Chapter 3
“Paranoid,” she repeated. “Take that exit, head into the residential area.”
“Wow.”
“What?”
“I didn’t think you’d be willing to steal a car.”
“I’m not,” she snapped. “When you get to the end of this street, make a left. We can head back to the Air Force base.
“No way. That’s suicide.”
She bit back the anger and frustration. Neither would help. She was in the car with a man who could be charged with several crimes—from more than one government agency, as well as the Army. “Do you want me to get us out of this or not?” There had to be a way out of this.
“Not if it means handcuffs and a jail cell for me.” He kept right on driving, doing at least ten miles over the posted limit on the neighborhood streets.
“If you’re so sure they want me, just let me out.” They were in serious trouble and she needed something from him. Something helpful. Any decent clue to his purpose so she could call in the right sort of assistance.
“I already told you, I need you alive.”
“State troopers aren’t going to kill me. And if anyone else is involved, I’m capable of taking care of myself.”
The derisive snort made his opinion on that clear. “You would’ve died in the churchyard without me. You nearly became a sad statistic at the airport.”
“Bull.” The man was a trial to her pride. Neither assessment was accurate. She wished now she’d handled things differently from the moment she’d spotted him in the market. No, from the moment she’d gotten the call from Ross.
“According to the official record,” he paused at the end of the street, gunning the engine to bolt through a nearly-red light, “I’m already on the hook for three dead soldiers. I didn’t do that and I won’t let them add you to the body count they’ve conveniently blamed on me.”
She didn’t believe him. All of the evidence pointed to his guilt in that incident. He’d helped her today, but her every instinct told her he had his own agenda, his own reasons for doing so. “You won’t get away with any of this.” If she could get him talking, Ross’s team would have time to investigate and together, they’d find a safe way out of this. A way that ended with Garner behind bars, serving out an appropriate sentence for his greed and misdeeds.
“Laura, I’ve survived for years undetected. That’s a pretty solid resume.”
The way he said her name had the hair rising on the back of her neck. “You’re wrong.” She cleared her throat. “Until now, the people with the best resources weren’t looking for you.”
“Being the not-so-dead man on the run, I respectfully disagree.”
“Whatever.” She pulled her gun from her ankle holster. “Start talking or I will make you stop so we can have a custody fight over who hauls you in.”
He continued down the road, a confident smirk on his face now that they’d lost the troopers. “You won’t shoot me.”
She waited, letting the gun speak for her. His arrogance would be his downfall, she’d make sure of that.
“You’re a hard woman,” he muttered. “I like that.” He took a big breath. “Being presumed dead made me the easy fall guy for that incident, but I wasn’t the leak that got Carpenter’s men killed,” he said, all traces of the grin fading.
“Presumed?” She shook her head. “How did you pull it off? We had charred clothing, DNA confirmation and eye witnesses. Ross’s team saw you engulfed by the explosion.”
“Do you want that story or today’s story?”
The man gave her a headache. “I thought they went together.”
“Not quite the way you think they do.”
“Fine.” She’d dealt with cagey spooks before and hadn’t lost yet. She had a better shot of making charges stick in this more recent situation. “What is it about Charleston that pulled you back into the states?”
“Ever since that op blew up—literally—I’ve been tracking the real leak. It’s taken me years to unravel the knots and find the source. But I followed that source to Charleston and if I have anything to say about it, his next stop will be federal custody.”
“You can share a cell.”
“That isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but if that’s what it takes, I’m up for it.”
“You have to provide an explanation for the original incident.”
“Why?” He shot her a look so full of fury her breath caught in her throat. “I’ve done my time. Paid for another man’s greed more than anyone ever should.”
“Garner—”
His hands slid from the top of the steering wheel to the bottom. “My friends call me Drew.”
If he considered her a friend, the man had serious problems. “Okay.” But she couldn’t quite push the name past her lips. She wasn’t ready to be friendly or familiar with him.
“Look,” he began. “How I got here isn’t the big problem.” He took another on-ramp and they were heading west once more. “Why I’m here doesn’t have to be your problem.” He sighed. “Give Carpenter a call and I’ll drop you off wherever he can meet you. Tell him I’m no threat. I won’t even be there. We can put this misadventure behind us.”
“You’d like that.”
