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them to marry, but she didn t want married ministers preaching before her. She didn t approve of it,
either.
This is the twenty-first century, she pointed out. And why are you hanging out with McKuen
Kilraven? she added, naming one of the federal agents who sometimes came to Jacobsville.
He laughed. Does it show?
I don t know of anybody else who can hold forth for an hour on sixteenth-century British politics
and never tell the same story twice.
Guilty, he replied. He was in your boss s office the last time I was there.
When was that? I didn t see him.
You were at lunch.
Oh.
He didn t volunteer any more information.
I need to go buy a new dress, she said. I think I ll drive up to San Antonio after work, since it s
Saturday and I get off at 1 p.m.
Okay. I ll let you borrow the Cobra. He laughed at her astonished look. I m not sure your truck
would make it even halfway to the city, pumpkin.
She just shook her head.
* * *
IT WAS A CONCESSION of some magnitude. Her father loved that car. He washed and waxed it by hand,
bought things for it. She was only allowed to drive it on very special occasions, and usually only
when she went to the big city.
San Antonio wasn t a huge city, but there was a lot to see. Carlie liked to stop by the Alamo and
look at it, but El Mercado was her port of call. It had everything, including unique shops and music
and restaurants. She usually spent half a day just walking around it. But today she was in a hurry.
She went from store to store, but she couldn t find exactly what she was looking for. She was ready
to give up when she pulled, on impulse, into a small strip mall where a sale sign was out in front of a
small boutique.
She found a bargain dress, just her size, in green velvet. It was ankle length, with a discreet rounded
neckline and long sleeves. It fit like a glove, but it wasn t overly sensual. And it suited her. It was so
beautiful that she carried it like a child as she walked to the counter to pay for it.
That was the only size we got in this particular design, the saleslady told her as she packaged it
on its hangar. I wish it was my size, she added with a sigh. You really are lucky.
Carlie laughed. It s for a dance. I don t go out much.
Me, either, the saleslady said. My husband sits and watches the Western Channel on satellite
when he gets off work and then he goes to bed. She shook her head. Not what I thought marriage
would be like. But he s good to me and he doesn t cheat. I guess I m lucky.
I d say you are.
* * *
CARLIE WAS IN the Jacobs County limits on a long, deserted stretch of road. The Cobra growled as if it
had been on the leash too long and wanted off. Badly.
With a big grin on her face, Carlie floored the accelerator. Okay, Big Red, she said, using her
father s affectionate nickname for the car, let s run!
The engine cycled, seemed to hesitate, and then the car took off with a growl that would have done
a hungry mountain lion proud.
Woo-hoo! she exclaimed.
She was going eighty, eighty-five, ninety, ninety-six and then one hundred. She felt an exhilaration
she couldn t remember ever feeling before. The road was completely open up ahead, no traffic
anywhere. Well, except for that car behind her...
Her heart skipped. At first she thought it was a police car, because she was exceeding the speed
limit by double the posted signs. But then she realized that it wasn t a law enforcement car. It was a
black sedan, and it was keeping pace with her.
She almost panicked. But she was close to Jacobsville, where she could get help if she needed it.
Her father s admonition about checking the truck before she drove it made her heart skip. She knew
he d checked the car, but she hadn t counted on being followed. Someone was after her. She knew that
her father s friends were watching her, but that was in Jacobsville.
Nobody was watching her now, and she was being chased. Her cell phone was in her purse on the
floor by the passenger seat. She d have to slow down or stop to get to it. She groaned. Lack of
foresight. Why didn t she have it in the console?
Her heart was pumping faster as the car behind gained on her. What if it was the shadowy assassin
come for a second try? What was she going to do? She couldn t outrun him, that was obvious, and
when she slowed down, he d catch her.
She saw the city-limit sign up ahead. She couldn t continue at this rate of speed. She d kill someone
at the next crossroads.
Groaning, she slowed down. The black sedan was right on top of her. She turned without a signal
into the first side street and headed for the police station. If she was lucky, she just might make it.
Yes! The traffic light stayed green. She shot through it, pulled up in front of the station and jumped
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