Page 12 of Murder at Rescue Ridge

“Of course not.” He threw his leg over and took a seat before motioning her to hop on the back. “When I returned to the ranch, I fixed this one up, rode this out here, and left it. My siblings and I kept it here for those times when we found ourselves in need of a ride back to the main house or just wanted to have fun.”

Barking in the distance alerted them to the fact dogs had been brought in to find them. This probably wasn’t the right time to tell Conrad about her other big fear. Motorcycles.

She slipped onto the seat behind him, wrapped her arms around his midsection after securing her purse, and then buried her face in his back.

No turning back now.

Branches slappedConrad in the face, chest, and arms as he pushed the dirt bike as fast as he could through the terrain. Thankfully, he’d memorized this area and knew it like the back of his hand. There’d been many times in his childhood when he’d needed to disappear for a few hours. The fort had been the spot. It wasn’t uncommon for him to run into one or more of his siblings there.

Beaumont would not have approved, which made the place even more special. The man hadn’t visited this side of the property with the thick trees. He’d almost always rode to the east, which had made this area even more appealing.

Conrad had yet to show the spot to Beau. Trust was earned, in Conrad’s opinion. He’d been willing to give his half-sibling the benefit of the doubt, which wasn’t the same as blindly trusting the man. He was, after all, Beaumont’s son.

Zigzagging deeper into the thicket, he tried not to focus on the arms wrapped around him or the face buried into his back. Nikki shouldn’t be here. She shouldn’t put her name on the line in case this investigation went south. There was no reassurance Conrad wouldn’t end up in jail. They might end up caught and arrested.

Giving himself a mental headshake, he refocused on the terrain. The short stint he’d had dealing with race cars had taught him that focusing on the wall at a high rate of speed during a hairpin turn led to a crash. Maintaining focus on where he intended to go, would deny any other outcome. Leaning forward, he navigated them off Sturgess property. At least the dogs that had been hunting them would lose their scent now. He had no doubt the animals would have caught up to them, given the chance. Stashing the dirt bike at the fort had been a symbolic gesture that had paid off.

Until the engine chugged, and the bike jerked. His gaze dropped to the gas gauge.Shit on a stick.Empty.

The bike stalled. Nikki hopped off the second it stopped.

“I hate motorcycles,” she said. “Had a boyfriend once who thought going a hundred miles an hour around the lake and scaring me to death on the back was funny.”

“What an asshole,” Conrad stated, and then apologized for forcing her on the back of this one.

“This was an emergency,” she said. “You had no choice.”

Even so, guilt smacked him hard. He should have asked upfront.

“Besides, we’re here now, and those dogs would’ve found us,” she continued, gripping her purse strap to the point of turning her knuckles white.

They might still.

“Can you run?” he asked. The place he had in mind was far but would offer shelter. Plus, they needed to put as much distance between themselves and the search team as humanly possible.

“These boots aren’t helping, but yes.”

She had on those thick-soled boots that were all the rage.

“We can walk for a while,” he said, adjusting his strategy. “Getting blisters the size of dollar bills will only hold us back tomorrow.”

“What do we do next?” she asked as they headed northwest. “We have no phones or transportation.”

“We can’t use credit cards, either,” he said. “That’s an important one.”

“I have a little cash,” she said. “My mom always insists on traveling with enough to get by in case the machines all go down.” She shrugged. “She had that happen on a road trip once when I was little and was able to pay for gas with cash. Made her day that her planning had paid off.”

“It’s good advice,” he said. “Seems like every move we make nowadays can be tracked.”

“I’m used to it,” Nikki said. “Aren’t you?”

“I’ll never get used to the loss of privacy.” Call him old-fashioned, but he kept enough cash on hand to get by for a couple of days. Most of his purchases were all cash unless he needed to buy something that had to be delivered. That was usually something for the ranch, a large purchase. “Big companies are always watching everything we do. So, I use cash mostly. And it’s the same reason I don’t have social media accounts.”

“None?” she asked with the kind of incredulity in her voice that made him laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“We have accounts for the ranch, of course,” he said, still chuckling. “But the world hasn’t ended because I don’t know what so-and-so is eating for breakfast today. So, I’m good.”

“Point taken,” she said. “I’m just so used to scrolling with my morning coffee. Makes me feel like I know what’s going on.”

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