"I know you're scared, Dani, but you really do need to trust me and stay with Decker. And it would probably be for the best if you didn't try calling your family. At least not until we get your sister back, and I promise I will get her back for you, but in return you have to not contact your family. They'd just worry anyway. It's better they don't know until it's over and you're both safe. All right?"
She bit her lip, not sure what she should do.
"All right?" he repeated.
"All right," Dani responded quietly, though she wasn't sure she would keep her word.
Another moment of silence passed, and she suspected he was worrying that she wouldn't keep it, and then he sighed. "I won't call you again. They'll know we talked."
"No they won't," she assured him, not wanting to lose this connection with her sister. Nicholas was the only one who could reassure her that her sister was still safe and not lying at the bottom of a ditch like one of those women back at the clearing. "They're outside. I can see them. They don't know I'm talking to you."
"It doesn't matter. They'll know," Nicholas assured her solemnly and then added for good measure, "They'll read your mind and know everything you've thought and said and heard."
"Read my mind?" Dani asked uncertainly, beginning to wonder if the whole world had gone mad while she was in that grocery store.
"I know none of this is making sense to you, but you just have to trust me," Nicholas said firmly. "I'll do what I can to get your sister back, but they can do more. Tell them we just passed Georgian Bay on Highway 400. My guess is he's going to take the highway all the way to Toronto and try to get lost in the crowds there."
"Georgian Bay," Dani echoed faintly. That was almost an hour away. She frowned, confused by how they had gotten so far so fast. Surely she hadn't slept for that long, had she? And what had the men been doing during that time for her sister's kidnappers to get such a head start? Her gaze slid to the tarp-covered bodies behind her.
"Nicholas," Dani began, but before she could get any further she heard the click as he ended the call. She pulled the phone away and stared at it, her thoughts returning to his claim that he'd killed someone and that Decker and Justin had been sent to bring him in for judgment. Oddly enough, the claim didn't worry her as much as the one that Decker and Justin could read her mind. It seemed to suggest Nicholas was just as crazy as they were.
As for the bit about them having put the suggestion into her mind not to call her parents, that was just crazy too. She hadn't called because she'd been too distracted with other things, Dani told herself and began to punch in the number of her mother's cell phone. She had to call and tell them what was happening. They needed to know. She didn't look forward to explaining about Stephanie, but it was the responsible thing to do and-
Dani stopped and glanced up swiftly when the front passenger door opened and Decker slid inside. She immediately snapped her phone closed and slipped it quickly in her pocket, afraid it would be taken away if they saw it.
When Decker pulled the door closed and then turned to glance at her as Justin got in on the driver's side, she forced a smile and asked, "Is everything all right?"
"Yes," he said at once.
It was Justin who added, "I just wanted to talk to Decker about something. Guy type things."
Dani nodded and tried not to look like she had heard a good deal of their conversation and now knew they were crazy. She was relieved by the distraction Justin offered when he said cheerfully, "So, while we're waiting, why don't we go into town and get something to eat?"
Before Decker or Dani could shoot down the idea, Decker's phone began to ring. The two men peered at each other silently, and then Justin reached for the tracker in the cup holder nearest him and began to fiddle with it as Decker pulled out the phone and placed it to his ear. Knowing Justin was removing a battery or otherwise deactivating the tracker, Dani concentrated on Decker as he said, "Hello" and then listened briefly, before saying, "Can you repeat that for Bricker?"
He held out the phone and Justin set the tracker back in the cup holder and then took the phone. He too said, "Hello" and listened briefly before saying, "All right."
Decker took back the phone and had a short conversation that consisted of mostly listening and the occasional grunt and then he snapped the phone closed. As he slid it in his pocket, Decker leaned to the side to glance back at her and said, "They weren't able to track the SUV. We're to head back to Toronto to coordinate and come up with a plan to track down the man who has your sister."
"I see," Dani murmured, and despite the fact that she'd expected it, found she was disappointed by his lying. Obviously, both men had just been told that the GPS on the SUV had been tracked and was on Highway 400, heading toward Toronto.
This was proven to her when Justin started the engine and asked, "You don't happen to know how to get to Highway 400 from here, do you? We had GPS in the SUV to get up here and I didn't find a map in the van when I searched it before we left."
Dani nodded and peered out the window as she said, "I can direct you. Head straight up here and I'll tell you when to turn."
Dani was staring blindly out the back side door window, lost in thought, when a curse from Justin made her glance curiously his way. She noted the frown on his face and the way his gaze kept dropping to the instrument panel.
"We need gas... like now. The warning light is on."
Dani's eyes widened in dismay at this news, and she sat up on her knees to peer out the windshield at the dark road ahead.
"Don't panic," Decker said firmly, noticing her anxiety. "I'm sure we'll find somewhere to stop before we run out."
"And if we don't?" she asked anxiously.
He didn't answer. Instead he turned and leaned forward in his seat to peer out at what lay ahead.
They rode in silence for a couple of tense minutes, and then Decker straightened, eyes squinting briefly before he let his breath out on a relieved sigh and said, "There's a sign up ahead."