Fugitive Pursuit. Christa Sinclair

      The woman continued walking closer to Jamie. A few inches shorter, several pounds lighter and with hesitation in her step. If the lady tried to grab Jamie, could she fight her? Adding another assault charge to her growing list of offenses wasn’t ideal, but protecting her niece meant more.

      Once Jamie had gathered enough evidence of Drew’s illegal activities, maybe the charges against her would be dropped. Although, maybe not because she had actually assaulted her brother-in-law. But somehow she’d convince the courts to award her full custody of Charlotte despite Jamie’s crimes. Unless God still wanted a good laugh.

      “Ms. Carter.” The man’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Let us take you in and put an end to your running.”

      “Never going to happen.” She shifted her focus to the woman, now within two feet of her. “I’m sorry.” Jamie moved forward, slammed her heel onto the other woman’s foot and shoved her shoulders back with as much force as possible. While the woman teetered, Jamie crouched down and swiped the woman’s feet out from under her. As the lady’s body fell backward, Jamie turned and ran.

      * * *

      “Wait!” Zack’s gut clenched as his sister fell like a ten-pound bag of potatoes. The metal door from the back of the room slammed against the outside of the building as the woman ran through it. Adrenaline surged through him. Several people from the last row of computers scrambled from their seats and slid in beside his sister. He barely glanced in Lily’s direction, though, as he broke into a run after the fugitive.

      Heat hit him as soon as he stepped outside. He glanced to his right and saw only an overloaded trash bin. To his left, a car moved slowly as though the driver searched for a parking space. Jamie had just passed it.

      Zack took off after her. His badge slapped against his chest. As he moved, he slammed pressure onto a not-quite-healed leg. Pain jolted through his knee from when he wiped out on his surfboard. “Carter!”

      The woman rushed between a set of trees at the end of the parking lot, a long ponytail waving behind her. A loose-fitting dark T-shirt and blue jean shorts would help her disappear into the wall of trees, leaving him in the dust, looking like a fool.

      Zack stopped running and bent over. He set both hands on his thighs and prayed for the pain in his leg to diminish. What had he been thinking? Stupid decision to come after a bounty with his inexperienced sister and his less-than-ready body.

      Yikes. Lily. He’d bailed on her. When he turned around, a sea of faces greeted him from just outside the internet café. Questions flew at him as he hobbled back to them.

      “Who was she?”

      “What’d she do?”

      “Want us to go after her?”

      They crowded him as he crossed the back entrance and into the hallway. “It’s all right, guys. We’ll get her another time.” Business patrons passed by him and shuffled through abandoned chairs. Voices buzzed once again.

      Several people crowded Lily as she sat in a chair and rubbed the back of her head. “Lil?”

      “I’m okay.” Once she stood, she closed the distance between them. “What about you?”

      He scanned the room. Several people had returned to their work, with the few remaining stragglers backing away. “Kyle was right. I’m not ready to go back in the field.” His older brothers had relegated him to the office of their bounty hunting business for another few days, as though he, a grown man, couldn’t decide when his body was healed enough.

      Clearly, they had a point.

      The jabbing pain along his leg dulled to a throbbing ache. He shifted his weight to his uninjured knee.

      “Do you want to sit down for a few minutes to rest your knee?”

      He shook his head. “No, I’m good. Let’s get out of here.”

      “Don’t worry.” Lily wrapped her arm around his back and leaned her head on his shoulder. “We still have the advantage with Carter.”

      “How do you figure?” Zack steered her toward the checkout counter.

      “You were able to find her once. You’ll be able to do it again.”

      “Maybe.”

      A man around his age rushed to the counter. His name tag read Randy. “How can I help you?”

      “Sorry about the ruckus.”

      The guy waved them off. “Forget it. No one got hurt, which is the important thing.”

      “Lil, where’s the picture?”

      Lily pulled the fugitive’s photo from her pocket. Once he took it, Zack unfolded it and placed it on the counter.

      “We were searching for this woman, Jamie Carter. She’s not a dangerous criminal so you don’t have to worry. She probably won’t come back, but if she does, can you call the number on the bottom of the page?”

      Randy held the paper like it was gold and nodded. “Of course, sir, miss.” His gaze shifted to Lil. And stayed there.

      Zack glanced at her, smiling away, batting her eyelashes at the guy. “Thanks.” He pinched his sister’s sleeve and tugged her toward the door. “Let’s go, miss.”

      Once they stepped outside, Zack grinned. “He’s too young for you.” He didn’t look at her, but from the corner of his eye he could see Lily glaring at him. They walked in silence back to the truck. The wind shook the tree leaves, which created strange sunshine patterns.

      Carter had been prettier than her mug shot, even with the worry creasing her brow. In her picture, her wavy hair dipped past her shoulders. Today, she’d pulled it away from her face, which made her look younger than her twenty-four years and much more vulnerable. His heart almost went out to her.

      But it didn’t. He was a professional and she was his criminal.

      Inside the vehicle, Lily met his gaze. “You know the others are going to have a word or two for us, right?”

      “Yup.” But it would be Zack they’d be angry with, not Lil. A hundred justifications for taking her along on his hunt for Ms. Carter roamed through his head, but none of them would be good enough for his brothers. He shouldn’t have gone, they’d say, should’ve left Lily at work, he’d acted totally irresponsible, blah, blah, blah.

      “You can handle it, though. You know you’re one of the best and they’re only jealous.” She clicked her seat belt into place. “Besides, I’m a big girl. I make my own decisions.”

      Yeah, he’d push that justification. It hadn’t been his decision after all.

      For some reason, he took one more glance across the parking lot toward the wall of trees. Of course, Carter was long gone. He had to admit, the woman’s story intrigued him. So did the worry plastered across her face. Yes, as bounty hunters, he and his brothers heard sob stories all the time, criminals forming paper-thin explanations in hopes of gaining an ally, but Jamie Carter’s impassioned plea had caught him off guard. What if the woman spoke the truth? What if she did everything she could for an innocent kid?

      Nah. Just because he hadn’t been out on the hunt in almost four weeks, he couldn’t let his brain freeze. Besides, the courts called Jamie Carter a criminal who needed to be brought to justice. He had to follow the law.

      * * *

      Two days later, Jamie sat on the blanket she’d set beside her tent and leaned her head against the tree. Excited voices of adult campers and children around her helped to calm her heart. Yes, she could’ve hidden farther into the woods, where no one would find her, but the complete human stillness would leave her with too much time to think. Guilt had a way of creeping through silence.

      What was she doing? By walking away from her sister and having fun on a vacation, she’d managed to let one of the most important