I couldn't stop my shoulders from slumping just a little as we stepped out into the sun.
There was nothing. The files were destroyed just as my gut knew they would be. Elliot's little hack had given me hope. Why hadn't he found the information about the destroyed files? We had risked this all for nothing!
I thought this would be over soon, but now we were back to square one. I didn't know if I had the guts or the energy to take it any further.
"I know it's a set back, but we'll find something else." Alex slid on his shades, still looking cool and charming. I wanted to punch him.
"No, we won't." I stopped at the car door. "Tenner would have covered all his tracks. We both know that flood was no accident."
"There's got to be something though. The guy's not perfect."
"No, but he's powerful and he could flatten us all. We need to step away from this."
"What, so you can spend the rest of your life in hiding?" He snapped, yanking the keys out of his pocket and pointing them at the car.
I ignored his sour tone and shrugged. "If I have to."
"Well, I'm not cool with that." The car beeped, the locks clicking open in unison.
I reached for the door handle. "Well, it's not your decision to make. It's not your life!"
Alex pointed at me across the roof of the car. "If you let the threat of him continue to control you like this, it's not your life either."
I was about to cross my arms and swivel away from him when I noticed the security guard approaching us. The sun was shining off his bald head, but it was the way his bushy eyebrows were bunched together that made my shoulders ping back into place.
"Excuse me, Agent Green." The guard approached on swift feet. "Can I please take one more look at that ID card of yours? There seems to be a glitch in the system."
"A glitch?" Alex tipped his head, reaching into his jacket pocket for the ID.
Nerves skittered sideways through my stomach.
"Yeah." The guard shrugged, taking the card. "Something about your name sounded familiar for some reason and when I punched in your ID number it said that you no longer work for the FBI."
My eyes bulged while a tendon in Alex's neck pinged tight. How could we have missed that? We just chose two names from the website. Damn thing must have not been updated recently. I should have made Elliot hunt through the site meticulously, not just grab two random names! Shorty would be rolling in his grave right now. I was off my game and my causal oversight had put us both in danger.
"Well, that's really odd." Alex scratched the back of his neck. "As you can see, I'm still here." His bright grin didn't seem so shiny in front of the slightly tubby guard.
"It must be a computer error," I called over the car, trying to distract the man who was quickly scrutinizing Alex's ID.
The guard didn't even flinch at my words, instead slowly reaching for something at his back.
Alex shot a nervous glance over his shoulder, his eyes looking skittish as he slowly removed his hands from his pockets. I didn't have time to yell out a no before Alex lunged for the guard, striking him with a powerful right hook that knocked the man from his feet. He crashed to the sidewalk while Alex scrambled for the keys, yanking the door open and quickly starting the car. I barely had my door shut before we screeched out of the parking lot and busted through the barricade.
Chapter 13
LUCY
This was not good.
This was so not good.
I clung to the car door as Alex swerved into traffic, crazily weaving between cars.
"Any ideas?" he shouted.
My body jerked to the left as Alex veered into a side road.
"We need to ditch this car. I mean it's been hired under a fake ID so it will take them time to link it to us, but not if we get caught in it!"
He turned right, causing my shoulder to crash into the door. He was driving like a freaking maniac. If the FBI weren't on our tail soon, the LAPD would be!
"There!" I pointed to a parking garage.
Alex drove into it without checking the road, nearly causing an accident. He braked and quickly lowered the window to grab a ticket. The arm lifted and we squealed into the parking lot. He drove up two floors before finding a dark, corner spot and lurched into it.
We both sat there breathing like rabid dogs for a moment, too shell shocked to move.
"What the hell just happened?" Alex gripped the wheel.
"Life," I muttered, pushing the door open with my elbow. "Come on, we've got to keep moving."
Whipping off my jacket, I used the sleeve to wipe down any surface I may have touched. Alex followed my lead before we ran from the car, dropping the keys into the first trashcan we walked by. Two blocks later we ditched our jackets and fake IDs. I pulled out my hair tie, fluffing my locks before untucking my shirt and letting it float loosely around me.
Alex eyed me out of the corner of his eye, rolling up his sleeves and trying to change his look from stylish agent to casual street walker.