Zack didn’t know what to say, so he let her talk.
“My parents had been having problems. Once my father’s indiscretion was made public, my mother filed for divorce. He moved out. Two weeks later he was dead.”
“That must have been incredibly painful for you.”
“All I wanted was for my parents to get back together. I hated the woman who took that away from me. I hated him for being weak and letting it happen.” She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes, then let her hands fall to her lap. “And then he was dead and I had no one left to be angry with.”
“This is why you’ve been so resistant to believing me.”
“It’s why I’ve been cautious.”
He looked at her, wishing he wasn’t driving so he could reach out and touch her and somehow make her believe he was telling the truth. “Your father was human, Emily. Sometimes human beings make mistakes.”
“I won’t make the same mistakes he did.”
Her words rang hollowly inside the cab of the Jeep, and Zack felt them like a punch to the solar plexus. They were only a few minutes from the rendezvous point he’d set up at a scenic overlook, but all he could think about was Emily and what she’d been through, what he was putting her through now.
I won’t make the same mistakes he did.
The sign for the scenic overlook flashed by. Zack slowed the Jeep, spotted the exit just ahead. Next to him Emily had turned her attention back to the window, shutting him out as effectively as the glass shut out the cold. He knew it was stupid at a time when he needed to be concentrating on his upcoming meeting, but he wanted her trust so badly he could taste it.
Zack drove past the exit.
“You just missed it,” Emily said.
“I’m going to park a few hundred yards down.”
“Are you anticipating problems?”
“That appears to be the theme of this mission.” Spotting a gravel shoulder, Zack slowed the Jeep and pulled over. Unfastening his safety belt, he turned to Emily. “Get in the driver’s seat,” he said.
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“I’m going to leave the keys in the ignition,” he said. “If anything happens, I want you to drive to the next county and go directly to the sheriff’s office. Tell them everything.”
“Zack, in case you’ve missed a few details in the last day or so, I’m a fugitive just like you.”
“The mole will kill you on sight, no questions asked. So will Underwood and his goons at Lockdown, Inc. The police are your only recourse if we get ambushed.”
“The police could be part of this.”
“That’s why I’m telling you to drive to the next county. Not every cop in this state is on the take. Now, damn it, slide over to the driver’s seat.”
She climbed over the console. When she’d settled behind the wheel, he reached for the handle and stepped out of the Jeep.
“Zack?”
His gaze collided with hers, and he felt the impact like a speeding truck. She looked beautiful and frightened, and it took every ounce of willpower he possessed not to lean into the Jeep and crush his mouth to hers.
“Be careful,” she said.
Giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, he slammed the door and started toward the overlook a hundred yards away.
EMILY SAT BEHIND THE WHEEL, staring at the keys dangling from the ignition. If she wanted to leave, all she had to do was reach down, start the engine and she’d be home free.
Do it! Save yourself. Your reputation.
She’s just like her old man….
Emily put her fingers on the keys, but she didn’t start the engine. She couldn’t leave now. Not only because she knew her employers at Lockdown, Inc. were responsible for countless crimes but because at some point—and despite her resolve not to—she had come to care for Zack. There was no way she could leave him alone in such a perilous situation.
What kind of person did that make her? she wondered. Like her father? Was Emily making the same mistake he had all over again?
“Enough,” she told herself.
She leaned back in the seat and looked around. In the last twenty minutes or so the sky had darkened and begun to spit snow. Because of slippery conditions remaining from the day before, the highway was all but deserted. Turning in the seat, she tried to spot Zack, but he’d already reached the overlook. She was about to turn back around when she noticed movement in the scrub brush thirty feet above the overlook.
Terror struck her like a bolt of lightning when she realized she was looking at a man with a rifle set up on a tripod. Not a hunter or a rancher but a man wearing a dark trench coat, and he was seconds away from killing Zack.