Maggie’s arms felt numb when she entered the bedroom and went to the cradle to collect her son.
“Get everything you need. We ain’t comin’ back.”
Maggie quickly stuffed things into the diaper bag Rafe had gotten her.
“Get your driver’s license. You’re gonna be my chauffeur while I keep the gun trained on Junior. One wrong move, and he’s history.”
She still had her driver’s license in her jeans pocket. “I have it right here,” she said in a voice that trembled. “Lonnie, why are you doing this? I love Rafe. Do you really want a woman who doesn’t want you?”
He laughed, the sound ringing with insanity. “Oh, you’ll want me. You’ll get on your knees and beg me for it, girl. We ain’t gonna have your mama around no more so we gotta sneak. You know? I’ll have you whenever I want you. And you’ll want me back. Got it? If you don’t, I’ll kill your brat.”
He swung the gun toward the door. “Move. Don’t think you can stall me until your daddy-in-law comes to the rescue. I’ll shoot the son of a bitch and anyone else who gets in our way.”
Maggie remembered reading once that even maniacs had limits. How she prayed that was true. Surely Lonnie wasn’t so crazy that he’d kill someone in cold blood.
But, oh, God, she couldn’t count on that. The diaper bag bumped against her leg, reminding her with every step of the night she had fled from this man. She exited the bedroom and started to retrace her path up the hallway to the kitchen. Halfway there, Becca emerged from the guest room, her stout form blocking Maggie from going farther.
“There,” she said, straightening her apron. “That’s all done.”
Becca’s eyes widened when she saw Lonnie behind Maggie. The next instant, Maggie saw the gun in her side vision. “Lonnie, no!”
The blast of the weapon deafened Maggie. Becca grabbed for her chest, her gaze bewildered and disbelieving as she reeled backward and hit the wall. She fell with a thud to the carpeted floor, crimson spreading across the upper right side of her chest. Blood. Everywhere.
“Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Lonnie! Oh, dear God.”
Maggie started toward Becca. Her stepfather jerked her back by the hair. “He’s next,” he said, shoving the gun against the baby she cradled in her arms. “Walk or he’s dead.”
Maggie staggered over Becca’s body, horror blanking out all rational thought. This wasn’t happening. It was a terrible nightmare. Rafe wasn’t gone. Becca wasn’t dead. Lonnie wasn’t really here. It was simply her worst fear come to life in a terrible dream. Any moment now, she’d wake up and be safe in Rafe’s strong arms.
Everything seemed to happen in a blur. Hurrying through the kitchen. Spilling out into the atrium. Stepping outside without a coat, to feel the blast of the chill winter night slicing through her clothes.
Lonnie had hidden a rental car in the woods. He’d come onto the ranch on a back road—a logging road that had been excavated after the forest fire when Rafe and Ryan had tried to salvage what they could of the charred timber. It seemed to Maggie that they walked forever. No strong hand held her elbow now to keep her from slipping on the ice. She was all alone.
With a monster.
The luminescent glow of the instrument panel bathed the otherwise dark cockpit in ghostly green. Rafe stared straight ahead, unable to shake the feeling that he shouldn’t have left Maggie. For some reason, Rafe kept remembering the nightmare he’d once had of Lonnie in the station wagon, laughing maniacally just before the vehicle plunged off the cliff. The image made his blood run cold, and he prayed to God it hadn’t been some kind of premonition.
“Penny for them,” Ryan said as he put the plane on autopilot.
“I’m just worried about Maggie and the kids. I’ve got this bad feeling I shouldn’t have left them.”
Ryan sighed. “That’s why you called the folks. Right? Dad’s there by now. He can handle anything that comes up, Rafe. And you know what else?”
“No. But I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“Yeah, I am. I think Maggie’s got a hell of a lot more grit than you give her credit for. Not saying I think anything’s going to go wrong while you’re gone.” Ryan leaned forward to adjust the controls. “But if it did, I think she’d surprise everyone in how well she handled it.”
“Trust me, no one on earth gives Maggie more credit for gutsiness than I do. She’s a strong-minded woman, and just because I’m worried about her doesn’t mean I think she lacks courage. It’s just that she’s been through enough. You know? My natural inclination is to protect her from any more heartache, and I sure as hell don’t want her having to face Boyle alone again. She felt so helpless, with no way out. The memories of that will affect her for the rest of her life as it is.”
