“That’s my girl,” he whispered.

“Everyone here is really freaked out,” she told him and he knew she was walking and talking.

“Tell them they can relax,” Joe said and he heard her short, surprised giggle.

“Jeez, Joe, that’s what you always say.”

God he loved that kid.

“I know you’re in a hurry but can you hang on? Keira wants to talk to you,” Kate asked.

He couldn’t but he would.

“Yeah, tell her it has to be fast.”

“Right,” she said into his ear and then the phone was away from her mouth when he heard her say, “It has to be fast, Keirry.”

“I’ll be fast,” he heard Keira promise, then in the phone, “Joe?”

Tied for second.

“Hey, honey.”

“Joe,” her voice broke on his name then the tears were audible.

“Come here, darlin’,” Cal heard who he guessed was Cheryl whisper and the phone moving.

“It’s me. I’m back,” Kate said. “I got the number.”

“Give it to me,” Joe replied and listened to it as she gave it and repeated it. When she was done, he said, “We’ll be home soon, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she whispered.

“Love you, baby.”

“Love you too, Joe.”

He flipped the phone shut and looked at Benny and Ricky who were both staring at him. Benny with a grin on his face. Ricky with his mouth hanging open.

Cal ignored their reactions and said to Benny, “They’re in a boathouse, north, on the lake. Vi said her Dad had a boat there before we were disconnected. I have his number. We’ll call on the way.”

Benny was already on the move when he said, “Gotcha.”

* * * * *

We stopped in the trees, both of us breathing heavy but we listened for footfalls in the leaves.

We’d been running willy nilly for what seemed like hours, at first because we were panicked and didn’t know what the f**k we were doing. Then because we were lost and couldn’t get our bearings. Finally, we came to a spot that was familiar to me and I knew we were close to safety.

Now we just needed to catch our breath.

“You think we lost them?” Frankie whispered.

I knew Daniel Hart never gave up. We didn’t lose them.

I looked at her and shook my head.

She looked through the trees then at me. “We should separate.”

I snatched up her hand. “What? No!”

“They won’t know who they’re followin’.”

“So? They could catch either one of us but –”

“You stay here, I’ll go. They’ll hear me, follow me, you know the lay of the land. You wait awhile then go to that shop you were talkin’ about and I’ll lead them away.”

This was a crazy plan and no way I was doing it.

“What if they find you?” I asked.

“I’ll think of something,” she answered.

“That’s crazy!” I snapped.

She got close. “Violet, honey, you got no shoes on. You’re in a t-shirt. You can’t be out here, running on this –”

I cut her off. “I’m fine.”

She got closer. “Listen to me –”

I shook her hand at the same time I squeezed it. “We’re not separating.”

“Vi –”

I lifted my other hand and wrapped it around the side of her neck. I did this because Joe did it to me more than once and when he did I shut up and listened to him (sometimes).

“We’re… not… separating.”

Frankie stared me in the eyes then she nodded.

There you go. The hand to the neck business worked even if you weren’t a huge badass rugged alpha male.

I filed that away for future reference and then we both took off running.

* * * * *

Cal and Benny stood in the empty boathouse with the broken window. There weren’t many but this was the third one they’d been in. The second one had two dead men in it that Cal recognized because they’d shot at him this morning. The boathouse he and Benny were in was the closest to Hart’s and it was the one where the women had used the phone. Cal knew this because the place was dusty but the dust was disturbed and most of the disturbance was around the phone.

Cal had Benny’s phone to his ear and Pete was on the line.

“Where would she head?” Cal clipped into the phone.

“People. Civilization,” Pete muttered.

That would be difficult. They weren’t far out of Chicago but there weren’t a lot of either of those where they were which was fifteen minutes out of Chicago but still right in the middle of f**king nowhere.

Then Pete said on a near shout, “The shop!”

“What shop?” Cal asked.

“Main road, half a mile up from the house we used to have. Only thing on that road except the lake houses. We used to drive out of our way to go up there so I could get the kids ice cream. I didn’t want the ice cream to melt –”

Cal interrupted him, “So it’s half a mile up from your old place, you mean north?”

“Yes,” Pete answered and Cal looked at Benny and did the mental calculation from what Pete had told him.

“So maybe five, six miles from here,” he said to Benny.

“Long way for her to go if she’s barefoot,” Benny replied quietly and Cal was glad Vi’s f**king foot had time to heal so both of them could be torn to shreds running through a goddamned forest because f**king Daniel f**king Hart was right now literally stalking his goddamned woman.

“Gotta go,” Cal said into the phone as they headed toward the door.

“You’ll call?” Pete asked.

“I’ll call,” Cal answered and flipped the phone shut.

Then he jogged behind Benny but followed him to the driver’s side.

Benny turned to him. “I’m drivin’.”

“I’m runnin’,” Cal returned.

Benny’s brows shot up. “What?”

“I’m on foot. You drive to the shop. I’m takin’ the woods.”

Benny moved closer. “Cal, you haven’t had food, you –”

“Time’s wastin’, Ben.”

“You been shot twice,” Benny reminded him.

“Grazed.”

“Cal, God dammit –”

“They might catch them before they reach the shop. They could be anywhere in those woods and they’re scared, not covering their tracks and therefore leavin’ footprints,” Cal pointed out and finished. “I’m trackin’ through the woods.”