CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I shifted on my couch, the Glock 19 pressing more firmly at my side. So much time had passed since I carried a gun that the experience was almost surreal. I really thought those days were over. When I left the army, I started reinventing myself into a person who was the complete opposite of the woman who had spent her entire adult life in a world of war and precise caution. I never planned to pick back up anything those years gave me. Granted, I never wanted to take those years back either, never wanted to change anything. But I wanted to be a new Blaire Daniels, a girl who wore vintage clothes, shopped at flea markets on the weekends, and brunched with her besties on Sundays.
And now here I was. A weird hybrid of the two Blaires.
The gun came easy enough. Though I didn’t want it, I knew I needed it. You couldn’t go hunting without one. Not unless you intended on becoming the prey yourself. Giving it to me meant Seth was sticking his neck out big time, but I was better than my word. Not in a million years would I let anyone know I got it from him, and that was something we could both count on.
Evie came into the room, her hair piled up underneath a baseball cap. She’d pulled it low enough that you could only see a hint of the dark hair peeking out at the base of her neck. I’d made an attempt at disguising my own identity by winding my own hair in a tight bun then wrapping a scarf around it all. Big black sunglasses would complete the look, making me both Jackie O and an undercover James Bond.
Evie spread her hands wide, a gesture that asked for me to critique her. “So? Do I look like you?”
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
Her hands fell. “Blaire... yes.”
“It might be dangerous. Scratch that. I know it’s going to be dangerous.”
One of her hands came back up to rest on a cocked hip. “I got that.”
I opened up the side of the flannel shirt pulled over my tank top and flashed the gun at her. Her eyes went wide. “Oh,” she breathed. “Wow.”
She looked at me with new hesitation. “You’re planning on it getting... that crazy?”
“No,” I amended. “But better safe than sorry. It’s mostly just to make a statement, to say I can’t be pushed around.”
She shook her head and whistled. “If only Basic Derek could see you now.”
The slightest chortle escaped me, my first semblance of a laugh in days. “Yeah, well, everyone has secret parts to them. And Derek didn’t know me... before...” I trailed off, not even really knowing what I meant by before.
Evie rubbed her hands together. “I really do want to do this. I want to help you... to help your hunky Greek God.”
“Cyprus. He was born in Cyprus.”
“I’m pretty sure ancient Greece covered that area.”
“I have no idea.” I stood, too nervous for small talk. “Should we go over the plan again?”
She shook her head. “No, I’ve got it. It’s pretty basic. Even more basic than your ex-boyfriend.” She grinned slightly, but I couldn’t join her.
“Anytime you want out,” I told her. “Tell me and you’re out.”
All the fun fell from her face. Her dark eyes pierced mine. “That’s not going to happen.”
“All right. Let’s go then.”
We took the elevator down to the parking garage, where Evie climbed into my car and I into hers. I pulled my phone out of my purse and hooked it up to her stereo so we could talk while we drove.
“Testing, testing,” came her voice through the speakers.
“You ready?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
“Okay, just drive like you’re going to the flea market. That’s far enough away. If someone follows you, I’ll know by the time you’re halfway there.”
“Should I actually go into the flea market?”
“I don’t know yet,” I answered, realizing there was a small flaw in my plan. “We’ll see. You probably shouldn’t get out of the car at all. Just stay on the line.”
“Got it.”
She backed my car up and headed for the exit. I followed, my heartbeat growing louder with each foot we gained towards the street. Evie took a right, and I waited a minute, letting a couple cars get in front of me. I followed her down the block, slightly tailgating the Jeep in front of me. I couldn’t get too close to Evie and my car, but I also couldn’t get too far away.
“See anything yet?” she asked over the line.
“No. It’s too early to tell.”
The Jeep turned off, leaving a silver Honda between me and Evie. Traffic got congested at a construction site and a beat up red car pulled in front of the silver one. I glanced in my mirror, seeing if any of the cars behind me were there when we left the parking garage.
After a few more miles, the only car still a constant, other than mine and Evie’s, was the silver Honda. One look at its dark windows and a chill went through me.
