“You should let me drive,” Dante said quietly. “They may be planning to ambush us further up the highway.”
Mary opened her mouth, closed it, and then sighed to herself as she looked at her sandwich. She really should have let him drive, then she could be eating her sandwich, which really looked delicious. Fortunately they’d nearly reached her planned destination, and she did intend to stop. The question was, what she was going to do about Dante once she did? Mary didn’t have an easy answer to that. The man thought he could control people. It might be a result of his head injury, but she wasn’t sure head injuries could lead to delusions. She’d have to research that once they’d stopped, she decided. In the meantime, she needed to see how deep his delusions ran.
“Dante, if you can control your kidnappers, how did they kidnap you?” she asked in a conversational tone.
He hesitated beside her and she suspected he wanted to continue to pester her about driving, but then he sighed and said, “We were taken by surprise. They must have been waiting. The first we knew of their presence was when the darts hit us.”
“Right,” she murmured, staring at the red rear lights of the cars ahead on the road. After a moment, she pointed out, “But when you woke up in the cage, you couldn’t have been taken by surprise. Why didn’t you just wait for them to enter the room and take control of them then?”
She felt him look her way, but kept her gaze on the road and after a moment he patiently explained, “There was a square panel in the metal door to the room at about eye level. We feared they might open it and shoot us without our getting a look at them and being able to control them.”
“I see,” she murmured. Mary considered that briefly, than commented, “So you have to see them to control them.”
“Of course,” he said as if that should be obvious.
Mary didn’t comment, but her thoughts were now spinning through her head as quickly as the numbers had spun on the gas pump. Dante had seemed so sane at first. Well, mostly, she thought with a frown as it occurred to her that perhaps the whole “I’m being chased by kidnappers” maybe sounded a little farfetched now, but it had seemed plausible at the time. The man had been running around naked, for heaven’s sake. And that black van had seemed to be following them. Now though, she was beginning to wonder if anything he’d told her had been true. Had he really been kidnapped?
And what about that claim that he and his brother had volunteered to help an FBI task force? Mary had never heard of that before. Surely the agency wouldn’t send civilians into such a dangerous situation?
The truth was, now that he was claiming to be able to control people, everything he’d told her was suspect. It could all be a lie, or some sort of delusion his mind had created. He could be an escapee from a mental ward or something. That was certainly more plausible than his being an escaped kidnap victim, volunteer for the FBI, and able to control people with his mind.
Biting her lip, she glanced to the GPS and was relieved to see that they were approaching the turn for the campground. There she could stop dividing her attention between driving and what to do about Dante. She’d also have help in dealing with him. She and Joe had used this campground every year since they’d started driving south for the winter, stopping on their way down and on the return journey. She knew the owners, Dave and Carol Bigelow, very well. They were originally from Winnipeg and had been friends to her and Joe since long before the couple had retired, bought the campground, and moved here to Texas. Carol and Dave would help her if she needed it. Although, Mary wasn’t that concerned that Dante might be dangerous. He might be a little deluded maybe, but she didn’t think he was dangerous.
“Mary,” Dante said tentatively. “You seem a little agitated, and I hate to keep harping on this, but we need to be prepared in case they are planning to ambush us.”
“It won’t be a problem,” she assured him.
“But—What are you doing?” he asked with surprise when she slowed.
“I’m turning, Dante,” she answered patiently.
“Why?”
“Because we’re stopping for the night. I booked a spot at a campground just up this road.”
“But Lucian said to keep them chasing us,” he protested.
“Look in the rear camera view, Dante. Do you see anyone following us?” She shook her head. “That ship has sailed, and I’m tired. We’re stopping. At least I am. You, of course, are free to get out any time.” Turning to glance at him, she added, “Now, please go into the bedroom and find some clothes to wear. The last thing I want is for my friends to see me pull in with a naked giant in the passenger seat. I’m going to have enough trouble explaining you as it is.”
Dante considered her solemnly for a moment, and then stood up, gathering the afghan in a ball in front of his groin. Before moving away he asked politely, “May I use your phone again?”