“No, I wouldn’t. It’s a safe bet that if I leave you alone for long, they’ll make another move. You’re likely to get killed.”
“The two at the airport are in custody by now,” she insisted.
“And who hired them? They were professionals, Laura.” He settled in with the flow of traffic on the interstate. “Whoever hired them won’t let them stay in custody long enough to talk.”
He was right, though she refused to admit it. She thought about her hotel room, her car back in the city. Had she ever made so many mistakes in the field? “It doesn’t make sense. Give me the name of your target. Let me help you handle this the right way.”
He laughed, the sound bitter. “You know too much already.”
She felt like the opposite was true. Between his vague comments, theories, and risky actions, she only felt more in the dark, more incompetent. The pieces weren’t going together. Hell, she wasn’t sure she was dealing with pieces from the same puzzle. What she thought she knew about Garner when he’d been with the CIA didn’t match up with the man beside her.
“You’re thinking about it aren’t you?” his voice cut into her thoughts. “Who set this in motion? They were too close, they found you too quickly in town and at the airport.”
She took her phone apart again, held it up for him. “You know who’s behind today’s fiasco.”
He shook his head. “I’d only be guessing.”
“But—”
“No.” He cut her off. “Telling you where I’ve been and how I got here only jeopardizes my plan and ultimately limits my chance at redemption. You’re too big a risk.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You should. Someone obviously monitored your recent activity at Bragg. You were followed to the churchyard and the airport and from my angle, they had orders to kill.”
“You said you monitored me at Bragg. For all I know, this is an elaborate kidnapping and controlling me is key to your plan.”
“If I’d thought that would’ve worked, I would’ve come straight to you a year ago.” He checked the mirrors and met her gaze for a long moment before turning his attention back to the road. “I knew better. Showing up anywhere near you or Carpenter without new evidence would’ve been as good as a lethal injection.”
“That’s being a bit dramatic.”
He shrugged. “Depends on the perspective.”
Maybe so. “You don’t want to drop me off and you won’t tell me anything helpful,” she said, letting her frustration show. “Sounds like a no-win situation for you.”
“Does that mean we’re partners now?”
“Hardly. It means I can’t imagine telling Ross I had a gun on you and still let you drive off.”
“Is that a testament to your bravery or stubbornness?”
“Depends on your perspective,” she replied. She wanted the name, wanted to know what brought him out of hiding. The name was the logical jumping-off point that could guide them toward a specific threat looming at the foggy edges of her career in the field. Her record wasn’t perfect, but it was damned close. These days, she worked a routine assignment with her training post at Fort Bragg, but she still had her share of classified secrets from the past. She might not have a full explanation of today’s events, but she couldn’t keep ignoring the obvious. She’d come to Charleston as a favor to an old friend, but someone had followed her. Someone willing to kill her.
When she’d caught up with him today, she’d thought Garner was the enemy. She wouldn’t quite call him an ally, but other than putting a knife to her throat—when he thought she’d lied to him about being alone—he’d protected her. Laura didn’t like being wrong about someone, but when it happened, she owned up to it.
“Who are you hunting?” She would get the name. “And no more crap about me being a risk to your plans. No more games or deals, or I will haul you in at the first opportunity. We both know today’s chaos is related to you. Either to your sudden reappearance or the old case.”
“You’re pretty confident on that.”
“With good reason.” She studied the strong jaw and straight nose that created the hard lines of his profile. “I’ve been easy to find for years. If someone wanted me dead or wanted intel they thought I had, there were better times and places to jump me.” When he blew out a long, slow breath she knew she had him. “I’m willing to listen to your side of the situation.”
“His name’s Hackett. He works at the Citadel now and I have reason to believe he’s about to commit another act of treason during the last days of Spoleto.”
The name didn’t sound familiar. “Another?”
Drew nodded. “This might be my only chance to catch him red-handed.”
“You think catching him in the exchange or whatever will clear your name?”
“While that would be nice, my name and reputation don’t matter much. My career is long over. I want him to stop selling out good men and women.”
“I’m sure you’ve been freelancing. The CIA doesn’t always frown on that.”
“Call a spade a spade, Laura. I’ve been a mercenary.”
