Immediately, my fork dropped to the plate with a clatter as I leaned over the table for a better angle to look out the window down the street.
Sure enough, seconds later, five bright, circular lights like flashing moons crested the hill and descended the street toward the diner.
“Holy shit,” I whispered as they drew closer.
Because I recognized the man on the first bike, sitting astride the giant hog awkwardly like he was hanging on to the powerful beast for dear life. His dark, shaved head gleamed under the yellow lamplight. Without the jacket currently in the back of the van we’d parked across the street, he wore only the long black tee he’d been in at Evergreen Gas.
I should have recognized him even beneath the nylon sock back then, but it wasn’t like I expected Otto, idiot though he was, to hold me at gunpoint for some cash in the till.
Now, though, I recognized him right away.
I lurched to my feet, the chair screeching loudly across the chipped, checkered linoleum. The diner was mostly empty, but the trucker in the corner and the female server both looked over at me in concern.
I ignored them.
My gaze was pinned on Otto and the group of thugs trailing him.
How the hell had they found us?
Unless…
The duffel bags filled with money and jewels.
If those assholes were smarter than they seemed, they might have put a tracker in the bags. It irritated me that I knew enough about the criminal mind to make such a guess, but it was also helpful.
If I was right, they were looking for Aaron, and he had no idea.
They’d picked up another man who’d probably been the one to deliver the motorcycles in lieu of the van we’d stolen, and I didn’t like the odds of five against Aaron’s one even though he’d proven himself an incredible brawler.
I tossed a handful of bills on the counter, downed my now-cold coffee, wiped my mouth on my sleeve, and walked toward the back of the restaurant.
“Is there a back exit?”
The server pursed her painted bubble gum-pink lips at me, then nodded curtly. “Past the bathrooms on the right. You okay, girl?”
“I will be,” I promised opaquely as I turned down the hall.
I ducked into the break room to grab a black ball cap and hoodie off the employee hooks and then jogged out the back, exploding into the muggy night with my heart racing.
The little parking lot behind the diner was occupied by an old Honda and a fairly nice Audi. I made a beeline for the Honda because it was a model without modern security. There was a rock by the fender that would do nicely, and after wrapping my hand in my Evergreen Gas vest, I used it to knock out the back seat window on the driver’s side. Carefully avoiding the jagged edges, I reached inside to undo the lock and slipped into the front seat.
Hot-wiring the car was easy. Anyone could do it after watching a few videos. I’d been taught by the best on the streets of Calgary, so the Honda Civic was a piece of cake. The engine groaned to life like a sleepy beast and protested with a sputtering exhale when I peeled into reverse and out of the lot.
At that point, the motorcycles had already progressed down the street, but I could still see them up ahead. They were driving slowly, in case, I figured, they ran into Aaron or me.
I followed them.
I’d promised myself I would stay out of trouble after Otto left me, but the truth was, I’d been drawn to trouble my whole damn life. I was born into it. So how was I supposed to stay impartial when the most handsome man I’d ever met, who had saved me from my own predicament just an hour earlier, was in danger?
When I was younger, I’d known a man named Cedar who had taught me all there was to know about stalking someone without being seen. It wasn’t about melting into the shadows and not making a noise so much as it was about acting like you belonged somewhere and were preoccupied with anything but the person you were tailing.
I hadn’t tailed anyone in years, but it seemed I was still good at it, even in a noisy old car, because the bikers didn’t turn around once on their way out of town and farther up the mountain.
They stopped at the base of a gravel driveway curving out of sight beyond a bend framed with scraggly trees. A couple of them got off their bikes to deliberate.
It was my only chance to get to Aaron before they did.
I parked the car in a random driveway and then got out to slink through the shadows. I curved far into the brush, moving as quietly as I could over the dry, crackling sticks and grass in order to avoid the group of bikers. Only a dim spot of light through the trees served as a kind of North star, leading me to a small, dilapidated trailer set on concrete blocks.
