Chapter 268 Chapter 268
Gia stared at the dash as she turned the key. Nothing was happening. At all. She closed her eyes, “great. I broke it on my first solo trip.” She debated for about three seconds of opening the hood and looking, but she knew as much about vehicles as she did brain surgery. Blowing out a breath, she picked up her phone and brought up Zain’s number. She hit the call button before she could change her mind.
“Giana?”
“Gia,” she corrected. “The van died.”
“What do you mean died?”
She shook her head and got out. “I mean I was driving along and then it just turned off and now nothing.”
“That’s impossible. It was just at the shop for a complete car spa day, it should be working, it should be purring like a damn cat.”
“Maybe it didn’t like the spa.” She smirked.
“Shit. Hang on, I’m going to bring up your location on the tracking app,” she could hear him typing, “hang on a sec, Jesse is on the other line.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” She turned in a circle and looked around. There was absolutely nothing here. Except for fields, long grass, and the odd tree. That was it. To make the insult of screwing up her first solo trip worse, she had to pee and could be stuck here for a while.
“Gia, help has been called, uh, I guess just sit tight until they get there.”
“Okay, Zain,” she grinned, “tell them to bring a burger too, I’m starving.”
“Ha, I’ll get right on that.” There were voices in the background, “I gotta go. Let me know when they’re there.”
“Okay, thank you.” Reaching in the van, she grabbed her run pack and then grabbed the keys and jammed them in her pocket. Locking the door, she closed it, then debated which direction she was going to find a shrub or something.
Gia wandered across the field toward the trees. Okay, so some parts of her were girly, she liked the color the leaves turned in the fall. She just wanted to take a few up-close pictures of them for her own collection.
Her phone ringing startled her. She answered it without looking at the caller. “Hello?”
“Gia.”
It was Jesse. “I’m sorry…”
He snorted, “the van dying isn’t your fault. I have no idea why it would, I’m just thankful it did it now and not two days from now.”
She hadn’t thought of that. If she’d been transporting rescues, it could have endangered all of them.
“Someone is going to be getting an earful from Devin, so you can be sure it will never happen again.”
“Okay.” She turned back to see a car pulling up behind the van. Two big men got out of it. She grinned, “hey your guys made great time getting here. They’re already here.”
“What? Gia, our guys have just left the shop.” He barked into the phone.
Gia dropped to her knees and crouched down so she wasn’t visible.
“Gia?”
“I’m hiding in the grass.” She whispered.
“Tell me what you see.” She could hear other voices in the background now.
“Uh,” she tried to see without making her location known, “just a second,” taking off the dark cap, she hoped her red hair blended better with the fall foliage and moved along on her elbows and toes toward the trees she’d originally been heading to. When she reached them, she dragged her body over the damp ground until she could use a tree to hide her. Looking around it, she kept low so no one could notice her, “okay, I’m hidden now,” she whispered, “there’s two of them, really big men,” she watched the one walk along the side of the van and look in the driver’s window, the other one was standing out front of the van looking in the field on that side of the road. He had a handgun in his hand, “they have guns.” She said breathlessly.
“Listen to me,” Jesse’s voice was calm and steady, “Webb and I aren’t that far from you, and a couple of other teams are nearby, we’re coming to you as soon as I hang up.”
“Okay.”
“You find somewhere to hole up and stay there, we’ll find you.”
Gia looked around in the trees, this bush area wasn’t very big, it was sparse too, no way she could run through it and not be seen. Peeking out around the tree again, she saw that the other man was looking across the road now in her direction. “I’m going to shift.” She said quickly, “I can get further. I’m on the opposite side of the road to the van.” She added in case they’d need a direction to start.
“Keep your phone on you, we have a tracker on the number.”
She nodded, as she leaned down and took off her boots. Dammit, she couldn’t load her pack with her clothes, she needed to be light and fast. “I’m not taking my clothes, just my phone in my pack.” She opened the pack and took out the snacks and water bottle.
“Stay safe, we’ll be there soon.”