Chapter 16 #2
Maren bit her lower lip. “I’m still afraid of putting someone else in danger.”
“She does this for a living,” Gina said, grinning. “Knowing Carla, she’ll get a kick out of it. Plus, Watchdog pays well. Very well, right Kyle?”
“Affirmative.”
“Have you given Jodie that raise yet?” Gina smiled widely, tilted her head, and pinned Kyle with her stare.
Maren prayed to God Gina would never have a reason to stare at her like that.
Kyle actually swallowed. “She’s getting a big bonus next pay period and then a raise after.”
“That’s what I like to hear, Pup.” Gina stood up and stepped away to make the call. Fleur trotted beside her like a ginger-colored shadow.
Kyle watched her, smirking and shaking his head.
“Did she just call you Pup?” Maren asked.
“Old nickname,” Kyle said, fondness in his voice. “And she’s Spooky.”
Yeah, she is.
“Speaking of paying,” Maren started.
When Kyle looked at Maren again, his gaze was gentler than before. “Don’t even think of offering me money. You’re family, now, Maren. Not just Juni. You. Understand?”
Tears pricked Maren’s eyes and she looked away as she nodded.
“This was good thinking,” Kyle said, his tone still gentle.
The praise hit harder than she expected. “Thank you.” She looked back at him and blinked away the wetness.
“I mean it. You saw a move we should have seen. And it’s gonna help keep us safe, too. That’s appreciated.”
She nodded because she didn’t trust her voice.
Gina came back less than two minutes later, phone still in hand. “Carla’s in. She said, and I quote, ‘I’ve always wanted to be a brunette on the run. Sounds slimming.’”
Maren grinned. “I like her already.”
“You will,” Gina said. “She’ll be here in twenty. In the meantime, let’s look at the Subaru again.” Everyone stood up to go back inside.
That’s when it hit Maren—she really was giving up her car. She may never see it again.
It’s stupid. It’s just a car.
Except it wasn’t. It had gotten them to safety, and it was the only thing Maren had in Colorado other than some clothing.
But these people are risking their lives for me and Juni. Giving it up is the least I can do.
Behind Gina and Kyle, Colin caught her eye. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
“It’s a big leap of faith, I know,” he told her. “But we’ll make it work. And I’ll do everything I can to get your car back to you.”
She gave him a smile and hoped it was convincing.
“Promise?” she asked.
He gave her a soft smile. “Pinkie promise.”
Her smile turned real.
Then he squeezed her hand one more time and let go to hold the door for her.
Juni and Star were napping quietly. The Subaru sat in the driveway looking exactly like what it was—a boring but reliable mom car. It didn’t look like a car about to be pressed into a possibly dangerous mission.
Kyle and Gina went over it with handheld scanners they’d pulled out of Kyle’s vehicle while Maren stood on the porch with Colin.
She watched them check the wheel wells, the undercarriage, inside the bumpers.
One of the Watchdog bodyguards had done this once before right after Maren arrived and found nothing, but Gina wasn’t about to let Carla go off solo without checking it herself.
“Nothing,” Gina said finally, straightening up.
Kyle closed the hood. “Clean.”
Maren let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding.
Colin looked relieved, too. “No tracker means they’re relying on cameras and plate readers,” he said. “Which gives your plan an even better chance of working.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “I do.”
Gina walked back toward them, wiping her hands on her jeans. “Car’s ready. Now we just need Carla. And another friend of mine,” she added.
As if summoned, Kyle’s phone buzzed. “Carla’s at the gate right now getting waved through.”
Maren heard a car engine a couple minutes later.
A Jeep pulled in behind her Subaru, and a woman about Maren’s height, with dark, curly hair pulled back in a ponytail got out.
She was in jeans and a Lyons PD hoodie, sunglasses pushed up on her head, and she was grinning like someone had just told her Christmas came early.
“So,” she said, walking up to the group. “I hear somebody needs a stunt double.”
Maren liked her immediately.
Kyle made introductions. “Carla, Maren Walsh. Maren, Officer Carla DeVivo.”
“Just Carla,” the officer said, extending her hand.
Maren shook her hand. “Thank you for doing this. I—”
“Are you kidding?” Carla looked at the Subaru like it was a sports car. “This’ll be fun.”
Another car pulled up—a sleek sedan. Gina grinned. “Right on time. Colin? Could you give my friend a hand with her things?”
“Sure thing.” He jogged down the steps to the sedan as a woman got out and popped the trunk, revealing two rolling suitcases. Colin took them out of the trunk and followed behind her.
The woman was petite, with an efficient energy about her that reminded Maren of a stage manager or a surgeon.
“Nettie,” Gina said. “This is Maren. Maren, Nettie—the best disguise artist you’ll ever meet.”
