A Texas Hero Read online

  She dragged in air and reached for the tape. The stranger held his wrists together and she nervously wounded the tape around them. His hands were strong, his fingers lean.

  “Tighter,” Rudy yelled.

  She pulled until her arms hurt and then she used her teeth to rip into it. The stranger’s dark eyes watched her. There was something in them she couldn’t define. A message, maybe. Trust me. Or was she reading what she wanted to see?

  “Holy shit, Rudy,” the driver called. “There go four police cars and a SWAT van. The old man must have woken up and called them. Too bad, suckers. We’re long gone.”

  The van rolled to a stop.

  “What the hell you stopping for?”

  “Red light, dude.”

  “Watch the man so I can tie up the woman.”

  The vehicle was basically a shell with two seats. The driver pointed a gun at them and Rudy whipped the tape around her wrists. He still had on the mask and all she could see were his dull green eyes staring at her from behind a gorilla face. Goose bumps popped up on her skin.

  “Hey, dude, we got a looker here. I might keep her.” He ran his hand up her arm and she jerked away. “She’s feisty, too.”

  “Leave her alone,” the stranger snapped

  “Shut up,” Rudy hissed, “or I’ll tape your mouth.”

  “There’s a cop car behind us,” the driver said as they moved through the light.

  “What the frickin’ hell?” Rudy looked out the small back windows. “His light’s blinking. Don’t stop.”

  “No way. I can lose him,” the driver bragged.

  “He’s going around us.”

  “Yeah, Rudy. He’s turning around up ahead. Must be heading to the bank to give assistance. Sucker! Cops are idiots.”

  “Turn off this damn highway,” Rudy ordered. “And follow the route I told you.”

  The van swerved onto another road and then another and Abby knew they were miles away from the bank...away from safety. Suddenly they turned onto a dirt road and bounced along on uneven ground, knocking her against the stranger, except he didn’t feel like a stranger anymore.

  He watched the gunman as if waiting to catch him off guard. But what could he do? His hands were tied, literally.

  The van hit a pothole and her body slammed against the stranger’s. Her shoulder pressed into his and her thigh molded to his tight muscles. His strength radiated to her and her grip of fear lessened. She wasn’t in this alone. He was her ally. Her prince? Oh, God, had the heat twisted her brain? But he would be her only hope in the hours ahead.

  And she didn’t even know his name.

  * * *

  ETHAN JAMES WATCHED the robber, reading him like he had so many other criminals. His teeth were yellow, his fingertips yellower and his eyes were dull and bloodshot. A drug-head. Which meant he was capable of anything—and he was dangerous. Ethan had to be careful.

  The woman was holding up well. No crying, screaming or panic attacks. She had to stay calm if they were going to make it out of this ordeal alive. The odds were against them. Two armed druggies, and one of them had his eye on her. This was a highly volatile situation, and there was nothing he could do but try to protect her.

  Would he risk his life for hers? He had a daughter at home to think about—a kid who was a stranger to him and seemed to hate him. But since he’d won full custody, he was trying to be a good father. He’d never had that chance before.

  He promised to take Kelsey horseback riding this morning. Another promise broken. His whole life was riddled with them, and most of them were out of his control. Because he always put his job first.

  He glanced at the woman who sat in a petrified state. Why in the hell had she stopped short? Now he might never see his daughter again. The woman was beautiful, he’d give her that. A blue-eyed blonde with inviting curves like he’d seen in numerous magazines—made to look at but not touch.

  Her hair hung to her shoulders and dripped with sweat, as his did. A sleeveless green top was cut low, too low for guys with trouble on their minds. The filth in the van stained her white slacks. He was annoyed with her, yet empathetic at the same time. This kind of situation wasn’t easy for the strongest of women. Or even the strongest of men.

