“But I know exactly where we are. Dad had a boat up here. We’re –”

He heard Frankie cut in. “Violet, I hear somethin’.”

“Where are you?” Cal asked urgently.

“Oh God, they’re here,” Violet whispered.

“Violet, God dammit, where are you?” Cal shouted but the line was dead. “Jesus fucking Christ!” Cal roared, snapped the phone shut, got into Benny’s space to shove him aside and wrapped his hand around Ricky’s throat. “Where’s Hart’s boathouse?”

Ricky’s eyes were bugging out and his hand came up to claw at Cal’s arm but he managed to gag, “Boathouse?”

“Boathouse!” Cal barked in face.

“Don’t know. Swear to God… don’t –” he stopped speaking and started full on gagging, Cal released him and stepped back.

He flipped the phone back open and dialed home. Colt answered on the first ring.

“Colton.”

“Colt, ask Kate what her grandfather’s phone number is.” Cal ordered.

“Sorry?” Colt asked.

“I don’t have a lotta time. Ask Kate what Vi’s father’s phone number is.”

“Hang on,” Colt said and then Cal heard him calling Kate and the phone was jostled.

“Joe?” It was Kate saying his name, his second favorite way of hearing it.

“Hey Katy,” he said softly.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, baby.”

“Mom?” she asked, her voice tense.

“Gettin’ there,” he replied vaguely. “Now listen to me. I need your grandfather’s phone number.”

“I’ll go get my phone,” she said quickly.

So Kate. She didn’t ask questions. She wasn’t messing around. She knew he needed something and she was getting down to business.

“That’s my girl,” he whispered.

“Everyone here is really freaked out,” she told him and he knew she was walking and talking.

“Tell them they can relax,” Joe said and he heard her short, surprised giggle.

“Jeez, Joe, that’s what you always say.”

God he loved that kid.

“I know you’re in a hurry but can you hang on? Keira wants to talk to you,” Kate asked.

He couldn’t but he would.

“Yeah, tell her it has to be fast.”

“Right,” she said into his ear and then the phone was away from her mouth when he heard her say, “It has to be fast, Keirry.”

“I’ll be fast,” he heard Keira promise, then in the phone, “Joe?”

Tied for second.

“Hey, honey.”

“Joe,” her voice broke on his name then the tears were audible.

“Come here, darlin’,” Cal heard who he guessed was Cheryl whisper and the phone moving.

“It’s me. I’m back,” Kate said. “I got the number.”

“Give it to me,” Joe replied and listened to it as she gave it and repeated it. When she was done, he said, “We’ll be home soon, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she whispered.

“Love you, baby.”

“Love you too, Joe.”

He flipped the phone shut and looked at Benny and Ricky who were both staring at him. Benny with a grin on his face. Ricky with his mouth hanging open.

Cal ignored their reactions and said to Benny, “They’re in a boathouse, north, on the lake. Vi said her Dad had a boat there before we were disconnected. I have his number. We’ll call on the way.”

Benny was already on the move when he said, “Gotcha.”

* * *

We stopped in the trees, both of us breathing heavy but we listened for footfalls in the leaves.

We’d been running willy nilly for what seemed like hours, at first because we were panicked and didn’t know what the fuck we were doing. Then because we were lost and couldn’t get our bearings. Finally, we came to a spot that was familiar to me and I knew we were close to safety.

Now we just needed to catch our breath.

“You think we lost them?” Frankie whispered.

I knew Daniel Hart never gave up. We didn’t lose them.

I looked at her and shook my head.

She looked through the trees then at me. “We should separate.”

I snatched up her hand. “What? No!”

“They won’t know who they’re followin’.”

“So? They could catch either one of us but –”

“You stay here, I’ll go. They’ll hear me, follow me, you know the lay of the land. You wait awhile then go to that shop you were talkin’ about and I’ll lead them away.”

This was a crazy plan and no way I was doing it.

“What if they find you?” I asked.

“I’ll think of something,” she answered.

“That’s crazy!” I snapped.

She got close. “Violet, honey, you got no shoes on. You’re in a t-shirt. You can’t be out here, running on this –”

I cut her off. “I’m fine.”

She got closer. “Listen to me –”

I shook her hand at the same time I squeezed it. “We’re not separating.”

