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her hand again. “Hey, it’s OK. I know what you meant.”
    Katie laid her head down on his chest, wanting to avoid his eyes for a minute. “Can I ask you something now?”
    “Of course.”
    “Will you still take me to Nevada? After the accident and everything you know now?” She held her breath.
    “Katie, I am absolutely taking you there.”
    Something in his voice made her stare at him. “Why do you sound like that?”
    “Like what?”
    “I don’t know.” She tensed up a bit. “Angry.”
    He slowly reached out and when she didn’t flinch, he brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I am angry. Not at you, OK? At your stepfather.”
    “You are?”
    “Fucking furious.”
    “Oh.”
    He smiled grimly. “Look, I’m not going to lay a finger on the guy, even though I’d love to beat him to death. But I am going to get you to Nevada in time for you to look him in the eye. I want you to stand over him on his deathbed and say and do whatever you need to say and do to move on with your life.”
    She blinked at the tears in her eyes. “Really?”
    “Yes, really. You can trust me, OK, sweetheart? I’ll get you there.” He gently wiped her tears with his thumb. “I promise.”
    **
    Officer Deborah Keene stared down at the blood in the car. Not as much as she’d expect from a car accident, so that was a good sign. Whoever was in this car got up and walked away.
    “OK,” she said to her partner Kevin Edwards. “They must in the Play Barn.”
    “For sure,” Kevin said. “That’s what I’d do.”
    “Me too,” Deborah said. “You call it in and I’ll go to the Barn, check it out.”
    “Ambulance?”
    “Oh, yeah.”
    Deborah walked to the barn and saw that the padlock was gone.
    Yep. They busted in here. Fred Murray is going to lose his mind that someone broke in. Again. Well, it’s his own damn fault for having such a piss-poor security system. Though I imagine whoever’s in there right now is grateful he’s such a cheap bastard and won’t lock the place up properly.
    Deborah reached the door and pushed against it. Nothing. She shoved again and heard the wood make contact with something inside. She pushed with her shoulder and felt whatever it was start to give. There was a loud bang and a crash as something fell over.
    Adam heard the sound behind him and he jolted awake. Katie was sleeping soundly, her head on his bicep and his arm curled around her waist, holding her against his chest. In one movement, he gently eased her off him and leapt to his feet. Only half-awake, Katie sat up on the sleeping bag, her face scared and confused in the morning sun.
    “Adam? What –”
    “Stay down,” he said, shielding her from the person standing in the door holding a gun.
    “Police!” Deborah said, badly shaken at the size of the man in front of her. He had very short dark hair and blazing blue eyes and his arms were covered in tattoos.
    Adam held up his massive hands. “Hey, we’re glad to see you. We were hoping someone would show up when they saw our car by the road.”
    Deborah saw the woman now. She looked frightened half to death. Deborah lowered her gun. “You two OK?”
    “Not bad,” Adam said. “Some scrapes and bruises.”
    “An ambulance is on its way.” She walked closer. “You were damn lucky… that was one bad storm last night. You’d have been OK in here, though.” She looked in approval at the blankets and water and bandages. “You certainly travel well-prepared, huh?”
    “Yeah,” Adam said. “ Some people complain about all the space it takes in the trunk and say that always having my camping stuff in the car is idiotic.” He grinned down a Katie. “Maybe now those some people will back off a bit, huh?”
    Katie fluttered her eyelashes up at him. “I have no idea of what you speak.”
    They both burst out laughing; they felt an odd combination of relief and giddiness.
    Deborah shook her head.
    Young love.

Chapter Five
     
    Mia woke up slowly. She was warm and comfortable