Free Rock Star: The Deal (Book 3 of a Bad Boy Romance) by Kate Ward Page A

conversation in the car. Not that we talked about anything that would have been any concern to them. But we did chat about booze, women and drugs. The drug part kind of had me antsy. But these guys in the back said they had smoked a joint or two in their time so I felt at ease relaying my wild stories from when I was younger.
    “We are all on time.”
    I thought back to the many times I had seen people kidnapped on TV. Mostly it was from eighties movies. A guy running to get to a phone booth in time to get the next instructions from the kidnapper on where they needed to go. Nowadays there were no phone booths. But people had their own phones. So there was no need to dash from booth to booth.
    We had only been traveling for about twenty minutes when the engine light came on. A few minutes after that the car starting coughing.
    “What the heck?”
    “What’s up?” I heard Wakefield through the earpiece.
    “You got a car that has problems.”
    Black smoke started spewing out the back, then the car turned off by itself.
    “Oh shit.”
    It was another forty minutes until eight. If we didn’t get this car started soon, we would be in heap of shit. There was no way we could swap it out, or could we?
    “You need to get me another vehicle. This is a dud,” I said.
    “We can’t show up in another one. They will know. They are probably watching.”
    We jumped out of the vehicle, popped the lid and took a look. Steam was coming off the engine. It was in no state to be driven. There was no way in hell we were going to be driving this.
    Ten minutes later a tow truck arrived and hauled it away. A new car arrived at the same time. It was a rental car. We just had to hope they didn’t have eyes on us out here.
    We were running about ten minutes late. When we arrived it was deserted. The only person at the gas station was an old man inside. He nodded and I gave a small gesture back with my hand. They had picked the smallest town in Mississippi, not far from the Arkansas border. There were miles of fields. That’s all we had seen coming into this place. If they expected to get away from here by car or on foot, they were idiots. Police would find them immediately.
    I took out the money.
    “Do you see anyone?” Wakefield’s voice came over the mic.
    “No. Just the guy who owns the place, I think,” I muttered trying not to move my lips too much.
    “Our people have you in their sights.”
    “Well, tell them to keep their fingers off the triggers. I don’t wish to have my life ended by a rookie FBI agent.”
    “These aren’t rookies. They are veterans.”
    “Even worse. They thrive on this shit.”
    I heard him chuckle on the other end of the line. Laughing at time like this? Who the hell did that? They really did do this every day. I went over to the ice vending machine. It was metal. It had the usual brand for ice on the front. I lifted it. Inside there were lots of bags of ice. I dropped the bag in and closed the metal lid. I lifted my hands. That’s what I had been told to do. They were watching. I then moved back to the car and got in.
    “Right, let’s go.”
    “Hold.”
    “What? The guy told us to leave and come back.”
    “We’ve been given instructions to hold here.”
    My phone buzzed. I picked it up.
    “Why are you still there?”
    I didn’t know what to say. The agents were staring at me.
    “I just thought we could talk. I want to see Meghan.”
    “I told you. You will see her in fifteen minutes. Leave now.”
    “What’s to stop you from taking the money and not leaving her?”
    “You will have to see, won’t you?”
    “Sorry, but I don’t trust you. Bring her now.”
    “You are in no place to bargain. Now drive away or I will kill her and you can listen to her last breath over this phone.”
    I hung up and started the engine.
    “What are you doing?” Wakefield said.
    “He will kill her. Why did you ask me to stay?”
    “Because we want to see if he even has her. He doesn’t have