He reached the airport and took the back road, the road that didn't require clearances, the road for people with private aircraft. He picked up a tissue and handed it to her. "What else?" he asked.
She shrugged, looking exhausted. "I don't know." She shook her head back and forth.
Walker hesitated. He thought about the files he'd been reading, about the things Reed told him. Something wasn't adding up. It wasn't adding up at all.
Out of the blue, he noticed a black van. It appeared to be tailing him.
Walker pulled off the road and started following a different route. The black van sped up. He accelerated.
She looked concerned. "What's going on?"
"That black van is following us."
She turned back. "Who is it?"
He let out a light laugh. "Don't know, sweetheart. I'm new to this game too." He was weaving through traffic, accelerating.
The black van gained on them, its engine roaring as it cut through traffic. Walker's hands tightened on the steering wheel as he navigated through cars.
"Hold on," he said, voice calm despite the circumstances.
Sabrina gripped the door handle, her knuckles white. "Who are these people, Walker? What do they want?"
"That's what we're going to find out." He swerved onto an exit ramp, tires screeching.
The van followed, but Walker had expected this. He accelerated down a service road, then abruptly turned into an industrial complex. The van shot past them before the driver could react.
Walker pulled behind a warehouse, killed the engine, and scanned their surroundings. "We've got about two minutes before they circle back."
His phone rang—Reed.
Walker answered immediately. "Yup."
"Change of plans," his brother said without preamble. "Too risky at the airport. Coordinates coming to your phone. Get there in thirty minutes."
"Copy that," Walker replied, hanging up as a text message appeared with GPS coordinates.
He started the engine again. "We've got a new extraction point."
Sabrina looked shell-shocked; tears dried on her cheeks. "Walker, I don't understand what's happening. Why is my life suddenly falling apart?"
He reached across and briefly squeezed her hand. "We'll figure it out. I promise."
She nodded, the simple touch seeming to ground her.
For a moment, they were teenagers again, trusting each other implicitly.
Walker maneuvered through back roads, keeping an eye on their surroundings. "Tell me about the weeks before your father died. Anything unusual?"
Sabrina closed her eyes, trying to focus. "He was distracted. Worried. I thought it was just business stress."
"Did he say anything specific?"
"He kept telling me to 'trust but verify.' It was like a mantra those last few weeks." She opened her eyes. "And the night before he died, he said something strange. He said, 'Some shepherds lead their flocks astray.'"
Walker filed that away. "What about Henry? How did he act after your father died?"
"Devastated, like all of us. But..." she paused, "he took control quickly. Security protocols, access codes—he changed everything within days. He said it was for my protection."
