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She nodded and picked up her purse and keys from her dresser.
“I’ll drive,” Hunter said, and stuck out his hand for the keys.
“No, that’s okay. I’m too keyed up just to sit there.”
She climbed into the driver’s side, and he got into the passenger’s side. They drove along in silence, her mind still spinning with all that could go wrong. She had been checking for the black van again or any other vehicle, and was surprised that she hadn’t seen anything. It made her feel like she was missing something.
“Have you seen anyone following us?” she asked.
“Nope. You?”
“No. Do you think that’s strange?”
He shrugged. “Could mean a lot of things. I wouldn’t worry about it. Let’s just be glad we don’t have a tail.”
“But it feels like we’re missing something. Like we’re leading them right to her, and we don’t even know it. Why would they stop following us?”
“Maybe they think it’s not necessary if they know where you live. Maybe the guy is going to get lunch and will now be fired for missing you leaving. Maybe they think that with CPS coming to see you, you won’t go anywhere. Who knows.”
“Or maybe they don’t need to follow us because they already have her.”
“That’s just one possibility of many.”
She took in a shaky breath. It wasn’t what she wanted him to say.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat things for you, Vanessa. But I don’t want to worry you, either. We’ll be there soon, and then you’ll be able to put your mind at ease.”
She shot him an indignant look. “You think having Opal with me again will put my mind at ease? Then I’ll only be worrying about keeping her safe instead. Or that Jeremy will show up suddenly. I won’t be at ease until Jeremy is gone.”
He reached over to put his hand on her leg. “It’ll be okay. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
She clenched her teeth and turned off the main highway onto the country road that would take them to the farm house. When she glanced back again in her rearview mirror, the van was there. She sucked in a breath and felt a strange relief at seeing what she’d expected to see.
“There they are,” she said.
Hunter had already seen it and was watching in his mirror. “Get back on the highway. We need to lose them, and I don’t want to get any closer to Opal before we do.”
It was all country where they were and not many roads. She kept her eyes peeled for a place to turn around.
Hunter shouted, “Duck!”
Seconds later, she heard several loud clanks of metal.
“What is that?”
“They’re shooting at us. Keep your head down.”
She tried to put her head down and still see enough to drive. She ended up sliding down in her seat, but that wouldn’t let her look in the rearview mirror. From her side mirror, she saw someone hanging out of the passenger’s side of the car, aiming a gun at them.
Hunter already has his gun out and was lowering the window.
“What should I do? Stop?”
“No! Drive! I’ll handle it.”
He stuck his head out and fired several shots. Several more came back at them, one shattering the back window. She screamed at the sudden loud noise, and the car swerved.
“Keep it straight!”