“Vi –”

I lifted my other hand and wrapped it around the side of her neck. I did this because Joe did it to me more than once and when he did I shut up and listened to him (sometimes).

“We’re… not… separating.”

Frankie stared me in the eyes then she nodded.

There you go. The hand to the neck business worked even if you weren’t a huge badass rugged alpha male.

I filed that away for future reference and then we both took off running.

* * *

Cal and Benny stood in the empty boathouse with the broken window. There weren’t many but this was the third one they’d been in. The second one had two dead men in it that Cal recognized because they’d shot at him this morning. The boathouse he and Benny were in was the closest to Hart’s and it was the one where the women had used the phone. Cal knew this because the place was dusty but the dust was disturbed and most of the disturbance was around the phone.

Cal had Benny’s phone to his ear and Pete was on the line.

“Where would she head?” Cal clipped into the phone.

“People. Civilization,” Pete muttered.

That would be difficult. They weren’t far out of Chicago but there weren’t a lot of either of those where they were which was fifteen minutes out of Chicago but still right in the middle of fucking nowhere.

Then Pete said on a near shout, “The shop!”

“What shop?” Cal asked.

“Main road, half a mile up from the house we used to have. Only thing on that road except the lake houses. We used to drive out of our way to go up there so I could get the kids ice cream. I didn’t want the ice cream to melt –”

Cal interrupted him, “So it’s half a mile up from your old place, you mean north?”

“Yes,” Pete answered and Cal looked at Benny and did the mental calculation from what Pete had told him.

“So maybe five, six miles from here,” he said to Benny.

“Long way for her to go if she’s barefoot,” Benny replied quietly and Cal was glad Vi’s fucking foot had time to heal so both of them could be torn to shreds running through a goddamned forest because fucking Daniel fucking Hart was right now literally stalking his goddamned woman.

“Gotta go,” Cal said into the phone as they headed toward the door.

“You’ll call?” Pete asked.

“I’ll call,” Cal answered and flipped the phone shut.

Then he jogged behind Benny but followed him to the driver’s side.

Benny turned to him. “I’m drivin’.”

“I’m runnin’,” Cal returned.

Benny’s brows shot up. “What?”

“I’m on foot. You drive to the shop. I’m takin’ the woods.”

Benny moved closer. “Cal, you haven’t had food, you –”

“Time’s wastin’, Ben.”

“You been shot twice,” Benny reminded him.

“Grazed.”

“Cal, God dammit –”

“They might catch them before they reach the shop. They could be anywhere in those woods and they’re scared, not covering their tracks and therefore leavin’ footprints,” Cal pointed out and finished. “I’m trackin’ through the woods.”

“Yeah, you get caught up in somethin’, we only have one phone.”

“Go to the shop. They’re not there, brief the people who work there, tell them to call the cops, tell the cops to call Pryor and you drive the road. I find them, that’s where I’ll lead them.”

“Cal, I haven’t been shot today, or shot at. Let me run.”

“Get in the truck, Benny.”

“Cal –”

Benny didn’t finish. Cal turned and ran into the woods.

* * *

He was gaining. He wasn’t hungover and he had shoes on and he’d had something to eat that day.

I should have let Frankie separate. I was slowing her down.

“Go!” I shouted, “go to the shop.”

“We’re not separating!” she shouted back, her hair flying behind her, running in front of me, she had my hand in hers and she was holding on tight.

“Frankie!”

The gunshot rang out, it was so close I could hear the hiss of the bullet through the air and we both reflexively dove for cover.

By the time we rolled to our backs and looked up, Daniel Hart was standing over us, pointing his gun at Frankie.

“Liability,” he muttered then fired.

* * *

Cal heard the shot, it wasn’t close but it wasn’t far away.

He stopped running and started sprinting.

Seconds later, he heard the second shot.

* * *

Benny had the windows open to the SUV, he heard the shot, it wasn’t close but it wasn’t far away.

He pulled the Explorer to the side of the road, shut off the ignition, tagged his gun and threw open the door.

His boots hit the ground and he heard the second shot.

He sprinted into the woods.

* * *

“Shoot me!” I shrieked.

He was pointing the gun at me but I was staring into his eyes.