want any trouble,” Slade advised. “We just need a ride.”

The driver glared at him. “What’s the gun for, then?”

“Same thing as the one under your seat.”

“Can we just go?” Maggie pleaded. “We really do need a ride. That’s all.”

Slade knew those shimmering green eyes of hers almost as well as he knew his own. He didn’t have to see her face as she appealed to the driver; he was well aware just how persuasive those jewel beauties could be. The driver didn’t stand a chance.

The man jerked his head toward Slade. “If he puts his gun away, I’ll take you as far as St. Louis.”