Chapter 8
The trip to the grocery store was both fun and exasperating. Angela picked up things that any cook would normally need without knowing if she had a functional kitchen. She was after meat, vegetables, fruit, and some basics, like eggs and bread and butter. And coffee. The men weren’t giving her much time though. She had one chance to go through an aisle, and that was about it. Except when it came to the candy aisle and the cookie aisle. She watched in amazement as Warrick snagged up chocolate-covered peanuts, tossing them in, and Corey grabbed several bags of tortilla chips.
She said, “If you’re getting those, we need cheese, sour cream and salsa for nachos.”
Both men perked up and allowed her to head to the dairy area next. There she grabbed milk and yogurt for herself, plus the nacho toppings. She didn’t have a clue how many days they would be stuck in the safe house, and the men weren’t helpful in that regard. But the cart was half full, so they definitely had food for more than a few days.
In the meat section, Warrick chose a pack of steaks. Corey grabbed a pack of bacon. Seeing the men taking care of those basics, she grabbed an extra pound of butter, a head of romaine lettuce and one of red-leaf lettuce. She wasn’t going down just eating protein. These guys were deadly for that.
At the cash register, they swept through and were back out to their vehicles. At that point, they changed places. She looked over at Warrick who was getting into her car. “Why?”
“To throw anyone off who may be watching us again.”
Corey pulled her toward the truck. “Come on. Let’s go.”
She shrugged, scrambled into the seat and closed the door. “Wow, what a view from up here.”
“It’s not that bad,” he said. “A friend of mine has a six-inch lift kit on his. Now that’s high.”
She shook her head. “Well, at least it’s not stupid high.”
“I get that you don’t like them, but men are very particular about their trucks and don’t like anyone knocking their aftermarket upgrades,” he said with a big smile.
“Not to mention other things,” she said drily.
He laughed, reversed the truck, backed out of the parking lot and followed Warrick who was leading them down the highway. “I forgot you had a sense of humor. We haven’t seen too much of it lately.”
“There hasn’t been anything to laugh about. Besides, how do you know I meant that as funny?”
He looked at her, caught her serious look, stared for a hard moment and then caught her smile breaking. With a nod of satisfaction he said, “That’s more like it.”
She settled back for the drive. It was late afternoon, and the traffic was heavy. She couldn’t imagine where they would end up, and she was already starving. “How could I possibly be hungry when we just ate?”
“That was an hour ago, at least.”
They didn’t have any of the groceries with them. They’d all been put in the back seat of her car, which was nowhere in sight. “We do trust Warrick, right? It just occurred to me that he took off with a week’s worth of groceries—well, it’d last one week feeding only me—and my car.”
At that Corey laughed out loud. “I am going to tell Warrick you said that.”
She snorted. “You would. But I would still feel better if I could at least see him.”
“You will. You will.”
Just as she began to relax again, a big black truck passed them going way too fast. It swerved into their lane, cutting Corey off. He was forced to slam on the brakes, the back end of the truck fishtailing wildly. He pulled over onto the median between the two lanes of traffic and slowed the truck down. He brought it to a stop and turned to look at her. “Are you okay?”
It took her a moment to nod. “I’m okay. But what the hell was that?”
“An asshole. They’re all around us. So as long as you’re okay, we’ll continue.”
She nodded, but her nerves were rattled again. “Do you think it had anything to do with …”
“No,” he cut off her words. “That was nothing. Just some punk who’s being an asshole.”
She nodded but couldn’t be quite so sure. Every time something weird happened, she had to consider it was connected.
They drove a little longer, until he swore.
She leaned forward. “What?” Her eyes scanned the traffic in front of them, but she couldn’t see anything.
“Look behind us,” he said. “Don’t turn around, just look through the side mirror.”
She stared at her side mirror. A gasp left her mouth. “Is that the same black truck?”
“I’m not sure.”
“How could that be?”
“He would have had to pull over at the same time we did,” Corey said quietly. “I’m going to shake him. Sit back and make sure your seat belt is tight. Let’s see if he’s really after us or not.”
“Maybe we can just take our turn, get to our house, and hide away.”
“Only if he doesn’t follow us.” At that Corey changed lanes, took the next exit without giving the people behind them much warning and was quickly on an off-ramp.
