I’m here now, and what other choice do I have? I have to trust him.
I follow him into the building, and we pass a woman at the reception desk who smiles at Hudson.
“Is Marcus in?”
Her expression drops when she sees his expression. “He just got back. In his office.”
We go through a main office area with a few desks, and Hudson leads me down a corridor. He knocks on a frosted glass door and pushes it open just as a man calls for him to come in.
An olive-skinned man with dark stubble looks up from his desk and frowns when he sees us. His gaze swings from Hudson to me and back to Hudson.
“Is this why you were speeding through town a few minutes ago?”
His vowels are long, and he has a mischievous smile despite his words. I would’ve put him as Australian if it weren’t for the cartoon map of New Zealand stuck to the back of his wall.
He sees me looking. “A gift from my sister. Doesn’t want me to forget my roots.”
His smile is warm, and I like him immediately. He’s not uptight like Captain America, who’s pacing the office with a scowl messing up his fine features.
“We need help,” Hudson says, and the man, who I take to be Marcus, becomes serious immediately.
“Take a seat.”
Marcus closes the door behind us and perches on the front of his desk.
“This is Willow,” Hudson introduces as he sits. “She’s one of the crim—” He glances at me and then back at Marcus. “She’s doing community service at the center.”
Marcus offers his hand, and I shake it, firm and purposeful, like the men I’m wedged between.
“We have a situation.”
Marcus leans forward. “Go on.”
Hudson explains the situation in clipped tones while Marcus listens intently. When Hudson is finished, I expect him to laugh or call the cops or dismiss me back to my work crew. But he does none of that.
He leans back with his hands behind his head, taking this as seriously as Hudson. “Tell me what you need.”
“First thing, hide her car.” He takes my keys out of his pocket and throws them to Marcus. “Lock it up until all this blows over.”
Marcus pops his head out the door and calls to a man in the main office. He speaks quietly to him and hands over my car keys.
When he returns to the office, he takes a seat behind his desk. “Done. What else?”
Hudson turns to me. “Give me your cell phone.”
I take it out of my pocket but pause before handing it over. “Why? What are you going to do?”
“They have your number, they have resources, and they can track you.”
He’s right, but that’s my line to my brother. “I email my brother. That’s the only way we have contact.”
Hudson looks to Marcus. “We’ll need a clean laptop. And a burner phone.”
“No problem.”
My head spins. They’re talking about burner phones and clean laptops as if this is all a regular occurrence. I put my head in my hand, and Hudson takes it as distress about the phone.
When Hudson squeezes my arm, it’s the anchor I need to stop me spinning. “We need to destroy your sim. It’s the only way to be sure they aren’t tracking you.”
