Genuine confusion passed through Jacoby as he tried to formulate a response, unsure just how the information fit with what he already knew.
“Meaning?” he asked again.
“Meaning somebody tipped him off.”
“Who?” Jacoby snapped, raising his free hand to his scalp and digging vigorously at it, his hair wet to the touch. “One of Dawson’s?”
“No, sir,” Celek said. “We think it was the girl.”
“The girl?” Jacoby asked, his hand falling away as his face clouded over. “What was her name? Rachel?”
“No,” Celek said, “not that girl. That girl’s name is Rae, and she is currently also crossing into Kansas from the south, presumably to meet up with Wynn.”
“Huh,” Jacoby replied. He could tell Celek was working to something, but still wasn’t quite able to piece it together. There was no doubt it was important, but for whatever reason he couldn’t bring things full circle.
As far as he knew, there was no other girl in the picture that would have a vested interest in helping Wynn.
“Grant,” Celek said. “We were able to run the numbers coming into the hotel, and it came from somewhere just outside of Chicago.”
“Oh,” Jacoby said, his features falling flat for a moment. “Oh...” he said again, allowing the information to settle into his mind.
“Yeah,” Celek agreed, his voice low and clipped.
Skye Grant had no earthly reason to be helping Laredo Wynn. If this was true and she now was, it could present a problem neither one had anticipated.
“So you got a location on the caller?” Jacoby asked.
“We did,” Celek replied. “Dawson and his men should be arriving at any moment, orders to terminate.”
“Good,” Jacoby said, nodding several quick times, feeling his chest constrict slightly. “Good good good. And after that?”
“Looks like we’re headed to Kansas to finish it.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
After calling Laredo Wynn, Skye stared at the screen for more than two hours. The first part of it she used to track him as he pushed due west before moving south, crossing into Nebraska. She stayed on him, as much out of abject curiosity as anything else, as he headed straight for Kansas, before growing bored with the exercise.
Whether or not that was his final destination, she had no way of knowing. Armed with the almost certainty that she could find him again if she needed, both through his truck and his cell phone, she let him go, content that it wasn’t the last she’d seen of Laredo Wynn.
After that, with her nerves still pulled taut and her body dictating it was hours before bed, she turned her attention back to the hotel.
What had been just a single black automobile on the original feed had turned into two, both enormous SUV’s with a handful of men in each. All dressed in dark hues, a couple popped in and out of the hotel room, using furtive movements and being careful to stay beyond the stray lights from the facility. The remainder stayed clumped up on the outside of their vehicles, never emerging for more than a second or two.
At such a distance it was impossible for her to glean any details about the men, ditto for license plate numbers or specifics on the cars. If pressed she would say they were Suburbans or some equally large ride, but couldn’t swear to it.
Once even that lost its appeal, she closed the laptop, leaving the warm device across her thighs to serve as a makeshift blanket, and rested her head back against the tree. Within minutes the cool breeze of the evening lulled her into a state of semi-sleep, her body remaining motionless for several hours, until the first piercing rays of light crested the horizon to the east.
So strong was the sun that it caused her to wake with a start, her face twisted up tight, attempting to block it from view. When that did little to aid her, she raised a hand, trying in vain to use her thin digits to obscure the glare.
“Alright, alright, I get it,” she muttered, placing the computer on the grass beside her and stretching her arms up high overhead. A low groan rolled out from her as he brought her feet to her backside and pushed herself upright, using the tree for support.
The long night had left her hungry and thirsty, her head spinning slightly as she stood, body aching for both water and coffee. Bracing herself against the tree, she waited a moment for the feeling to pass before grabbing up the laptop and hugging it against her chest, drawing her body in tight against the morning chill.
The walk back was much easier than the previous climb, Skye’s toes pushing forward over the front edge of her sandals as she descended from the overlook. Dust and dew both clung to her skin as she walked down the trail and made her way back into the woods, tucking the laptop up under her sweatshirt to protect it from the elements.
Just as it had the night before, the temperature dropped slightly as she stepped into the woods, most of the morning sun blocked from view. Long shadows splayed themselves across the trail as she moved forward, the world startlingly quiet, without a stray bird or insect making a sound.
Free of the adrenaline rush from the previous evening, Skye thought back over what had taken place, of seeing the approaching vehicles bound for Wynn and of her decision to call and help him. Whether or not it was the right decision she still had not yet figured out, knowing only for certain that Raz and Jazmine would both have strong opinions on the matter.
Just as they did with most everything.
Under the light of day the world looked infinitely different. The trail she had followed the night before was now plain as nothing more than a path used by game, no doubt connected to a watering hole on one end or the other.
Nowhere was there the slightest sign of her previous passing, a twinge of nervousness beginning to move through her before she spotted the van parked up ahead.
