Hot Pursuit (18 page)

“You’re going to sit right here and stuff all of your hair inside your sweatshirt. Do it now, darling,” he ordered in a hushed yet urgent whisper.

She let go of him and sat down on the edge of the roof. Zoey gathered all of her hair at her nape just as headlights appeared in the driveway.

“Quick! Lie flat!” Ben all but shoved Zoey down on the roof. He then lay down flat right next to her.

The car didn’t drive around to the back of the bed-and-breakfast and park in the parking lot. Instead it parked at the entrance to the driveway, and a moment later the headlights went off. Zoey lifted her head, but Ben shook his head and put his finger to his lips. He didn’t dare say a word. Any good hunter would have their senses finely tuned the moment they arrived at a possible dangerous location. Until Ben knew otherwise, he would assume these were the men looking for Zoey—and him. He wouldn’t tell Zoey, but if her father was looking for him, Ben doubted it was simply because Ben was new in town.

Ben wasn’t so cocky as to believe that working for Greg King would put him at the top of any crime lord’s radar. But possibly someone had seen Ben riding with Zoey last night. Or, worse yet, Ben hightailing around the grocery store earlier that day chasing a madwoman whom the locals in town probably didn’t know that well.

Two car doors opened and closed. There was the sound of boots crackling on the drive, then ascending the front porch steps. A loud knock sounded on the front door, and Zoey jumped and squealed. She slapped her hand over her mouth and stared at Ben wide-eyed. Consoling her would have to wait. Ben needed all his attention trained on any sound that might help him understand why Zoey’s father was the one who had sent him the message to meet at Redwood National Park at noon. Because if what Zoey said was accurate, it had been Emilio Cortez who had wanted Ben to drive north of town, not Micah.

Crap! That meant Micah might not have known Ben was in Zounds. Well, he did now. Ben would worry about that as soon as he and Zoey were away from the bed-and-breakfast.

The front door opened and low baritones mixed with Betsy’s higher, excited voice. Then the front door shut.

“Let’s go, now!” Ben hissed, springing into action. “I’m jumping; then you are. Don’t hesitate. There’s no time.”

He didn’t elaborate but scooted to the edge of the roof until his legs hung over as far as they could. He just touched a chain-link fence that went along the edge of the screened-in back porch, then extended around the yard. Ben used it as a brace, lowered himself so he stood on it momentarily, then leapt to the ground.

He spun around instantly, not bothering to assess any damage. Thankfully, Zoey didn’t hesitate, either. She jumped, landing on top of him. Ben grabbed her in his arms and staggered backward before going down to his knees.

A moment later they were running from the bed-and-breakfast. Ben banked on the fact that Betsy would take the men up to his and Wolf’s rooms. More than likely she wouldn’t have her keys on her and would have to go to the kitchen, grab them, then return to the impatient growling men.

There was always an off chance that the men in the car weren’t Cortez’s men but simply travelers looking for a room. If that was the case, Betsy would be occupied with them and wouldn’t be able to answer any questions about Ben’s or Wolf’s whereabouts if, and when, Cortez’s men did show up.

Ben and Zoey reached the sidewalk right where they had stood and spoken the previous night before he’d hurried to get his motorcycle. At the time, he’d thought of Zoey as the perfect diversion for him to leave the bed-and-breakfast and be able to explain to Wolf later where he’d gone. Ben hadn’t expected to be so incredibly attracted to the petite black-haired beauty. Nor had he guessed in a million years he’d be on the run with her the very next night.

“They’re not going to catch me.” Zoey pulled him out of his thoughts with her sudden declaration. Her voice was soft but gave hint to determination she possessed to change her life.

“You’re right,” he said, looking down at her profile and her bruised face. If anyone thought this woman tiny, they didn’t know her. After one day Ben saw a world of courage packaged in damn near perfection.

“Everyone thinks I’m this broken, fragile flower,” she said bitterly.

Ben didn’t know what others thought of her. That wouldn’t be how he would describe her. She was an erotic flower. She did appear fragile at first, but he was starting to see the woman under all her sensuality, and she was driven. Zoey kept pace with him on the sidewalk, he noticed. In fact, it seemed that she knew where she was going and was leading the way.

“All right, my sturdy flower, where we headed?”

