Lone Rider Read Online Free PDF Page B

aware that she was hyperventilating, the gag impeding her breathing. She felt Dallas slide an arm around her waist.
    “No needles,” he said firmly.
    Tess sagged against his arm.
    “I’ll give her six of these.”  Dallas held up a prescription bottle. “She won’t give you any trouble after that. Eddie , get some water.”
    Turning her to face him, Dallas grasped Tess’ chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. “If you don’t swallow these, we’ll use the other. Choose wisely.”
    Once again Tess faced an impossible choice. She’d seen the hypodermic Duke held. The needle wasn’t even capped. It obviously wasn’t sterile and had probably been used before. What ghastly disease would she get from it? And who knew what drug was in the vial?
    She caught a glimpse of the bottle Dallas held. A tranquilizer. Or so the label read. Her mother had used them on more than one occasion. And while Tess had never taken it, she knew it was a common prescription. But six of them?
    “I’ll loosen your gag so you can swallow,” Dallas continued. “Then it’s going right back on. I don’t want to hear one word.”
    She glared at him, but nodded. As soon as he freed her of the gag, she took a sip of water to wet her mouth. She heard the rattle of pills as Dallas opened the container, shook out pills, then held them close to her mouth. She shot him one more murderous look, then glanced at his palm.
    Three pills.
    She looked up, hoping for a sign, receiving none. Instead he shoved his hand even closer. Confused, she opened her mouth and took the small, bitter pills. She could have sworn he said he was giving her six pills. Had he practically shoved them down her throat so the others wouldn’t see there were only three?
    As soon as she swallowed Duke moved up and replaced her gag. Just that quickly Duke pulled her away.
    Dallas watched her leave, careful to keep any emotion from showing on his face. He knew she felt betrayed. He’d purposely tried to cultivate her trust and now this. She had to be out of her mind with fear, imagining the worst.
    What she didn’t know was how important it was for him to play along with the game. There were more lives at stake than just hers.
                  “I’m eager to hear your side of the story,” Bogen began when they were alone. “Duke says you found her on Pitmann Highway and Snake’s staking a claim on her. Seeing as you both know the rules, I’m curious why she’s even here.”
                  “She’s not local. She ran out of gas , and I stopped to help her. She was demonstrating her gratitude when Snake crawled along. I had planned to roll her, then give her a lift to Jeb’s, which would have been the end of the story. Except Snake had to horn in.”
                  Bogen shook his head. “That jackass.”
                  “He said he’d take her if I didn’t. By then she had 9-1-1 written all over her face. I knew I couldn’t let her go and risk the chance she’d call the sheriff.”
                  Swearing, Bogen moved back toward his desk, the chair groaning loudly as he settled his bulk. “That damn sheriff’s dying for a reason to come back out here. Where’s her car? And where the hell is Snake?”
                  “The car’s in Lake Summer . Snake said he had business in Jordan .”
                  “Blast him!”  Bogen slammed his fist on the desk, the sound echoing in the room.
    The silence swelled for a moment , then Bogen cleared his throat. “Under the circumstances, you did the right thing. We’ll ship her to Canada and let Sanchez handle it. I--”
                  “I’m keeping her, Bogen.”
    Dallas ’ statement stretched between the men like a taut rope in a game of mental tug-of-war.
                  Bogen fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a cigarette and lighter . Inhaling sharply, he blew out a geyser of smoke. “I’ll be