“A dragon, to be precise,” Parker clarified. “Have you seen anything like that today?”
A shiver raced through Terra, warning her of danger. These men were looking for the dragon on her couch. But turning him over didn’t seem right.
“Well, to be honest, there have been several strange men in the area today.”
The men perked up as if they had hit the jackpot. “Did you see someone? Can you tell me where they went?”
These men were way too excited about finding the dragon. Making a snap decision, Terra nodded.
“Oh yes! Something came down in the cornfield out behind my house.” She batted her eyes at them and tried to play the innocent girl. “But I was too scared to go out and look.”
“Can you show us?” Parker asked.
“Oh no. I didn’t go out there. But if you want to go have a look, it was straight out behind the house.” Terra laid the sweet-and-innocent routine on a little thick, hoping they would believe she was the helpless girl she was pretending to be. It all depended on how softhearted they were. Terra didn’t think it would work for long, but it might get them to go out and check the back field. Sure, they would find the hole. With the darkness growing, they would probably fall in the sucker—hopefully breaking something.
Parker turned to Brett. “Go look.”
Brett gave Parker a funny look and nodded. “Right.”
Terra did not like the sarcastic way Brett drew out that word.
“Is it possible to come in and look around?” Parker asked. “I just want to make sure you’re safe.”
More warnings screamed in Terra’s head. These men were up to no good. It was time to get her dragon and get the hell out of there.
She smiled at them warmly. “That’s so nice of you. Give me a moment to put Cookie in his kennel. He doesn’t like visitors.”
“Cookie?” Parker asked.
“My dog.” Terra grinned and shut the door on the man.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
Grabbing her purse, she slung the thing over her shoulder. She needed to get out of there fast. Pulling the satchel out from under the couch, she slipped that on, too. It might be important to her dragon. She figured Parker would give her about two minutes before he started knocking again. Now came the hard part.
Wrapping her arms around the dragon, she scooped him up, blanket and all. He let out a squeak as she disturbed him, thrashing about in her hold.
“Settle down, Cookie.” She spoke in a loud voice. “You don’t want to scare the visitors.”
The blanket froze.
“Good boy.”
She glanced back at the windows next to the door. Her momma had always taught her to keep those curtains drawn, but with the fading light outside, there was a chance Parker might be able to seen in. The lump in the blanket softened. Great! Now she could carry him without him fighting. Apparently, dragons did understand human speech. She had been worried for a moment.
“That’s a good boy!” She ruffled the bundle in case the man was watching.
The bundle growled at her.
She smiled at the rumbling mass. Popping the bundle on the bottom, she gathered up the blanket and wrapped it around him more. “That’s no way to behave, Cookie.”
Now, it was time to get out of here. Walking to the kitchen, she heard Brett on the back porch. Checking the cornfield, indeed! Thankfully, she had locked the door. She flicked off the stove as she passed. It wouldn’t do to escape and then let her house burn down.
“Come on, Cookie, let’s get you settled.” She opened the door to the cellar. “In you get.”
Walking in, she closed the door behind her. The men wouldn’t wait much longer before breaking in. She snapped the deadbolt into place with her key. The only way they would get through that was either with the key—one of twenty in her junk drawer—or by breaking the door in. And that was a pretty stout door.
Hurrying down the steps, she moved by memory through the dark. Thirteen steps down. Boxes at the bottom. Right. Ten paces to the wall. Left. The sound of her back door being forced open drove her steps faster. Fifteen paces to the storm shelter. She caught the bottom of the shelf built into the door with her foot and swung the thing open. Slipping into the dark corridor just as the men started beating on the basement door, Terra pulled the door back into place behind her. It was damn dark in there and hard to tell if the shelf was seated right, but by the time the men got the door open and found her exit, she would be long gone.
Now came the fun part—making her way down the less-familiar corridor. She used to play down here as a kid, but that had been a long time ago.
The bundle in her arms wiggled.
“Be still,” she whispered to the dragon.
He immediately stopped moving.
Hurrying down the path by memory, she stumbled on the bottom step of the exit stairs. Shit. The path wasn’t as long as she remembered it being. Cuddling the dragon to her, she raced up the steps and stopped at the wooden hatch covering her exit.
“Just stay still,” she warned the dragon.
It rumbled in response.
Taking that as an “okay,” Terra set him on the top step and carefully released the latch. She pushed the hatch up and stopped when the rusty hinge started to squeak loudly. She peeked out through the narrow slit, praying the noise hadn’t drawn the men’s attention. Both of the men were in her kitchen, ramming their shoulders into her basement door. Suckers!
Grabbing the dragon back up, she shoved her shoulder into the trap door. It screeched open with a sound like a tortured cat and fell to the floor with a loud bang. The racket would definitely draw their attention, giving her mere seconds to get to her car before the men saw her. But it was better than being caught. Sprinting to the driveway, she yanked open the driver’s door and tossed the blanket-wrapped dragon inside the car. She threw herself into the driver’s seat behind him.
Yelling came from her back porch as she jammed the key into the slot and fired the car up. A gunshot sounded as she threw it into gear.
Holy shit! These guys aren’t messing about. Who the hell is this dragon?
Slamming the gas pedal to the floor, she tore off through the grass towards the road. She didn’t have time to spare a glance at the bundle of dragon as she dodged around trees and aimed for the ditch. Peeking up into her mirror, she saw that the men had jumped into their SUV and were gaining on her. Perfect!
Terra squeezed through the gap in the trees and over the ditch with the precision of a brain surgeon. Yanking the wheel to the right, she tuned sharply. The tires grabbed the pavement and slung them into a new direction. The bundle of dragon slid across the seat into her hip. It chirped loudly in protest. Poor dragon. She patted it before looking back up at the mirror. The SUV was just getting to the crossing. Her heart skipped when the SUV bounded oddly across the gap. Yes!
The guys made the turn, and both of the left-side tires blew from where the metal edging of the culvert had cut into them. Terra danced in her seat. There were many times she’d hit that pipe wrong and cut a tire. And making that sharp turn onto the blacktop—perfect recipe for disaster! Too bad they didn’t roll the car when the tires blew.
Now all she had to do was find an out-of-the-way spot to lie low; maybe then she could get some answers from her mystery man. She knew just the place, and there were farm tools to use for torture if need be. Oh yeah!