Zoey looked up at him, and her white teeth appeared to glow in the darkness against her caramel skin when she smiled. “My friend, Angel, owns the bookstore. We can’t stay there, or I’d get her in trouble, too. My father is already after her business simply because he doesn’t like me spending so much time there. But she’ll probably be able to drive me out of town, where my father doesn’t have the same jurisdiction that he has in Zounds.”

Ben wasn’t sure why it bothered him that he would no longer be her escort. But it was for the best, he quickly pointed out to himself. He sucked at relationships and sure as hell didn’t need to be tangled in her life right now when his good friend’s life was on the line. Ben had a debt to pay to Micah, and all his attention needed to be on that.

“You’re positive she will do this for you?”

Zoey nodded. “I’ll call her.”

“Use my phone.”

“She won’t answer a number she doesn’t recognize.”

“Then you keep calling until she does.”

They’d turned the corner and were now walking along shops downtown. All the shops were closed, and it was quiet. Long shadows stretched past glowing streetlights. For all purposes, it seemed like a peaceful, quaint, sleepy downtown with hints of salt in the air every time the breeze shifted from the ocean. Nonetheless, Ben grew anxious and wanted to pick up their pace when he spotted a large sign on a building at the end of the street.
ANGELINA’S BOOKSTORE.
He wanted to grab Zoey’s hand and hurry them to the store.

He could hear the phone ringing as Zoey held it to her ear. It went to voice mail, and a woman began speaking. Zoey hung up and sighed.

“Call her again.”

Zoey nodded to the bookstore. “She lives upstairs. Her lights are on, so I know she’s there. Why can’t I call her with my phone?”

“Most cell plans allow a person to see what calls or texts were made after fifteen or thirty minutes,” Ben explained. “There is also the possibility that your father keeps your phone tapped. As well—crap,” he groaned. “Turn your phone off.”

“Turn it off?” She looked up at him questioningly as she redialed Angel’s number.

“Yes. Now,” he ordered. “There is probably a GPS in it. Your father can track where you are with your phone.”

“Is that so?” Zoey pulled her phone out of her oversized, baggy sweatpants.

Something crossed over her face Ben hadn’t seen before. Her dark eyes narrowed and her mouth straightened into a determined line. Then before he could react, Zoey hurled her phone into the delivery road between two buildings. They heard the sound of shattering plastic, then silence.

“I guess I threw it too hard,” she said, and surprised him when she giggled. “I wanted him to search for the GPS and find my phone in a trash Dumpster.”

“You’re such an evil woman,” Ben muttered, and ran his hand up and down her back without thinking of how his action might appear to anyone who might be watching. Although with continual side-glances he didn’t see anyone around them.

He dropped his hand to his side when they reached the bookstore. Zoey beckoned him to follow when she walked around the corner of the building. They were on a similar delivery road, except there wasn’t another building on the other side of the bookstore. He listened as Zoey held his phone to her ear until the same woman’s voice began speaking the voice-mail message. Zoey hung up and redialed.

It rang once, twice, then stopped ringing. Someone had picked up.

“Why the hell do you keep calling Angel’s personal line?” a man bellowed loud enough Ben heard him easily.

Zoey shrieked and let go of his phone as if it had burned her. Ben somehow grabbed his phone and Zoey before either crashed. He held Zoey close, aware of her trembling again. She bent her arms so they were between her and Ben and rested her cheek to his heart.

“Hello?” Ben demanded, casting an eye around them at the dark gray shadows looming everywhere against the still and quiet downtown. It was almost too quiet. His radar was up. Zounds had seemed friendly enough when he’d first arrived, but the town was veiled with an evil that was trying to close in around him.

“What do you want?” a raspy baritone demanded.

“Where is Angel?” Ben glanced up and down the narrow road. He saw no one, not even a car.

“Right next to me.”

The voice sounded familiar, but that didn’t make sense. Wolf wouldn’t be answering the bookstore owner’s personal phone line.

“Tell her to open her back door.” Ben stared at an unmarked door that appeared to open into the back of the store.

“Why should I tell her to do that?”

“Someone here wants to talk to her,” Ben said, almost positive he was speaking with Wolf. Ben would save questions as to why the man was in the bookstore at this hour and answering the owner’s phone. At the moment, Ben focused on Zoey. “And she’s hurt.”

The line went dead and seconds later someone turned the dead bolt on the other side of the door in front of them. It flew outward and at the same time Zoey pushed herself out of Ben’s arms and into the arms of a woman, who had opened the door.