“I think we have it,” I told Evie. “Don’t look in your mirror, but there’s a silver Honda that’s been behind you this whole drive. Take a right up here, to get off the main road, then we’ll know for sure.”
Evie did as instructed. The Honda hooked a quick right to follow, making a lump form in my throat. I was already reading the license plate, running it over and over in my head. Fumbling, I reached for the pen in the little holder underneath the dashboard and scrawled the license plate number on my arm as I drove.
The plate numbers gotten, I tried to tell myself that everything was going to be all right. I could go to the police, present the license plate number, and tell them I was being followed.
But then what? It wasn’t like I had any real evidence. Maybe a security camera from some business had caught the black SUV doing that crazy turnaround on the sidewalk, but that wouldn’t be enough. I didn’t have enough evidence to connect that incident with my report of being followed. I knew how something like this was likely to go down. The police would probably give me all the usual advice, telling me to lock my doors and windows, and report back to them if any more suspicious activity occurred. But what else could they do? They could run the plates, yes. And then what? Question whoever owned the car?
I audibly huffed. Would the Chicago PD even go to that length? In a sea of real crimes to worry about, I knew how petty my complaint of being followed might look.
“What?” Evie asked.
“Huh?”
“You made a noise or something.”
“I just... I got the license plate.”
“Great!”
“I’m going to go home and run it myself on the internet.”
“But you can go to the police.”
“Maybe,” I slowly said, not sure how to concisely explain everything that just ran through my head.
“Uh oh.”
My heart jumped. “What?”
“Something’s up with your car. It’s getting overheated or something.”
I stared at my car. “What?”
“Yeah, the gauge is going up, like, really fast.”
“Shit.”
“When was the last time you checked the coolant?”
I shook my head. “God, I don’t know... I’ve been so distracted. Shit, shit, shit.”
“I think I have to pull over, Blaire. Your car is going to explode or something if I don’t.”
“Okay. Hold on.” My eyes darted up and down the street, looking for some sort of answer to the sudden catastrophe. Up ahead on a corner sat a small bank building, its parking lot half empty.
“Pull into that parking lot on the right,” I instructed Evie.
“What are you going to do?”
“Um, I don’t know,” I admitted. At this point, there was no more plan. I ran purely on instinct. It was stupid, maybe, but this whole thing had already gone too far. I needed answers, and it almost didn’t matter anymore how I got them.
“I’m going to follow the car,” I announced as Evie pulled into the parking lot. “Don’t get out of my car. Just stay there.”
“For how long?”
“I’ll be back soon, I promise.”
Evie pulled into an empty spot in the parking lot and the silver car went on, turning around the corner. Instead of following it, I went straight through the intersection and then whipped Evie’s car into the parking lot of a little outlet mall. Driving as fast as I could without being reckless, I turned the car around and went back past the bank, catching a glimpse of Evie through my windshield.
I didn’t think the silver Honda’s driver was giving up for the day. They were just going to circle the block until the girl they thought was me got back in her car and continued on her merry way.
I pushed my sunglasses further against my face, hoping I’d done a good enough job disguising myself. Just as I took a left, I saw the car coming around the block. Keeping my face directed at the traffic, I squinted through the windshield. The man in the car also wore sunglasses, but had a full head of dark hair. So it wasn’t the man from the black SUV.
I gulped. One man. Two men. Just how many people were following me and my friends?
He drove past me, completely oblivious as to my true identity.
Knowing circling the block would give me away, I pulled into a nearby McDonald’s and parked facing the street.
“We need to catch him,” I explained into the phone, quickly spreading out a map of the neighborhood in my mind.
“Okay,” Evie answered.
“I think there’s a parking garage right down here, like half a block away. My car should make it there.”
“Okay,” she repeated and I heard her start the car. “That’s weird... the temperature thingy is fine now. I bet your gauge is messed up. That happened to me about a year ago. Something screwy with the wiring.”
“You don’t see any steam coming from the front?”
“Nope. And the temperature is normal too.”
I sagged in my seat. One less thing to worry about. “If it does it again, let me know, okay? For now, head to the garage. I’ll be right behind you, so don’t worry.”