“She wasn’t helpless. She could’ve left and gone to a shelter.”
“And abandoned Heidi? Give me a break.”
“I’m not saying she was wrong to stay. But there’s a difference between being helpless and deciding to sacrifice yourself to save someone else.”
“True.” Rafe passed a hand over his face. “I guess I shouldn’t worry so much. If anything happens, she can probably handle it just fine without me. I just have this bad feeling. You know? Boyle can’t be trusted. My first thought when I decided to come get Helen was that he might have planned it this way. What if he did this, hoping to lure me away so he could get to Maggie and the kids?”
Ryan scowled. “Damn. Do you really think he’s that crazy?”
“He’s pretty damned crazy.”
Ryan fell quiet for a long moment. Then he said, “No matter how you circle it, Rafe, someone’s got to go get Maggie’s mom. I’d go do it for you, but the woman’s never even met me.”
“I know. Thanks for offering, all the same.”
“Maggie’ll be fine. If anything happens, Dad’s there, and what he can’t handle, Mom will.”
Rafe chuckled. “You’re right about that.” He peered through the gloom at his brother. “Talk about steel in the backbone. I think she gets a little ornerier with each passing day. I swear, she needles Dad for the fun of it.”
In the eerie green illumination of the cockpit, Ryan’s teeth looked phosphorescent when he grinned. “She’s a little lippy, but Dad seems to love it. You know what he told me right before they left for Florida? That the sex was so good, he was afraid he’d croak in bed. ‘Hell of a way to go,’ he said.”
Rafe barked with laughter. “God, he’s bad. He’s not supposed to tell his sons stuff like that. He’ll warp us emotionally. Somehow, you just don’t picture your folks—well, you know.”
“Especially not Mom. It’s sort of—hell, I don’t know, sacrilegious or something—”
A static blast from the radio interrupted them. Ryan keyed his mike to signal a go-ahead. A second later, their father’s voice came over the air. “You boys need to get your asses back here,” he said. “We’ve got trouble.”
Rafe’s stomach dropped and felt as if it bounced on the floor of the aircraft.
Maggie’s hands felt as if they were frozen on the steering wheel. She had taken the on-ramp onto the interstate approximately five minutes ago. The rental car’s headlights illuminated the white divider lines, making them seem to come at her in a dizzying rush. She tried frantically to think, but the fear that held her in its grip blanked out rational thought.
Lonnie sat sideways on the passenger seat, the gun aimed at Jaimie, who lay in back. Damn him. He knew her weak spot. By threatening the life of her child, he had absolute power over her.
He gets off on fear. It turns him on. Rafe’s voice kept zigzagging through her head. Sweat beaded on her face. Boyle’s a bully. He picks on those who are weaker. To men like him, power is exciting. They thrive on it and on being in control.
Well, he had to be turned on now, Maggie thought frantically. She was plenty scared. Pictures flashed through her mind of Becca, lying dead in the hall, her blood smeared over the wall. Call his bluff? Oh, God, how did she dare?
The man was insane. Absolutely insane. If she bucked him, he’d kill Jaimie.
In that moment, Maggie would have given anything to have her son safely away from there. Then she’d have nothing to lose by calling Lonnie’s bluff. The slimy worm. He grabbed for power in any way he could, even if it meant using a tiny baby as leverage. He wouldn’t be so smug if it were only the two of them. The bottom line was, Maggie wasn’t as afraid of dying as she was of staying alive and under his thumb. If it weren’t for his having Jaimie to use as a bargaining chip, she’d give Lonnie more trouble than he could handle.
The thought stuck in Maggie’s brain. Without Jaimie as a bargaining chip. A rush of adrenaline moved through her. Lonnie was maniacal, but he wasn’t stupid. He kept threatening to kill Jaimie, but if he did that, he’d compromise his position of power.
Boyle’s a bully.
He gets off on power.
Rafe’s voice bounced around in Maggie’s head. She struggled to calm down. Think. Shove the fear away, clear your mind. Think. There had to be a way out of this. She needed to get help before he took her someplace isolated. And, God help her, she needed to think of some way to get her son safely away from him.
