“Sorry… Um… Hadley… um… Hadley Emmerson,” I whisper, clutching the phone to my ear.

“Where are you now Hadley?” he asks, and I look for a mile marker on the side of the road.

“Mile maker eighteen.”

“Good, that’s very good. I’m about five minutes behind you,” he says, and I don’t close my eyes in relief even though I want to.

“Thank God,” I whisper.

“You holding up okay?” he asks softly.

I shake my head, then answer, “I just saw someone put a woman in the trunk of a car. It’s dark, scary dark, and now I’m following them, so I’m going to go with no, I’m not okay,” I reply.

I swear I hear a smile in his voice, when he mutters, “Good point.”

Keeping back so I’m close but not too close to the car in front of me, I watch as their brakes light up and they slow, then I watch as they pull off the highway, onto a small dirt road surrounded by trees.

“They just pulled off the road,” I whisper through the fear that has suddenly lodged in my throat.

“Pardon?”

“They just pulled off onto a dirt road!” I yell. “Oh, God, what do I do?”

“Keep driving, we’re on our way,” he orders.

“I can’t do that,” I whisper, blinking away the tears filling my eyes.

“Hadley, pull off the road. Me and other officers are en route. We’re close. Pull over.”

Shaking my head, I hang up the phone and drop it into my cup holder. The idea of something happening to that woman before the cops can get to her, and me just driving by and not doing anything to help, would kill me. Turning off my headlights, I slow down and turn onto the dark road I saw the car pull onto.

Harlen

Hearing my cell ring, I pick it up off the coffee table and look at the screen. Not recognizing the number, I’m half tempted to let it go to voicemail, but with Harmony out at the movies with Willow, I answer. “Yeah.”

“Harlen?”

“Yeah?”

“Fuck… okay… it’s Cobi. Willow called. Harmony went to the bathroom during the movie and didn’t come back.”

“Pardon?” I sit up, and Dizzy, who had been lying on my lap, jumps off me and then the couch.

“About two minutes after I got the call from Willow, Dispatch called. A witness saw a man dump a woman in his trunk, and they have been following them.”

“Where are they?” I growl, pulling on my boots.

“On Bitterknot Road. I’ll call and let you know when I locate Harmony.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Harlen—”

“I’m heading that way.” I hang up then dial Wes, Everett, and Mic, letting them know I might need them, and each of them instantly agrees to have my back.

Going to the bedroom, I open my safe in the bottom of the closet, grab my gun, and shove it in the back of my jeans before going to the kitchen. Snatching my keys off the counter, I grab my leather jacket off the back of the stool at the bar, put it on, and then head out the door, not bothering to lock it behind me. As I kick my leg over the seat of my bike, I start the engine, put on my helmet, and back out of the driveway, fear and rage warring in my gut as I take off to find my woman and bring her home.

Harmony

My body feels heavy, my limbs feel stiff and awkward. I blink my eyes open, seeing nothing but darkness while smelling oil, gas, and dirt. It takes a second for my brain to start working, for me to remember what happened. Deep breathing, I look around the dark confined space. I know I’m in the trunk of a car and that the car is moving on what must be a dirt road. The ride is too rough to be paved.

Feeling around my pockets for my phone, my stomach starts to turn with nausea and tears fill my eyes when I don’t find it. Harlen. God, if he knows I’m missing, he’s probably losing his mind with worry right now. No, he’s probably looking for me, and he won’t stop until he has me. I know he won’t.

My lungs burn to scream, and my hands itch to pound against the trunk, but I don’t do that. I don’t want him to know I’m awake. I don’t want to draw attention to myself. If I’m going to make it out of this, I need to use every advantage I have, and one of those is surprise.

“Think.” My eyes close, and I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. My eyes fly open, and I tip my head back, scanning the trunk as my hands feel along the walls. I know I watched a news story a while ago that said all cars are required to have an emergency trunk releases. I just need to find it, which is awkward, since there isn’t a lot of space to move. My legs are bent, my neck crooked. Finding the pull switch, my heart starts to pound. I won’t have long when I pull it to get out and run. I also have no idea where we are, if there is somewhere for me to run to for cover, or if I will be a sitting duck. But running is better than going to wherever he’s taking me right now.

Pulling in another deep breath, I wrap my hand firmly around the lever and pull down. A gust of air fills the trunk, but I don’t let go, I hold it tight and try to peek out. I can’t see much, but I can see it’s dark—that darkness partly because of the trees on either side of the car.

Heart pounding, I let the lever go and throw myself out of the trunk. The car’s not going fast, but I still fall hard, my body rolling across the rocky ground and my knees and hands scraping against the earth. When I see red from the brake lights bounce off the trees around me, I push myself up off the ground and start to run in the opposite direction of the car.

Suddenly, I scream when a car comes out of nowhere without headlights. My eyes meet those of a woman’s through the windshield, and her eyes widen, right before she jerks her car to the side and runs into a tree with a crunch. I watch her airbags deploy, filling the small interior of her car, then see the driver’s door open.

“What are you doing?” she screams, her face pale as a small trickle of blood runs down her forehead. “Run!” she wails, right before the sound of a gun going off fills the woods, bouncing off the trees surrounding us. I run toward her, grab her shaking hand, and pull her with me into the trees, hearing another shot, this one so close I feel bits of wood splinter off a tree.

“He has a gun,” I pant stupidly, fear filling my stomach as adrenalin rushes through my veins.

“I know.” She trips over a fallen tree and cries out, crashing to her knees. I help her up, dragging her with me. “I…” she starts, but I hear her breathing go strangled, like she can’t get any oxygen into her lungs. Hearing that, I know that even if I don’t want to, she needs me to slow down.

I look behind us and don’t see anything, just trees and darkness. I try to listen, but all I can hear is the sound of my heart pounding hard, sending blood rushing through my veins, and our heavy breathing. Seeing a large tree, I lead us there hoping it will provide enough cover for us to stop for a couple minutes. She falls against it when we reach it, her body doubling over, her breathing harsher than before. I scan the trees, my eyes searching for any sign of movement.

“Do you have a phone?” I whisper to her, and she jerks her head side to side. “Of course not.”

“C-cops,” she chokes out harshly.

“I know,” I whisper. “We need to get to a road and flag someone down.”

“No… I… I called. Coming.”

“You called them?” I ask, and she nods. “Do they know where we are?” She nods again, and relief fills me, but it only lasts a second. I hear a branch break close to where we are, too close to where we are. She hears it too; her head comes up and her already pale face loses color. Holding my finger to my lip, I watch her eyes widen.

“I hear you breathing,” we both hear at the same time, and my lungs get tight, my body locking at the sound of a deep voice—a voice I know. “There’s nowhere for you to run,” Dr. Hofstadter calls, and another branch breaks, this time even closer than before. “Do you really think I’d let you ruin my life?” Another branch breaks even closer. “Let your fucking boyfriend beat me up and not pay you back for that?”