  He tried to gauge how long they’d been on the road, but wasn’t quite sure. On and on they rode. Branches rubbed against the van so he knew they were in a remote area. That wasn’t good. Too much could happen away from civilization. They came to a sudden stop and the double doors opened. “Get out,” Rudy shouted.

  Ethan scooted to the door and stood. He turned to help the woman but she was right behind him. After the semidarkness of the van, the sun was blinding. He blinked several times to adjust his eyes. The woman stumbled but maintained her balance.

  A run-down shack was in front of him. Dried dead weeds surrounded it. No one had been here in a long time. Rudy shoved them toward a broken step. The door was half open, the lock rusted shut. Floorboards creaked as they went inside. A rat the size of a raccoon ran across the floor.

  “Oh.” The woman stepped back, but didn’t scream or fall apart. He admired that. The rat was a little too big for his comfort zone, too.

  “Sit down,” Rudy ordered.

  The dirty floor was uncomfortable, but they were out of the hot van and able to breathe. Ethan took in the tiny room at a glance. Part of the roof had caved in over the sink. The refrigerator looked rusted shut, too. Two steel bunk beds with rotted mattresses stood in a corner. Junk littered the wobbly plank floor, and the glass in the two windows was broken out. An abandoned deer-hunter’s cabin, was his thought. How were the two hoods connected to it?

  “Don’t even think about moving,” Rudy warned and walked out the door.

  Ethan eased to his feet to listen and maybe get a glimpse of their faces. The masks had to be hot. He heard their voices.

  “I’m sweating bullets in this mask.” That was the driver.

  “Take it off. We don’t need them anymore,” Rudy told him.

  “What are we gonna do?”

  “This sounded good last night when I was high.” Rudy removed his mask. “Man, the boss is gonna be pissed.”

  “Who cares? We’ve got the money and we’ll head to Houston and get lost.”

  “I’m taking the woman with me.” Rudy made that clear.

  “You’re stupid, man. I didn’t agree on no kidnapping. She’ll get us caught.”

  “Shut up.”

  Ethan took a quick peep. They stood by the van. Rudy was white, the other guy black, but he already knew that from their hands. He had to get the woman out of here and fast. Rudy was determined to have her.

  He stepped over beer cans to the window and saw nothing but thick woods. This was their way out and they had to take it quickly.

  “What are you doing?” the woman whispered.

  “We’re crawling out this window,” he whispered back.

  “Our hands are tied.”

  “A minor problem,” he replied. “C’mon. We have to go before they come back.”

  After a bit of a struggle, she got to her feet and walked to him.

  “Balance with your hands and swing your legs over the sill. I’ll help.”

  “I can do it,” she snapped.

  “Lady, I’m the only friend you got so don’t be short with me.”

  “Sorry. I’m just on edge.”

  “We don’t have time for this. Go! Once outside, run into the woods, and don’t look back, even if they capture me, even if they shoot at you. Keep running. Hide. Anything to save yourself because, lady, you don’t want to experience what these guys have in mind for you.”

  She visibly paled.

  “Go!”

  She slid one long leg over the dust-covered ledge, balanced with her
clasped hands and slid out kind of sideways, but she’d done it. Thank God she wore flats. High heels would have made running away impossible.

  He followed and had to bend low to get his body through the hole. Then he was off running behind her. Shots rang out, disturbing the stillness of the trees. Disturbing his equilibrium. He caught up with her.

  “I can’t breathe,” she gasped.

  He had that problem, too. The heat was suffocating, and he knew they had to stop or collapse from it. They came to a gully and slid down it. He took her clasped hands and pulled her up the other side. They gulped in hot air.

  Voices echoed through the trees.

  “We have to go. Walk on the leaves. Try not to disturb them.” She followed orders easily and he liked that. The woods grew thicker and difficult to get through. “We have to find a hiding place.”

  “Where?” She looked at the dense woods all around them.

