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Maddox chuckled. “There goes that imagination of yours again, Lane.” He patted his bag. “Have you forgotten we have amo on our side?”

“No, I haven’t forgotten the guns…or you allegedly being Rambo.”

“Dude, I am
so
Rambo.”

I surmised his muscular, tattooed form, and I couldn’t help agreeing with him. But of course, I wouldn’t let him have the satisfaction, so I merely replied, “Dream on!”

The sound of a truck rumbling down the road caught our attention. Tilting his head to one side, Maddox murmured, “Hmm, classic Chevy Cheyenne…76’, maybe 77’.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed the stray strands of hair out of my face. “Why am I not surprised you know the make and model?”

He didn’t respond. Instead, he started stroking his chin in thought. “Listen, if he pulls over, you need to really play up the sweetness. The outfit’s good if it’s a dude, but some chick is probably more likely to pick us up because you look like an innocent goodie girl.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“It just means that if you look lost and pitiful, you’re less likely to look like you’re going to rob or car-jack them!”

I cocked my head at him. “Since we
are
lost and our situation is totally pitiful, I think I should be able to pull it off.”

At the sight of us, the pick-up started slowing down. The driver resembled your typical stereotyped mountain man—long, bushy beard, faded overalls. Basically, he could have been part of the family on Duck Dynasty. He cranked the hand-rolled window down. “You kids need a lift?”

I plastered the sweetest smile I could muster on my face. “Yes, sir. You see, we lost two tires going off-road, and there’s only one spare. Do you think you could give us a lift into town?”

When I dared to look back over at Maddox, he was staring at me in disbelief. The man merely smiled. “Why sure. I’m going there myself. Hop on in.”

Maddox hastily shoved me in front of him, so I would end up sitting next to the man. Reluctantly, I slid across the seat. Since Mom had always pressed the importance of manners, I held out my hand. “I’m Lane Montgomery.”

He took my hand in his paw-like one and shook hard. “I’m Byron Sutton.” He leaned forward to peer at Maddox. “What’s your boyfriend’s name?”

I bit my tongue to keep from shouting,
He’s not my boyfriend!
Instead, I said, “He’s Maddox.”

“Nice to meet you,” Maddox said, reaching across me to shake Byron’s hand.

“Nice meetin’ you two as well.” Byron then pulled the truck back onto the road. “Said your name was Montgomery?”

“Yes sir.”

He shifted the chaw of tobacco in his mouth. “Don’t believe I know any Montgomery’s round here.”

“We actually live in Ellijay,” Maddox replied.

After eying the American flag sticker and Vietnam emblem on the side of the windshield, I blurted, “He’s actually just home from service.”

Byron’s eyes brightened. “Is that right? Well, lemme say how pleased I am to be helping out a fellow serviceman.”

“Thank you,” Maddox said.

“Which branch?”

“Army. 101
st
Airborne.”

A wide grin stretched across Byron’s face. “The Screaming Eagles. I was one myself!”

Maddox laughed. “Which arm?”

My mouth gaped open at the instant friendship between the two of them. Byron kept one hand on the wheel, and he used the other to roll up the sleeve on his right arm. A giant eagle with talons outstretched covered most of his bicep. Maddox nodded and then rolled up his left sleeve to show his smaller eagle with the words
Airborne
underneath.

I chuckled. “Wow, I think I just had a really odd déjà vu moment of that scene in the
A-Team
movie where they all reveal their Army Ranger tats and unite to fight evil.”

“With Jensen on the loose, we could use all the help we can get,” Maddox muttered under his breath.

Byron adjusted his shirt, never losing his grin. “I knew there was somethin’ good about you two when I saw you. I don’t usually pick up strangers.”

“We’re really glad you did,” I replied.

The road ended at the highway, and I realized we weren’t as far from civilization as I thought. Maddox nudged me. I followed his gaze out the windshield to where a used- car lot sat in the distance. “Hey Byron, would you mind dropping us off at that Waffle House up ahead? Seeing as we’re probably going to be waiting awhile for these tires, we sure could use something to eat.”

“No problem.” He turned on his blinker and eased us into the parking lot.

“Thanks again for the lift,” Madox said, with a smile.

“I was glad to do it.”

“Can we give you some gas money?” I asked.

Byron shook his head. “I was glad to help out a fellow veteran and his sweet girl.”

I swallowed hard at the thought of being Maddox’s
girl.
“Well, thanks again,” I said, before sliding across the seat. I guess he was pretending to be the perfect boyfriend because Maddox helped me down.

We walked around the front of the truck to stand on Byron’s side. Maddox stuck his hand through the window and once again shook Byron’s hand. “It really was nice meeting you, sir. I have a lot of respect for what you did over in Nam, despite what some people say.”

Byron appeared speechless by Maddox’s words. Finally, he cleared his throat. “Listen, if you ever need anything, you just give me a holler, you here? I’m Byron Sutton in the phone book. I don’t do much of that cell phone stuff.”