A second passed.
“Okay. I’m going now.”
At this point, my pulse pounded so loudly its noise blocked out almost all my thoughts. It was good. I didn’t need to be thinking. I needed to be doing. Cristiano’s safety depended on it.
My left hand drifted down to touch the gun at my side.
“I’m not going to need it,” I promised myself. “I’m not going to need it.”
But over my dead body would I walk into that parking garage unprepared. No matter how much I tried to reinvent myself, when it came to some things, I would always be a soldier through and through.
The silver car came back around the block and followed Evie. The plan wasn’t perfect. I didn’t know if the driver would take the bait and follow Evie into the parking garage. When he did, I took in a sharp breath. This was for real now.
“Park on the first level, near the back,” I instructed Evie. “And stay in the car. Lock your door and get your head down.”
“Blaire—”
“Evie. Seriously. Just do it.”
“Blaire.”
“Just do it!”
She shut up and drove the car to where I’d told her to. The silver car went with her, and I followed as far behind as I dared.
In the very back of the garage only a few spots remained open. Evie parked in the one closest to the far corner, and the silver car innocuously pulled into one across from her and down six or so spots.
Sweat slicked my brow and adrenaline pumped in my veins, pushing me forward. I hit the gas and turned the wheel, taking Evie’s car to a screeching halt behind the silver car. With the vehicle blocked in, the driver had nowhere to go, unless he got there on foot.
Quick as a whip, I threw the door open and dropped to the concrete floor. Sprinting in a crouched position, I ran for the far side of the car parked next to the silver Honda. I grabbed the Glock as I went, pulling it out of the holster.
“Get out of the car!” I yelled, positioning the gun on the front hood of the car I hid behind.
The man in the Honda didn’t move. Though his windows were rolled up, I knew he heard me.
“Raise your hands!” I shouted, louder this time.
A long second ticked by, and then another. Suddenly the Honda shot backwards, knocking Evie’s car out of the way. A horrible screech of metal filled the space. Evie’s car got knocked to the side, its front spinning around to where its tail had been only a moment before. The Honda took off, one end of its bumper dangling down and dragging against the ground. Sparks flew from the contact of metal on concrete, and the Honda bounced up as it hit a speed bump.
I stood up and took aim at the tires, then let a round loose. The Honda went on, turning around the curve in the parking garage and disappearing.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to punch something.
But there was no time for any of that.
“Blaire!” Evie yelled.
She stood next to the open door of my car, her mouth open wide.
“We have to get out of here,” I breathlessly said. “The police...”
Her jaw still hung open. “I...”
“The police!” I repeated. “Follow me.”
Finally, she turned and got in my car. I threw myself into her own beat up vehicle and prayed as I turned the keys. The engine roared to life, but judging by the awful choking sound it made, its days were now numbered.
I pushed the car as much as I dared, taking it out to the street. My hands shook against the steering wheel, and I frantically surveyed the block for signs of flashing lights.
What was I thinking? There are cameras in there. Every parking garage has cameras now.
Which meant they’d seen me shooting off the gun. They’d gotten my license plate... Evie’s license plate.
“Fuck!” I screamed at the windshield.
I took the quickest route I knew out of the city, which just happened to be the one Cristiano took on our first date. I pushed the thoughts of that night away. How had things gotten so screwed up so fast? All I’d wanted was to get to know him better, to get a chance at real love. And now I was shooting at stalkers and running from the police.
When the seedy outskirts appeared, I started looking for a place to stop. It wasn’t easy to find, but an old building that looked like it had been a mechanic’s garage in its past life popped up. I drove Evie’s car over the cracked parking lot riddled with weeds and took it behind the building, making sure to park it out of sight.
Evie exited the car five seconds behind me, the car door slamming behind her as she clambered out.
“Evie,” I began. “I’m so sorry about your car.”
She waved her hands like she was furious and started to say something, but nothing came from her mouth but an exasperated sound.