With condensation clinging to the glass, it was obvious that neither of her cohorts were yet up and active, the vehicle sitting quiet. Tucked into a small gravel bar in a tight clearing, it looked almost comical as Skye approached, appearing to be some form of oversized creature lurking in the woods.
Allowing a smile to come to her face, she walked on, covering the last remnants of the forest, just beginning to notice the traces of an unfamiliar smell in the air.
Feeling the smile slide away, Skye continued moving forward, the scent coming into sharper relief with each step. Bitter and acrid, it had a clear aroma to it that she was certain had not been there the night before.
With a few last steps, Skye emerged from the trees, gravel crunching beneath her feet. A crease appeared between her brows as she stopped by the log she had sat on the night before, freeing the laptop from her sweatshirt and placing it onto the flat stretch she had used as a seat.
“Raz! Jazz! You guys up?” she called, her voice echoing out through the still morning air, seeming to reverberate off the silent trees nearby.
When there was no response, she followed up with, “Hey! Wake up!”
The tension, the concern, the worry inside her, grew as she inched her way closer to the van, her gaze moving down to the ground, the thick pattern of footsteps smashed into the gravel. Around her the smell grew ever stronger, so thick she felt as if she should reach out and push it away with both hands.
A sheen of tears appeared on her eyes as she moved on, keeping her feet planted in the ground, shuffling them just a few inches at a time.
Eschewing calling out again, she drew closer to the van and extended a hand toward it, her fingers just barely visible beyond the cuff of her sleeve. There she held it for a moment before grasping the handle and wrenching the door open.
Just as fast she slammed it back into place, her legs unable to support her weight as she melted straight to the ground and buried her face in her hands.
There she remained for the better part of a half hour, every bit of moisture she had in her body pouring out in one unending sob.
Chapter Twenty-Four
There was no teary reunion, no slow motion running hug, the two of us
crying out in joy as we rushed into each other’s arms.
Rae was already parked at the rest area outside of Wichita, having arrived into town a half hour before me and passing on through to the north side. From there she spotted the no-name facility and texted me the location, pulling over and waiting out the last ten minutes for me to arrive.
When I did, I found her parked on the far end of the lot. She had climbed out and was perched atop a picnic table, her feet resting on the bench seat, leaning forward with her elbows resting on her knees, fingers laced before her.
Despite the hint of a chill in the air she was wearing only jeans and a ribbed tank top, the morning sun shining off her bronzed arms, shadows showing every vein and striation. Per usual her hair was pulled back into a braid, her blue eyes tracking me as I parked two spots down from her and climbed out.
My initial reaction upon seeing her was to suppress a smile, not because I was glad to see her – which I was – but because the sight of her sitting there like that was the hottest damn thing I’d ever seen.
Some guys are into little black dresses and stiletto heels, hair piled high and diamonds on the ears, but for me, there is nothing better than the simple elegance of a woman in jeans, not bothering with makeup.
My second thought was to tamp down the carnal longing that coursed through me, a combination of her sitting there and the events of the last day, fear and adrenaline being two of nature’s most powerful aphrodisiacs. Knowing Rae, she was having a similar response right now, that very thing being how we first came together so many years before.
Another story for another time.
“YO?” I said in greeting, stepping up from the parking lot and taking a seat on the table beside her.
“Yup. YO?” she said, waiting for me to nod before her gaze moved to the parking lot, watching to make sure nobody had followed either one of us.
Rotating my attention toward the loose cluster of buildings off to our left, I tracked a pair of sedans parked on a diagonal. Beside the first, an elderly couple was gingerly disembarking, walking in a stiff-legged gait toward the restrooms. Returning toward the other was a middle-aged woman and a pair of young children, all three holding cans of soda, the children both talking in loud voices.
If any one of the five was there to watch us, it was the best damn cover I’d ever seen.
“You first,” Rae said.
I gave no response as I continued my sweep, knowing that Rae had already done so many times since arriving, but having to appease my own ingrained habits just the same. Once I was content that we were clear, free from prying eyes or curious ears, I shifted my focus to stare straight out, same as her.
“It was the girl,” I opened. I’d had the entire drive down to think about things, and it was the only explanation that made any sense at all.
Besides Rae, Celek, and Jacoby, nobody else in the world even knew I was in Illinois. For someone, a female at that, to have tracked me from there to the outskirts of Iowa, and to be able to contact me, took someone with a vested interest and some serious skills.
Hacker style skills.
“Percent?” Rae asked.
“One hundred,” I replied. “There’s no other explanation.”
Seated with only a few inches separating our shoulders, I could see her nod just slightly in my periphery.
“Reason?”
At that I opened my mouth to respond, pausing slightly as a sigh slid out. “Best I can figure, we have a shared enemy.”
I paused there again, waiting for a follow up question I should have known wasn’t coming.
“Most likely,” I said, “they had the house wired. They probably saw me approach and enter, heard the conversation with Celek, figured out that we weren’t exactly friends.”