Maddox nodded. “Thanks. I really appreciate that.”

“You two take care.”

“We will,” I replied.

With one last wave, Byron put the truck in gear and then drove away. Maddox watched him leave with a shadow of a smile on his face. “I bet he and a couple of his buddies could totally help us with the Jensen situation.”

“Then I guess it’s good we know how to get in touch with him.”

Maddox nodded and then he motioned for me to go on in the restaurant. It was pretty packed with truckers and tourists. After we slid into the only empty booth, a waitress with bouffant hair and heavy blue eyeliner sidled up to us and took our order. She had just left when my cell-phone started ringing in my purse. “Jeez, I thought it would be dead by now,” I murmured as I fumbled in my purse. One look at the caller ID, and I was filled with both fear and annoyance.

I brought the phone to my ear and said, “Hi Mom.”

“Lane Elizabeth Montgomery, do you have any idea what you’ve just put us through?”

I grimaced and held the phone away from my ear. Mom’s high-pitched shrieking coupled with the sniffling on the other end told me she knew everything about Maudie, and I was in big,
big
trouble.

“I’m sorry. Listen I—”

“Why haven’t you been in touch with us? The police officer, who called us this morning to tell us about Maudie, said he went by the house, and you weren’t there. Just where are you?”

“I’m with Maddox,” I replied.

She sighed with relief. “Oh, so, you two are at the hospital then?”

Oh shit. There was no way to dig myself out of this one that didn’t involve even more lies. I couldn’t possibly tell her that instead of being by Maudie’s bedside like a good girl, I had not only committed breaking and entering on a cabin somewhere in Blue Ridge, but I was about to continue a hunt for hidden Cherokee gold while armed henchmen hunted us down.

“Um, yeah, I’m with him,” I answered, trying to cover by saying as little as possible.

“Good. I’m trying to get us a flight out of here while your dad’s gone to the bookstore to try to smooth things over about missing the signing. As soon as we can, we’re coming to the hospital to be with Maudie.”

“And um, when exactly do you think that will be?” I asked, absentmindedly playing with my silverware.

“Probably not until this afternoon or tonight.”

Great. I had a few hours until all hell broke loose. “Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you then.”

“Tell Maudie we love her, and we’re coming just as soon as we can, okay?”

Oh God. She had actually gone there. What kind of person was I who could lie about being at the bedside of a woman in a coma? My chest clenched, and I fought to breathe. “Okay,” I whispered.

From somewhere faraway, I heard her tell me she loved me and goodbye. I hung up the phone and stared down at the grease-encrusted Formica table. I was so zoned out that I didn’t even acknowledge the waitress sitting my plate down.

Maddox’s voice brought me out of my stupor. “What’s the matter? Are you in trouble?”

“She thinks we’re at the hospital. They’re coming this afternoon or tonight. And then…” I gulped. “She told me to give Maudie her love,” I whispered.

He jolted back against the booth like I’d slapped him. Of course, his gut-wrenching reaction didn’t help my emotional overload. Even though I tried, I couldn’t stop the tears that welled in my eyes before spilling over my cheeks.

Maddox shifted in his seat while rubbing his neck a little too furiously. “Yeah, uh, you stay here and take it easy. I’ll go on and see about getting us a car.”

I glanced at the teeming plate of food he had barely touched. “What about your breakfast?”

“Uh, I can eat on the way. You know, get us there quicker and all.” At my wounded expression, he groaned. “Look, we both know I’ve never been a touchy-feely emotional dude.”

“So?”

“So, I just can’t handle seeing you cry, okay?”

“You did last night,” I argued.

He scowled. Before he could get me with a comeback, our attention was drawn to the loud conversation of a table full of truckers. “They’re saying it wasn’t a typical robbery. No money was taken, and the person who did it was wise enough to take the security tapes.”

“Some are saying it looks like a professional job—you know, some ex-con out on parole. But to me, it sounds like an inside job. You know, some pissed-off employee or something,” a man with a John Deere hat argued.

Another man shook his head. “I delivered to Maudie’s several times, and there ain’t no way some worker would be mad enough to try to kill her. She treated everyone like family.

“It sure is a shame about the warehouse fire. Police are saying it must’ve been started to burn everything and conceal the crime. It sure was lucky the fire department got there in time to put it out. The warehouse would have probably been a total loss instead of just taking out half of it.”

The John Deere man leaned forward. “I think the biggest mystery of all is who the hell called 911?”

A stabbing pain crisscrossed through my chest, and I gasped to breathe. How could these random truckers be talking about Maudie? The way they spoke about her made it sound like she hadn’t made it. I guess that was good considering her ICU room was being police guarded in case Jensen or some of his thugs came back.

“Don’t go there, Lane,” Maddox said.

I jerked my head up to stare at him. “What?”

“You shouldn’t let yourself for one minute think that Maudie’s not going to pull through this coma and make it just fine.”