“I’m sorry about all of this,” I continued, pacing across the dilapidated lot strewn with trash and scraps of old clothes. “I shouldn’t have gotten you involved. I put you in real danger. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
I whipped the scarf off my head and dropped it before raking my fingers through my hair, desperately trying to find an answer as to how to get out of this whole mess. Somewhere not so far away, sirens sounded. My stomached tightened. Were they for us?
“The car has insurance,” Evie said. “It can be fixed.”
We both looked at the indented side of the hood, the mirror there dangling by a thread.
“Or I can get another one,” Evie added. “Insurance will cover that.” She blew out a sharp breath. “Blaire, that was crazy. But at least we’re okay.”
I planted my hands on my hips and swiveled to face her. “No, we’re not okay. There are probably security cameras all over that parking garage.”
Her eyes went wide. “Oh.”
I gulped. “Yeah.”
“Then why did you...?”
“I don’t know!” I wailed. “I wasn’t thinking. I was trying not to think. I just want to protect Cristiano... to protect... to make this whole thing go away.”
“But the police,” Evie whispered.
“I’ll take the blame for it, Evie. If they come to you, tell them exactly what happened. There’s no use lying, and you didn’t do anything wrong.”
Evie slowly shook her head. “I’m not abandoning you.”
“This isn’t your fight.”
“But what about you? You’re just going to give up? I mean, what can they charge you with? You shot at that guy in the parking garage. Can you go to jail?”
I bit my bottom lip. “I don’t know. But that was definitely reckless behavior in the eyes of the law.” I ran two sweaty palms over my face.
“Maybe you could, you know... leave.” She winced as she said it, like she knew just what a crazy suggestion it was.
“And let this all go? Forget about Cristiano?”
One of her shoulders lifted the slightest amount. “If this is all about him, then it’s kind of his problem. I mean, he’s just a guy you only just started dating.”
I stared her down. “He’s more than that.”
Evie gazed back, absorbing the weight of my words. “Okay... but is anyone worth this?”
“He is.” I gave her a look to let her know this part of the conversation was closed.
“Maybe, maybe if you have enough evidence, or just a good enough story, you’ll be good with the police.”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I need to think about one thing at a time. I can’t do anything more than that.”
“You got the car’s license plate, right? And you saw the driver?”
“I saw him, but he looked like every other middle aged white guy in America. But yes, I have the license plate number. I can look up the car’s records online.”
Evie pulled out her phone. “We’ll do it now.”
“No.” I took a step towards her and rested my hands on her shoulders to look her squarely in the eye. “You can’t have any more part in this. I’ve already screwed up enough. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“But what am I supposed to do? Just go home?”
“Yes,” I emphatically said. “Go home and lock all your doors and windows. Better yet, don’t go there. Don’t even go back there to get stuff. Can you stay at someone else’s place?”
Her eyelashes fluttered. “Um, my aunt and uncle’s. Yeah, I’m sure I can.”
“Go there. If you need your phone charger or whatever, don’t go back for it.”
She looked over my shoulder. “What about our cars?”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Just take mine with you. It’ll look even worse if we try and hide this. I’m going to run that license plate and then go to the police. Wait for me to call you.”
Her lips pursed. “Okay.”
“Good.”
I pulled her into a fierce hug then quickly let her go. She climbed back in my car and drove around the run down garage back to the street.
I did another quick survey of the area, checking to see if anyone had been watching us. On the left sat a car wash and on the right a chain fast food place, and neither one of the spots exactly bustled with activity. We seemed to be good at least on that front.
Pulling up the browser on my phone, I went to one of the websites you can run license plates on. The most that would come up would be the vehicle’s history, but it was a decent place to start. Maybe I could find out the name of whoever owned it.
I held my breath as I typed out the numbers and letters and then waited for the page to load.
An angry rasp left my throat. “Damn it.”
There was no registered vehicle for that plate. It had been a fake.
Dejected, I climbed back in Evie’s rattling car. It getting me to the nearest police station was at least slightly possible. But I wasn’t going there first.
A sick feeling sat in my stomach, telling me I needed to go back to Cristiano’s. Though I was ashamed, I needed to tell him about what happened, needed to come clean. Then I needed to share my plan with him.
It was the only way I could move forward.