She remembered reading somewhere about a woman who had been abducted and forced to drive the getaway car. She had kept her cool and unobtrusively tapped her brake pedal to flash her rear lights, sending out an SOS. Maggie didn’t know the signal, which ruled out her doing that. But if she kept her head, maybe she could think of something else.
She saw a blue road sign: REST AREA, ½ MILE. Up ahead, she could see the lights off to her right. Several passenger cars were in the parking area as well as three semi trucks. A lump of raw terror rose into her throat. She backed off the gas.
“Why you slowin’ down?”
Maggie gulped to steady her voice. “I have to go to the rest room.”
“Bullshit. You can squat alongside the road. We ain’t stoppin’ around a bunch of people.”
Maggie forced herself to laugh. “God, Lonnie, you’re something else. You want me to stop alongside a busy highway? Forget it. Besides, I have to go. You get my drift? It’s not going to be a quick process.”
“Pick up speed!” he yelled. “We ain’t stoppin’, I said. Don’t screw around with me, girl. That kid don’t mean nothin’ to me. I’d as soon shoot him as look at him.”
Maggie continued to slow down. “That kid better rise in your estimation, Mr. Boyle. He’s your only ace in the hole.” She shot her stepfather a glare. “Go ahead, Lonnie. Shoot him! With him gone, I’ve got nothing to lose. Nothing. Are you reading me, loud and clear? You want me on my knees, asshole? Well, here’s a news bulletin. Kill my child, and you can kiss that plan goodbye! I’ll fight you with my last breath, and the minute you turn your back on me, you’re a dead man. Got it?”
Rafe sat forward in his seat, his father’s voice replaying inside his mind. Maggie and the baby are gone. Becca’s been shot. I think the son of a bitch was hiding in the house.
Glancing at Ryan, Rafe snarled out, “Hurry, damn it! Is this as fast as you can fly this thing?”
Ryan sighed. “I’m circling to land, Rafe. You want them picking up our pieces after a crash? Calm down, for God’s sake. You’ll be no use to Maggie or anyone else in this state.”
Rafe propped his elbows on his knees and rested his face in his hands. “Oh, sweet Jesus. Oh, sweet Jesus. I should never have left her. I smelled a rat. Why didn’t I listen to my instinct and stay with her? The bastard. God, Ryan, he’s a lunatic. He shot Becca! And he’s got Maggie and the baby!”
Ryan’s voice sounded thin when he said, “They’ll be okay, Rafe. They’ll be okay.” He reached out to squeeze Rafe’s shoulder. “Hey, bro, get a grip.”
“I can’t lose them,” Rafe cried raggedly. “I’ll put a gun to my head and pull the trigger this time, I swear to God. I can’t go through that again. Oh, Jesus. Maggie. I promised her he’d never lay a hand on her again. I promised her.”
“They’re probably traveling right now. He won’t mess with her until they get where they’re going. Dad’s called the cops. The state boys will have an APB out in nothing flat. They’ll find them, Rafe. Have a little faith, huh? You already lost one family. Lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place.”
Magic can vanish in a puff of smoke. Rafe could remember Maggie saying that to him. He’d pooh-poohed the notion. Christ! Why did he always do that? Looking back, he knew now that Susan had sensed she didn’t have long to live when she’d pleaded with him that night down by the lake. Promise me, Rafe. If something happens to me, promise that you’ll find someone else to love. I don’t want you to be all alone. He’d laughed it off. Not taken her seriously. Only a short while later, she’d been dead. And now Maggie, his sweet angel face, the one touch of magic in his life, vanishing in a puff of smoke. She’d sensed that their happiness couldn’t last, and instead of heeding the warning, he’d patted her on the head and ignored it.
“You know the worst part?” Rafe said to his brother.
“No, what?”
“When we first got together, I told her men like Lonnie are turned on by fear. That he was a bully. What if she listened to me?”
“Well, it’s true. He is a bully.”
“Yeah, but—” Rafe broke off and swallowed. “Dear God, I hope she doesn’t do anything stupid. When I told her that, I thought she was safe from him. I never dreamed she might be around him again without me there to shove his teeth down his throat. What if she does something crazy, Rye? It’ll be my fault.”
“She won’t. The lady’s not dumb.”