The story I was relaying was bare bones at best, but I knew how Rae’s mind worked enough to know it would be sufficient. She knew the reason I was going to Chicago, could fill in gaps better than anybody I’d ever known.
She didn’t need to see B and C to figure out that D came after A.
“The Godfather,” she said.
I grunted in agreement, nodding my head slightly at the reference. Our shared enemy had now made Skye Grant and I friends.
“What else?” she asked, moving past Skye and the fact that she had called to warn me.
Not once did she mention she was glad the girl had done so or even mentioned she was happy I was alright.
She didn’t have to.
“All I saw of the cleanup crew was a black SUV in the rearview,” I said. “No way of knowing who they were without getting to Celek.”
“Mm,” Rae said, leaving it at that, processing the information in silence. Beside me I could hear the soft wet sound of her chewing on her bottom lip, the position one she assumed every time she was deep in thought.
To my knowledge, it was the only tell she had, one that she only began letting me see after more than a year of living together.
“Plan?”
I’d known for six hours that the question was coming and still didn’t have a great idea about how to answer it. Over a dozen different ideas had passed through my mind on the way in, none of them seeming especially appealing.
Opposing us was a network spearheaded by a Vice Presidential candidate surrounded by a security detail. Beneath him was someone I had met only once that could now be anywhere with his own private army at his disposal.
Every last one of them knew that I had in my possession information that could be very damning to them. None of it would ever tie directly to them, but it could be used to draw attention to something they wanted to keep buried far beneath the radar.
As such, the odds of them ever willingly letting us walk away were non-existent. That’s why they had already paid a visit to me in a hotel room in Iowa, why our home was now nothing more than a smoldering pile of rubble.
“Anything new on your end?” I asked.
“No,” Rae said, her voice betraying just the slightest hint of an edge. “Fire department showed up an hour after we spoke. By that time, the place was almost clear to the ground.”
I nodded, having figured as much. Given our distant proximity to neighbors or a town, it would have taken a while for somebody to notice. In the middle of the night, only somebody randomly passing by would have seen anything, the smell of smoke being the more likely reason someone picked up on it.
By the time the fire engines came, there was probably little more to do than sit and make sure it didn’t spread any further.
“Any sign of the men?” I asked.
“Huh-uh.”
The tone of the word let me know the ball was very much back in my court, her previous question still lingering.
At the moment, I still didn’t have a plan to give her, but fortunately for me I didn’t have to.
Somebody else did.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Give us one minute. Do not say another word.”
Despite sitting on the picnic table with at least 50 yards separating us from the nearest person, there was no way this was a conversation we intended to have out in the open. Already, the events of the last couple of days proved that there were eyes and ears everywhere, technological advances ensuring that we were never as isolated as we thought.
In unison Rae and I slipped down off the top of the table and walked toward her SUV, eschewing my truck and the limited cab it offered, most of the front seat covered in the various items I’d accrued over the previous days.
Using her remote entry, Rae unlocked the vehicle and went for the driver’s side, me slipping into the passenger seat, both slamming our doors at the same time.
True to form, there was not a single shred of paper or item out of place in the interior, the faint scent of lavender in the air.
The call had arrived sixty seconds before from an unknown number with an area code neither of us recognized. In silence we had let it ring a half dozen times, both of us staring at each other, before I reached
out and connected the call.
The moment I did, the same female voice I had heard in the hotel the night before said, “Laredo Wynn?” without waiting for any response at all from our end.
Just in those two words it was clear she was in a much different state than the last time we spoke, her voice trembling, sounding as if she had either just finished crying or was about to start again.
My initial response was to tell her to wait one, letting us get into the shelter of the car before continuing.
“Skye Grant?” I asked, giving her the signal it was time to begin again.
“So you know who I am?”
Flicking my eyes over to Rae, I said, “Of course. Just like I know it was you that called me last night.”
Again, Rae and I exchanged a glance. I didn’t know for certain it was Skye, having just a strong supposition, one buoyed by the fact that she was already calling me again.
“Thanks,” I added, letting her know I felt no ill will about the intrusion, recognizing that it probably saved my life.
At the very least, it kept me from having to take one.
“Yeah,” she whispered, as close as I knew I would get to her stating I was welcome. From there she again fell silent, the only sound a stray sniffle that lasted several seconds, wet and phlegm filled.
If we were meeting in person, I would have let the moment play out as long as it needed to. I would have averted my gaze and allowed her to work through whatever internal issues she was fighting with, Rae and I both staring off in silence until she came around.
Over the phone, though, that wouldn’t quite work.
Especially when she was the one that had called us.
“What’s going on?” I asked, the question seeming to be the most innocuous way to approach the topic.
“My friends are dead,” Skye whispered, her voice just barely audible over the line, betraying a slight crack. “Some time last night.”
There was no visible reaction from Rae or I, both of us continuing to meet the other’s gaze, the phone placed on the middle console between us.
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