me, his restless fingers rolling at his shirt fabric. “So where do you plan on going?”
An image popped into my head. Nicole and Daniel, sitting around a dinner table in a well-maintained but modest tri-level house. Their daughter cooking something in the kitchen, a surprise for her parents.
“Philadelphia. Where Sarah lived, before all of this happened.”
It seemed like as a good a place as any to start.
I waited for Lucas to use his logic or psych-class prowess to talk me out of this, but instead he just went to his closet and grabbed a large duffel bag. “We better get packing, then.”
It had never occurred to me that Lucas would want to come along. Having him as my partner made me feel more secure, but I knew I’d also be putting him at risk.
Just like I had with Hunter.
“Lucas, wait. I don’t think—”
“You’re right, you don’t think sometimes,” he said, tossing his bag onto the cot. “Mila, you’re going to need a backup tech person out there. If you want to remain undetected by Holland, you’ll have to disable your GPS settings and probably some other features that might give you away. I can make up the difference with my laptop. And don’t forget the cops are still out there on a manhunt, looking for a girl that fits your description. You can’t do this alone.”
Then he cleared his throat and spoke again.
“I won’t let you down like I did in the woods, I promise.”
Something tore at my chest. He didn’t really think I expected him to protect me from wild animals, did he?
“You could never let me down. Not in a million years.”
“So . . . we’re doing this together?”
“Together,” I said, feeling the warmth of his skin on mine—
And remembering the sound of Hunter’s soft breathing as he slept, his body curled up behind me in the still of the night.
FIVE
I had been on the lam with Lucas for no more than two hours, and he was already full of surprises. Before we’d left the cabin, he’d snuck into Tim’s room and “borrowed” some things we might need on the road. Tim had only taken cash with him on his supply run, his wallet still stashed in a top dresser drawer. So Lucas nabbed Tim’s ID and credit card, putting a wrinkled Post-it on the inside leather flap, with a message.
Sorry. Will explain later. Thanks for letting us stay.
While petty and identity theft had been acceptable to Lucas, he didn’t take kindly to my idea of grand theft auto. But thanks to his insanely good bargaining skills, we hadn’t needed to commit another crime. As soon as we’d hiked down to the flatlands and reached the first small village, Lucas had found a pawn shop and sold some of his high-tech equipment. Then he’d located a sketchy used-car lot and haggled with a rugged old salesman about the price of a black ’92 Chevy Caprice. Within twenty minutes, Lucas had gotten him to agree to a solid grand in exchange for a cash payment. After Lucas had forged Tim’s signature to all the paperwork, we were on our way.
I didn’t have to lift a finger. In fact, Lucas had advised me to avoid surveillance cameras for now, so I was forced to lurk around street corners and act like a creepy stalker to avoid being seen. But he said it was only temporary. With a few adjustments to my programming, he promised, soon I could go in public with no worries.
I felt reassured by his confidence, and we zoomed onto the Montana highway without incident, but both of us had nerves as taut as guitar strings. My hand was almost plastered to my stomach as I watched the odometer on the Caprice click away. My chest constricted with each fabricated android breath.
“You feeling okay?” asked Lucas.
“Yeah. I’m just . . . I’ll be fine.”
“Wish I could say the same,” he replied, making a nauseated-looking face. “The shocks on this car are terrible. I think I’m getting motion sickness.”
I knew he was just trying to distract me. “I have to ask, Mr. Mustang. Why the Caprice? Out of all the crappy cars on the lot?”
“You’re going to laugh if I tell you.”
“No, I won’t.”
Lucas shot me a sideways glance. “It’s because of psych class.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this,” I said, smiling but not laughing, like I promised.
“For almost a decade, the Caprice was utilized by the police nationwide,” he said, his gaze flicking to a sign that