I pulled at Charlie’s arm, and we ducked as we backtracked a bit, dipping around the corner before immediately turning and rounding it again. As we drew closer, I made sure not to look in Tuck’s direction, instead, raising my hand and waving at the two men who’d spotted us. “Hi,” I said. “How are you?”

I plastered Nova’s smile on my face, the one that said I didn’t have a care in the world and was completely untouchable. It felt stretched and uncomfortable, but that might be because the two men were not reciprocating with friendly expressions. “I’m… Nova and this is Charlie,” I said when we got to where they were standing, staring at us suspiciously.

The man on the left slowly extended his hand and shook mine. When I looked down, I saw that he had tattoos on his fingers. I felt my brows rise but quickly adjusted my expression. I didn’t know a lot about the Amish, but finger tattoos didn’t seem on-brand. We waited for them to offer their names, but when they didn’t, and instead looked back and forth between each other, that feeling that something was off increased. What was the signal? Was I supposed to give a thumbs-down to let Tuck know things were off? God, why hadn’t I listened to him?

“Hi there,” the man on the right said, his smile growing in a way that looked decidedly predatory. Uh-oh.

Charlie and I started backing up in tandem, and I shoved my hand behind my back, making every gesture I could think of.

“Leaving so soon?” the other asked.

Then before I could take another step, they both swooped in, one pulling a firearm from his jacket pocket and putting it to my head as he spun me around and started marching us both toward the rear of the closed diner.

chapter twenty-three

Tuck

“Mother fucker!” I hissed as I watched the two Amish men—who were most definitely not Amish—wrangle Charlie and Emily behind the diner. Even while being practically dragged, Emily continued to move her hand furiously behind her back in every gesture possible except the one we’d discussed.

Even so, the fact that the men were holding a gun on Emily and Charlie and manhandling them up the street told me all I needed to know.

I wanted to kick myself. I’d known there was something off about those two, even from several hundred feet away. I hadn’t been able to say exactly what and so I’d talked myself out of the feeling, but I should have listened to my instincts. I couldn’t take credit for a lot, but I knew I had two things going for me: honed muscles and honed instincts. And because I’d dismissed my gut, now Emily and Charlie were being abducted.