“Good. Then get out of there. Pretty sure they’re only planning on using Deo for information . . . or leverage . . . but—”
Anger surges inside me at the thought of them using Deo in any way. I can’t be responsible for Kelsey, too. I push again, hard.
“Kelsey!” I yell, much louder than necessary, when I finally break through.
“What?”
“I have to call Kelsey, Aaron. If they know we’re here, someone must have followed us to her place, or the cabdriver told them and—”
“No, no, no. Calm down, okay? Pretty sure it was the tracker. That thing Molly just pulled out of Deo’s pack. Badea or her assistant must have slipped it inside at the station. You need to make sure it’s the only one and get rid of it. Are you okay to drive?”
“Yes.” Even though the panic is still there, and part of me is still screaming inside, knowing there’s a chance that Kelsey is unhurt has pulled it down a notch. “I can drive.”
“Good. First things first. See if there’s a second tracker. I’ll call Sam or Daniel and get one of them to pick the trackers up. Maybe they can find a truck stop near 95 and attach them to a semi heading out of the area. And they’ll see if we can get any info from the clerk, maybe the surveillance feed.”
“You might as well just destroy the trackers. If that woman can read anything in Deo’s mind, she’s never going to believe that I’d take off without him.” I fight back the thought that they may well try to make Deo believe I’ve taken off without him, but they’d probably do that regardless of where the stupid trackers are.
I grab my pack and start to dump it in search of the tracking device.
Feel along the top before you dump everything out. It’s probably in the same spot.
And she’s right—it’s at the very top of my bag. A thin, round disk, stuck to the lining.
I start to yank it, but my hands stop, almost of their own accord.
The tracker is how they found Deo. So it stands to reason that it’s the easiest way for whoever has Deo to find me. And that’s what has to happen. They have to find me, and let me know what I need to do to keep Deo safe.
My fingers brush over it one more time, but I leave it in place. I toss the tracker from Deo’s bag in as well . . . might as well boost the damn signal.
Molly’s confused at first, then angry.
What the hell are you doing? This isn’t smart, Anna.
They don’t want Deo, Molly. They’re using him to get me to cooperate. I have to give them a way to find me.
She’s still yelling at me. I can hear her, faintly, even after my wall is all the way up.
I pick up the phone. My thumb pauses over the end-call button, but Aaron sincerely thinks he’s doing the right thing.
“Thanks for trying to help, Aaron. Molly was right . . . you’re a nice guy.”
“What? Anna—”
I end the call and turn off the ringer.
CHAPTER TEN
At 2:12, I pull into the driveway of a tall, narrow building that is light-years from my mental image of a cottage. It’s a full-fledged house. There are two additional stories above the two-car garage, both with decks overlooking the rocky shoreline across the street. And there’s another smaller level at the very top that’s just a sundeck.
I get out and hold the QR code that Kelsey sent against the reader. I pull her car into the garage and retrieve my pack and the bags of groceries. Seeing Deo’s stuff, still scattered over the backseat, is like a gut punch, but I shove it back into his bag.
Kelsey’s sister had very different taste, or maybe there’s a mandatory seashore décor if you live near the ocean. The entire place is painted in varying shades of blue and seafoam green. All of the lamps in the living room have seashells glued around the base, the windows look like portholes, and there’s a fake-looking pointy-nosed fish over the mantel.
I call from the cottage phone, as I promised Kelsey I would. She answers on the second ring and I release the breath I was holding. She’s safe.
“Anna! I’m glad you made it. I was beginning to worry. Did you have trouble with the car?”
“No,” I tell her, trying to keep my voice light. “No problems. We stopped for gas, and I took it kind of slow on the road. Didn’t want to get pulled over.”
“You looked exhausted when you were here. I’m glad Deo managed to keep you awake on the drive.”
I clench my fist, digging my nails into the palm of my hand. “Yeah. He was great.”
“Well, get some sleep. We’ll talk more in the morning.”
“Yeah, I’m wiped out. Thanks again, Kelsey.”