Yuletide Fugitive Threat. Sandra Robbins

the phone vibrated, and she tightened her grip on it. Her lips trembled as she pulled it from her pocket. An unknown number glowed on the caller ID. She knew before she answered what the voice on the line would say, but it was as if some unknown force commanded her to answer.

      “H-hello,” she stammered.

      “Hello, Mia. It’s me again.”

      She closed her eyes and swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. “Tony Chapman.” The man who killed her husband. There was no reason to deny it. She’d known the first time he phoned right after he jumped bail.

      “Why do you keep calling me? I just want to be left alone.”

      “I’m sure you do, and I’ll be glad to do that when you give me the answers I want.”

      Mia’s hand shook, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I don’t have any answers.”

      “What did you think? That you could keep it to yourself for a Christmas present from your dearly departed husband?” he growled. “If that’s what you thought, then you’re wrong. Dead or alive, he still owes me, and I intend to collect. So if you think you’re going to keep it to yourself, you have another think coming.”

      “Keep what for myself?” she screamed into the phone.

      “Calm down, Mia. All you have to do is tell me where it is, and you’ll never hear from me again.”

      Her body was shaking with sobs by this time. “I don’t know what it is. And even if I did, Kyle would never have told me anything about his business. Now, please, leave me alone.”

      “Dream on!” he shouted. “I’m through being nice. Tell me what I want to know, or you’re going to be sorry.”

      “I’m sorry already! Sorry I ever met Kyle Lockhart and sorry I have no idea what you’re talking about. If I did, I’d give it to you.”

      Tony was quiet for a moment. “Maybe you don’t know what he did with it. But if you think very carefully, you might be able to remember something he said or did. Maybe he had a place where he kept his secrets.”

      “Kyle had lots of secrets, but he never shared them with me. Now I’m warning you. I’ve had all of these phone calls I can stand. I’m going to the police to turn this matter over to them. Maybe they know where Kyle hid whatever it is you’re looking for.”

      “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from the police, or you’ll end up like Kyle, with three bullet holes in your head.”

      Mia shook so badly she could hardly hold the phone to her ear. “Leave me alone!” she screamed.

      “Not until I get what’s mine. So you’d better watch out, lady. I’m coming after you.”

      The call ended, and she pulled the phone away from her ear. What was this all about? It wouldn’t surprise her if Kyle had been involved in something illegal that had gotten him killed, but she knew nothing about it. In fact, she knew next to nothing about his life outside of this house that he’d made her prison.

      Sliding the phone back into her pocket, she turned to go back inside but stopped, her eyes growing wide. A light like a tiny flame flared at the edge of the tree line near the lake and then disappeared, to be replaced by a small red glow. She squinted into the darkness and then backed away, shaking her head in denial.

      She’d seen a flicker of fire that had lit a cigarette, and now whoever was smoking it stood just a few feet away as he watched her on the deck. A mewling sound of distress erupted from her mouth, and she dashed back into the house, locking the door behind her.

      As she ran into the bedroom, she glanced at the clock on the bedside table: 2:30 a.m. It would be hours before the sun was up, and she couldn’t stay here until then. She didn’t know where she could go, but she had to get out of this house. Get away from the nightmare that had taken over her life.

      She jerked a pair of jeans and a sweater from the closet and dressed as quickly as she could. Then, pulling on her coat and grabbing her purse and cell phone, she headed to the kitchen where she always hung the car keys on the hook by the door.

      As she stepped into the kitchen, her gaze lit on the rack, and her stomach did a somersault. No key ring. She came to an abrupt halt and frowned. Where was it?

      A sickening feeling washed over her as the answer came to her. The keys weren’t on the hook because they were in her purse, where she’d placed them after a trip to the grocery store. She hadn’t hung the key ring back in place because she hadn’t come in through the garage. The automatic garage door opener wasn’t working, so she’d left the car in the driveway.

      And that’s where it was now. Sitting in the driveway. In the dark. Where someone was watching from the shadows of the woods. Did she dare go outside and face being attacked? Or did she stay inside and hope he didn’t decide to break in? Either choice left a lot to be desired.

      Every nerve ending in her body screamed that she had to do something, and before she even realized it, the decision had been made. She jerked the key ring from her purse, opened the front door and ran for the car.

      She’d just grabbed the door handle when an arm circled her neck, and the tip of the knife in her attacker’s other hand pressed against her carotid artery. The smell of cigarette smoke filled her nostrils. She held her breath and tried to pull free, but the arm tightened.

      A soft chuckle drifted to her ear as a warm breath fanned the side of her face. “Don’t waste your energy, sweetheart. You’re not getting away from me.”

      His voice sounded deeper than it had on the phone, more sinister and full of evil. She tried to suppress the whimper rising in her throat, but it was no use. He knew how scared she was, and that was his advantage over her.

      “Let me go!” she begged. “I can’t give you what you want because I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

      “We’ll see about that. I think by the time I get through with you, you’ll be begging to tell me all of your secrets.”

      The tone of his voice had grown harder, just like Kyle’s used to when he told her he would never have hurt her if she hadn’t provoked him into doing it. After a while she had come to believe him. She’d given in, gone along with whatever he wanted—even when all he seemed to want was a punching bag. But she would not give in to this man, nor would she let him take her anywhere. If she did, she had no doubt she would end up dead just like Kyle.

      If she had never been strong in her life, she had to be now. Only a desperate move could get her out of this killer’s clutches. Thankfully she hadn’t dropped her car keys when she’d been attacked, and she tightened her grip on them. If she could free herself of Tony’s arm around her throat, she might be able to jump in the car and drive away.

      Taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart, she closed her fingers around the small canister of pepper spray dangling from the key ring she’d bought after he’d called her the first time. In a few moments she would either be free or stabbed to death in her driveway.

      In one quick motion she raised the canister and sprayed the contents over her shoulder into Tony Chapman’s face. His agonized cry split the night air, and his grip on her loosened as he stumbled backward.

      Those few seconds were enough time for her to pull the car door open, jump inside and roar down the driveway. As she raced down the road leading to the main highway, she kept a watch in the rearview mirror, but no one followed her.

      She didn’t slow down until she turned onto I-240 for the short drive into Memphis. Her mind whirled with questions about what she was going to do. She had no friends. Nowhere to turn. Where could she go?

      And then she straightened in her seat as the answer popped into her head. A bounty hunter, that’s what she needed. Someone who could track Tony Chapman down and return him to custody. And it so happened she had once known someone who now did that for a living. Lucas Knight.