Her name, delivered again in that low voice, felt far too personal. With a mental whip-crack, she returned to the more urgent problem. “I can’t let you just run off and assassinate someone because you say they’re guilty.”
“I said catch, not kill. And even if killing was my only goal, this traitor deserves it. The truth would curdle your blood.”
“Vengeance isn’t justice.”
“Would Carpenter agree with that?”
“He would agree it’s not his job to be judge, jury, and executioner.” She said it with conviction. No one felt good about letting a killer run free, but there were laws in place for a reason. Primarily to keep society a safe place for everyone. “The families of those fallen soldiers will never have closure if he just dies unexpectedly.”
“The families know what they were told. They know their sons died serving their country. They already have closure. The secrets he’s selling now are only a further insult to the American people, to American concerns around the world.”
He was right. She racked her brain for a better angle. “How do you plan to stop him?”
“I’ll be there when he hands over state secrets. There will be no choice but to put him behind bars and see that he stays there.”
“So point me in the right direction and I’ll make that happen.”
“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.”
He swore. “Figure out something.” A muscle twitched in his jaw. “I’m not leaving until I trap this traitor.”
She believed him. At least about the not leaving part. “My cash is limited and my credit card and ID have my real name. I assume the same is true for you?”
“Basically. You didn’t come prepared for a field op?”
Another basic error on her part. “I came down as a favor to a friend. I didn’t expect you to be, well, you.”
“Today, I really wish I wasn’t.”
“But you were prepared. What’s wrong with returning to the BB where you’re staying?”
He slammed his fist into the steering wheel. “You!”
Laura jumped. She’d felt safer when he had a knife to her throat. Doing eighty miles per hour on the interstate wasn’t the best time to push him past his limits.
“You know, Carpenter wasn’t the only one who lost men to that bastard.”
Hackett. Laura tried again to place the name but couldn’t make any connections off the top of her head.
“I was supposed to die in that pathetic excuse for a compound. No one cares that I nearly did. I don’t even care that much.” His fist plowed into the steering wheel again and the car swerved. Laura gripped the seat. “But I am not the bad guy here.”
“Okay,” she said quietly. “I believe you.”
“You don’t, but you will.”
She watched the needle on the speedometer creep towards eighty-five as he barreled away from Charleston. “You didn’t book any room in the Lowcountry as Garner. There’s nothing in my files about any known aliases. Your room downtown should be safe.”
“Not when they’re onto you.”
“So you drop me off. I call in Ross. More people, a smart team, can help you. We can plan a strong takedown.”
“Not until we eliminate how they’re tracking you so easily. This guy is too good. Too close.”
It was hard to believe anyone could be close when he was driving like this. “There are ways to be anonymous in the city.” Any minute she’d think of one of them.
“I have to disagree.”
Her patience snapped. “You’re the expert. What do you propose?”
“When all else fails, like it has today? Fresh air and sunshine.”
She found his smile, clever and sharp, irresistible. This was the wrong time to be attracted to anyone. She was out of practice and in too deep with a man who’d clearly lost his grip on sanity during his long tenure as a non-existent person. Sure, Hackett might be the devil. He might deserve every bit of hell Garner wanted to unleash, but she couldn’t sit back and let it happen like some infatuated Bonnie to his Clyde.
She winced. Now who was being dramatic?
He drove—flew—by one more exit and pulled onto the shoulder. The tires rattled over the rumble strip and the whole car shivered. He stomped the brakes hard and the car slid into the grass. For a moment, she thought he’d dump them right into the ditch.
“Get out. Run into the trees.”
“What?”
“Do it.”
“You won’t get away with this.”
“Just pray it works.”
She’d do no such thing. The man was unstable and she couldn’t let herself remain part of his delusion. Beyond pissed off that what should’ve been a simple recon had become so twisted, she pushed open her car door, misjudged the distance, and landed awkwardly on her ankle. Refusing to show any weakness or reaction to him dumping her—finally—she marched off toward the trees.
Behind her, cars and trucks drove by, the engines and tires a steady drone in her ears as she crouched low near a tree trunk. To her surprise, he was still there on the shoulder. Sunlight fractured by the high pine branches dotted the ground.
Her hand on her gun, she decided to stop playing this game his way. The smart move would be to remember her official position. She could disable Garner, contact the base, and haul him in. She had the name of his target and with the right help she could connect the dots and take legal action—if the evidence held up—against this Hackett person.
