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she’d bottled up inside churned in her empty stomach, making her want to retch, or scream, or kill something. But she couldn’t afford to lose control out here. A breakdown would have to wait until she was safe.
    Tami continued riding west, but she wondered why? Where would she be safe? Was there such a place? If the apocalypse had really happened, then was her ranch even still there? That crazy blond-haired Indian was still hot on her heels, so she kept going, trying to shake him. For the past five years she had been teaching people how to survive these very situations. Even though most of her clients were soft, businesspeople sent by their employers to learn self-reliance, she had treated them as if they might someday have to actually survive in the wilderness. Now she was getting to find out firsthand how effective her training was. Pitting her wits against her pursuer’s in this kind of a chase might have been fun, if it had been a game. But this was deadly real. She needed rest and food to keep going. Getting that bird last night had been a stroke of luck, but it was long gone and her stomach was aching again. And the dark clouds now crowding the sky promised rain any time.
    By sunset, the rain had sheathed her bones in ice, and she was so tired she wondered if she should just let Blondie catch her. If she didn’t have to keep hiding from him, she could build a fire and take time to catch something to eat. The thought of the warmth of a fire almost made her cry. Let him rape her, if only he would do it close to a fire and feed her afterward.
    But something inside her was just too stubborn to give up. She was stubborn, but not stupid. She knew she needed rest. She began looking for a good place to hole up for the night.
    The rain let up just as night fell. A heap of rocks and folds in the land would give her a place to hide and rest. She hadn’t seen Blondie all day. Hopefully she’d managed to throw him off by doubling back. Tami slid off Freedom and had to grab for the stirrup to keep her feet. Her tears blended with the rain on Freedom’s mane. She couldn’t keep this pace much longer. Hypothermia was a real concern, and she didn’t have any dry clothes to change into. The best she could do was dry herself as much as possible with the wool blanket. Thank God for wool. Polyester would do nothing for her in these conditions. And thank God for the horse. She could shelter against Freedom for warmth in a place out of the wind, and get up several times during the night to move around and get her blood moving. She found a cluster of rocks among the many clusters of rocks to hide in, put a fist-sized rock close to hand, and fell into a weary doze while trying to plan her next move.
    * * * *
    “Ma’am?”
    Tami woke with a silent gasp. The quiet murmur came out of the cold dark like a lover’s whisper. She carefully dipped her face to her chest, so any steam from her breath wouldn’t rise to give her away, and froze. She could just barely hear footsteps moving in the rain-slick grass. Toward her?
    “Ma’am? Don’t be scared. I don’t want to hurt you. Your husband hired me to find you and bring you back.”
    Dammit, the assholes had sent him. She couldn’t give herself up to him. No way in hell was she going back, not even to Tim, the nicest of them. She might freeze to death, or starve to death, but she wasn’t going back to Greasy Butte. Her hand settled over the sharp rock she had found for a weapon. If he got too close to her she would strike.
    “Mrs. Leach?” The voice was a few steps nearer. “Come on out. If you’re hungry, I got food.”
    Tami hoped her stomach wouldn’t growl. Did he know where she was? The clouds had broken up and the sky was damp black velvet glittering with stars, but she was tucked away in an excellent hidey hole. Freedom was right behind her. The rain should have washed away any tracks.
    “Please, Mrs. Leach.” The voice was further away now and Tami relaxed ever so