“No. I don’t want to owe anybody in your little criminal network.”
Sejal sniffed. “Not all my friends are criminals. Some of them own perfectly respectable businesses.” Like a strip club, but it was a classy strip club. “Do you have any better ideas? Maybe it’s time to actually use some real FBI resources?”
“I told you, I can’t risk tipping off a mole. Especially now.” Krish shook his head. “But we won’t have to. I think I may have a place in mind.”
“Where?”
He signaled and overtook the car in front of them. “A place to rest. It’s off the grid.”
You’re blindly trusting him to keep you safe?
It didn’t matter where or what this new place was, honestly. So long as it was as far from Alexei and his men as possible, while still keeping them on track for Vegas, where she could access her insurance.
The enemy of my enemy...
“Problem is, I only have about twenty-five bucks left. Do you have any money?”
“No. Everything was in my bag.”
“Twenty-five dollars isn’t going to get us a new car. Or even a bus ticket.”
“I can hot-wire a car.”
“You said you didn’t know how to hot-wire a car.”
“I lied.”
“I figured.” Krish shook his head. “We can’t steal a car.”
She tapped the map against her leg. She should be drained, but her adrenaline rush must be keeping her buoyed. Sticky situations were kind of her jam. “I can get us some money. But you’ll have to be okay with doing something slightly illegal.”
“How illegal? Rob a bank illegal?”
“No. Like not-having-a-permit illegal.”
He gave a soft sigh. “Do I have a choice?”
“Nope. I’ll do it anyway. Don’t worry, I’ll keep my clothes on.”
He was silent for so long that she looked away from the road to glance at him. His hands were back in perfect position on the wheel, but when she looked at them closely, she could see that his knuckles were white. He cleared his throat. “Fine.”
She opened the map and perused it. “Let me find a good place to stop.”
“You do know how to read a map, right?”
“No. But I’ll figure it out.” She rustled the paper at him. “If there’s anything I know, it’s how to run away.”
Chapter Eight
Krish had suspected Sejal would be incorporating her precious cards into her plan to make money, but he hadn’t realized it would be in quite such a wholesome manner. Apparently “I’ll keep my clothes on” was shorthand for a magic show in the park.
He leaned against a bench and watched her work. She’d navigated them to the bus station, and then she’d somehow charmed a small folding table out of a nearby food truck. Her hair, sticking up in places, was giving punk. She still wore his oversize sweats, and she should have been looking a mess, but the matching baggy sweatsuit was casually stylish on her. The rolled-up pants hung low on her hips, revealing her taut belly. Every time she moved, those muscles contracted and relaxed. Four-pack? Six-? He didn’t much care for working out with weights, but he’d hit any gym with her. Mostly to watch her, with sweat glistening on her—
He forced his attention back to Sejal’s hands forming a bridge of cards between them as she shuffled and engaged her audience. The gaggle of people surrounding her had grown in the last hour that she’d been set up. She’d already run through her routinetwice, and a couple of people had stuck around, probably to catch any errors they could point to later as proof that magic didn’t exist.
Good luck with that. Krish’s eyes were dry from not blinking, but damned if he could tell what sleight of hand she was using to manage these tricks.
Yes, think about that instead of slamming your car into someone else’s.
