“Now what?” he asked, actually seeming like he was waiting for my direction. I hadn’t expected that from him. I never would have thought the big bad agent would give up control to someone like me, letting me lead the mission, and dare I say, trusting me to get us out of this.
I shook it off. I couldn’t deal with whatever thoughts were accompanying this revelation about a man I wasn’t comfortable being around.
“Now… um, we figure out a way to get out of here.”
I peeked out the window on the door that led to the back side of the building. It was pretty quiet this way. I was sure they figured out the building had two rows so none of the rooms had back doors. With any luck, it meant they thought they didn’t need to worry about covering the back. Or they hadn’t mobilized yet. Either way, we needed to move quickly. My eyes scanned further out. A four-lane road with a rundown strip mall on the other side. Not ideal, but it was better than nothing.
Turning my head, I locked eyes with Agent Priestley, and it was like he knew what I was thinking. He gave me a nod of affirmation, or what I took to be affirmation. And then I went, pushing the door open and stepping out of the room.
“Shit,” I said low, back going straight as three geared-up law people came around the corner.
My back hit the door, closing Agent Priestley inside. One of them locked eyes with me and I did my best to look confused, scared, and clueless.
“Get back inside, sir,” she said to me.
I nodded, turning around just as the three of them passed by, not giving me so much as a second glance. I let them get a few paces away before I cracked the door open and urged Agent Priestley out with a beckoning hand. If he was scared, he didn’t show it. His eyes were on the back of the three forms still moving away from us. My guess, they hadn’t breached the room yet and had no clue that we’d made our escape. Doing a crouching run, I headed for the lot, specifically for the group of cars parked close. He was right behind me as I weaved an obstructed path to the other side of the lot, eventually daring to make a mad dash to the gas station that sat next door. If we could get that building between us and the motel, it might be safe to cross the street.
I promised I’d keep his ass alive, so I was going to go down swinging if I had to.
6
Ford
“How long until they widen the search?” Austin asked as we did our best to act normal while we looked through a rack of “gently used” clothing. As if that was a better way to say second-hand. And I wasn’t snubbing my nose at it. Growing up, “gently used” was the only way I had “new” clothing, but I wasn’t lucky enough to get it from a place as cool as this one.
The thrift shop had this vintage vibe to it, which only made me feel as if it gave them an excuse to upcharge everything.
I wasn’t complaining, but we were seriously limited on funds, and it didn’t help that we had to get neweverythingsince most of what we had on us had been left back in the motel room or in the car that we couldn’t get to.
“Once they clear the motel and make a plan of where to start—”
“How long?” Austin snapped, cutting me off. “Are we talking thirty minutes? An hour? Two so they can get a chopper here?” Austin’s brows pulled together. “Why didn’t they have a chopper to begin with?”
I stared at him, blank-faced but brow raised.
“I’m not saying I want them to have one,” he rushed to add. “It’s better for us that they don’t. Just seems a bit strange, does it not? I mean, you are like the most wanted man in America right now.”
“Am I sensing a bit of snark in there?” I shot back bitterly.
What was it about him that seemed to push all of my buttons at once?
It was starting to get to me. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure him out. On the surface, he seemed easygoing and fun. Most of the time he could be playful, maybe even bordering on cocky. But there were times when he’d turn his gaze on me and the look in his eyes was more cutting. It was like he didn’t trust me. Not that I could be mad about it.
It was the look he was currently giving me that set me off. His eyes narrowed, gaze calculating and cutting. His jaw set, and anger rolled off him in waves. There was something here that went beyond shaky trust.
“How long?” he bit out, pulling me away from my attempt to figure out his different pieces.
“Less than an hour,” I said.
“How did they find us?”
My head shook as I pulled out a hanger donning the ugliest sweater I’d ever seen in my life. I held it up like I was about to ask him how it looked as I turned to face him. I didn’t think anyone was watching us, but it was better safe than sorry, which meant playing the part of shopping.
“No idea,” I said with a forced smile. As he took me in, an amused twinkle appeared in his eyes. “If I had to guess, someone saw me at some point and recognized me from the news.”
“You’re getting that,” he said. He snatched the hanger from my grasp the moment my mouth fell open to protest. I didn’t even have a chance to argue before he dashed away like a kid full of sugar. Before I knew what was happening, he was at the cash register with the huge cloth tote full of clothes we’d picked out.
The woman working hadn’t looked away from her phone since we stepped in, but the moment Austin caught her attention, he seemed to easily suck her in with his obnoxious charm. He had her giggling and twirling her hair. Which meant,she was paying me no mind. I took the opportunity to sneak out the front door.