She’d unraveled cases with less to go on. Regardless, Garner had proven himself a loose cannon and she couldn’t leave him to—
“Damn.”
Stunned, she watched from the shelter of the trees as he rolled slowly forward and backward on the shoulder. What the hell was this? The man was insane. No other explanation fit. He’d been roaming the world as a mercenary for too long and the experience had eroded his common sense.
Hackett was likely some boogie monster from Garner’s warped psyche. Maybe she’d just forgotten the name as it related to that case. Except only two days ago, she’d studied that file and knew it wasn’t in there.
Garner continued to maneuver the car along the narrow strip of pavement. Other cars on the interstate moved over, intelligently giving him more room. It was a wonder they didn’t already have a state trooper out here to check his sobriety. Maybe that was the point, but if so, she didn’t see how getting busted for DUI did them any good. Suddenly, the car surged forward and he drove it straight into the ditch. Lovely.
As steam rolled from under the hood, he hopped out of the driver’s seat and raced to her position. A bullet, maybe two, and this weird adventure would be over.
“Don’t shoot,” he called. “You’ll wreck the plan.” He slid to a stop beside her.
“You don’t have a plan.”
He grunted. “Your field skills are rusty.”
“That may be true, but at least I’m sane.”
“Low blow, Talbot.”
Low or not, it felt like the truth to her. “What are you trying to prove, Garner?”
“Only trying to give us breathing space.” He stood up and extended a hand to pull her up beside him. “Can you walk on that?”
“Of course.” How had he even noticed?
“All right.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Say the word when you can’t.”
He guided her through the trees, up the slope and across the overpass. “We’ll find a ride there,” he said, pointing to a busy truck stop.
“Fine,” she said through clenched teeth. Her ankle burned and she could feel it swelling, but it wasn’t anything worth stopping for. She’d deal with it when they got wherever he thought they were going.
***
Drew admired her grit. He didn’t want to, but he couldn’t stop himself. She had to be hurting, but she refused to favor the ankle. The only change in her demeanor was the hard line of her jaw…and that might well be more about her temper than any amount of pain.
He’d pushed her hard and knew that quick mind of hers was sorting out solutions that kept him away from Charleston. Not that her solutions would work. This was his golden opportunity to reveal Hackett as the traitor and get his life back. He’d never told as big a lie as when he’d told her his life didn’t matter to him anymore. He’d followed Hackett’s contact into Spoleto and he intended to document the treason and reclaim his place as one of the good guys.
Bonus if he could prevent data from getting into the wrong hands. That was a longshot, but Hackett had done too much damage in recent years not to try.
They reached the truck stop without incident and he held open the door for her. “So far so good.”
“Sure.”
He followed her away from the convenience store and into the small dining area serviced by two fast food companies. She chose a small corner booth and took the bench against the wall. He couldn’t ask her to move and didn’t think sitting beside her would go over well. Sliding into the bench across from her, he figured they had every approach covered. He couldn’t be sure—had to hope—she’d warn him if someone came up behind him. “Want some ice for the ankle?”
“Not now.”
“A drink?”
She leaned forward, lowering her voice. “How about a phone?” Her hands fisted, then went flat on the tabletop. “An explanation would be fabulous. We’re sitting ducks.”
“We passed a working payphone by the restrooms,” he replied, taking things in order. “Clearly we both have a common enemy. From here, we can see who might be coming at us while we plan how to get back to Charleston. I will finish what I started despite today’s setback.”
“Charleston isn’t safe for you.”
“You either. That’s why we make a plan first.” He hitched his shoulders and gave her a grin. “Give me your foot.”
“What does my foot have to do with a plan?”
“Prop your foot up here on the seat. Let me look at it.”
“It’s fine,” she insisted.
He gave her a hard look, more than a little pleased when she relented. Balling up his windbreaker to cushion her heel, he gently ran his fingers over the soft leather of her shoe. He could feel fluid gathering around the outside of the joint and he caught the telltale wince when he pressed the sore spot. “This is going to slow you down,” he said, returning his hands to the tabletop.
“Too bad for you. Sprain or not, I’m not letting you out of my sight. We stick together.”
“I’m flattered.”
