“Got me. I don’t know this city. This is Jean-Luc’s stomping ground.”
“Then call him.” It came out as more of an order than he intended, but fuck it. He wasn’t trying to make friends here. He pulled up the GPS app on his phone and searched for nearby train or bus stations. He doubted she’d try to fly. She’d need too much money and documentation to get on a last minute flight. Would a train ask for ID? Probably, and he assumed there wouldn’t be one leaving at this time of night. So the bus stations were his best bet. And there was a bus stop less than a mile away.
He didn’t wait for Marcus, instead took off in a dead run, following the directions on his phone.
She had a head start, but he was faster.
Chapter Four
Sage had mapped out and timed all of her possible escape routes within the first two days of moving to New Orleans, but she hadn’t expected to use any of them so soon. And she hadn’t expected to be running from Vaughn of all people.
God. He’d found her.
But more than that, he’d actually searched for her. She hadn’t expected that from him, and as she ran down the streets and alleys toward Escape Plan A, her mind wandered back to the last time she’d seen him. Vaughn had been seriously injured in a bomb blast meant for his brother, which she’d found out about in a phone call from her closest friend in DC, Vaughn’s sister-in-law Libby. At that point, she’d already realized she’d overstayed her welcome and had been on her way out of town…but for the first time ever, she hadn’t been able to leave without saying good-bye and had hurried to the hospital to make sure he would be okay.
Her heart hitched at the memory of all the machines, IVs, bandages, and the cast encasing his entire leg from ankle to hip. Doped up with painkillers, he’d smiled sappily when she entered his room and had started saying all kinds of crazy things that broke her heart to hear, things about a future together they couldn’t have. She’d humored him until he drifted off to sleep, then sneaked away with the certain knowledge she’d never see him again.
She never in her wildest fantasies thought he’d search for her, and it scared the ever-loving hell out of her that he had. In her experience, people only tracked her down when they wanted her dead.
And, okay, she had taken something from Vaughn, but had he really chased her all the way to New Orleans for a pin?
She slowed to a walk as she neared the busy four-lane street where the double-decker bus would be stopping to pick up its passengers. She didn’t want to seem desperate or in a hurry. The less attention she attracted to herself, the better.
She drew out her prepaid phone and booked a ticket on the 11:30 p.m. bus to Houston using a prepaid debit card—which, dammit, she no longer had because it was in her purse back in her apartment. At least she’d saved the card’s information in her phone and booking the ticket was no problem. Once the bus arrived at the street-side stop, all she’d need was her confirmation number to board. No ID and no actual bus terminal full of people to navigate. Easy peasy, which was why she always used this particular company as her get out of town fast Escape Plan A.
The bus stop was near an athletic shoe store and a sprawling green building—according to the faded sign on the side, it used to be some kind of supermarket, but now it looked empty. It’d make a great place to hide and wait…but no, on second thought, the large stretch of parking lot between the bus stop and the building changed her mind. Crossing that open expanse of pavement seemed too much like exposing herself, so instead, she hunkered down next to a small tree in the grassy space between the road and sidewalk and hoped the shadows of the night were enough to keep her unnoticeable.
She’d be surprised if Vaughn followed her again. After all, “leave me the fuck alone” didn’t get much more obvious than nailing a guy in the balls and tasering his friend.
Unless he really, really wanted his pin back.
Wincing at the thought, she reached down the front of her shirt and tugged out the chain she’d attached the pin to. It had been stupid of her to take it in the first place and ridiculously sentimental to have kept it all these months. The gold eagle perched on an anchor, clutching a pistol in one talon and a trident in the other. It must’ve been special since Vaughn wasn’t the type of guy to wear jewelry, but its meaning was lost on her. She only liked it because it gave her a calming sense of safety similar to the feeling she’d experienced during the short time she’d spent in Vaughn’s arms.
Oh, she was an idiot. A slave to an overactive libido that had gotten her in trouble more often than not. Seemed like she would have learned her lesson by now.