Chapter Five

      With a yank of the steering wheel, Blake pulled Farley’s van off to the side of the road and parked. He took the cell phone from Sarah and hit Redial. The kidnapper’s phone rang unanswered, a tinny echo in the night.

      “What went wrong?” Sarah asked.

      “He must have gotten wind of what really happened to Farley and his men.” Not a big surprise. The men hadn’t been operating under a cloak of secrecy. Someone might have contacted the kidnapper from the hospital. The kidnapper might be working with another person. Blake had known that arresting the kidnapper was a long shot. His hope had been that if they quickly executed their plan, they’d catch the guy off guard.

      “He knew your name.”

      He shrugged. “It wouldn’t be hard for him to identify me. He knows what’s going on with the general, and I’m Jeremy’s best man. Plus, I have reservations at your B and B.”

      “Oh, my God. That’s terrible.” She sounded truly alarmed. “If he got your name from my records, it means somebody who works for me was in contact with him.”

      “Not necessarily.”

      Her dark eyes flicked from side to side as she searched his face for an answer. “Give me another explanation.”

      “Are your records computerized?”

      “Of course.”

      “He could have hacked the system.”

      “Even worse.” She threw her hands in the air. “I keep everything on the computer. He could know every detail about the wedding. The timing, the suppliers, the arrival times for the guests...”

      “There’s another possibility.” He needed to divert her attention before she worked herself into a wild frenzy. “He could have monitored our cell phone calls. Kovak could have said my name.”

      She dismissed that theory with a shake of her head. Though tied down by the black bra wrapped around her forehead, her hair bounced. “Damn it, Blake. You should have told me about the danger. I wouldn’t have put all that info on the computer, where some psycho could hack into it. What did he mean when he said that creepy stuff about killing her slowly?”

      “Trying to shock us.”

      “It worked.”

      Her nose wrinkled as though she smelled rotten eggs, and he was momentarily distracted by her expression. Even at two in the morning, after all they’d been through, she was bursting with energy. He wanted to tell her that everything was going to be all right. But he wasn’t going to lie. They had plenty to worry about.

      Deliberately looking away from her, he said, “I need to talk to Kovak.”

      He made the connection on his hands-free phone. After quickly filling the deputy in on what had happened, Blake launched a new plan for investigating. To Kovak, he said, “Since we’re close to the Laughing Dog, we might as well start there. Meet us in the parking lot outside the saloon.”

      His hand rested on the gear shift knob. Sarah reached toward him. “Wait,” she said. “There’s something I need from you.”

      “I’m listening.”

      “From now on, I want to know everything. You’ve got to keep me in the loop. Will you do that?”

      He wasn’t accustomed to sharing intelligence with civilians, but he understood where she was coming from. The B and B was her responsibility, and she needed to take care of the place and the people who stayed there. “You have my word.”

      “Good.” She gave a tight nod. “Keep going on this road. We’re close to the Laughing Dog. I don’t know what you hope to find there. It’s been closed for hours, and it’s Tuesday night so there wasn’t live entertainment.”

      “Entertainment, huh?” He slipped the van into gear. “Is the Laughing Dog the place where you thought I should hire a stripper?”

      “Get your mind out of the gutter. I’m talking about live music—country western bands or folk singers.” She reached across the console to give him a shove. “Still, I guess it’s a good sign that you’re still thinking of strippers.”

      “How so?”

      “If you need a stripper, you’re still considering my B and B for the wedding location.”

      He couldn’t promise a decision. “That’s not my call.”

      The Laughing Dog Saloon stood alone on a separate block at the edge of the town. The two-story rough-wood saloon with a wide porch across the front reminded him of an old fort. In the back, the spacious asphalt parking lot was cleared of snow. A light above the back door shone down on two trucks and another late-model vehicle.

      “The owners live upstairs,” she said. “A really nice couple, but if you’re planning to wake them up, you might want to wait until Kovak joins us.”

      He parked Farley’s van beside one of the trucks and looked over at her. “And you might want to take off your bra.”

      She snatched the black fabric off her head and ran her fingers through her shimmering reddish-blond hair. Those curls were the only soft thing about her. In spite of the occasional flashes of cuteness, her features were strong, set in a triangle-shaped face with a sharp, determined chin.

      This night had been stressful, and she’d handled it well. He wanted her to know that he appreciated her courage. Reaching toward her, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re a good sport.”

      She grabbed his hand and pushed it away. “Yeah, that’s me. Good, old Sarah.”

      He wasn’t sure why she sounded ticked off. “You don’t have to bite my head off.”

      “Just keep your hands to yourself.” She sank down in the seat, pulling her head into her parka like a turtle going into its shell. “I don’t like being teased. When I was a kid and guys pulled my pigtails, I never thought it was funny.”

      “I bet you got back at them on the playground.”

      She cast a baleful glance in his direction. “None of those jerks ever teased me twice.”

      “You think you’re pretty tough.”

      “That’s right.”

      Her attitude sounded like a challenge, and he couldn’t pass up a schoolboy urge to play games with her. He unfastened his seat belt and turned sideways to face her. “You’d probably hate it if I did this.” With a lightning-quick move, he tugged down the zipper on her parka.

      She unfastened her seat belt and whipped around in her seat to face him. The look in her dark eyes was half fury and half surprise. “I can’t believe you did that.”

      “Because nobody messes with Sarah, am I right?”

      “Nobody survives to tell the tale.”

      “Let me fix this.” He reached for her zipper as though he intended to pull it back up. As soon as she glanced down, he lightly tweaked her nose.

      With zero hesitation, she bolted from her seat and crossed the space separating them. Her right arm cocked, and she took a swing at him. Blake was faster. He caught her wrist before her fist struck his chin.

      As