She glared. “The simplest plan is to give me what you have on Hackett. I can be your liaison, help you connect with the right agency so they can handle him.”
“No.” Not negotiable. He’d never hand over the proof he’d worked years to gather. Involving authorities who were obligated to follow laws and rules of conduct gave Hackett too much room to escape and the man had roamed free for far too long. It was bad enough he was stuck with her. “No,” he repeated.
She pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ears. “You’re invested. I get that.”
He snorted. “You could say.”
“But you need help. We need to regroup.”
“My window is closing on my chance to nail Hackett.”
“Are you sure? If you’re right about everyone following me, it seems like there’s plenty of room for you to operate.”
“Spoleto ends Saturday. I need to get things in place before the exchange.” If he missed that, he was back to square one. Worse. Even before today, this particular arrangement had smacked of Hackett’s farewell deal. If Hackett got away, Drew would be left alone and friendless again. While he’d found things to keep him busy and focused during his sudden and unexpected exile, it hadn’t been a picnic.
A volunteer fire truck screamed down the road, taking the exit for the interstate. Drew checked his watch. “It begins.”
“What did you do?”
“I turned your phone on again. I imagine the people after us found the car and took action.”
She covered her ears. “You shouldn’t tell me things like this.”
“What were you working on before Carpenter asked you to check into me?”
“Like I’d toss away my clearance for the sake of your curiosity.”
“Might be faster than me forcing it out of you.” She didn’t flinch or bluster, just stared at him, her soft hazel eyes steady. It made him wonder what she’d seen during her career. A career in any intelligence service was rarely an easy road.
“We should move,” she said, her eyes shifting to the parking lot.
“Already?” He chose to believe she mentioned the potential threat for their combined benefit and not as a gimmick to trap him. “I was about to order fries.”
“What?”
“I haven’t eaten all day.”
She waved a hand at the counter. “Well, by all means. Go do that. I’ll just sit here and hold the table.”
“Because there’s such a big crowd,” he said, sliding out of the booth, knowing she understood his intention. The sensation was unfamiliar. He hadn’t worked with anyone since his earliest days in the CIA.
When he’d been sent out into the field, he’d had reports and check-ins, but soon the closest thing to cooperation boiled down to security force teams acting as an escort through dangerous, unstable areas.
He ordered the fries, a couple of drinks, and asked for a bag of ice for Laura. Lingering by the self-serve drink fountain, he kept an eye out for whoever had put her on edge.
Not an easy task. She was too good to telegraph her nerves, much less her interest in a specific person. The truck stop serviced a steady flow of customers at the gas pumps lined up out front. When they’d walked up, he’d spotted the big semis ranged out to the west side of the building. Easier to access the diesel pumps and longer parking spaces.
He thought of that as a potential escape route rather than the source of an immediate threat. No, his money was on the guy in dark glasses at one of the center gas pumps. The white compact sedan looked like a match for the last car that had followed them and there was something about the way he moved. Alert. Predatory. Not unlike the men who’d found them at the airport.
Drew would’ve bet good money the man’s eyes weren’t on the pump readout but scouting every detail behind those dark lenses. On cue, the man deliberately turned back to the road. Full-circle recon, looking for the woman seated near the window.
It wasn’t a good sign, but Drew didn’t see any reason to panic.
His curiosity got the better of him. Who was this team apparently tethered to her every move? Hackett wasn’t behaving as expected. If he suspected Drew was alive and hunting him, Hackett should’ve told his team to take out Drew first and the peripheral players like Laura and possibly Carpenter afterward. And only if necessary. Anger flared deep in Drew’s gut. Getting tangled with someone like Laura wasn’t on his schedule, but if he helped her maybe the good deed would offset one or two of the lousy things he’d done to survive.
He wasn’t into fate, wasn’t sure what he believed in anymore, but he knew helping her was the right thing to do. It was more than a little surprising that he still had enough of a good conscience to come to that conclusion. When the order was ready, he carried the tray to Laura, but her gaze was on the man outside. “Pump five, right?”
She dipped her chin once in the affirmative, stabbing a straw through the lid of one of the drink cups. “You testing another theory?”
“Nah. I think if we play this right, we just found a new ride back to Charleston.”
