Free Hunted by Kaylea Cross

still in the city.” He was sure of it. There was no way she’d go back to Tennessee to stay with her mother. It was too obvious a move and she knew he’d check there. Besides, Leticia’s mother was a drunk and she wanted nothing to do with her. It was the reason she’d left home with her son and moved down here in the first place. “Call me when you find out.”
    Gill nodded and opened his car door. “I’ll be in touch shortly.”
    “I want this by the time the sun comes up.”
    Gill’s eyes flashed up to Carlos, his trepidation clear. “I’ll do what I can.”
    Carlos wasn’t worried about the man slacking on the job. He was in too deep, owed Carlos too much, and knew if he disappointed or crossed him, he’d either wind up dead in an “accident” or turned over to the Feds for fraud and cyber crimes. He knew none of that needed to be reiterated now.
    Carlos started around the back of his truck, paused when Gill didn’t move. Facing him, he arched a brow. “Problem?”
    He rubbed the back of his neck. “You said there was a boy.”
    “Yeah, so?”
    “Well I just… You’re not going to do anything to him, are you?”
    “Not your problem.” A wealth of warning filled the words.
    Gill shifted, swallowed. “No. It’s just…” He searched Carlos’s face for a moment, as if looking for reassurance that nothing would happen to the kid.
    Carlos couldn’t give him anything of the sort. Leticia loved that kid more than anything and if using Xander for leverage was his only way of getting her back, he’d do it. Whatever it took to make her stay.
    If he let her live after the way she’d betrayed and humiliated him.
    Giving Gill a cold look, Carlos stalked around to the driver’s side of his truck. He waited with the engine running, the burst of cool from the air-conditioning drying the perspiration on his face. He watched the car pull out of the rest stop and drive west on the highway until its red taillights disappeared in the distance. Only then did he start his engine and drive east, back toward downtown. With that amount of cash in hand, Leticia could have caught a bus or bought a plane ticket.
    His gut said otherwise. That would make her too easy to track. No, he was sure she hadn’t left town yet. But his window of opportunity was getting smaller and smaller with each passing hour.
    He kept the radio off as he drove, the rhythmic sound of the tires on the asphalt soothing him. Was she lying in a bed somewhere, too afraid to go to sleep for fear of him finding her? Just the thought of her being in another man’s bed was enough to have his hands clenching around the steering wheel.
    Ahead of him down the dark ribbon of highway, the city of New Orleans glimmered. Somewhere in the glow of those lights, Leticia was hiding.
    But she wouldn’t stay hidden for long.
     
    ****
     
    Even though Clay was next to her in the backseat of the cab, Zoe was nervous enough that she kept darting glances in the rearview and side mirrors. Not that Leticia’s psycho boyfriend knew about her or this meeting, but the woman had made the man sound so scary that the mere thought of getting more deeply involved in all of this put Zoe on edge.
    Clay noticed her looking but didn’t say anything, instead shooting her a subtle frown. Even with the added risk of Leticia bolting if she caught sight of him, Zoe was glad he’d come.
    At the meeting location the driver pulled up at the curb in front of a narrow, two-story Victorian-style house in a quiet, residential neighborhood. “You’ll wait here?” Zoe asked him.
    “You’ve got my cell number programmed into your phone, right?” he said instead, dodging her question.
    She nodded. “I’ll be as quick as I can. Clay, she can’t see you. It’s important.”
    “She won’t see me. But there’s no way I’m waiting in this cab.” He reached across her and popped her door open. “Text or call me once you make contact. If I don’t hear from you in five minutes,