Page 42 of Crossover
“I’m not going anywhere until I understand what is going on.” She folded her arms, jaw set.
“I’ll tell you in the car.”
“What car? Mine is still at that…that place thatStevetook you to.”
Shit.She was right. And we shouldn’t take our own cars anyway. Daniel might be monitoring them.
I chewed on my thumbnail.
“The hotel might have rentals.” No, that wouldn’t work. My financials might be monitored, and come to think of it, I didn’t have my wallet anywhere nearby. Not unless one of the guards had grabbed my bag of things at Hunter’s.
“I thought we were waiting for Grayson?” she challenged.
“We were, but now we need to leave.”
“Without him?” She balked. “I thought he was keeping you safe?”
“He’s…look, I’ll explain on the way, but soon, Daniel will start looking for us, and once that happens, leaving will be ten times harder.”
Not to mention, I was still wanted by the CIA, and if they found me…welcome, sniper rifles, bombs, who knew what?
“You mean leave Grayson,” she clarified.
“There’s someone else I trust to help us,” I said. “Detective Mitchell. All we have to do is get to the police station, okay?”
“Ivy—”
“Mom!” I clenched my fists, nails biting into my palms. “If we don’t leave right now, we might be killed. I need you to trust me. Please.”
She seemed to evaluate the tension in my body, the determination in my voice, and in fairness, I was more in the loop than she was.
It bothered me how quickly she’d grown to trust Grayson. How would I convince her that we could stay safe without him? We could, but only if we got to Detective Mitchell. If we didn’t get to him, then, no, I didn’t think we’d be able to survive the CIA hunting us for long at all. Our only window to reach Detective Mitchell was now, before Daniel had time to come up with his next move.
This was our safest opportunity to drive to the police station. To do that, I needed my mom on board.
“Okay,” she finally said, quickly throwing her clothes on.
Hallelujah.
I needed to find a vehicle, though, and I had one in mind that came with a big, redheaded bodyguard.
Once Mom was ready, I opened the hotel door and was met by a chest the size of the movie screen.
“Ma’am, I’m afraid you can’t leave,” he rumbled. “Mr. Lockwood gave me explicit?—”
“Ivy,” I corrected. “And you’re Red, right?”
“Yes, ma—Ivy,” he corrected himself. “But you need to stay inside.”
“I know you’re here to keep watch, and I appreciate that, but there’s been a change of plans. I need to meet with Detective Mitchell at the Chicago Police Headquarters right away.”
Red glanced to his side. “I’ll have to contact Mr. Lockwood.”
“The problem is, Ihaveto meet with this detective, and right now, we have a small window before Daniel makes his next move. By the time Grayson or Hunter might give you the green light to let me go”—if ever—“it’ll be too dangerous.Thisis my window to make it there.”
“I’m sorry, Ivy, but that isn’t going to happen.”
“Respectfully, Ihaveto talk to this detective.”