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filth, but not much else. Finally Levi’s fingers encountered cold steel. They curled around the object and he grinned. Just what he’d hoped for. He scooted back to Casey, swaying with the jarring ride.
    When he was close enough, she said, “I found a whole lot of nothing. You?”
    “Tire iron.” He was looking forward to using it after the way those two locos had whacked Casey. A frown tugged at his lips. He hadn’t even asked about that. “How’s your head?” Chances were she had a colossal headache and a nice lump to show for her lack of cooperation.
    “Hurts.” She rubbed at the back of her head. “No real damage.”
    “Good.” He had to wonder at her training. Arguing with an armed man, especially when the muzzle was right in your face, was not a smart move.
    “There’s a sizeable hole in your strategy, Stark.”
    “What hole?” His plan was markedly better than jumping from a moving vehicle in the dark or informing the bad guys that they’d gotten loose. If she had a better one, she should speak up.
    “When they realize we’re not secured, the element of surprise will no longer be ours. I estimate that’ll take about three seconds.”
    She had him there. “Good point.” He considered a way around that strategic error. “I guess we’ll just have to tie each other up again.”
    “I’ll take care of our feet.”
    Before he could offer to do it, she scooted down to handle the task. If she had noticed his fascination with her ankles he doubted she wanted him in that position again. It was bad enough he recognized his own idiocy, he’d prefer not to show it off.
    “We can hold the ropes around our wrists.” She settled in next to him once more. “Did you overhear anything about where they’re taking us?”
    Levi stared out at the passing landscape. The stars and moon were helpful but nothing about the dark, desolate terrain gave him a clue as to where they were headed. And his command of the Spanish language wasn’t that noteworthy. “The best I could understand, the destination is an abandoned mine.”
    “That could be anywhere around here,” she muttered, clearly annoyed. “They’re all over the place.”
    The truck slowed, then turned to the left. Tension screwed tighter inside him. “I guess we’ll know soon enough.” He tucked the tire iron into his waistband at his side and hoped the jacket would cover it sufficiently and that it wouldn’t fall out.
    “One question.”
    He turned to her, tried to read her face in the moonlight. “What’s that?”
    “If we overtake these guys, what’s to keep you from overtaking me? Or trying anyway?” she added with a note of challenge that didn’t quite rise to the occasion.
    Was that vulnerability he heard in her voice? “You have the knife,” he reminded her. His protective instincts stirred though he felt reasonably certain she could take care of herself.
    “You have the tire iron,” she countered.
    “Wanna trade?” he offered. It wasn’t the time to be joking around and she was a stranger. Competition, it seemed. But he was pretty sure they both needed a break in the tension.
    “I’ll stick with the knife.” She released a breathy sound, almost a laugh. “No pun intended.”
    The truck rocked to a stop.
    “Showtime,” she murmured.
    The engine remained idling but the men’s raised voices were audible above the rumble. Levi tried to make out some part of the conversation. Now he wished he had taken the time to master Spanish years ago. It didn’t take a linguist, however, to recognize the two were in strict disagreement.
    “The driver wants the other guy to do this while he waits in the truck.”
    He shouldn’t have been, but Levi was impressed. Another expedient skill of hers. The passenger side door creaking open prevented him from offering a compliment and sticking his foot deeper into his mouth. This woman, Casey Manning, was his rival first and foremost. Caution was advisable.
    The tailgate flopped open.
    Casey