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screaming Sam in its passenger seat.
    Harrison stood puffing on the forecourt, his
eyes wide with shock, his lips exploding with one repeated
expletive. Gemma placed a calming hand on his shoulder as he
reached into his pocket for a cell phone. She watched the truck
swerve around a car and flinched.
    Her eyes scanned the court for any cars she
could “borrow” for pursuit, but the need was ripped from her when a
motorcycle pulled up and screeched to a halt at her feet.
    “Get on.” The man kept his eyes on the
retreating truck.
    Gemma's insides recoiled as she recognized
the dark hair and tanned skin of the man from the beach.
    “I’m not going anywhere with you!”
    “Do you really want do this now? I can’t get
him back on my own. Now get on the bike!”
    Harrison’s eyes were wild as his gaze
flickered between the two of them.
    “Is this…” he began to ask, but was cut off.
“Yeah, police?”
    Gemma watched him pace away, running a
frantic hand through his hair as he spoke. Her legs began to jitter
as she looked at the expectant gaze of “beach mystery man” then
took on a mind of their own as they swung over the seat.
    “Damn it,” she muttered as she wound her arms
around the man’s waist and hoped Harrison would forgive her.
    She heard her name being called as they
accelerated away from her boyfriend.
    At the speed the bike was going they soon had
the truck in view on the I-95. Gemma winced when she realized she
couldn’t see Sam’s little head screaming from the window anymore.
Panic sizzled through her system.
    “I’m going to pull up alongside the truck.
Slap my shoulder when you’re ready to jump on and I’ll hold her
steady.”
    Gemma listened to his yelled instructions,
emptying her brain of fear and focusing on the task at hand. The
highway traffic whizzed and honked as they wove towards the erratic
truck. Gemma braced her hands on the sturdy shoulders in front of
her and carefully brought her legs up onto the seat. Crouching in
that position, she narrowed her sights on the pick up and was
relieved to see the passenger window was open.
    “Passenger’s side!”
    The bike slid up beside the truck. She
noticed Sam huddled on the floor in tears, but there was no blood.
Her heart began palpitating again. Slapping the man’s right
shoulder, she launched herself towards the window, managing to
slide most of her body through in one movement.
    The truck swerved. Hauling herself through,
she grabbed at the wheel while trying to fend off a couple of
fierce punches. She jabbed her elbow back in a swift movement that
had the carjacker releasing the wheel and grabbing at his bloodied
nose.
    Gemma ignored his indignant cries of pain as
she kicked his foot off the gas and headed towards the shoulder.
Guiding the truck to an abrupt stop, she flicked the door open and
shoved the boy out with a firm boot to the backside. He crumpled to
the ground just as police sirens wailed into hearing.
    Swiveling back, she reached for the
whimpering boy on the floor and heaved him into her arms. His
little hands snaked around her neck and he clung like a limpet.
    “You okay?” She cupped the back of his head,
closing her eyes in relief.
    “That was so cool,” Sam sobbed into her
shoulder. “What you did was so cool.”
    Gemma shook with relieved laughter as she
pulled Sam away from her and looked into his laughing, crying,
smiling face.
    She grabbed him back into her arms and
shimmied out the open door. The police were cuffing the young teen
who was busy yelling about how she had broken his nose and sending
cusses her way like bullet fire.
    She wrapped herself and Sam in a bubble of
ignorance as she stepped away from the vehicle and headed to the
safety of the bank. Her eyes scanned the surrounding mayhem looking
for the black haired rider, but he was gone.
    A shiver laced through her belly.
    He’s been following me.
    She clutched Sam against her shoulders and
sat down with a thud. With her spare hand, she rubbed