Dumb, no. But with Jaimie’s life on the line, she would be desperate.
Maggie drew the rental car to a stop in one of the rest area parking places, shoved the shift into park, and cut the engine. Staring at the steady trickle of women who were entering and exiting the ladies’ rest room, she said a quick prayer. Then she shifted her gaze to Lonnie. Inside, she was shaking with terror, but somehow she managed to keep her hands steady and meet his incredulous gaze without flinching. He still had the gun trained on Jaimie.
“Start the car back up,” he said in a dangerously silken voice. “Now. Or I swear to God, I’ll splatter his brains all over the seat.”
“And lose your only leverage, all because I have to use the toilet? Brilliant thinking, Lonnie.” She tossed the car keys in his lap. “There’s only one way in. Those rest rooms never have back windows. Where am I going to go, down the sewer? You’ll see me if I come back out. It’s not like I can get away.”
“I’m warning you!”
Maggie opened her door. “Yeah, I hear you. And you know what, Lonnie? I think you’re bluffing.”
“Get out of this car, and find out!”
“Yeah, yeah. The bottom line is, with Jaimie out of the picture, you’ll lose your advantage.” She smiled at him. God only knew how she managed to do it, but she actually smiled at him. From somewhere inside her, a reckless but calculating hard core sprang to life. A hard core that gave her just enough courage to put on a front of bravado. “No Heidi to threaten me with, no mother, and no baby. Just you and me. That thought frightens you, doesn’t it? That’s why you came to get me, because you knew you were about to lose custody of Heidi, that even if you fought him, tooth and nail, Rafe had more money, better lawyers, and the ability to hold out until he got what he wanted.”
The gun began to shake. Maggie’s heart caught, for if he accidentally pulled the trigger in his agitation, Jaimie would pay for it with his life. She swallowed, determined to keep talking. She’d taken the other route for seven endless years, letting this man bully her into submission. That path led to hell, and this time, she’d be taking her son along with her. Maggie couldn’t let that happen. She had little hope of escaping from Lonnie herself, but there was a chance for Jaimie.
“If you didn’t regain custody of Heidi and get her back in your clutches, you knew you’d have no way to coerce me into going back to you, and
that was your plan all along, wasn’t it? To take Rafe’s money and bide your time for a bit. Then threaten me with Heidi’s life if I didn’t get my tail back home.”
He said nothing.
“That’s what it’s all about. Isn’t it, Lonnie? Your sick obsession with me. Your last hold on me would slip away if you permanently lost custody of Heidi. So you pretended to be interested in Rafe’s offer and then you walked out on Mama, knowing she’d fall apart. Then you headed for Oregon to get me, knowing all the while that Rafe would have no choice but to go to Idaho.”
“Shut your mouth.”
“You knew Rafe wouldn’t allow me to step foot over the Idaho state line, didn’t you? That he’d feel duty-bound to go get my mother, but that he’d go without me. Very smart, Lonnie. I’m impressed. Don’t ruin it by threatening to shoot Jaimie. We both know how dumb that would be.”
“Shut up!” He pointed the gun at Maggie’s forehead. “You shut up, you little bitch! I’m the one with the gun.”
“Yeah, and with all the witnesses.” She gestured at the cars around them. “I’ll gladly shut up if you stop threatening to kill my child.”
“I’ll threaten whatever I want.”
She heaved a weary sigh. “And that’s all it is, a threat. Kill him, and you lose your power over me. I’ll be a good girl to keep him safe. No question. We both know it. So stop aiming the gun at him and running the threat into the ground. After a while, it gets repetitive.”
Maggie slipped from the car, sending up feverish, disjointed pleas to God. She slammed the driver’s door closed and then opened the rear passenger door to scoop Jaimie off the seat. Thank God the door had been unlocked.
“What’re you doing?” Lonnie cried.
Maggie grabbed the diaper bag. “What’s it look like I’m doing? While I’m in there, I may as well kill two birds with one stone and change him. Or would you rather waste even more time by stopping again a few miles up the road?”
“You’re not taking him in there with you. Do you think I’m stupid?” He threw open his door and jumped from the car. As he hurried around to Maggie’s side, he shoved the gun in the pocket of his jacket but kept it aimed at her. “Put him back. Now.”