Thirty yards.
She looked around one last time and saw the two men slow to a stop. She’d made it. Whatever would happen, she was away from them.
Suddenly there was a screech. From out of nowhere, the black SUV pulled out of the food market lot and blocked her way.
Dani virtually crashed right into it.
A second car sped out of an alley, wedging her in, in a V.
“No! No!” she cried out, slamming her fist against the side. She spun quickly around to try and break free.
The rear door of the SUV opened and someone took her by shoulder and pulled her in.
He had the same gray T-shirt she had seen just minutes before with a skeleton on it and the letters SXSW. A bright red gash over his eye.
“So I owe you that trip.” Robertson winked, slamming the door shut. “Man, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you weren’t so eager to go.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
They bound her hands with a nylon rope that dug deep into her wrists, and almost seemed to enjoy it when she winced, maybe a smirk of payback for the welt above Robertson’s eye.
Someone Dani hadn’t seen before in a white, short-sleeve shirt and tie was at the wheel. She let her head fall back against the headrest—nervous, spent, completely out of breath.
And scared. She knew what they had done to Trey and those people in the balloon. Robertson sat next to her in the back. It gave her the creeps just to feel their legs come together when the car turned. They drove through town without seeing as much as a police car on the road and got onto Route 34 toward Greeley.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
“Don’t you worry your little head about that,” Robertson said. “You’ll find out soon enough. Just enjoy the ride.”
“I said, where are you taking me?” she asked again, with defiance.
He rubbed the mark above his eye. “You were asking about the water supply, so we thought we’d give you a look, firsthand. Up close and personal, as they say.” He ripped her bag away and pawed through it quickly, and tossed it to the floor underneath his legs. “Don’t think you’ll be needing any of this now.”
Trepidation and uncertainty pulsed through her, where seconds ago adrenaline had held her together. She watched the familiar landmarks go by. On the edge of town, Robertson took out a walkie-talkie and spoke into the receiver. “Cargo’s on board. We’re on our way out to the Falls. Everything set up there?”
A scratchy voice came back. “All ready. Whenever you arrive.”
“The Falls? Where is that?” Dani asked warily. She knew she was in extreme danger now. “What do you mean, are you ‘set up’? People know I’m here. They saw me.”
“Don’t ask so many questions,” Robertson said, stowing the walkie-talkie. “Trust me, you’ll need every breath.”
Inside, her stomach tightened into a knot. She inspected her bound, useless hands, the binds digging into her. Up ahead of them, she spotted a black-and-white state police car on the side of the road. State, not town. Beat on the windows, she told herself. Scream. There had to be some way to contact it as they passed.
“Up ahead …” the driver glanced behind and said to Robertson, alerting him to it.
“I see it.”
As they got close, to her dismay, Robertson reached over and forced her down against the seat, well below the windows, which were darkened anyway, so that no one could possibly see in.
Or hear.
“Help! Help me! Goddammit, help me!” Dani screamed in vain, her pleas muffled into the leather.
“Scream all you want,” Robertson said, releasing her when they’d passed. She sat up and looked behind. The police vehicle had made a U-turn and receded into the distance the other way. “Go ahead, exercise those lungs of yours … Trust me, you’ll need every breath.”
A feeling of deep helplessness set in. What were they going to do with her …? Her only hope now was Ty, and there was no way to contact him. She eyed her bag on the floor next to Robertson. Suddenly it dawned on her she had never turned off the phone from when she had called him on the truck. It was a long shot, but what if he had kept his on as well? Maybe there was a chance he was hearing everything that was happening to her. And tracking where they were taking her. It was the only shot she had now. “Where the hell are the Falls?” she asked, trying to direct him to where they were heading. “Greeley?”
“Don’t ask so many questions.” Robertson just looked straight ahead.
“Please …”
Finally he snorted brusquely. “The two of you are fools. You’re lucky they don’t let me do what I’d like to do to you. For this.” He tapped the red mark over his eye. “You come up here and think this is all some kind of game. You think you’re playing with kids, huh? You more than anyone should have known. You saw what happens …”
What happens … She realized what he meant. “You’re talking Aspen?” she said, praying that the cell phone was somehow live. “Trey.”
C’mon admit it, she said inside. Say it.
“You should’ve just done what you came up here for and left. The two of you.” He looked back ahead. “That’s all I’m saying.”
“I know you killed him. I know you were on the river. I saw the tape.”
“Tape …?” Robertson turned to her with renewed interest in his eyes.
“The ranger station keeps a running record of who goes in and out. Your car is on it. You do anything to me, and people will know. Everyone knows I was looking for you up here. They’ll put it together.”
He shook his head. It was clear he didn’t know. “Useless piece of shit …” he muttered disgustedly under his breath.