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“But how did you even know where to find Lane’s dad?” Maddox asked.

“An associate of mine, who knows his way around computers, happened to owe me a favor or two.”

“An
associate
like a buddy from prison or something?” I asked.

Jensen chuckled. “Yes, I met Parker from my days of serving a sentence for an armed robbery or two. While the authorities might call Parker a dangerous computer hacker, it is fortunate for me because he was able to find out your father’s tour schedule when we hacked into your family’s cell records. That way we had an exact location of when and where to find him.”

“Cut to the damn chase, Jensen,” Maddox snarled.

“With Parker’s help, I was able to find Mr. Montgomery to bring him back to Georgia, and I also know that you two are at West’s Roadside Bar and Grill in Calhoun.”

I exchanged a horrified look with Maddox. “If you know where we are, why even bother with the phone?”

“Because busting in on you wouldn’t serve my purpose at all. No, I get to rest easy knowing that I’ll make the demands, and you will be doing all the dirty work for me.”

“What do you want us to do?” Maddox asked.

“I think it’s safe to assume that you two have probably figured out the location of the gold. Am I right?”

Maddox tensed beside me. I could tell he didn’t want to tell Jensen anything, but what choice did we have? “Yes,” I murmured.

“Okay then. Here’s what’s going to happen. You are going to go get the gold and bring it to me. The reward for all your hard work will be that I don’t hurt either of you or Mr. Montgomery. Then I’ll take the gold, and we’ll forget that we ever had the pleasure of meeting each other. Understood?”

Maddox scowled. “Yeah, whatever.”

“See how easy this can be?” Jensen teased, an irritating smile in his voice.

“Just tell us what to do!” I cried.

“So impatient, aren’t we?” When I didn’t respond, Jensen continued, “Now the little GPS devices in your phones that helped track you down are also going to tell me just exactly where you go and what you do. I consider it my insurance policy against you pulling any funny business. Don’t try to call anyone, especially the police. Don’t make any extended stops along the route because I will know the moment you do, and we’ll have a problem. If you throw your phones away or I lose the GPS connection, then Daddy gets hurt.
Bad
. And I’m sure you don’t want that to happen.”

I choked on the sobs rising in my throat. “No, please, I’ll do anything. Just don’t hurt him.”

“Now, now, don’t get so upset. You’ll need your strength and all your focus on finding the treasure. Where is it you’re supposed to go?”

“Talking Rock in Pickens County,” Maddox answered.

“Parker, give me an ETA from Calhoun to Talking Rock please.” Seconds ticked by. “That should take you approximately an hour. I’ll be generous and give you an extra ten minutes this time to get your heads on straight. The moment you arrive at the location, call me on this number and check in. We’ll go from there.”

Jensen then disconnected the phone. My legs turned to rubber and could no longer hold me up. Even with Maddox’s arms around me, I collapsed onto the ground, shaking and sobbing. Maddox dropped down beside me and pulled me into his arms. I guess he realized the enormity of the situation because he didn’t even bother trying to tell me not to cry or that everything was going to be okay. He just held me tight and let me howl and scream like a crazy person.

All I could think about was my dad ending up like Maudie…or far worse. He could be killed all because of me and my ridiculous need to have an adventure. It was too much to think about, let alone to have to bear. And there were also the horrible thoughts of what might happen to Maddox and myself if we didn’t find the gold.

I finally started coming out of my breakdown. My breath came in ragged gasps while my throat felt like it had been sliced with razor blades.

Maddox’s breath was warm against my ear. “Listen, Jensen’s ransom—it doesn’t change anything. We’re still going after the gold, and we’re going to find it.”

I jerked back to stare at him. “Don’t you get it? It’s not just about us losing the treasure to him. What if he doesn’t let my dad go? What if he takes the gold and then kills us all?”

“Then we come up with a back-up plan that ensures we all get out of this alive—preferably with the gold.”

“But you heard Jensen. He’ll know if we try to call the police or anyone else.”

“From our cell-phones. That doesn’t mean we can’t call someone else.”

I shook my head furiously. “He’s tracking us like animals, Maddox. We go off the grid for one minute, and he’ll shoot my dad, just like he did Maudie.”

Maddox leapt up off the floor and started pacing back and forth. “Dammit, there’s got to be a way.”

I ground the tears from my eyes with my fists and then drew in a breath. I had to be strong and think clearly. This wasn’t about finding the treasure anymore. “Look, we don’t have time to argue about this. Jensen is timing us, remember?” I pulled myself painfully up off the floor. Without another word to Maddox, I grabbed my purse. Stomping over to the door, I unbolted the lock. When he still hadn’t moved, I threw a glance at him over my shoulder. “Are you coming or not?”

He narrowed his eyes. I could tell there were about a million things he wanted to say to me at that moment, but amazingly, he held his tongue. He snatched his bag and slung the strap over his shoulder.

I blew through the door and then started pounding down the stairs. My chest ached at the difference between the way I was coming down them this morning, all broken and defeated in spirit from Jensen’s call, as opposed to how Maddox had carried my drunken self up them the night before like a knight in shining armor. Everything appeared so different in the harsh light of day.

Flinging open the truck door, I tossed my purse inside. Then I hooked my hand through the harness and hoisted myself into the cab. Maddox opened his door as I slammed mine. I craned my neck to eye the truck bed, where he had put the tools in earlier. I noticed two shovels and a Coleman lantern almost like the ones we’d used at the house we’d broken into.

