Scott’s shoulders relaxed a little. Rent-a-cop. Potentially dangerous, but not the police.
Finger-combing her hair, Valerie clambered into the front seat, pulled back the curtain, and used the crank to roll the window about a quarter of the way down. “Hi,” she said, cheerfully. “What’s going on?”
Nerves of steel, that woman.
“Ma’am.” The man shone his flashlight beam around the interior of the van, but Scott stayed out of range. “You can’t park here without a resident permit, and you definitely can’t camp here.”
“Oh, no, I’m not camping. My mom said any space without a number was for visitors.”
“Your mom?”
“Yes, sir, she lives here,” she said. Scott couldn’t see her face, but he could hear the genuine warmth of a smile in her tone. “Esperanza Ramirez?”
Silence. Scott couldn’t see the guard from his vantage point either, but he could imagine him shaking his head.
“Anyway.” Valerie’s hand flashed in the light as she gave a dismissive wave. “My boyfriend kicked me out last night”—she blew out a breath, spinning a whole tale behind that small noise—“and she said I could stay with her, but she’s a cleaner on the night shift at the JPL, and I don’t have a key. So, she told me to wait in the parking lot until she gets home at seven-thirty.”
The man’s shoes made a scuffing sound on the asphalt.
“What time is it now?” she asked, shifting closer to the window, probably giving the guy a little dose of her stellar cleavage.
Those incredible breasts that she wouldn’t let Scott see naked.Let it go.He swallowed hard and held in a sigh.
Clearing his throat, the guard said, “Almost five.”
“Oh, good. Not too much longer.”
“Look, ma’am, there are a few visitor spots out front, but you’ll need to come back when your mom’s home.”
“I understand. I’ll go park at Walmart for now.”
“Good idea. They have cameras and security, so you should be safe there.”
“Thank you,” she said. “Sorry to trouble you.”
He chuckled. “No problem. You’re the most excitement I’ve had all night.”
You bet your ass, dickhead. His body might disagree, but Scott figured he should probably be thanking the guy for interrupting what had all the makings of a mistake the size of Idaho.
Giving the man a little wave, Valerie rolled up the window and got to work opening all of the curtains in silence. Scott could only watch from his position in the back corner in case the guard was still nearby, watching through the glass.
“So much for staying off the road,” Valerie whispered as she slid open the rear curtain. “But at least there should be some early traffic now.”
“JPL?” he asked.
“Jet Propulsion Lab. It’s somewhere in Pasadena.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
She shrugged. “It’s part of NASA. They run the robotic exploration missions. Like the Mars Rover guys. It’s a hacker’s wet dream.”
Speaking of wet dreams… He nodded, sitting on his hands so he wouldn’t be tempted to reach for her. “I think we should change course to San Diego. If we dump the van there, it’ll be over the border within hours.”
“And get another car?”
“I wish we had a better option. It’s too easy to get pulled over for some minor infraction—in which case we’re dead in the water—but long-distance public transportation means cameras, showing IDs.” Since 9/11, going on the run had become much more difficult. Normally, he was fine with that when it applied to actual terrorists. “So, yeah. I guess another car.”
On the opposite side of the van, she shoved back the last curtain and crouched low on her way to the front seat. “What if Duncan takes the money and runs before we get to D.C.?” she asked in a low voice without looking at him.