“Is this where we’re supposed to go?”
“No,” he snapped.
She turned slightly to see the black truck struggling to cross the same lanes. At the last minute it almost came horizontally across the exit and corrected enough to get on the ramp. “He is still behind us,” she said quietly. “I wish I could see his license plate.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. Either the truck is stolen, or it’ll have stolen plates.”
“Is that easy to do?”
“Sure. Find another truck at a mall, take off the plates and put different plates on it.”
She sat back. “You could do that with a car or an SUV?”
“Exactly. It’s not hard to do.”
She watched his gaze, which never left the road, and yet he checked from left to right and behind them all the time. She didn’t know how he did it. She had enough trouble just staying focused on the road ahead, following directions and not getting lost. She was a good driver, but she certainly didn’t have the same inner sense of radar he seemed to have. And he was definitely not letting anything get by him a second time.
She casually looked behind them, and, sure enough, the truck was there. It caught up and was just two vehicles behind them. “Do we need to tell Warrick?”
He reached over, hit Talk on his phone and called out, “Warrick.”
Pretty quickly Warrick’s voice filled the cab. “What’s up?”
“Black truck.” He read off the first three letters of the license plate. Letters she couldn’t see. “Followed us in a gravely dangerous move on an exit ramp. We’re heading toward …” He shook his head. “I’m not exactly sure where we’re heading. But we’re off the main road. And the bogey is on our tail.”
“Okay. I’m five minutes away from the house. Do you want me to come in your direction?”
“No. Get to the house. Make sure everything’s still okay there. Hide the car. I’m not sure when we’ll be coming in, but I’ll stay in touch.”
Tense, Angela waited for Corey to make another move. She glanced down at her seat belt to see her fingers almost white as they gripped the belt across her chest.
“It will be okay,” he said quietly.
She stared at him in surprise. “How can you say that? You’re assuming that whoever followed us started from my aunt’s cabin?”
“That’s definitely possible.”
“And what other possibility is there?”
“The possibility these vehicles have a tracker on them.”
She stared at him. “A tracker?” she asked hesitantly. “On this truck or on my car?”
“It could be on either or both. Once they tracked us to the restaurant, they would have seen the two together. It’s pretty easy to make sure they keep an eye on both from there.”
“When could they put a tracker on my car? What about Warrick? Will he know?”
“He would have already thought of it. He’ll stop and check. If he finds one, he’ll remove it before going to the safe house.”
She shook her head. “But that would mean they had to have time and opportunity.”
“How long did you sleep last night?” He turned to look at her. “Your vehicle was down below, behind the cabin. So, yes, it was hidden from the road, but it was also hidden from your view. You wouldn’t have known if anybody placed a tracker underneath, would you?”
She sank back into the corner of the truck and shook her head. “No, not at all. Not to mention the weird knock you heard at the cabin. But why wouldn’t they just come in and kill me?”
“Maybe they would have if you were alone, but we scared them off, and they came back. There’s all kinds of scenarios that could work here.”
“None of them work,” she said emphatically. “All of this is bullshit.” Angry and terrified, she stared out the window. “And Greg’s not going to be happy until I’m dead, is he?”
“If he thinks you have this material, he’ll probably make sure you’re dead. And then he’ll find your laptop and your phone and anything else you may have to make sure he’s got all the copies. If he hasn’t heard anything by now from the authorities or his marks, he’ll probably assume you haven’t said anything to the police. But he can’t be sure. Too much time has gone by.”
“I want to pick up Joshua.”
“Not happening. Remember what the police said.”
Stymied and cornered in all directions, she slumped against the seat and groaned. “How the hell did I get into this?”
He didn’t bother answering.
She didn’t really need an answer. It was pretty obvious what she had done. “I was just trying to protect my son and myself.”
“You’re a goldfish up against a shark. And the shark decided he shouldn’t leave any goldfish alive to tell on him.”
She swallowed hard. “I don’t know what to do now.”
“We get you stashed, safe and sound. And then we take a look at what the cops might still need.”
She shook her head. “That won’t be enough.”
Her phone rang then. She glanced over at Corey. “It’s Greg again.”
“Answer and put it on Speaker. And don’t tell him where we are or what you’re doing.”
“Greg? What’s up?” She was proud of herself. Her tone sounded almost normal.
