She pressed her hand to the space below her neck and swallowed hard. "He's not my dad," she heard herself croak. It was an odd thing to say, given the situation, but she felt compelled to say it anyway. She wanted a clear distinction between the two men. One had been a good man who'd loved her, and the other … his polar opposite.
"Dad, stepdad. Don't matter to us what he is," Parker continued. "Only that he wants you back. And according to this … " He tapped his fingertip on the flyer directly over Debbie's birthdate. " … you're still a minor."
He wants you back. He wants you back. He wants you back.
The silent screaming began. White-hot panic filled her belly. Those four dread-inducing words played on repeat in Debbie's mind. Living nightmares crept free from the dregs of her memories. Her breaths grew thin and her vision went spotty.
"Please," she rasped. "Please, you can't do this. You don't understand-you can't send me back there."
"Parker." Willis moved to stand beside Parker. Eyes filled with concern, he placed his hand on the younger agent's shoulder. "Ease up-"
Parker jerked away and took another step toward Debbie. "Oh, we can, sweetheart. You don't turn eighteen for another couple of months. Your parents still have legal rights to you. And what you've been doing here in the city, underage and playing house with the likes of Damon Fox-"
Smacking his lips again, Parker's eyes dropped down to the baby carriage, sparking with malicious intent.
"Preacher doesn't know!" Debbie cried softly, wishing she could shield Eva from his view. "I haven't told him anything about me!"
Parker's answering smile was callous and cold. Shaking his head, he waggled a finger back and forth. "Well aren't you a little minx. Doesn't matter, though. Your parents could still make a whole lot of trouble for him if they wanted to. They got the money to do it, that's for sure."
Debbie began to shake, shivering despite the suffocating heat she was feeling. It was too much-it was all too much. Her palms were clammy, and her mouth had gone dry. Her heart was racing, her mind spinning, tears threatening. She wanted to shove past the agents and run. Run out of the store and disappear among the crowded streets of Manhattan.
For the first time since meeting Preacher she was aching for the safety and anonymity living on the road had afforded her.
But it wasn't just her anymore. She had Eva and Preacher. She had a family now, and she couldn't just leave them. But neither would she allow these men to send her home.
She couldn't go home-she couldn't go back to him. She wouldn't survive it.
"There's another way." Willis stepped forward, moving to stand in front of Parker. Eyeing his partner with distaste, he plucked the flyer from the younger man's hand and crumpled it beneath his slim fingers. "We could forget we ever saw this, and you can go back to being Debbie Reynolds from Akron, Ohio."
Debbie stared up at him-scared, confused, and barely breathing. Why would the FBI follow her here, intimidate and threaten her, if they were just going to retract their threat? Something else was going on, something that went beyond her.
"Here's the thing, Debbie," the younger agent sneered. Elbowing Willis aside, he leaned over the baby carriage, close enough that Debbie could smell the stale coffee on his breath.
"We don't want you. We don't care about you and whatever it was that sent you running across the country. We want the Silver Demons. We want Preacher. You help us make that happen and we'll leave you be."
"I don't know anything," she hurried to whisper. "He doesn't tell me anything!"
Parker made a clicking noise with his tongue. Straightening, he smoothed his hands down the front of his jacket. "That's a damn shame," he said. "Then it looks like you're headed back to-"
"Please!" she cried. "You don't understand." She shook her head frantically. "Please, you can't send me back there. Please. Please."
She suddenly couldn't seem to find enough air in her lungs. "H-he's a m-monster," she barely managed to finish.
"A monster?" Parker spat. "You've been spreading your legs for a fucking monster. Do you have any idea what that man of yours has done? How many men he's-"
"Parker!" Willis's tone was harsh, infused with warning.
Parker's eyes shot to Willis. "You know it was them," he growled, shoving his finger in the older man's face. "You know it."
Willis gritted his teeth. "We've got no proof. Stay on the task at hand."
Willis faced Debbie. "Anything you can think of-a name, a location, anything at all."
"Please, no," she whispered, shaking her head again. Even if she did know something, how could they expect her to betray Preacher?