Page 32 of Hunted

Her heart did a little jumpity-jump in her chest. “Not now,” she whispered. “Not now, my pills are in the RV.” She leaned over the sink, wet a paper towel with cold water and slapped it onto the back of her neck. What should she do?

She scanned the restroom. There was one squat window on the back wall, too high to reach from the floor. Lexi looked around for something to stand on, and settled on the trash can. It only took a second to remove the rounded top and flip the can upside down. She silently apologized for the mess as she climbed up. The window locked from the inside, and she turned the clasp to the unlocked position, mentally crossed her fingers and shoved it upward. It opened easily, and she thanked her lucky star and climbed up on the ledge, peering outside first. She saw no one, but there was no way to be sure. Well, she couldn’t just sit there waiting for the jerk to get sick of being patient and come in after her.

She slipped over the edge, turned and lowered herself until she dangled a few feet above the ground, then let go and landed with an ungraceful tumble. She looked around, hoping she hadn’t been seen as she got to her feet and brushed the dust from her jeans. Then she hurried back to where the RV was parked out front, keeping the oversized vehicle between her and the diner.

Romano was already inside and Lexi thought she’d never been so glad to see anyone in her entire life. He stood in the tiny kitchen area, unloading a bag of groceries into the cupboards. Or pretending to. Actually, he was waiting. For her, she realized. He was probably expecting her to try to comfort him again, the way she’d done before. And dreading it.

She took a couple of steadying breaths, went right to the front, sat down in the driver’s seat and started the motor. Then she put the thing in gear and pulled slowly out of the parking lot.

A second later, Romano was standing behind her, one hand on her shoulder, but only to steady himself, she was sure. “What’s going on?”

“One of them … back there, in the diner.” She bit her lip. Her words were coming out in bits and pieces, and her heart was starting to beat too fast again.

“Easy,” he said, and his hand squeezed her shoulder. She closed her eyes because it felt so good. “Drive nice and slow, Lexi. Take your time. No one’s gonna look twice at a camper, unless it’s careening through town, taking curves on two wheels.”

She eased up on the accelerator, nodding, willing her heart to slow down and not launch into a full-blown episode. Safe now, she kept telling herself. She was safe now.

“You need this?” Romano held her prescription bottle in one hand. She hadn’t even seen him reach for it.

“I don’t think so.”

He returned it to the glove compartment. “Tell me what happened.”

“I went to the restroom. When I started to come out there was a man at the counter, dressed all in black. He was showing his phone to the waitress, and the waitress pointed toward the restroom. I was the only one in there.”

“And?”

“I ducked back inside before he saw me, locked the door and climbed out the window.” She looked up at him to gauge his reaction to that, and was surprised to see him smile a little. “What?”

“The idiot's probably still sitting there waiting for you to come out.”

“Do you think it was?—”

“I have little doubt it was one of White’s henchmen. Just as we pulled out, I spotted a black van parked nearby. How the hell they found us, I don’t know. Maybe they didn’t. Maybe they’re just looking, checking motels and diners up and down 81.”

“I was sure I’d overreacted.”

“You didn’t overreact. You did exactly what I would’ve done. Never hesitate to follow your instincts.”

“I didn’t get our sandwiches.”

“We’ll get some more sandwiches. Actually, I grabbed everything we need to make sandwiches. Some clothes too.”

She bit her lower lip, turned to look at him again. “I’m really scared.”

“I shouldn’t have left you alone in there.”

“It’s all right," she said quickly.

“It’s not all right.” He drew a breath, let it out slowly and finally moved up to sit opposite her in the passenger seat. “It’s been eighteen months,” he said softly.

Lexi almost gasped in surprise. Was he actually going to tell her about his family?

“I worked for the FBI, and I thwarted one of White’s bigger projects. He’d been contracted to blow up a government building in Albany. I pulled his trigger early, blew up his mercenaries instead. In return, he blew up my house. My family.”

“Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”

“I ought to be handling things better by now.”

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