Maddox cranked up the engine and then threw the truck into reverse. As we careened onto the highway, I buckled my seatbelt. I drew my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them tight. Turning my head away from Maddox, I stared out the window, silently praying over and over:
Please don’t let Jensen hurt my dad. Please let us find the gold. Please let us all get out of this nightmare safe and not harmed.

But even through my prayers, my mind spun with horrible thoughts about Dad. Each and every one of them involved him lying in a pool of blood similar to Maudie. They were so intense a metallic smell invaded my nose. My stomach clenched, and I knew I was going to lose my breakfast. “Pull over,” I commanded.

“What?” Maddox glanced over to see me with my hand cupped over my mouth. “Shit!” He whipped into the emergency lane. The moment the truck skidded to a stop I hopped out. I barely made it before I vomited into the grass. I threw up over and over until my body shuddered with dry heaves.

Still bent over double, I heard Maddox’s feet crunching towards me on the gravel. I couldn’t bring myself to raise my head and look at him. I hated he had to see me this way—a weak, vulnerable princess puking her guts out on the side of the road.

His hand tentatively rubbed my back. “It’s going to be okay, Lane. I promise.”

I jerked my head up to glare at him. “You can’t promise me that. No one can.”

He exhaled noisily. “I’m sorry. I don’t know anything else to say or do.”

I dragged my hand across my mouth. “There’s nothing you can say.” I brushed past him to get into the truck. I don’t know why I was being such a bitch to him. It wasn’t his fault, and he was only trying to help. I just couldn’t process anything more than trying to get to my dad.

Once we got back on the road, I rested my head against the window. It was thirty minutes before Maddox spoke to me again, causing me to jump. “You know what exit we’re supposed to take?”

I nodded and then pulled my cell phone out of my purse. I clicked on the email where I’d saved our route. “Exit Nine. Then take a right,” I croaked. My throat still ached from screaming so hard and throwing up.

I had just popped in a piece of gum from my purse when Maddox murmured, “Lane.”

His expression was pained, but he took his right hand off the steering wheel and crooked his finger at me. The small, insignificant detail broke me. I didn’t stop to think. Instead, I fumbled with the seatbelt that held me prisoner. It finally released me, and I slid across the seat. I snuggled up to him, wrapped my arms around his waist, and buried my head against his chest. “I’m sorry for being such a bitch.”

“You weren’t being a bitch.” Tenderly, he kissed the top of my head. “You’re killing me, you know that right? Seeing you suffering like this and not being able to do anything—it hurts like hell. And then the fact you need me so much emotionally, and I don’t know if I can do it…” He grimaced. “It’s fucking agony.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“Don’t be. It’s me that should be sorry. I should have said from day one that this whole map thing was stupid, and we should’ve gone to the police. Maybe then the Feds could have gotten to Jensen, and your dad would be okay.”

“But we wanted this—
I
wanted this. A crazy adventure.” I shook my head. “We never imagined it would end like this.”

A frustrated noise came from the back of Maddox’s throat. “Oh come on! What the hell is wrong with us? We’re acting like we’re dead and buried! Done. Finito.”

I shot him a scathing look. “Are you trying to say after Jensen’s call we can still have a happily ever after?”

“Damn straight! I didn’t go through eighteen months in Army training to just lie down and die when the going got rough. You fight back and give it everything you’ve got until you don’t have anything else. Jensen doesn’t know what he’s coming up against.”

A small glimmer of hope flickered within me at his words, and I almost believed we could beat Jensen. Maddox was being so strong for the both of us that I couldn’t help planting a kiss on the rough stubble of his cheek. “Thank you for being here for me.”

“Anytime, babe. Do you feel a little better now?”

I nodded. “I didn’t peg you as one for pep talks.”

He gave me a sheepish grin. “Yeah, well, I’d hoped to be an officer one day. You kinda need the bravado to lead the troops into danger and all that shit.”

I smiled. “You would have made a great one…Captain Diaz….no,
General
Diaz.”

He tore his eyes off the road to give me an astonished look. “You think so?”

“Yep, I
know
so. I’m totally resolved to kick Jensen’s ass now.”

Maddox chuckled. “Really, Princess?”

“At least for the moment. I’m sure my resolve will start fading soon.”

Nudging me, he said, “I like the kickass and take names attitude much better than you all sad and weepy.”

“I can imagine.” A highway sign then caught my attention. “Hey, we’re almost to our turnoff.”

“The next exit?”

I nodded.

Maddox coasted the truck off the interstate. “Where do we go now?”

“Okay, take a right.”

He tapped the brakes and started slowing down. He eased us off the exit ramp and onto the two-lane highway. “Now, we’re going to go two miles before taking a left,” I instructed.

“Is that going to put us into the boonies?”

“Almost. It’s the turn after it that we go five miles on that road.”

“Fabulous.”

We drove through a pretty populated area with strip malls and fast food places before making our next turn. After only a mile, we’d left civilization behind. Green pastureland with horses and cows grazing dotted the horizon. A couple houses lined the road, but they were few and far between. We kept going further and further into the woods until the road ceased being paved and turned into gravel.

I glanced down at my phone again. “Talking Rock Springs Trail should be coming up on the left.”

Maddox and I both peered through the windshield, searching for the turn. Once we made it, the road became less gravel and more overgrown grass. Tree branches smacked and slapped against our windows and beat against the doors. Then the unthinkable happened: an iron gate closed us off from the rest of the trail.