  He pushed through thick yaupons and saw a felled oak tree with more yaupons growing around it. “C’mon.” The tree was big and had been dead for some time. “We’ll hide behind this.” He pulled back some branches and they crawled in. “Lie lengthways against the trunk, your taped hands out in front, and don’t make a sound.” She stretched out against the trunk and he joined her—their hands inches apart.

  Voices rumbled through the dense woods.

  “Have you found them?” Rudy shouted.

  “No, man. Let’s get the hell out of here. This ain’t part of our plan.”

  “Screw the plan.” Rudy’s voice rose. “Shoot the guy. The woman is mine.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  ABBY HUGGED THE rotted tree trunk with her body. Dust clogged her nose, and dirt coated her skin and clothes. Vivid terror held her captive like a ball and chain clamped to her. It beat a rapid warning in her chest.

  She inched her fingers along the ground, through the leaves to touch the man’s hands. He clutched hers. He was there...with her. The thought gave her courage, which she feared she would need in the next few minutes.

  “They have to be here somewhere,” Rudy said. “Help me look.”

  “I’m done, man. I’m taking the money and leaving.”

  “You better not.”

  “The woman’s only trouble. She’ll get us caught, Rudy, and I’m not going back to prison.”

  “You sorry bastard.”

  “So long, sucker.”

  “Devon!”

  A gunshot rang out followed by a curse. Then a barrage of bullets slammed into the woods. A couple of shots hit the tree and the dried wood splintered over them. Neither moved or made a sound, but she gripped the man’s fingers tighter.

  “You sorry sons of bitches, I hope you die out here,” Rudy screamed, and then the pounding of footfalls receded into the distance. Still neither one of them moved.

  Neither wanted to die.

  Silence was crucial.

  Creep-crawly bugs swarmed out of the tree, covering their arms. Were they termites? Did they bite? The feel of them on her skin made her want to scream, but she knew her very life depended on her not responding.

  The silence stretched. A soft rustling was the only sound. Sweat ran from her hair onto her neck and the heat was stifling. Breathing was difficult. She had to get out of here. Away from the bugs. The heat. Panic rose in her chest, but reality kept her grounded.

  She lifted her head from her arm. “Are they gone?” came out barely audible.

  “I’ll check.” He looked over the trunk and surveyed the scene. Then they both heard the sound—the revving of a motor. “They’re leaving.”

  “Both of them?”

  “I’m not sure, but we have to get this tape off our hands.” They shook off the bugs and crawled through the yaupons into a small opening. They sat in the dirt while he kept one eye on the woods, in case Rudy was lurking behind a tree.

  With his teeth, he caught the edge of the tape on his wrists and pulled. Scooting closer, she used her fingers to help undo it. Then he helped her free her hands. The tape left open welts on her skin, but she was glad to be free of it.

  “Now what?” she asked, instinctively knowing he would know what to do.

  “We start walking.” He rose to his feet, as did she. Slowly, they trekked through the woods, down the gully and back to the shack. The van was gone and the dried grass torn apart where the men had sped away. “They’re gone,” he said. “I guess Rudy decided to go with the money.”

  Sweat rolled down her back and pooled at her waistline. She was miserable, but at his words relief washed over her.

  They were gone.

  All the courage she had mustered and the fear she’d bottled up inside burst forth into an array of weakness she couldn’t control. Her body trembled and tears rolled from her eyes.

  “Hey.” He touched her arm. “No tears. It’s dehydrating. Take a deep breath and keep all that moisture inside. You can’t fall apart now.”

  “I...I...” She couldn’t form a sentence and she felt so weak in front of this strong man.

  “C’mon. Let’s sit under a shade tree and figure out what we need to do.”

  She sank down under a huge live oak, willing the tears away as she tried to regain control of her emotions. “I’m so thirsty,” she murmured.

  “Me, too.” He sat beside her and drew up his knees. His legs and arms had scratches from the trees and she realized her arms were scratched, too. Yet he seemed cool as ever, unruffled about what they’d been through.