“I just thought I’d let you know that, if you try any funny business, your son will be out of your reach forever.”
“What do you mean?” Inside, her heart slammed against her rib cage. Surely he didn’t mean he would kill Joshua, did he?
“You know what I mean. Right now there’s still a chance of you getting some visitation with him. But, if you hand over any of that stuff to the cops, than he goes bye-bye. I’ll make sure Joshua disappears forever.”
“What are you talking about? Are you threatening to kill him?” Her voice rose in panic. “Why would you do that? He adores you.”
“I didn’t say that,” Greg said, his voice hard. “But you go ahead and keep thinking it. Maybe it’ll make you fall in line. You stupid bitch, did you really think you could pull a con on me? I want all that shit back, and I want to know who you gave anything to and what you gave them.”
“Has this got anything to do with that thing you seem to think I stole from you?”
“Don’t play the fool. I know you took pictures, and I know you have a piece of paper you shouldn’t have. Joshua told me all about it.” His voice thickened with rage. “Don’t make a mistake. You have too much to lose.”
“Sounds to me like you have too much to lose,” she said, fury seeping into her tone. “You have just threatened me and my son. What the hell do you expect me to think? I don’t know what you’re talking about, but obviously it’s something very damning against you. And I don’t know who else might have access, but I sure as hell hope somebody nails your ass to the wall, throws you in jail and tosses the key out the window.”
“I won’t be going to jail,” he said, his voice final.
“Are you so sure about that?”
He laughed, but absolutely nothing was humorous in his tone. “If you want to play, go ahead. But you’re just a little girl in this game. If there’s even a hint that I might end up going to jail, you can bet your next breath will be your last. Joshua doesn’t need a mother now. He sure as hell won’t need one in ten years either. Just when you think you’re safe and everything’s good, you won’t see it coming.” He hung up.
She was trembling so badly she couldn’t even hold the phone in her hand. She dropped it on the seat between them and buried her face in her hands. “Oh, my God. Now what?”
“You definitely pulled the dragon’s tail. Not exactly a recommended tactic,” he said quietly. “But we can work with this.”
She stared at him. “What are you talking about?”
“You pushed his buttons. Threatened him with jail. He’ll respond but not in a good way. Now we just have to be ready for anything.”
“Or he hires a sharpshooter, my head explodes, and, right after that, my son’s head explodes,” she said bitterly. She stared out the window. “I didn’t realize I had a temper until I married him. For the first few years it seemed like it was buried inside, but now it’s firing all the time.” She shook her head. “I would never have argued with him like that. And he wouldn’t have let me.”
“Which is why he’ll try to put you in your place now. That was the threat about Joshua.”
“But what if he makes good on that threat? I’m no more dangerous than a damn kitten.”
At that he chuckled. “And I happen to love kittens.”
*
That wasn’t exactly what he meant to say. He did love kittens. He had also loved Angela a long time ago. But to see her like this, it was exasperating, enlightening and enraging. She shouldn’t have done anything to poke her soon-to-be-ex-husband’s anger. But she couldn’t seem to help herself. And once Greg had threatened her with never seeing Joshua again, she’d lost all control. Corey could understand that. It was why her husband had done it.
But Greg may have miscalculated. Corey had never known Angela to be so quiet, so shy, so locked down, so buttoned-up. She’d always been a bit of a free spirit. He was pretty pissed at her husband for having curbed that spirit. But right now, no doubt Greg had unleashed a whole lot more than a little kitten. The thing was, this time the kitten wasn’t alone. What they had to do now was make sure Joshua was safe.
“Does Joshua go to school?”
“Yes, he’s in a private school. Greg was paying the tuition. Otherwise, I couldn’t have kept him in it.”
“And will he be there tomorrow?”
“I would think so. But it depends if Greg has taken him out of school to move him somewhere else.”
“Greg might need a day or two to make those kinds of plans.” He turned to look at her. “Do you have the right to take the child out of school?”
“I used to. But that was before the mall scene. I went a few days ago but was denied access. According to Greg, we’re in a custody battle, and I am not allowed to have unsupervised visits. Of course he’d never have let me have a supervised visit either,” she said bitterly. “He must have planned for this once I brought Joshua for the first visit and started legal proceedings to keep me from my son.”
