Page 34 of Fire Meets Fire

Confident I can disarm him without him suspecting a thing, I decide to let this journey continue. If he thinks I’m going to blindly trust him, he’s got another think coming. I’ll wait until we get to our destination then he’ll see how wrong it is to mess with a Night Stalker.

It would be a shame if I have to kill him. But even the most perfect looking skin of a fruit can hide a rotten core.

After a couple of hours, he pulls over to top off his tank. Suspecting he might not have chosen this place as random, my hand hovers close to my ankle, ready to draw my weapon, but the place seems deserted. No other vehicles have come to this out-of-the-way service station. Testing him, I tap his shoulder.

“I need the facilities.”

“Sure.” He kicks down the stand as I dismount. Then he gets a look at my face. This man isn’t stupid. “Er, Helo. I’ve not kidnapped you.”

“Haven’t you?” I swing around. “Then where the fuck are we, Chaz? And don’t kid me this is a shortcut to the border.”

His lips press together. “I’m taking you somewhere safe.”

My brows rise. “Okay. But where?”

His brows draw down in a V and his eyes harden. “Somewhere no one will find you. I promise you that.”

“Where?” I repeat, ignoring his rising temper. “You asked me to trust you and so far I’ve done that. But I need more information other than just follow you blindly.”

“For fuck’s sake, woman. I’m in this as much as you are now.” His head jerks toward the shop. “If I don’t give you information, you can’t share.”

He thinks I’m going to contact someone and give myself away? My eyes widen. If I knew where we were going, there’s no one I can call in any event. I do need to pee, so I turn and walk away, if only to give myself a few minutes to think about what I should do. Stay, and let Chaz take me where he wants to? Or extricate myself from the situation and head off on my own?

If I take the latter option, I’ll have to beg, borrow or steal to get food and clothing, but that’s nothing I haven’t had to do before. As I wash my hands, I consider it. I’m out in the middle of nowhere, and to be honest, I’m sick of running. While the weirdness of the journey means I now don’t trust Chaz further than I could throw him, if he is taking me to claim the reward,then it would give me a chance to face my enemy head-on. It would at least be good to discover who wants me dead so badly.

Maybe I can end this once and for all.

Wondering how much of a fool I’m being, I go back outside, and obediently situate myself back on the bike.

Dusk falls and the skies grow dark. Soon the way is only lit by the headlight. We’ve passed no houses for miles and now the road starts to narrow and wind up through trees.

This is definitely nowhere near the state line, and there’s no bus to be caught or taxicab in sight.

Chaz turns onto a rutted track, dropping our speed to a crawl, then, finally, comes to a halt. He taps my leg and I get off, then wait as he dismounts and undoes the padlock on a rustic gate.

“Where are we?” Looking around, I see no fresh tire tracks on the ground, nothing to suggest that someone is waiting for us.

For a reply, he pushes his bike through the gate then waves me to join him. He closes the wood barrier behind him, failing, I notice, to reapply the lock, then gets back onto the bike and turns expectantly in my direction. I shrug. Well, I’ve come this far, might as well continue onto the end. Storing up the knowledge that if Chaz intends to betray me, it’s a visitor I need to prepare for.

I stay quiet as he continues up a track that’s barely suitable for a bike, and after a couple of minutes, the headlight reveals a cabin in the middle of the woods.

Okkayy.Another sign he might have brought me here to kill me—sure would be a good place to hide a body.

Without waiting for him to tell me, as he kills the engine, I’m already off the bike, standing with my hands on my hips and peering through the gloom at the building in front of me.

Exchanging the headlight for a flashlight, Chaz steps up beside me, and takes hold of my elbow.

“Watch yourself. It’s a bit uneven.”

“Where the fuck are we?” This time I ask, I get his attention, having whipped his own gun from his belt and now have it pointed at the back of his head.

Unfazed, he chuckles softly as he holds his hands out to his sides. “It’s a cabin I own.”

I suppose it’s something I’ve not been brought to someone else’s home, but I’m not even sure I believe him.

“And why have you brought me here?”

“Woman, I’m trying to fuckin’ help you.” Exasperation sounds in his voice. “You needed some place to hide off the grid, and that’s what I’m giving to you.” He shakes his head, and I swear he adds a murmured, “Fuck knows why.”

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