Page 17 of Laura's Truth
“No.”
“I’ll let you watch.” From a place far enough away that he couldn’t blow the deal or the takedown.
“Not good enough,” he said, shaking his head. His eyes darted from mirror to mirror. “I thought you disabled your cell phone.”
“I did.” She held up the battery, but he was focused on the road. “Do you think the police are tracking the car’s GPS?”
“Not the police this time,” he said. “How did you get downtown today?”
“I drove.”
He goosed the accelerator and passed the car in front of them. “We know someone is unhappy enough to attack you. To follow you.”
“You can’t put all of this on me. They called you by name at the churchyard. Mentioned your passport problems.”
“Which is how I know they’re lying. Whatever they know about me is from you.”
“How?”
“No one has called me Garner since the day I didn’t quite die. And I didn’t fly into the states. The closest I’ve been to an airport in weeks was today with you.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Too bad, because that’s the reality.” He made a left turn on a yellow arrow and put as many cars between them and their pursuer as possible.
“Keep driving like that and the cops will have a better reason to start tailing you again.”
He laughed without any humor. “Law enforcement is the least of our worries.”
‘Our’ caused the hair at her nape to stand on end. For better or worse, she was in it with him until she could bring him in—or bring in this Hackett person. She was pretty sure he was telling the truth now, or a close approximation. “You think Hackett hired the goon squad?”
“It’s logical.” He passed another car, keeping an eye on the rearview mirror. “I don’t think this guy is on us for amusement.”
She turned around, watched the compact white sedan catch up. “What are you thinking?”
“We assume your hotel room has been compromised and your car,” he said, his eyes on the traffic.
No cell phone, no car, no laptop since it was in her hotel room. Classic isolation techniques, but this time she didn’t suspect the man in the driver’s seat of an elaborate set up. She dismissed the persistent idea of breaking away from Garner. If she did that, he’d have free rein to accomplish his vendetta. And he’d proven himself too good at spotting surveillance. The last thing she wanted was more blood on her hands and no answers for Ross. “Let me clarify. What are you thinking about this situation?”
“I’m thinking Hackett is determined to use you. For me, against me. Hell, probably in addition to me, since this started when he had me killed with no regard for the other soldiers who might die too. You have access to those reports backed up on some secure cloud server, right?”
“Yes.” No sense denying the simple logic. She slid in the seat when he waited until the last second to make another pass. “And they say women drivers are bad.”
“Have I hit anything?”
“Not yet.” She worried it was only a matter of time. “What did we overlook in the old reports?”
“Hopefully I’ll get a chance to show you.” He shot her a glance, his deep blue eyes cold and hard. “I won’t let Hackett get away with this anymore. We have to stop him now or no one will. If we don’t strike first, he’ll make his sale, put a price on our heads, and disappear.”
“I’ll notify the authorities, help you explain things to whoever needs to hear it.”
“No thanks. What we need right now is a safe location and a clean car.”
“In Charleston.”
“Preferably.”
“Based on your assessment of the people tracking us, there isn’t one.”