He stared at her in surprise. “He really doesn’t want you to have any contact, does he?”
She shook her head. “No, he really doesn’t.”
“As soon as I get a chance, I’ll call the detective. His threats to the child have upped the game. We’ll have to see if we can intercept Joshua somewhere and grab him.”
She looked at Corey with hope. “Do you mean it?”
He turned his head and quickly changed lanes. He knew a section with traffic circles was up ahead with several options where he thought he could probably shake the truck. It stayed behind him, separated by three cars, not changing lanes, not moving over, just content to watch.
Corey took the traffic circle, quickly turned and came around. At the last second, he changed lanes, then made another quick turn, exiting the main highway. Halfway down this block was an alley. He popped down it and kept on going. A covered parking lot was up ahead. He pulled in underneath and took one of the spots, luckily between two black trucks.
He motioned for her to get down. “We’ll sit here and see if they find us.”
“But your truck is being tracked …”
He smiled, opened his door, pulled out the keys so there was no noise or lights and slid down to take a look underneath. Within seconds he was back up, tossing a metal device onto the seat between them.
She looked at it. “So they got your vehicle too?”
“Can’t say I’m surprised. We had it parked outside the cabin.” He held out his phone. “I need to talk to Warrick for a minute.” He called Warrick but this time it was off Speaker. He brought him up to date. “We’re hidden right now. I’m keeping an eye out to see if he finds us. But it’s been ten minutes with no sign of the black truck.”
“Wait another ten. I might come for you myself.”
“No. Stay where you are. But make sure you’re bug-free.”
“I’ve got a device with me here. I’ve just checked the car and pulled one.”
“I have taken one out too. I don’t know if they put more than that on each vehicle. But I don’t have anything to check with.”
“I haven’t gone to the house. I’m sitting in the small mall parking lot about a block away. There’s a video store, small grocery store, a liquor store. Pull in there, drive around to the back.”
“I am at least ten minutes away, and that’s once I get back on the road.”
“Take your time. I’ll expect you in an hour, no sooner.”
Corey slipped from the truck and turned to tell her, “Stay down until I come back.” He slumped around to the front of the vehicle, crossed several trucks until he could stand and take a look around the car park. He couldn’t see any moving vehicles. That didn’t mean the black truck wasn’t somewhere behind them. Warrick had done the same thing he had.
What he wanted to do was put the tracker on another vehicle about to leave, but he had to know which one would move out. He could see the street from where he stood. He watched a delivery vehicle pull up. The driver got out.
With a quick move, Corey was back at his truck. “Wait here.” He snagged the device from the front seat, closed the vehicle door quietly and disappeared within the car park and over to the delivery vehicle. He walked along the driver side and casually tossed it into the front seat through the window. It didn’t need to be mounted; it only needed to be hidden from others. The delivery driver had several bags in front. Thankfully the device fell to the floor.
Corey kept walking, carried on down the block and, not wanting to leave her alone for too long, backtracked to the delivery vehicle where the driver was just getting back into it. Hidden from sight but still able to see the truck, Corey waited. Sure enough the black truck came ripping down from one of the upper levels of the car park and took a right, going after the delivery vehicle.
It wouldn’t work for long, but Corey had just enough time to get the hell out of here. He raced back to his truck, reversed it and headed back the way he had come. He knew the little mall Warrick mentioned. But it was still a good ten miles away. He took as many corners and crisscrosses as he could to shake any tail trying to follow him.
He was right on the one-hour mark when he pulled into the back of the video store. Warrick waited for him and held up to him a small device before crushing on the cement. Corey double-checked the truck, then turned to Warrick. “The truck is clean.”
The two men high-fived. “Now let’s get these vehicles in the garage.”
Four minutes later they both pulled up side by side inside the safe house garage, the big door already closing behind them.
Warrick slipped out under the garage door before it completely lowered and went down to close the gate at the end of the driveway. He’d set up a security alarm at the gate that they’d control from inside the house. Corey walked around the truck, opened up the passenger side and smiled at Angela. “All clear.”
She looked out in relief, stood on his running board and threw her arms around him. She hugged him tight and whispered, “Thank you.”
His arms crushed her close. Instantly his mind flooded with memories of the two of them years ago. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and just held on tight.