Chosen Prey (6 page)

"I'm Doris." The forty-something woman kept glancing from the road back to Lyra.

"Why are you hitchhiking?"

It was Lyra's turn to shrug. "Time to move on."

"Where are you headed?"

Lyra paused. "San Francisco."

Doris seemed fine with Lyra's brief responses. The woman turned out to be pretty chatty, which was a relief to Lyra. She wasn't in the mood to talk. While Doris rattled on about every man she'd dated in the past year, Lyra's thoughts kept returning to Dare. She couldn't get her mind off the man—and it wasn't just that he'd saved her from The People.

No, if she was being honest with herself, she'd felt a deep, dangerous attraction to the man.

His dark hair and brown eyes, the fluid way he moved, the finely muscled chest she'd seen last night. And his scent and the memory of how it had felt to be in his arms when he'd comforted her.

Get with the program, Lyra! It was just one of those rescuee-falls-for-rescuer kinda
things.

Lyra sat up straighter in her seat. It was still early and she hadn't had a chance to contact her friends to help Mrs. Y or to make sure the elderly woman was okay.

"Where do you want me to drop you off?" Doris said, breaking into Lyra's thoughts.

To her surprise, they were already rolling through the eastern part of Sierra Vista. "Wal-Mart." Lyra gestured to the store on their left.

"Wal-Mart it is." Doris drove to the large chain store and pulled up in front of the entrance.

"Let me pay you for my share of the gas," Lyra said as she started to open the flap of her backpack. "It's so expensive now."

"
No
," Doris said with enough emphasis to startle Lyra into looking at the woman. "I was coming here anyway and you were great company."

"Thank you." Lyra returned the woman's smile as she pulled on the door handle and pushed the car's door open. "You don't know how much I appreciate the ride."

"Not a problem."

Lyra climbed out and shut the car door before taking a few steps back. She slipped her arms through the handles of her backpack and hitched it up, waved goodbye, and headed straight into the store.

It had been the kindness of strangers that had helped her get away from The People to begin with. Even then she'd been through some pretty rough times, but she'd had some help. Only this time, the cash she had in her pack was enough to help her start a new life somewhere else. She'd have to live on ramen, macaroni and cheese, and water, but she could afford to rent an apartment until she started selling her artwork again, as long as she didn't go anyplace too expensive.

That ruled out New York City.

Inside the store, she grabbed a shopping basket and first thing headed for the aisle with the hair dye. She'd have to find everything to make her look like the fake ID she'd paid a lot for just in case she had to go on the run again. She'd need it to buy a ticket to board the bus.

Lyra rushed through the store, grabbing what she needed. It didn't take her long to choose a nice shade of red temporary hair dye and a few makeup products—she'd never been one for makeup, so that was something that had really made her look different on her ID. She found big sunglasses, a yellow tank top, and a matching pair of shorts.

She practically ran to the back of the store and picked out a pair of jogging shoes so her old ones wouldn't be recognized. She even remembered to snag a pair of scissors and some bubblegum. At the last minute she ran to the food section of the superstore and picked up a Danish for breakfast.

Groaning with disappointment, she realized she was going to have to give up her backpack. She sighed. She'd had the thing since her days on the streets—it was one of her first real possessions. And it was just perfect for all of her art tools, her cell phone, and everything else she kept.

Lyra pushed her cart to the section where the store displayed several rows of backpacks. A pink Barbie pack made her laugh as she thought about carrying that around.

Yeah, no one would guess it was her, but she didn't think she could live with a picture of a doll on a bright pink pack.

Eventually she settled on a sturdy yellow backpack that went with her new look. Why not? It would function well for what she needed.

As she paid for the items, her hands trembled, even though she doubted any of the cult members would be in the store at that moment. When she finished the transaction, she took her purchases into the ladies' restroom, brushing by one shopper and entering the largest stall. Within a few minutes she'd changed into the yellow tank top and shorts and changed her shoes. Her new backpack bulged by the time she had transferred all of her clothes into it along with her other possessions. She'd have to get rid of the shoes—she just didn't have room for those to fit. She stuffed her wad of cash and fake ID into a pocket of the pack and made sure she zipped it.

After she peed, she came out of the stall. Thankfully, the restroom was empty. She threw away her old shoes and with a sad sigh tossed away her old pack, too.

She placed her new pack and purchases on the floor and snatched the scissors out of the bag of purchases. Lyra grimaced as she carefully hacked off a good six inches of her hair so that she now sported a bob instead of having it a little over shoulder-length. Just as she tossed the hair into the garbage, a woman with two children came into the restroom and Lyra jumped. The woman was too busy with the toddlers to even notice Lyra.

Still, she chose to work on her makeup first before she would dye her hair. She applied a thick layer of foundation, a heavy dose of blush, and used blue eye shadow, black mascara, and red lipstick. One thing she'd learned was that she was probably least likely to draw the cult's attention by dressing in loud colors and wearing bright makeup, because they'd expect her to be subdued like she'd always been.

When she was finished applying the makeup, the woman came out of the large stall with her children, washed her hands and her children's without looking at Lyra. Finally the woman left with her kids and Lyra skimmed through the directions on the bottle of hair dye.

If she didn't want any stains, she'd need to protect her hands and her neck. She dragged one of her old T-shirts out of her backpack to put around her neck to keep the dye from getting on her tank top. Then she emptied out the two shopping bags, jamming the makeup and scissors into her backpack, but left the sunglasses out on the shelf on the countertop beside the sink.

Lyra wrapped her hands in the now-empty plastic shopping bags, grabbed the bottle of dye, leaned over the sink, and poured the entire contents of the bottle over her hair. With her hands covered by the bags, she managed to work the dye through her hair. Someone came into the bathroom while Lyra was rinsing the excess out, but she didn't look up and prayed it wasn't a store employee.

