Page 57 of Shine On Oklahoma

“I thought it might help you get your edgeback. I was doing you a favor. You’d be thanking me if it hadworked.” He shrugged. “But you were too slow, Caine got impatient,and everything went sideways. I’m lucky to be alive.”

“I can’t believe you. I can’t believe I leftmy sister to try to save your worthless ass. I can’t believe Iruined the only good thing in my life to try to save yours, when itwasn’t even real.”

“You’re right. I played you,” he admitted.“Kind of makes us even, doesn’t it?”

“That you can run out on us, after you’vecaused so much harm—how can you do that?”

His back was toward her, but he’d gone still.He dropped the whiskey and the humidor onto the bed. “I’m notrunning out. I’m coming with you to save Kiley.” Then he turnedslowly, blinking like a blind man when light somehow gets through.“You really think I’d run out on my own kids, Kendra? I mean, I wasgoing to leave, yeah, but I hadn’t thought it through far enough. Iwould have, before I got very far. I’d have come back. How can youthink otherwise? Have I been that bad a father?”

“Yeah. You have. Come on, Dax.” She was outthe door a second later, and striding through the parking lotpurposefully. Then she got into her Corvette, and started itup.

Dax stood beside her car, so she didn’t shutthe door. “If he’s coming, he should ride with you,” she said. “Godonly knows what kind of tracking that asshole Caine has on hisCaddy.”

“Okay.”

She looked up at him. “I’m sorry, Dax. Ithought I had no choice, and it was all for nothing, and I fell forit like a rookie. And I’m sorry.”

He said, “I am too, Kendra.”

#

“This is it,” Kiley’s kidnapper said afterforcing her to hike what felt like miles uphill, through densewoods and undergrowth. “I told you it wasn’t far.”

“It was far for me.” She wrapped her armsaround her belly, as if she could protect the baby. They hadreached a shack that looked like it was on the verge of fallingdown.

There were two men. The one in charge was atall man, and way too well dressed for hiking through the woods.His suit was shiny. He had dark hair, male pattern baldness, apock-marked face, and an oddly high-pitched voice. There wasanother guy with him, a big guy with carrot colored hair andfreckles and eyes as cold and heartless as marbles. His name wasPhil. The boss was “Mr. Caine.” At least that was how theyaddressed each other.

They didn’t speak to her much at all, exceptto give orders. She’d asked over and over what this was all about,but they wouldn’t say.

“Is that an outhouse, over there?” she asked,pointing at the sturdiest piece of construction in sight.

“Yeah,” Phil said.

“I need it.”

“No.” That was Caine, the boss.

“I’m nine months pregnant. There’s aneight-pound baby sitting on top of my bladder. If I don’t pee inthe outhouse, I’m going pee in my pants. You want to smellthatthe whole time we’re here?”

Mr. Caine studied her for a moment. “Go aheadbut uh—don’t try anything.”

She strode to the outhouse, opened its doorand poked her head inside. Quick as a minute, she snapped off hersmart watch and tucked it behind a board. That way, it could keepbeaming her location until help arrived. If these two douchebagsfound it, they’d smash it.

Then she backed out again. She hadn’t evenstepped all the way in. “I’ll just go behind a tree or something. Ithink there are things nesting in here.”

“Fine, just don’t try anything funny.”

“What am I gonna try? Sprinting through aforest, ten miles from anywhere? Idiot.”

Only, she wasn’t ten miles from anywhere.She’d been trying to pay attention to the landscape as they’dhiked, and she thought she was about a mile from the Falls, andEdie Brand’s place wasn’t far past them. She had that giant dog,Sally, too. Even if no one was home, Sally would protect her.

But Rob would be coming or her. These animalshadn’t hurt her yet. Maybe they didn’t intend to. And Rob wouldthink to trace the watch. He’d be here.

So she didn’t try anything. She went behind atree, and peed, and found a tissue in her pocket to use. She waspretty sure the muscle, Phil, could see her the whole time, and shedidn’t give two nickels about that. He had his gun out, like he’dshoot her if she took off through the woods. So she stroked herbelly as she walked back toward him, and sang a lullaby to herbaby, and looked him right in his cold marble eyes.

He looked away.

CHAPTER TEN

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