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Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for the novels of Mia Sheridan
  3. About the Author
  4. NOTE TO READERS
  5. Dedication
  6. prologue
  7. chapter one
  8. chapter two
  9. chapter three
  10. chapter four
  11. chapter five
  12. chapter six
  13. chapter seven
  14. chapter eight
  15. chapter nine
  16. chapter ten
  17. chapter eleven
  18. chapter twelve
  19. chapter thirteen
  20. chapter fourteen
  21. chapter fifteen
  22. chapter sixteen
  23. chapter seventeen
  24. chapter eighteen
  25. chapter nineteen
  26. chapter twenty
  27. chapter twenty-one
  28. chapter twenty-two
  29. chapter twenty-three
  30. chapter twenty-four
  31. chapter twenty-five
  32. chapter twenty-six
  33. chapter twenty-seven
  34. chapter twenty-eight
  35. chapter twenty-nine
  36. chapter thirty
  37. chapter thirty-one
  38. chapter thirty-two
  39. chapter thirty-three
  40. chapter thirty-four
  41. chapter thirty-five
  42. chapter thirty-six
  43. chapter thirty-seven
  44. chapter thirty-eight
  45. chapter thirty-nine
  46. chapter forty
  47. chapter forty-one
  48. chapter forty-two
  49. chapter forty-three
  50. chapter forty-four
  51. chapter forty-five
  52. chapter forty-six
  53. chapter forty-seven
  54. chapter forty-eight
  55. epilogue
  56. acknowledgments

As soon as the four of them disappeared behind the building, I came to my feet. I quickly considered what I had in my backpack that I might use as a weapon but there really wasn’t anything. Even the small knife on the wine opener I’d used to sharpen the stick in my belt had dulled and eventually fallen apart and so I’d discarded it. I set my hand on that stick now as I exited the bushes. It wasn’t much, but better than nothing. I made my way swiftly across the street and then plastered myself to the side of the diner, moving my head inch by inch until I had a visual of the area in the back.

There was another road behind a parking lot at the rear of the building that ran parallel to the main road. And there were two horses pointed in the other direction, each hitched to a buggy. The buggies appeared to be more compartments than the typical riding carts, perhaps used to transfer business materials. But because of that, I couldn’t see what—or who—was inside.

I peeked out farther and saw one of the men with his back to me peeing at the side of the lot. I considered whether to take advantage of his position, but I didn’t have a visual on the second man and didn’t want to risk getting shot in the back of the head.

At the thought, the second man exited one of the buggies and jumped down. “Hurry up!” he yelled to his partner, who then turned and jogged over to the other buggy and climbed up into the driver’s seat. Emily and Charlie were nowhere in sight, so I could only assume they were in the compartments and if the men were leaving them back there, they had to be either incapacitated or tied up.

“Shit,” I murmured, heart speeding as my mind flew from one rescue possibility to another. My best bet was to ambush them once they’d begun to move. Surprise was my best weapon at the moment as they didn’t yet know I existed.

I turned and ran back around the front of the diner, past another business next door and moved along the side. I could already hear the clop clop of the hooves moving closer on the road behind where I was and listened intently, knowing timing was going to be everything and hoping that the man with the firearm had put it away to handle the reins of the horse.