After she rinsed her hair, Lyra threw away the bags and dye bottle. She rubbed the T-shirt that had been around her neck over her hair to get out most of the water and any remnants of the dye. She wiped up the mess on the countertop, then tossed the T-shirt. An elderly woman came out of a stall and gave Lyra an odd look but just washed her hands and dried them beneath the hand dryer.

Thank goodness there was a dryer. When the lady left, Lyra twisted the metal nozzle so that the air would blow upward instead of down and proceeded to dry her hair the best she could.

Finally finished, she took a deep breath, turned, and looked into the mirror.

As she'd expected, a virtual stranger looked back at her. Her red hair fell in a smooth, if not a little uneven, cap down to chin-level. Her makeup was bold and her clothing bright.

She picked up the pair of sunglasses and slipped them on. Dang, even she wouldn't be able to recognize herself.

One more thing would help alter her appearance. She dug a pair of socks out of her bag and padded each cup of her bra. She smiled when she looked at her reflection again. Now those were a pair of breasts. She unwrapped a piece of bubblegum, popped it in her mouth, and started chewing.
Ewwww
. Talk about too much sugar, and the watermelon flavor—ick. But she continued to chew it with her mouth open until the sugar dissolved and she was able to blow bubbles.

She dropped the rest of the gum into her backpack and slung the pack over her shoulder. Jeez, she hoped no one would think she was stealing anything. At least she had the receipt to prove she'd purchased everything in the backpack and what she was wearing.

Lyra straightened her posture, took a deep breath, smacked her bubblegum, and walked out of the bathroom, her chin tilted up. Like she'd expected, no one paid attention to her—the place was too busy with people coming and going. The loud chatter of voices rang in her ears.

When she stepped outside the automatic doors, sunshine warmed her face and she smiled. A new look brought on a feeling of self-confidence she hadn't had before. From behind her sunglasses she scanned the crowd, looking for a likely candidate to give her a ride to the bus stop.

From the corner of her eye she spotted a black SUV, and her heart stuttered. If she didn't know better, she'd think it was Dare's vehicle.

It
was
!

Damn it!

How had he found her? He must have followed her from Tombstone.

Lyra didn't look his way, just blew another huge pink bubble and let it pop over her mouth and the tip of her nose. When she spotted an elderly woman Lyra sucked the bubble back in, forced a smile, and strode into the parking lot with as much confidence as she could. The entire time she walked toward the woman, Lyra felt prickles up and down her spine as if Dare were looking right at her.

She reached the woman and clenched her new backpack tighter in one arm. She gave the woman a little wave with her free hand and made her smile brighter. "By any chance could I get a ride to the bus stop? If it's not out of your way?"

The woman studied Lyra for a moment with keen blue eyes. "All right," the woman finally said. "Just as soon as I get my bags in the trunk."

"Thanks." Lyra kept her smile cheerful, but her body vibrated with tension as she chatted and helped the woman load her purchases into the back of the green sedan. When they were ready to take off, Lyra climbed into the passenger seat clutching her backpack.

Not once had she looked Dare's way.

Why was he following her, anyway? He couldn't help her. He was a stranger, and she really had no clue why he seemed to want to protect her. She could take care of herself.

And if she could get out of this parking lot without the cowboy PI recognizing her, that would just prove herself even more.

Dare glanced at his watch, then back to the entrance of the store. He'd seen Lyra go in a good twenty minutes earlier. What was taking her so long? He hadn't followed her in, afraid he'd lose her in the big store and she'd be out of there before he had a chance to track her down.

Instead he watched the entrance, waiting for her to reappear. Countless people walked in and out of the store, and his practiced eye swept over each and every one of them.

Once he saw a blond woman with a similar build and height as Lyra, but then he got a good look at her and shook his head.

Dare watched mothers with toddlers in tow, boys with pants so big and long the hems were ragged, and teenage girls with skirts that were way too short.

He'd sure never let
his
teenage daughters dress like that if he had any. If he ever found a woman to settle down with. For some reason his thoughts turned to Lyra and he imagined she'd make a great mother and wife. He shook his head. Where did that thought come from?

Another mother holding the hands of small children, one on either side of her, walked out of the store.

The mother was followed by a redhead wearing bright yellow clothing and large sunglasses. The woman had generous breasts and long legs and blew big bubbles with her chewing gum. She paused before continuing after the mother of the toddlers.

Next a young woman with
huge
boobs and a tiny waist came out arm-in-arm with an older man who had silver-gray hair and a crisp shirt and slacks. She paused to kiss him on the lips, laughed like a schoolgirl, and they continued walking across the lot. Looked like someone had a sugar daddy.

For some reason Dare's attention was drawn to the redhead, who had stopped to help an elderly woman load her trunk with her purchases. The redhead had a bright yellow backpack slung over her shoulder. He glanced at the front doors of the store before looking back at the redhead. He caught sight of her smile as she talked with the woman.

In that instant he knew it was Lyra. No one had a smile as beautiful as hers.

Dare shook his head and couldn't help a grin of his own.
Clever girl
. He had come so close to not recognizing her. Hell, she'd even made her boobs look bigger.

The green sedan pulled out of its parking space. Dare waited until the car was almost out of sight before bringing his SUV around to follow it. If Lyra had spotted him, she'd be on the watch for him if he came too close.

Regardless if he couldn't keep up, he was pretty sure where she was headed now that she'd changed her appearance.

After sucking in a deep breath, Lyra tried to relax. She glanced at the side-view mirror and smiled when she saw Dare's SUV still parked near the entrance of the store. Ha! She'd fooled even the PI.