Free Colby Core by Debra Webb Page A

the key to his truck on the ground. She’d picked it up and from that day forward she had planned her escape.
    The driver’s door opened with a creak. Only then did she dare to look back and see if Smith had followed her. No sign of him. Relief made her knees weak.
    She jammed the key into the ignition and twisted it. The starter turned over but the engine didn’t roar to life. “Oh, God.” She pumped the gas pedal and tried again. The reluctant engine tried to start, sputtering and groaning. “Please, please, start,” she murmured.
    The engine coughed again then growled to life. She smiled. The movement so unexpected that she reached up and touched her lips. She was going to make it.
    She pulled the gear shift into Drive.
    Something slammed into the cab next to her door. The truck rocked with the impact.
    Her gaze collided with furious gold eyes, and a scream trapped in her throat.
    Smith jerked the truck door open.
    She stomped the accelerator.
    The truck lurched forward.
    Smith hung on.
    She tried to push him away but he had a death grip on the door and the steering wheel.
    Tessa hit the brake hard. The door flopped, sandwiching Smith between it and the cab. He howled a curse.
    He elbowed her hard enough to loosen her grip on the steering wheel. His hand reached past her and snagged the key, shutting down the engine.
    She fumbled for the gun.
    He threw his body atop hers. His hands found the weapon first. She bucked her body in an attempt to throw him off balance.
    Too late. He jammed the weapon into her rib cage. “Stop fighting me.”
    The words were a breathless snarl, but no less threatening.
    â€œGet off me.” She shoved at his chest, somehow unafraid that he would actually shoot her. There was something about the way he looked at her that suggested he wouldn’t hurt her.
    He backed out of the cab, but kept the weapon trained on her. “Get out.”
    Tessa scrambled out and righted her clothes. Her hair had fallen but she didn’t care. Her breath came in jagged spurts. She’d failed. Now her one chance at saving the children…at escaping him was over.
    After months of planning, she had failed in a matter of minutes.
    â€œWhat the hell were you doing?” he demanded as he shoved his fingers through his mussed hair.
    She ignored him. Rather, she focused on pulling the pins from her hair. One. Two. Ouch. She grimaced. Three. Four. The counting did little to keep her mind off the idea that she was a failure.
    She’d let the children down.
    She threw down the pins and glared at the man holding the gun. “What do you think I was doing?” She didn’t care that her hair was a mess or that he could shoot her any time now. She only cared that she had failed.
    â€œTrying to escape?” he asked, fury making his words as sharp as knives. “Me? Or him?”
    â€œBoth,” she admitted, not caring what he thought. He had no idea what the Master was capable of. He didn’t know anything.
    He laughed but there was no humor in the sound. “I thought you were worried about the children. You said you didn’t want them to pay for our making a wrong move.” He shook his head. “Oh, that was good, lady. The only person you care about is yourself.”
    She rushed him.
    The gun flew out of his hand.
    They tumbled to the cold, wet ground.
    She kicked at him. Banged her fists at his chest. Cried out with the pain that was ripping her apart inside. He didn’t know! He didn’t understand!
    He rolled her onto her back and pinned her to the ground with his body. His hands were like iron manacles on her arms, holding them down.
    â€œHave you lost your mind?”
    She blew the hair out of her face so she could glare at him.
    â€œI could have shot you.” He hissed a couple of expletives.
    â€œShoot me,” she dared. “I don’t care anymore.”
    He stared into her eyes, obviously seeing the truth in her