Page 26 of Black Ice
The tires fishtailed again. The smart move was to hunker down and wait out this storm. Well, the smartest move was not to rob a casino in the first place. But since they had, they should be going south toward potentially clear roads. Baker, presumably obeying Tate’s orders, seemed determined to be winding his way north.
“Why did you take me?” she asked Wyatt.
“That’s enough out of you.” Tate bounced into the door as Baker skidded around a downed tree limb. “Keep her quiet,” he snarled at Wyatt.
While Karl was doubled over the rear seat for the stash of coats and cold-weather gear, she used the distraction and the swaying vehicle, trying to unbuckle her seatbelt with her cuffed hands.
Wyatt caught her. “Stop it, right now.” He pressed his elbow into her belly to hold her still. His blue gaze bored straight through her with laser-like intensity. Not unlike the time she’d sliced open her arm after taking a tumble on a trail. Then it had been comforting as he cleaned the wound for her. Right now, she had no idea how to reconcile that potent look with his criminal actions.
She sucked in a sharp breath when he released her. “You won’t get away with this,” she vowed. She tried to kick his shins just on principle, but he caught her wrists in his hands and gripped hard. Under his grasp, the cuffs dug into her cold skin. She gasped, hating the sheen of tears that blurred her vision.
“Behave,” he said the word soundlessly.
It hurt more than her pride that she was caught here. She had to find a way out before they were so far out of town that she’d die of exposure if she escaped. From her vantage point, she scanned the dashboard, wincing when she saw the outside temperature was reading ten degrees below zero. Add in the wind and her odds of surviving anything more than a short walk were slim to none. She knuckled away a tear from her cheek before the men noticed.
Tate, Karl, and Wyatt were wrestling themselves into coats, gloves and scarves, stomping into boots. More confirmation of Wyatt’s willing choice to be here.
“Got anything in my size?” she asked Karl, just in case.
“Let him keep you warm,” Karl said, aiming a sly look over her head to Wyatt.
Repulsed, she shrank back into her seat. She wasn’t getting out, not yet anyway, but she couldn’t give up. She pressed her hands between her thighs, hoping her temper would keep her warm.
Wyatt grumbled. “Come on, man. Do we have anything to keep her warm?” Without waiting for Karl to move, heunbuckled and twisted around to look for himself. Righting himself, he dragged a blanket over her lap and pulled it up, tucking it around her shoulders.
“Thanks.” It was hard to even give him that much. It was probably smart that her hands were tied. She wanted to strangle him. She pressed her lips together to keep her teeth from chattering. The reaction was more about the nerves at this point than the cold.
Under the blanket, she cautiously stretched her wrists against the zip tie. Did Wyatt realize he’d given her a chance to escape? Of everyone in this car, he should know she wouldn’t give up.
Sure she was only one woman against three armed men in the middle of the worst blizzard in nearly a century. There were better odds at a roulette table.
No matter, Evie had been making her own luck for years now.
“Can’t you go faster?” Tate asked Baker.
He pressed on the accelerator and the wheels spun. “Not if I don’t have to.”
“Are there chains on the tires?” she asked Wyatt. He shook his head. “Then turn south.”
He pressed a finger to his lips, the universal signal for silence.
“Keep her quiet,” Tate warned. “Karl, anything on the police scanner?”
Evie turned to the man on her left. She hadn’t even noticed Karl working with a handheld scanner. “Nothing. I don’t know if the network is down or if they just aren’t moving.”
“Both, most likely,” Wyatt said, echoing Evie’s thoughts.
“They don’t believe you’ll get far,” she said. “I’d have to agree,” she added. Baker wasn’t giving her much confidence thathe could handle this oversized vehicle in the deepening snow. “You realize you’re only a few blocks from the casino.”
She suspected the snow was muddling Baker’s sense of direction, though there weren’t a great many ways to get lost once you were on the main highway.
“Quiet,” Wyatt pleaded.
“Let me out and I won’t be your problem anymore,” she snapped.
“We should let her go,” Baker said. He glanced in the rearview mirror. “We dump her and keep going. Gives us a little space, especially if anyone follows us.”
“Just keep driving,” Tate said. “We might need her later. If something happens to Wyatt, she can take over as our guide.”
