Page 60 of Peril in Piney Woods

“You should have kept going,” he said, breathless, his voice loaded with something like regret.

The worry, the fear and the hurt in his eyes was like a knife ripping her open. “Just remember one thing for me.”

He blinked. “What?”

“If I have to take a call, the moment I say hello, drop like a rock and roll under a table.”

“What?”

“Just remember that.”

She turned her back on him and walked the remaining few yards to the diner. The terrified faces of her friends and neighbors, as well as Ernie and another deputy, stared out at her as she approached. The fearful gazes sent cracks running clean through her heart. This was her fault.

The one thing that kept her putting one foot in front of the other and not falling to her knees and weeping like a child was the possibility that she would be able to put a bullet in that bastard Ridley’s head.

She pushed the door open and walked into the diner. Griff moved up behind her. The bell over the door jangled as it closed.

Besides the people lined up in the window standing on the wide ledge, much like the one in her apartment, there was only Ridley and the female he’d brought with him behind the counter. Meg didn’t dare take her eyes off the two to look for the others. They would be here somewhere.

“Only thirty seconds late,” Ridley said.

He hadn’t changed much. Still wore his jet-black hair military short. Still sported that fashionable stubbled jaw. Tall, handsome, smart. And evil. Her finger itched to wrap around a trigger and put one deep into his skull.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” Meg said with a careless shrug.

“Yes, you are.”

One of the other two minions appeared from the kitchen. She got it now. They were keeping watch on the rear entrance. It was the only other access to the diner. The third member of this little party patted Griff down, then did the same to Meg. She kept her eyes on Ridley the whole time. He was the one she had to watch. He was the most unpredictable. The one—she knew with complete certainty—who had the most to lose.

Number three took Meg’s gun and her knife. She’d known that would happen. Then he took her cell phone. He was new to her. Younger. Blond. Gray eyes. Too bad he’d chosen the wrong side.

He placed all three items on the counter and stepped back, blending into the background near the jukebox to wait for further instructions.

Ridley took aim at Griff. Meg held her breath. “Hope she was worth it, buddy.”

Her cell phone rang.

Thank God.

Ridley stared at the phone, then at Meg. “Why is someone calling you?”

Incredibly grateful that his eyes were now on her and not on Griff made her weak in the knees with relief.

“No clue,” she lied.

“Answer it,” Ridley said to his female cohort. “I know that area code.”

The woman stepped forward, picked up the phone and accepted the call. “What?” she barked. Two seconds later, her face paled. Three seconds after that, “Yes, sir,” she uttered meekly. She turned to Ridley and extended the phone toward him. “It’s for you.”

He made a face. “Who the hell is it?”

The woman, her eyes wide, shook her head.

Meg barely restrained a smile. Maybe luck was on her side after all.

Ridley accepted the phone with his left hand and pressed it to his ear. “Who the hell is this?” he demanded with his usual arrogance.

His own eyes flared wide for an instant, then his gaze landed on Meg. She stared right back at him as he listened to the person on the other end of the line.

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