Out of the Storm (Buckhorn, Montana #1) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,69
afraid of what might come out of her mouth. “I’m low on cash. You’ll have to use my credit card.” The card would leave a trail. It wasn’t much in the way of a plan, but it was all she could think of.
Then she remembered that he’d been in her purse to get her passport. Had he seen how much cash she had? Also, he hadn’t returned her passport. Even if she could get away from him, she wouldn’t be able to cross the border without it. She was sure that’s the way he’d planned it.
Collin said nothing as he finished his cola, put down his window and tossed the cup out as he drove. He didn’t look at her. But when she glanced at him, she saw the set of his jaw and felt a shudder.
* * *
THE SIGNALS ON Matthews’s SUV had stopped in Moose Jaw. As Jon drove toward the city, he waited for them to move again. They didn’t. He stopped at a convenience store for gas and something to eat, drove another hour and then pulled off the road outside of the small Canadian town. Matthews’s vehicle still hadn’t moved. He slept for a couple of hours, waking at one in the morning.
Jon checked his watch. He had two clear signals where they’d been earlier, still unmoved. From under the seat of his pickup, he untaped two of the weapons Earl Ray had given him, checked to make sure they were loaded and ready.
He wasn’t planning on using them. He didn’t want to kill anyone. But if he was forced into a corner, he would kill anyone he had to if it meant saving Kate’s life. If it came to that, then his cover would be blown. Even in Canada, he wouldn’t survive a night in jail.
Once he knew that Kate’s daughters were safe, he planned to make his move. Not that it wouldn’t be dangerous. Anything he did could jeopardize Kate’s life. But he couldn’t leave her with Collin any longer than he had to, fearing what could happen to her if he did.
As he drove into Moose Jaw, he thought of Kate. Earl Ray was right about one thing. It was crazy the way he’d gotten involved in this. Just because she’d walked into his woodshop that day and thought he was her dead husband, Daniel Jackson.
Just his luck, he thought. Otherwise he would be in his woodshop right now, working. He often worked late. Instead, he was in Canada, not sure what he was about to get involved in because of a green-eyed brunette with a heartbreaking story about a dead husband.
He was close now, almost on top of the signals. He looked around, surprised to find himself in a residential neighborhood. He’d thought he’d find them in a highway motel.
Kate had said Matthews was meeting associates who were up here on a ski trip. Often there was a little truth in every lie, he’d learned. So did Collin’s buddies live here? Or was Matthews meeting someone here?
The signal took him to a house on the edge of a creek. Each lot was large, except for the last one where the signal was coming from. The house was older, as if it had been the original farmhouse on the property and the subdivision had been built up to the west of it. The house also didn’t look as well kept-up as the others. A rental? That made sense. Make whatever deal was going down in a nice neighborhood. Both Matthews and Kate were clean-cut enough that the neighbors wouldn’t pay them any mind.
He drove around the block, which turned out to be quite large, the creek cutting through the backs of the yards to form a park of sorts.
He checked his watch. 1:37 a.m. The neighborhood was dead quiet. No lights on in any of the houses. A working neighborhood where probably both husbands and wives had jobs to get up for in the morning.
He found a place to park without attracting undo attention. Now the question was how to approach this. He had no idea how many people were in the house or what kind of weapons they would have. He had to assume they would be armed or have a weapon close by, even in the middle of the night.
Matthews had flown to Montana, which meant he could have brought a handgun in his checked baggage on the plane. Or he could have purchased one easily enough once he landed.