California Schemin' - Kate George [62]
It was probably my imagination, but I’d swear I saw his trigger finger tighten. I popped the locks on the rear of the car. Wallace shot out before I could change my mind.
“Give me the gun.” He motioned for Guy to hand him the firearm. Guy looked confused, but when the senator held out his hand, he gave him the gun. Beau jerked out of Guy’s grasp the moment Wallace took possession. The look Wallace gave me was of pure hatred. He leveled the gun at me and pulled the trigger.
Chapter Ten
I had no idea what happened when bulletproof glass took a hit. I threw myself down on the seat, covering my head with my arms. I expected glass to go flying. There was a huge crack, but nothing happened. I rolled over and looked up at the window. The bullet had left a spider web of cracks.
I sat up just in time to see Wallace throw the handgun on the ground and kick it into the trees.
“Shit! Shit!” He was hopping around holding the foot that kicked the gun. He was wearing leather house slippers, and he had kicked the gun hard. I figured he’d broken a toe at the very least. I looked over to where Guy was standing. He was staring at Wallace with his mouth open. You’d think he had never seen a senator kick a gun and hurt his toe.
Beau was taking advantage of Guy’s distraction, moving away as stealthily as he could on crutches. I waited until there was a good car’s width between Beau and Guy. I started the limo, threw it into gear, and skidded between the men. I held my breath as I popped the locks open so Beau could dive in and took off backward before he even had his crutches in the car.
Guy lunged for my door and got it open before I could flip the locks shut. We were zooming backward, Guy hanging on to the door for dear life as Beau tried to get his crutches in the car and the door shut. I screamed along in reverse as far as I dared and slammed on the brakes. Guy lost his hold, and both doors slammed shut.
I jammed the gearshift into drive and went roaring down the road in the direction we’d come in from.
“You kidnapped that old coot?” Beau asked. I nodded my head, and he laughed. “My God, you’ve got balls. Who was he?”
“Senator Wallace. He was using you to blackmail me. I was supposed to tell Fogel I saw these two guys up at the river when his wife died. He was going to hold you until I did what he said. He actually kidnapped me before I kidnapped him, so I think we’re even.”
“What are we doing now? Heading home?”
“If I can find my way back to the freeway, I’m taking us to Fogel. I need to tell him what’s going on.”
“Did they treat you all right?” I looked over at him. He looked good. If it wasn’t for the broken leg, I’d say he was in fine fighting form.
“I didn’t even know I was kidnapped until you arrived. Some guy called me and said a senator wanted me to look at his property and give an estimate for some masonry work. I said I couldn’t make it for a while, and they offered me a lot of money just to look and do the design. So I thought what the hell and came. Every day there’s been something new for me to look at, design, what have you. I was downstairs figuring a dry stone wall when Guy came down and asked me to come upstairs. We were out the door before I realized he had a gun and you were in the car. The rest you know.”
I focused my attention on the road. The limo wasn’t the easiest thing to drive, especially on these dinky winding roads. If somebody was bombing up the hill and didn’t see me around one of the corners… I didn’t want to think about it.
“Get your seatbelt on, would you? This road worries me.”
“Want me to drive? Couldn’t be worse than driving a fire truck.”
“Are you kidding? I’m not letting you drive with a broken leg.”
I negotiated a hairpin turn, pleased that the back end hadn’t ended up in the ditch, and heard Beau suck in his breath.
“What?” I said, but I saw. Wallace’s other limo was blocking the road ahead of us.
I shoved the brake to the floor and the back end broke