“Makeup artist, remember?” Nettie corrected her with a wink. Maren wondered who she actually was. Nettie gave Maren a quick, assessing look—not unkind, just professional. “Nice bone structure. Good skin tone. This’ll be easy.” She turned to Carla. “You’re the one I’m working with?”
“That’s me.”
“Great. Let’s go inside. I need good light.”
They moved into the safehouse. Nettie set up in the kitchen with the efficiency of someone who’d done this a hundred times before. She opened both suitcases—one full of wigs, prosthetics, and cosmetics, the other containing clothing in various sizes.
“Okay,” Nettie said, studying Carla, then Maren. “Real talk. How bad does your hair look after a long drive?”
Maren blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Because if we’re selling this, Carla needs to look like someone who’s been white-knuckling it across three states, not like she just walked out of a salon.
” Nettie pulled a wig from the case—dark brown, shoulder-length, close enough to Maren’s actual hair.
She held it up to Carla’s face, considering. “Messy or messier?”
“Messier,” Maren said. “Especially if I’ve been wearing a baseball cap.”
Nettie nodded and put the wig on Carla, adjusted it, then deliberately pulled a few pieces loose around her face. She grabbed Maren’s hoodie from the back of a chair—the one she’d been wearing when she arrived—and held it up to Carla. “Put this on.”
Carla pulled it on, added sunglasses, and slouched her shoulders just slightly.
Maren’s stomach dropped.
She was looking at herself.
Not exactly. Not if you already knew her and you were standing five feet away in good light. But on a grainy traffic camera or a gas station security feed? Close enough.
“How’m I doing?” Carla asked.
“Terrifying,” Maren said quietly.
Nettie smiled, satisfied. “Perfect. That’s the goal.”
Carla grinned and pulled the hoodie down. “Okay, ground rules. I’m not maxing out your credit card, just gas and snacks and the hotel at the end of the line. I’m not talking to anyone who might ask questions. I’m just a Maren-shaped woman driving a Subaru east with Iowa plates in her future.”
“Elissa’s handling the credit card trail in Denver,” Gina said. “Hotel, backdated. Food delivery to really sell it. Then you stop for gas in Nebraska, somewhere around Ogallala. Grab some food, keep on to Omaha.”
“Got it,” Carla said. She looked at Maren. “You good with this?”
Maren nodded. She wasn’t entirely. She really liked Carla, and even if she didn’t, she hated the idea of putting her into possible danger.
“Please be careful,” she said quietly.
“Don’t worry about me, hun.” She eyed Colin, standing beside Maren. “Worry about falling for this guy. They make ’em tall, dark, and handsome at Watchdog.” Carla laughed. “Or in the case of the Mountie over there,” she pointed at Mac, “Tall, blond, and extremely handsome.”
Mac just grinned.
“Okay, let’s get this show on the road,” Carla said, turning for the door. “Next stop, Ogallala.”
Tears in her eyes, Maren hugged Carla, taking her by surprise.
“Thank you,” Maren said.
Carla hugged her back. “It’s all right. It’s gonna be fine. You’re in good hands.”
They all walked outside to watch Carla drive away.
Nettie had already packed up her suitcases and left with a hug for Gina and a quick wave to everyone else.
“Call me if you need me,” she shouted as she got in her sedan and then backed out of the driveway and turned her car toward the Watchdog gate.
Arden went inside to wake the girls from their naps and help Ellie with an early dinner.
Maren and Colin stood on the porch with Kyle and Gina.
Carla climbed into the Subaru, adjusted the mirrors, checked the wig one more time in the rearview.
She gave them all a thumbs-up through the windshield.
The engine turned over with its familiar rough idle.
Maren watched the taillights pull down the driveway and felt heartsick. The Subaru disappeared around the bend. Gone. Taking with it the smell of Juni’s juice boxes spilled in the back seat, and the faint outline of her handprint on the window.
Beside them, Kyle cleared his throat.
“I’m going to check and see if Arden and Ellie need any help,” Gina said, turning toward the door. “Kyle?”
Kyle followed her inside without a word.
Maren didn’t move. “It’s stupid,” she said quietly. “It’s just a car.”
Colin stood beside her, close enough that his shoulder almost brushed hers. “No, it’s not.”
She looked at him.
“It got you here,” he said.
And that was when her throat closed.
Maren pressed her fingers to her mouth.
Colin wrapped his fingers around her hand. They stood together on the porch as the last of the sunlight glowed softly behind the mountains to the west.
“I meant it,” he said quietly. “You’ll get it back. Pinkie promise, remember?”
She let out a breath that was almost a laugh. Then she laced their fingers together properly.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For all of it.”
Colin squeezed her hand before letting go. “Come on. Let’s go inside before Juni sends out a search party.”