Page 1 of Daddy's Oath
Chapter One
It was a beautiful sunny summer day and Lana Reyes was in paradise.
To some, that might seem strange, since she was at work. But she loved her job. She woke up thankful five days a week that she got to go, clock in, and get busy. Sure, she enjoyed her weekends, but that didn’t mean she dreaded Monday mornings.
Quite the opposite, actually.
Her job was outright perfect. The best place to be in the world.
Until all hell broke loose.
“Everyone get out of the way! This thing won’t stop!”
The frantic cry came from a man who sat behind the wheel of a long tram. The vehicle was barreling down a hill, smack in the middle of a storied Hollywood studio backlot.
Behind him were dozens of passengers who were clearly terrified.
Most of them gripped the metal bars in front of them. Those bars had been installed to help passengers, eager to hop out and snap a picture where their favorite movie or show was filmed, to easily get on and off. The vehicle wasn’t supposed to go fast enough for anything else.
Now, though, the bars had white knuckles clinging to them as passengers braced for an inevitable crash.
Around them, in what looked like a town square in any number of small southern or midwestern cities, other trams were guided out of the way by drivers eager to whisk their passengers to safety. A group of tourists who were taking pictures in front of a gazebo hurried to the side. Some of them applauded, thinking the runaway vehicle was all part of the tour.
This was Hollywood, after all.
The entertainment capital of the world.
It stood to reason that the studio might slip a little something extra into the tour to give everyone more bang for their buck.
But Lana knew this was all too real. She’d worked at the studio long enough—and had seen tours go through every day—to know that this was not planned.
She could see the runaway tram’s driver furiously moving his leg, pumping the brakes once again. But it was no use. The thing was actuallygainingspeed!
Lana thought she knew the reason why, too. But there would be time to worry abouthowthis happened later. Right now, she just needed to stop this thing.
“Hold on!” she yelled.
Working her legs as fast as they would go, she started running toward the runaway tram as it zipped by. Even though it came right by her, it was now going too fast for her to hop on. That was okay. She just needed to reach what stuck out on the back.
She threw her arms out and stretched them as far as they would go, but only grasped air.
Crap! If only I had two or three extra inches,she thought.
An idea hit her. Nearby, a tourist held a parasol. She hated stealing it, but under the circumstances, she didn’t see another way. Never breaking stride, she reached out, took the longumbrella, and yelled, “Sorry! Thanks!” before throwing her arms out once more.
The tram had gained even more speed and was slipping away. Another few seconds and she would need more than that parasol to reach it.
It was now or never.
She jabbed the parasol out like a fencer going in for a touch.
Missed.
She tried again. That time the parasol’s tip slid in between a yellow and blue wire.
Perfect!
She yanked up but the wires only forced the parasol back down. A grunt escaped her throat as the tram came off the decline, onto level ground, and then rolled a bit farther from her reach.
