too many witnesses out and about right now for him to take us out." "Oh God, I didn't want this." Charlise clutched at his chest. "I'm going to try something. You'll have to trust me and not react, okay?" Charlise nodded against his chest. Tom rummaged in his pants pocket with one hand while keeping his other arm around her, and removed his car keys. "I have a remote starter, and if I'm guessing right, starting the car is going to set off the bomb." "What's that going to do besides lose the only car we have?" She tried to pull her head back to get a breath of cool night air, but Tom pushed her head back down on his chest. "Maybe Jared and his goons will think we're in the car. It'll buy us some time and I'm willing to gamble my plan will work to our advantage." "He's not dumb," she said. "Trust me, Charlie's girl. A car bomb will draw lots of attention to the area and it'll take them awhile to figure out if anyone is inside." Tom wrapped his arm around her and held the remote on her shoulder. "Blackwell's got an APB out for his arrest. He won't want to stick around when the cops show up." The jingle of keys sounded in Charlise's ear. She held on tighter to Tom, and squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation of a big boom. Please don't let anyone be near that car. "One." "Two." "Three."
Chapter Nine The blast knocked the breath out of Charlise. Her stomach rolled in protest. She pushed away and peered around Tom's wide chest. She bounced on her sock-covered feet at the sight of Jared's cars racing down the street. "It worked," she said on an exhale. "Come on—Tom grabbed her hand and started to run—Let's get inside the diner before they realize we weren't inside the car." Together they ran the rest of the way down the street. People peered out the windows of the diner, trying to figure out where the explosion came from. Tom and Charlise walked to the back, skipping the hostess station and sitting themselves next to the kitchen entrance. No one paid any attention to the woman walking into the restaurant in a pair of ratty, dirty socks ten times too big for her feet. "I can't believe it worked." She slid into the booth and picked up a menu to shield herself. Jared might be distracted now, but he'd be back and furious at being made a fool. "We got lucky. I need to call in and ask for backup." Tom pulled out his cell phone and punched a button. "Can I take your order?" A waitress stood at the table. Her pen and tablet ready to take their order. "Could you give us a few minutes, please?" Charlise smiled at the woman. With her hair tangled, clothes wrinkled, and in desperate need of a shower, it should have bothered her for others to see her at her worse. It didn't. She and Tom could've died in that explosion. Right now, she was lucky they both escaped alive. Even if they were a mess. The waitress pocketed her tablet in the checkered apron and left to help more customers. Charlise's stomach growled. She hoped Tom had his wallet on him. They both needed food for energy if they were gonna stay one step ahead of Jared and his thugs. Tom ended the call, closed his phone, and set it on the table. The frown on his face told Charlise his partners were still coming up empty and were no closer to figuring out how to capture her ex-husband. She leaned forward. "What did they say?" "A squad car will be here in about twenty minutes to pick us up." He picked up a menu. "And? What are the police going to do? They won't believe me after they find out I reneged on my complaint last time I tried to get away from him." She slouched down in the booth. "Besides, I don't trust any of them. Jared can buy his way out of any situation." "They're taking us to meet Garrett. We're not saying a word of what we've been through." Tom closed the menu and slid it to the edge of the table. "I think I'll have two double cheeseburgers with a basket of fries. How about you?" Tom motioned to the waitress. "We have time and money to