Shot in the Dark (Blackbridge Security #2) - Marie James Page 0,52
same thing last night, but she walked out and left seconds after purchasing a ticket to New York. She never returned to the airport to get on that flight, and I lost precious hours watching video feeds to figure that out.
She’s more nervous now as she enters the airport for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, but she doesn’t head to the counter, instead making her way to the tram to catch a ride to the rental car place.
She’s a smart girl, and I realize just how smart when she pulls a driver’s license from her bag. Zooming in, I have to smile when she rents a car under the name Kathryn Janeway. We discussed Star Trek before, but is she purposely leaving crumbs for me by using the Voyager’s captain’s name? I would kiss her right now if she were here.
The young guy at the counter doesn’t bat an eye at her fake identification the way someone working the TSA stand would’ve if she bought a plane ticket.
She leaves and by the time she’s driving out of the parking lot in a non-descript Camry, I’ve already hacked the tracking system the company uses for their cars. I want to wait, to see if she’s going to leave me another crumb, but I can’t stay ten steps behind her. At any point Stephen Jones could get lucky and track her down.
Twenty minutes later, I deduce she’s heading to Cedar Rapids. Five minutes after that, I have a plane ticket purchased.
“One of us can go with you,” Ignacio says as he leans against the breakroom counter eating a banana.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way—” he begins, and it just rubs me the wrong way.
“Every conversation that starts that way gets taken the wrong way.”
“Dude, you’re excellent at your job,” Brooks interjects. He came back to the office after his rendezvous with the bridesmaid before going home. “But you’re not trained for this shit. If there’s trouble, you’ll need help.”
I resituate the strap on my shoulder. I know I’m going to need equipment when I get to Cedar Rapids, and I don’t have time to stop by my apartment before heading to the airport.
“I’ll be fine,” I assure them.
“I just think it’s best—”
“I’ll be fine,” I repeat, feeling like an asshole when Brooks frowns at me.
My phone begins to ring, and I end the conversation. A sigh escapes my lips when I let Nana’s call go to voicemail. Whitney and I should be at her house right now trying to convince her to let us help with the meal. I shouldn’t be headed to the airport to chase after a terrified woman in danger.
Thankfully, the cab driver hauls ass due to the huge tip I promised, and I make it to the airport with minutes to spare. They’re already calling my name over the intercom in an attempt to prevent me from missing my flight by the time I make it to the gate. Several passengers give me nasty looks for holding them up, but we still make our takeoff time, and land in Cedar Rapids four minutes early.
The drive from St. Louis is just over four hours, but I’m counting five before I see my girl again.
Rapid fire texts hit my phone the second I turn it off airplane mode, but I have things to check before I can dive into those. Finding a quiet place in the airport, I fire up my laptop and go over the information my system back at the office was able to uncover. I have tons and tons of information pouring in over the career-long criminal activity of Stephen Jones, but the search is complete and no one else in the Bureau has been implicated. There are flaws, minute chances that I’ve missed something, but I’m confident enough in my programs, that I can give Flynn the go-ahead to get the ball rolling on tracking down Jones and making it safe for Whitney to come home.
Chapter 22
Whitney
“You’ll eat or you’ll starve.”
Simon turns his nose up at the food bowl I grabbed from the small grocery store around the corner. Who knew cats were such fickle animals? He didn’t have any problem marching to the damn litter box the second it was set up in the hotel bathroom.
“You’ll eat when you get hungry.”
The tip of his orange tail twitches with irritation as he walks past me and jumps on the bed. If he wants to act like an ass in the middle