Laura Scott - Her Mistletoe Protector

“What’s going on?” Rachel asked.

“Stay down,” he barked. Glancing at the rearview mirror, he could see the vehicle was keeping pace behind them. He could tell by the high yet narrow set to the headlights that it was a Jeep.

He had to figure out a way to lose it and fast.

“Why is he shooting at us?” Rachel gasped, her eyes wide with fear.

He shook his head, unable to answer as he concentrated on losing the gunman. He took several more turns, dodging around various vehicles in his way. Thankfully, traffic was relatively light this far outside the city, or escaping the shooter would have been impossible.

When there was a gap in traffic, he jerked the steering wheel to the left, taking the car up and over the curb, making an illegal U-turn. It wasn’t easy keeping his eyes on the road while watching the Jeep behind him. The other car didn’t make the turn right away, which was reassuring.

He immediately took another right-hand turn, putting even more distance between them. When he found an on-ramp for the interstate, he took it and pushed the speed limit as hard as he dared until he found the next exit. On that road, he switched directions, heading left.

Fifteen minutes later, he was convinced he’d lost the Jeep. “Are you all right?” he asked, as Rachel eased upright and reached for her seat belt. “He didn’t hit you, did he?”

“I don’t think so,” she said, patting her arms and legs as if she wasn’t entirely sure. “Did you get the license plate number? Do you think that was Joey’s kidnapper?”

“I didn’t get the plate number because I was blinded by his high-beam lights.” He tried to figure out what had just happened. The whole event was weird. “Don’t you think it’s odd that he took a shot at us, but didn’t keep firing? And that he didn’t target anything important?”

“What do you mean nothing important? He almost hit us!” Rachel protested.

“Not even close,” he argued mildly. “We were practically sitting ducks and he didn’t hit either of us, or any significant parts of the car, like the gas tank or wheels. It’s almost as if he wanted to scare us more than kill us.”

“So it must have been Joey’s kidnapper!” Rachel’s tone had a note of excitement. “He didn’t want to kill us, because he still wants the money.”

“Maybe,” he agreed, although the scenario didn’t quite feel right. This entire case wasn’t like anything he’d experienced before. He knew crooks, had investigated them for years and they always had a reason for what they did.

Only this time, nothing made sense.

He took the next exit off the freeway, slowing his speed to the posted limit.

“We have to go back there,” Rachel said urgently, interrupting his train of thought. “To see if we can find Joey. We must have been close if they were so desperate to scare us away.”

“Rachel, calm down for a minute and think this through. How did they find us outside of Margie Caruso’s house in the first place? I made sure no one followed us when we left Morales’s apartment building.”

“I don’t know, maybe it was all just a big coincidence? Morales could be working for Margie Caruso, and maybe he just pulled up as we got there.”

“I don’t think so.” Nick hated to burst her bubble, but she wasn’t thinking rationally. He pulled off onto the side of the road and turned in his seat to face her. “Even if he saw us there, how could he know we were the ones in the car?”

“Maybe he recognized your car from the crash site?”

“I came in from the south and you said he went north,” he reminded her gently. “Rachel, they have your cell phone number. They sent you a text, threatening to kill Joey if you called the police. Don’t you see? The only thing that makes sense is that they’ve tracked us through the GPS in your cell phone.”

* * *

Rachel swallowed hard as she stared down at her cell phone. Was Nick right? Had they really tracked them through her phone? She wasn’t a techno-geek so she had no clue how to even do something like that.

But she knew the possibility existed.

And if Nick’s hunch was correct, then Joey’s kidnapper already knew she wasn’t alone.

Fear swelled in her throat, choking her as tiny red dots swam before her eyes.

“Breathe,” Nick commanded, giving her shoulder a shake.

She didn’t even realize she was holding her breath. She took a shaky gasp of air and lifted her tortured gaze to his. “They’re always going to know where we are, aren’t they? We’re never going to be able to escape.”

“Not unless we ditch your phone,” he said grimly.

She clenched the phone so hard she was surprised she didn’t break it in half. “No. No way. This is the only connection I have to Joey. This is the number they’re going to use in order to contact me for the ransom demand. I’m not giving it up, Nick. I’m not! I can’t!”

He stared at her for a long moment before releasing a heavy sigh. “Okay, if you’re not getting rid of it, then we need to figure out our next steps. Because the kidnappers are going to be able to find us, no matter what we do or where we go.”

“What if we buy a new phone, but keep the same number?” she asked suddenly. “Wouldn’t that work? I mean, the GPS is linked to the device, not to the actual phone number...right?”

Perking up, Nick flashed her a smile. “You’re brilliant, Rachel. That’s exactly right. Now we have options.”

“Do you think the stores are still open?” she asked.

“There are plenty of twenty-four-hour superstores. Here, use my smartphone to find the nearest one....”

“Okay.” She took the phone and used the search engine to find the closest superstore. “There’s one about seven miles away,” she told him.

“Perfect.”

They arrived at the superstore and quickly made their way over to the electronics section. She stayed back as Nick purchased the phone, along with a car charger, explaining to the clerk how they wanted to keep the same number.

“We can do that,” the clerk said. “But it can sometimes take up to twelve hours to get the number transferred over.”

“Twelve hours?” she echoed in shock.

The clerk shrugged. “It might be quicker, but I can’t say for sure when.”

Nick’s expression was grim but he purchased the new phone and car charger, paying for a full year so that there wasn’t any way to trace the contract fee. He gave her the phone and she stared down at it.

Twelve hours. She had to hang on to her old phone and evade the kidnappers for the next twelve hours.

And they were no closer to finding Joey.

She wanted to scream in frustration but forced herself to take several deep breaths to fight off her rising panic instead. She had to believe the kidnappers would keep Joey alive in order to get the payout. They had to.

She followed Nick to the car. When he started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, back onto the road, she plugged the new phone into the charger and then glanced at him. “Where are we going?”

He shrugged. “I think it’s better to stay in the car and keep moving for now. We’d only be sitting ducks in a motel.”

She couldn’t argue his logic. “Would you be willing to split up so one of us could go and check out Margie’s house? I need to know for sure Joey’s not in there.”

Nick was silent for so long she thought he was ignoring her. “Rachel, you’re not a cop...so no, I’m not willing to split up. Let’s just worry about staying alive tonight, okay? Unless you’re having second thoughts about going to the FBI?”

She shivered. “No, I’m not having second thoughts. I heard what you told your boss about dirty cops at the local and federal level. I can’t risk losing my son, Nick. I just can’t.”