  “Who are you?”

  He looked at her and his dark eyes were tired, the first signs of stress she’d noticed. “Ethan James.”

  “Thank you” was all she could say. After a moment, she found more words. “I’m so grateful you insisted on coming. I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “I wanted to make sure I get my bumper fixed.”

  Through all her agony, she smiled. “I’ll fix it with my own two hands.”

  They stared at each other for a long time and Abby felt a connection like she’d never felt before—a connection of trust and friendship. And above that she knew she could depend on him. Words like honor, loyalty and hero floated through her mind. She didn’t think there were men like him left. Of course, she could be delusional. But she still wanted to know more about him.

  “What do you do, Ethan James?”

  “I’m a detective for the Austin Police Department. I work homicide.”

  It fit. “That’s why you’re so cool and collected.”

  “I was in the Marines, too. The first thing you learn is to never show fear.”

  “You have that mastered.”

  “On the outside. Inside is a different story.” He leaned forward, scanning the landscape, and she knew he wasn’t going to talk anymore about himself. “We have two goals—to find water and a way out.”

  “The police will be looking for us.”

  “Yeah, but they don’t have a clue where we are. Our only hope is that there are surveillance cameras in the bank and...”

  “Inside and out,” she said.

  “Good. Then maybe that van will show up on the cameras and the cops can trace it. But that doesn’t help us unless Rudy or Devon tells them where they left us. They’ll deny it at first. All criminals do. The detectives will have to apply pressure and that will take time.”

  “You mean we could be out here overnight?”

  “Yes.” He got to his feet. “I’m guessing this is an old deer-hunter’s cabin that hasn’t been used for a while. The gully is probably a creek that dried up from the drought. But I’m hoping the hunters had access to another water supply. I’ll take a look around.”

  He walked toward the shack and she had the urge to run after him. But she knew he
wouldn’t leave her here. Strange, how she was so sure of that. She leaned her head against the tree and wondered if her father had been notified. Her heart ached at what he must be going through. He was strong, though, and would take care of Chloe. She was sure of that. Just like she was sure Ethan James would get them out of this nightmare.

  The hot sun bore down like a furnace and she guessed it had to be midmorning by now. She’d left the house in such a hurry earlier that she’d forgotten her watch. In the afternoon the sun would be unbearable, and they would not be able to survive without water.

  She was tired and thirsty and a feeling of lethargy washed over her. If she closed her eyes, she’d wake up in her apartment holding Chloe and watching SpongeBob SquarePants. The morning would all be a bad dream. Because men like Ethan James only appeared in women’s fantasies. They didn’t exist in real life.

  * * *

  “YOU KNEW WE had plans for the day. Why did you agree to keep Chloe?”

  Everett Baines looked up from his paper into the furious face of his wife. “Abby needed help and I’m her father. I will always be there for her.”

  “But we had plans.”

  “Picking out new patio furniture? We can do that tomorrow or the next day.”

  “You always put them before me—your wife.”

  “Gayle, I’m not having this conversation with you again.” He picked up his coffee cup. “I’m going to watch cartoons with my granddaughter.”

  “I’m still going shopping.”

  “Fine. Buy whatever you want.” He walked into the den, placed his cup on the end table, and picked up his granddaughter from the sofa. Abby had her dressed in pink shorts, a pink-and-white halter top, white sandals and pink bows in her blond hair. Chloe clutched Baby, her favorite doll.

  “Is Daddy coming, Grandpa?” she asked.

  “No, sweetiepie. Your mom will pick you up.”

  “’Kay.”

  Everett had offered to pay for a top-notch lawyer, but Abby always refused. Because of Gayle. This time he wasn’t taking no for an answer. Doug’s lawyer controlled the situation and the visitation set out in the divorce papers. Which meant nothing to Doug, who did as he pleased. When Abby complained, the lawyers talked but nothing changed. That wasn’t acceptable anymore.