Defending Zara (Mountain Mercenaries #6)(93)

“We’re on our way to the meet, and Zara just got a call from Renee Heller. She sounded way too . . . chipper. I mean, Zara answered, and she was obviously stressed way the hell out, and Renee started blabbing about spending money—which seemed super odd to me. I have a hunch. I thought maybe you could check her location.”

“Where did she say she was?” Rex asked.

Everly looked at Zara.

“She didn’t say exactly,” Zara told Rex. “She said she would be down in Colorado Springs and wanted to know if I was home.”

“Okay, should be simple enough. Hang on . . . Well, that’s interesting,” Rex said.

“What?” both Everly and Zara asked at the same time.

“She’s headed south all right—but she’s just now passing the racetrack.”

Zara inhaled sharply and turned wide eyes to Everly.

“Seriously? That’s the same direction we’re headed,” Everly told Rex.

“Yeah, I know,” Rex said. “Look, be careful out there, okay? I need to look something up before you drop that money. Just watch your back. I’ll be in touch.” Then he hung up without another word.

“Do you think Renee is behind this?” Zara whispered.

“I don’t know.”

“But she was at dinner with us when Meat disappeared,” Zara insisted.

“She was, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have someone helping her. She’s always been a bit too interested in your money.”

That was true. Zara hadn’t really noticed until recently, but almost every time they were together in the last few weeks, Renee had made some sort of remark about how rich Zara was and how it must be nice to not have to worry about money.

The anger that had been pushed down by fear began to rise. If Uncle Alan had been behind this, Zara could almost have understood it. He’d been up front from the start about telling her he deserved some of his sister’s estate. But Renee . . .

She’d been there for Zara from the very beginning. She’d been a friend from her life before . . . Would she really betray her like this? Had she only pretended to be her friend to get her hands on Zara’s money?

The rest of the ride was quiet as both women were stuck in their thoughts. As they neared the rest stop, Everly said, “Remember the plan. Dump the money, get back in the car, and we’re out of here.”

Zara nodded . . . but as they drove slowly through the lot, a car parked behind a tractor trailer on the other side of the rest stop caught her attention.

And now that Everly had planted the seed of doubt about Renee, Zara couldn’t get it out of her head.

She knew the guys were around the rest stop, watching and waiting, but upon seeing that car, anger rose within Zara so fast and with such intensity, she could barely breathe.

Everly pulled into the last parking space, right in front of the trash can, and Zara got out with one of the bags. She stuffed it into the can and went back to the car for another, since she couldn’t carry all three at the same time.

When she’d finally shoved the last bag in the trash can, she started back toward Everly’s car . . .

Then Zara abruptly turned and started running as fast as she could toward the car that had caught her eye earlier.

She was pissed. Beyond pissed. She was enraged.

This wasn’t fair! Not after everything she’d been through for fifteen damn years.

And it definitely wasn’t fair to Meat, who hadn’t done a thing wrong. All he’d done was help her, love her, and she’d be damned if Renee was going to take him away from her.

Zara wasn’t even halfway to the car when Renee and a man Zara had never seen before swiftly jumped out. She heard Everly yelling her name from behind her, but Zara didn’t stop. She was going to wring Renee’s neck with her bare hands. Force her to tell her where Meat was!

“Stop right there!” Renee shouted, pointing a pistol in Zara’s direction.

That finally made Zara think twice about what in the hell she was doing. She skidded to a stop—but didn’t get a chance to say anything before a shot rang out.

Flinching and taking a step back, Zara expected to feel pain.

But she wasn’t the one who’d been shot.

Renee screamed as she dropped the gun she’d been holding. Zara saw Ro and Ball materialize out of the surrounding woods and begin to make their way fast toward where Renee was standing by her car, gaping, holding her hand.

The man with her, seeing that their plan had obviously gone to shit, turned tail and ran for the nearby trees. Zara didn’t worry about him getting away. She knew the guys would catch him.

Everly had reached her side and grabbed her arm, urging her toward her vehicle, but Zara refused to back away from the scene.

Renee wasn’t going anywhere, not with half her hand missing and blood pooling on the asphalt at her feet. She stood right where she was by the open car door, clearly in shock, staring at her hand as if she couldn’t believe what had happened.

With Everly at her side, and Ball and Ro facing Renee with their guns drawn, all Zara could think about was Meat.

And how her oldest friend, together with an accomplice, had most likely kidnapped him.

“I thought you were my friend,” Zara cried as she approached Renee. “I trusted you!”

“Oh, grow up! It’s been fifteen years!” Renee screeched back, crying out in pain as Ro ruthlessly grabbed her hands and cuffed them behind her, not seeming to really notice that she was covered in blood.