“What have you done to her?” the woman demanded as she held Zoey in a tight embrace. “Here, let’s get some lights turned on and we’ll get you all fixed up.”

“No, no lights,” Ben announced, holding out his arms to silence everyone. “Use whatever lights were already on.”

“I wondered if you could drive me out of town,” Zoey asked the woman.

“Drive you out of town?” the woman asked.

“What are you doing here?” Ben asked Wolf.

“What’s going on?” Wolf asked at the same time.

“I’m in trouble,” Zoey whimpered.

In spite of her being barely audible, everyone stopped asking questions and looked at Zoey. Ben glanced over the women between them and met Wolf’s curious look. Then the bookstore owner shifted her attention to Ben. He met the woman’s cold glare.

“Not because of me,” he said hurriedly, shaking his head. “Zoey came to me for help.”

“What happened?” the woman asked Zoey gently, and when she stroked Zoey’s hair away from her face, the dim light coming from inside her home shone on Zoey’s face. “Oh my God! Zoey!”

“I know!” Zoey cried out, but then lowered her voice again. “Is it okay to come inside? It’s not a good idea to talk out here. And Angel, you really don’t want me here. I’ll bring you trouble. I won’t stay. I promise.”

“You aren’t trouble,” the woman murmured, and pulled Zoey into her arms.

“Her father is Emilio Cortez,” Ben told Wolf. He was really curious what Wolf was doing here, but that explanation would have to wait. “Have you heard his name mentioned yet?”

“Yup.” Wolf studied Ben. “Had the privilege of meeting one of his associates earlier today.”

“Brutus and Julius were at the bed-and-breakfast.” Zoey suddenly came to life. “I heard their voices. I know they’re looking for me.”

Angel took Zoey’s arm and backed up inside, pulling Zoey and causing Wolf to back up as well. Ben followed and closed the door behind him. The four of them stood in a storage room. Wolf reached up and tugged a string, causing a light to flood over all of them.

Zoey squinted. “I thought that didn’t work.”

“Wolf fixed it.” Angel shrugged it off as if Zoey might already know Wolf and him fixing things in this bookstore might be an everyday occurrence.

Ben studied Wolf for a moment. The man’s attention was on the women, and he didn’t return the look. If this was how the man learned if someone was in town, by getting seriously close to citizens in the town, Ben might have underestimated Wolf’s methods. Not to mention skills. Angel was a good-looking woman. She was older than Ben, with wild brown curly hair that was cut short. Angel wasn’t much taller than Zoey. She was cute and a business owner and apparently single. More than likely men would hit on her on a regular basis. Angel probably had enough street smarts running this store to not be taken by just any hustler. Ben gave Wolf another appraising once-over before focusing on the ladies.

“What the hell happened?” the woman demanded harshly, taking a step back from Zoey and studying her. “We aren’t going anywhere, or worrying about who might be coming here, until you fill me in.”

“My father had called me into his den. And, as always, he spent more time talking to Pedro than to me. Father did take the time to inform me that he and I were flying out soon and going down to San Diego. We were going to meet Mr. Isley and his son Hector. He talked as if I were his personal whore instead of his daughter, and as if this wedding he’s conjured up is a done deal!” Zoey wailed, throwing her arms up in the air.

“Then without another word to me he turned to Pedro. He didn’t ask if I wanted to go, not that he ever asks my opinion about anything. He starts talking to Pedro about how my dress should be sexy and revealing when we go to dinner with Hector and his father.”

“The ass,” Angel seethed. She then held her hand out as if to touch Zoey’s face but dropped it.

Instead Zoey touched Angel’s face. “It’s okay. I wholeheartedly agree. My father is an ass and so much more.” She sighed, collected her thoughts, and continued until she’d explained the entire sordid conversation between Cortez and Pedro. “I’m done with him, Angel. I can’t take this any longer…,” she trailed off.

“Who could blame you?” the woman consoled gently, and ran her hand down the side of Zoey’s head, stroking her hair.

Ben ached to do the same thing. Instead he stuffed his hands in his pockets and scowled at the ground. He didn’t like what happened next. Even as Zoey related how her father hit her, knocking her to the floor, then demanding she do as she was told or else, hatred closed around Ben’s heart in a way he’d never experienced before. It was a cold, unnerving chill. His hands clenched into fists in his pockets. Ben had to exert an effort to relax if just for Zoey’s sake.