Nate nodded and hurried toward the street.

Acid and adrenaline pumped into Harm’s already overcrowded stomach and churned with his breakfast, knotting his insides. He felt a stab of pain but he pushed it out of his mind. There couldn’t be anything in his brain except Elgin. Especially not the pictures trying to seep around his mental barricades…images of what this maniac would no doubt do should he slip through their fingers once more.

Pushing everything away but the search, he waited a few more seconds and then followed Nate, rounding the corner and striding toward the sidewalk.

Jan strolled casually down the street about a block up to his right, a slightly bored tourist lady killing some time but actually scanning cars, license plates, people and store interiors. After a half-hour walk through this sleepy little burg, Harm knew she would be able to draw a detailed map of the place including the location and description of every car and person she saw.

On the other side of the parking lot from his car, Nate sat in a blue minivan, the back crammed with what looked like camping gear, speaking on a cell phone. The windows were up and the casual observer would think, from the calm expression on his face the call nothing more than checking road conditions or conversing with a friend. After all, even in a small place like this, a cell phone would not bring any undue attention.

The only other activity he could see centered at the gas station to his left, a national brand, big and modern for such a small town but where two men were filling up their vehicles, a big new pick up and an older, dark green sedan. He couldn’t see anyone else in the vehicles.

Keeping his pace normal and even, Harm walked toward the station. The pickup, on the far side of the island, faced the direction they’d come from. It didn’t seem reasonable that a man would throw his kidnap victim in the back of an open truck but he couldn’t take the chance.

Coming up to the island, he pulled a couple of paper towels from the dispenser, leaning over slightly so he could peer into the truck bed, empty except for a spare tire. The driver glanced questioningly at him and Harm smiled a little, bringing the towels to his shirt and pretending to rub.

“Breakfast,” he explained sheepishly. “Nice truck.”

“Thanks,” the man replied and turned back to the pump.

From where he stood, Harm could also see into the sedan, empty too. But he had no way of knowing what…or who…might be in the trunk. The driver stood in the station paying for his gas and Harm couldn’t get a good look at him through the glare of the sun shining through the window.

Tossing the towels in the trashcan, he circled behind the car, noting make, model and license plate. He bent down, as if to look at something on the ground and listened carefully for any noise coming from the trunk, but he heard nothing..

Inside, the man signed his credit card slip. Good, Harm thought, it will give us a name and address should we need it. He also had two bottles of soda and six assorted candy bars.

Harm moved to a rack of maps and guidebooks just inside the door and began scanning them as if looking for something. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the man as the clerk put his purchases in a brown paper bag. Medium height, broad shoulders, Butch-cut brown hair, light blue, short-sleeved tee shirt, faded light blue jeans.

As he reached the door, Harm moved slightly, bumping his back into the other man’s chest. Immediately, he turned to the other man’s face, just inches from his own. Long, horse face, dull eyes the color of his jeans, no more than twenty-five he guessed.

“Sorry,” Harm told him.

“Okay,” the young man mumbled and pushed out.

“Getcha something?” the clerk asked.

“No. Just looking, thanks,” and he too stepped out in time to see the green sedan pull away and down the street going away from the city.

He’d make sure his people up ahead were alerted to the car and driver but Harm’s cop gut told him that baby face and vacant stare didn’t belong to a kidnapper and murderer.

His gut wrenched again and he turned back toward the parking lot, already plotting the strategy of the hunt.

Out of the corner of his eye, a shop door opening across the two-lane street caught his attention. Turning his head, he stopped short and literally did a double take.

She’d paused just outside the door, zipping her fanny pack closed with one hand and juggling her sunglasses and a brown paper sack in the other.

Heart pumping, he dashed across the pavement, earning an angry honk and the traditional gesture as he narrowly avoided a car coming from the other direction.

By the time he reached her, Elgin had slid her dark glasses over those deep eyes, her face a calm mask.

As he grabbed her by the shoulders, perhaps a bit more roughly than he’d intended, relief and anger welled up inside him. Harm literally didn’t know whether to kiss her or turn her over his knee and spank her.

“Where the hell have you been?” he demanded.

With a quick shake, Elgin slipped from his grasp.

“Don’t touch me,” she shot back.

“I asked you a question.”

“In the grocery store, if you must know.” She jerked her head behind her. “I needed a few things.”

He could tell from her voice they were headed for another screaming match but right then, he didn’t care.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were leaving…where you were going?”

“Stop treating me like a child,” she fumed, her voice rising in anger and frustration. “I’m perfectly capable of crossing the street by myself and counting my change.”

“Then stop acting like a child. A spoiled, stupid child at that. And why didn’t you go out the front? The waitress told me she thought you’d gone to the powder room.”

Instantly, the anger disappeared, her body sagging slightly. She sighed deeply and looked down at the sidewalk between them.

“Because,” she answered in a quiet little voice, “I was afraid…afraid someone might be watching, waiting. I knew that if anyone was there, they’d think I’d gone to the ladies’ room and I could slip out the side door and then sneak back and check out the parking lot and street without being seen. It was silly, I know, but…well…”

It had been silly, and potentially very dangerous for her to risk running around, even for a moment, by herself. But it had also been very clever to think of using the side door for her escape.

“Well,” he relented a little but still trying to sound stern, “please just don’t do it again. When I realized you were gone, I…” the words died in his throat but not before she seized on them.

“You were what?” Her head tilted quizzically to one side and her whole body moved toward him a little.

“Nothing,” he growled, now not wanting to own up to any personal feelings he might have had. “Let’s just get out of here.”

Turning, he felt her hand on his wrist, her skin warm and soft but the muscles tense underneath.

“You were what?” she repeated and he imagined those beautiful eyes narrowed to thoughtful, inquisitive slits. And he knew also he wouldn’t get away with anything but the truth.

“I was worried,” he practically spit. “Okay?”

The muscles in her hand relaxed and she stared up at him for several long seconds.

“You…were worried?” Surprise dripped off her words, not an acid, cynical tone but one of almost childlike wonder. It both excited and annoyed him.

“Of course,” he tried to wiggle out. “Your boss is paying me a lot of money to keep you in one piece for three months. Wouldn’t look very good to lose you the first day.”

“Oh,” she answered simply, her hand dropping back to her side. Without another word, she moved away, stopping at the curb only long enough to check the road in both directions and then heading directly back to the SUV.