She arched one eyebrow, although in doubt or challenge, he didn’t know. “This should be interesting.”
“We need information,” he added. “Who better than the source?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’ll turn you in.” That had both her eyebrows rising high enough to disappear under the fringe of her tawny bangs. “To that guy. Whoever Hackett set on us won’t expect that.”
“How many ways can that go wrong? Let me count…”
“Trust me.” He laid his hand over hers. Sure, what he had in mind could backfire, but he needed to know if they were only up against Hackett, or if there was another player with a long reach, willing to haunt her every step from Bragg to the side of the interstate. Drew couldn’t afford any more surprises. “Think of it as an improv street performance. That’s de rigueur during Spoleto.”
“Maybe on Charleston streets,” she murmured. She didn’t look willing or convinced, but he had to act now and pray she cooperated. It wasn’t like he couldn’t adapt if she balked. His careful plans to trap Hackett were already so far off the rails with Laura’s interference that another diversion couldn’t make matters much worse.
“Come on,” he said, pulling her to her feet. Hoping she noticed he guarded her weak side, he put himself on her right, gripping her elbow with a little more force than necessary as he led her out the side door. “Feel free to act irritated.”
“That won’t be a problem,” she snapped.
They came around the front of the truck stop and he picked up the pace, wanting to have this public conversation as privately as possible.
“About time you got here,” he barked at the man tucking the receipt into his wallet. “Let’s go.”
He pushed Laura toward the back door of the white sedan.
Dark Glasses hesitated, his hand on the key fob. “Who are you?”
“Seriously?” Drew gave Laura a little shake. “You aren’t our ride? Sorry. My mistake. Every other car in this backward state is white.” He shifted half a step back from the car and reached into his pocket for the cell phone that wasn’t there. “Christ. They couldn’t give me a name or a plate…” He continued griping, right there between pumps, while the man watched.
“I need to sit down,” Laura said, giving a good impression of a woman looking for a bolt hole. “The ankle really hurts.”
“Deal with it,” he snapped.
“Please?” Laura’s shoulders slumped and she favored her foot for the first time, apparently utterly defeated.
Perfect. “No.” Drew would have pumped a fist in victory if it wouldn’t have ruined the act. “It’s what you get for trying to run.”
“She put your car in the ditch?” The other man pushed his dark sunglasses up to his hair, eyeing them with a new respect.
Ah, so they did have the right man. “What do you know about it?”
“Enough.” Dark Glasses tipped his head to the door. “Get in.”
Drew opened the rear passenger door and pushed Laura roughly inside, then he slid into the backseat next to her. He didn’t say a word as Dark Glasses settled behind the wheel and pulled away from the truck stop. To Drew’s relief, they started back toward Charleston.
He kept his gaze steady on the driver via the rearview mirror. “Did the hotel room search turn up anything useful?”
“Last I heard she’s got everything encrypted.”
So Hackett—or someone—thought Laura had relevant information. “Tell me we have someone resolving that.” Drew was tallying up the crew in his mind. Assuming at least one person was working on the tech, that brought the count to four. Two might still be in police custody. That only left the person calling the shots.
Dark Glasses shrugged. “She’ll talk. One way or another.”
Laura inched closer to the door and Dark Glasses hit the locks. “Give it up,” he told her. “You aren’t going anywhere until we have what we need.”
Drew felt her summoning courage and bumped her. She sniffled rather than deliver the bravado he’d glimpsed simmering in her eyes. “Who do we have left?”
“You, me, and the boss. The idiots who got caught at the airport were local. Disposable.”
“Disposable? What does that mean? What is this about?” Laura snapped. “Kidnapping an Army officer will only bring hell knocking on your door.”
“Aw, shut up. We’ve been through your email and phone records. We know you took personal days. No one will miss you before Monday and that’s if you’re lucky. We know you have enough vacation built up to carry you through the month and with a few keystrokes we can make it look like you extended your time.”
That declaration caused her to tremble, and Drew couldn’t blame her, but giving her any comfort, showing any compassion, would blow the game. It smelled like Hackett. Only that bastard would believe Laura could be used as either insurance or protection.
Now he just had to decide if Dark Glasses believed Drew was another local, disposable part of the crew assigned to pick up Laura or if the man knew better and was playing along until he could turn them both over to Hackett.