“Damn it!”
He stood in the lightly falling snow, trying to decide what to do. All the while his eyes scanned the black abyss of the fields and woods surrounding the old grain elevator. He had a bug sweeper that would pick up even the faintest radio frequency, but he’d left it in the Hummer. Should he try to locate and re move the remaining chips? Or should he wake Leigh and make a run for it and hope Rasmussen’s thugs weren’t within shooting distance?
But it was too cold to get far on foot. He had no choice but to make a sweep of the vehicle and pray he could get every transmitter before they got ambushed.
Starting at the driver’s door, Jake swept the flashlight beam over the sheet metal and quickly worked his way toward the rear. He found two additional bullet holes but no transmitters. Not all of the gunmen had been shooting transmitters. He pried open a bullet hole in the tailgate and found a second transmitter and tossed it into the snow. By the time he’d worked his way around the entire truck, he’d located four GPS transmitters.
But if Rasmussen’s thugs knew their location, why hadn’t they been ambushed?
Jake set his hand against the pistol tucked into his waistband as he jogged back to the building. He went through the front door, then shoved open the office door. He focused the beam where Leigh had been sleeping.
“We need to leave,” he said.
His blood turned to ice when he realized she was gone.
LEIGH HAD NEVER LIKED camping for the sole reason that forests didn’t come with restroom facilities. Since Jake had been nowhere in sight when she’d wakened a few minutes earlier, she’d made it a point to find a private spot as far away from the grain elevator as safely possible.
Grumbling, she took care of business and was on her way back when the sound of shoes crunching through snow behind her stopped her in her tracks. The thought that it was only Jake walking the perimeter flashed in her mind. But when she spun and saw a man with a gun, she knew venturing out alone had been a very bad idea.
Leigh flung herself into a run. “Jake!” She’d taken only a few strides when the man caught her in a flying tackle, his weight knocking her to the ground.
She went down hard. Unable to break her fall, she got a faceful of snow. It was in her eyes. Her nose. Her mouth. She couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe. Rough arms grasped her wrists from behind. She heard the metallic click of handcuffs and began to panic. Oh, dear God she couldn’t let him immobilize her.
She screamed, but the snow muffled the sound. Using every ounce of strength she possessed she twisted, managing to free one arm. Animal sounds tore from her throat as she lashed out at her attacker.
“Hold still, bitch.”
Leigh twisted onto her side, kicked out with her right leg. She caught a glimpse of a ski mask. Gloved hands. A gun the size of a cannon. Catching her off guard, he flipped her onto her back, his strength terrifying. She caught a glint of the chrome cuffs, realized he was going to cuff her with her hands in front of her, and slashed at him with her nails. All the while she wondered where Jake was. Why hadn’t he come to her aid? Had they hurt him? Or worse?
He caught her wrists. “Let go of me!” she shouted.
Her shout was cut short by a gloved hand slapped over her mouth hard enough to cut her lip. “Shut up.”
Leigh fought for her life. She knew if he got those cuffs on her, her fate would be sealed.
A dark shadow rushed them from the side. She heard the sound of something solid slamming into flesh. The man grunted, but the sound was cut short when a booted foot landed solidly on the side of his head. His head pitched violently back. A final kick sent the man sprawling into the snow.
Strong hands reached for her. She scrambled away, got to her hands and knees, tried to get her feet under her.
“Jake!” She shouted his name when the hands closed over her shoulders.
“Leigh. It’s me. Calm down.”
Jake.
“You’re safe,” he said.
Still shaking, she looked over to see Jake cuffing the man’s hands behind him. But his eyes were on her. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“You mean aside from a near heart attack?”
Rising, he offered his hand. “There are more where he came from,” he said, looking down at the man lying cuffed on the ground. “We need to leave. Now.”
The next thing she knew he was pulling her to her feet and into a dead run toward the truck. Leigh couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder. How could Rasmussen possibly have known where to find them?
At the truck Jake opened her door and shoved her inside. “Get on the floor. Don’t argue.”
Leigh slid from the seat and knelt on the floor-board, her heart hammering like a piston against her ribs. Jake slid behind the wheel and started the engine. He didn’t turn on the lights as he started down the lane.