A short burst of relief hits Liz when Mikey announces there is just over an hour until they reach the safehouse. Tensions have been high since Riley spotted a car following them not long after he and Mikey switched positions. They have been on edge ever since.
Every so often, Liz will glance out a mirror or try to spot the car from the back window. Each time, it’s still there. The car has been careful not to get too close. Despite their best efforts to figure out if they are being paranoid or not, they have been unable to see who is inside.
After Riley announced they were being followed, Mikey had turned off their route, taking random streets, even getting on, then off, the highway. No matter what he did, the car stayed with them.
It has been impossible to focus on the world moving around them. Liz knows they are driving through mountains andfarmland, but she can’t pull herself from the dread building inside. She has checked her weapons seven separate times and checked Mikey’s for him as many times as he would allow.
Crawling over the seats like an animal, Liz makes sure they have a small go-bag filled with anything they may need if their drive ends in a shootout. The warm hand on her back soothes, but it’s not enough this time. Thoughts run rampant in her mind. Alex had warned them. It seemed so silly at the time. Now, they are faced with the very real threat of being captured.
“Breathe, princess. We’re fifteen minutes out. If they were going to attack, they’ve had plenty of chances to. Ty and Alex should be behind us any second,” Riley says.
His soft, comforting tone makes her want to believe him, but she can’t shake the feeling that things are going to turn. She turns back from watching the car to nestle into Riley’s waiting arms. His hand trails up and down her arm in long, soothing strokes. Her head rests on his chest, thinking if these are their last moments before a fight, at least they are together. There is only so much worrying she can do. The bags are packed. Their weapons are loaded and ready. If their stalker tries anything, at least they won’t be going down without a fight.
“Look out the window,” Riley whispers in her ear. She does as she’s told, and there, behind the beat-up red car trailing them, is the blacked-out SUV that matches the one she is in.
She takes a steadying breath as her eyes drift closed. It’s hard not to stare out the rear window, watching the rest of her team speeding up until Liz swears they are going to ram the car between them. Just when she is about to brace for the impact, they slow down, never falling too far behind. It takes a total of four minutes before the small car turns off onto one of the many side roads. They all let out a collective sigh of relief the second it’s out of sight.
The rest of the drive is spent scanning thefields and trees, waiting for a vehicle that never comes. Liz has never been happier to pull onto a bumpy backroad. Every pothole Mikey hits rattles her bones. She grips the overhead handle, teeth clicking together at each impact.
The small house comes into view after a mile or two. Not nearly as nice as Alex and Tyler’s home, but the safehouse has its own charm. At least, that is what she tells herself to cope with the new environment. It looks more like a run-down hunting lodge than a safehouse.
The small, two-story house looks like it has seen better days. Thick moss clings to the logs that make up the outside, one pillar on the covered porch is snapped, causing the roof to dip and most of the green shutters are on the ground.
Falling apart or not, Liz can’t wait to get inside and get back to work. They may not have been followed this time, but the general will catch up to them sooner or later. She wants to be done before he ever gets the chance.
CHAPTER 35
Athrobbing pain settles deep behind Liz’s eyes, the whirring of old computers doing nothing but making her headache worse. The five of them have been hovering around the table, all staring at screens for hours with no luck, the same cycle repeating over and over again.
Tyler works his magic, pulling documents out of wherever they come from and sending them to one of them. Whoever is lucky enough to get said file proceeds to go through it, reading each and every word, scanning for any scrap of information they can use against their tyrant general. Everyone seems to be on edge. Liz wonders if, like her, they are thinking of the car that had followed them, or if there is something more they are not telling her.
Still, she pushes through, reading every boring email sent her way. Liz knows exactly why she is getting the mundane ones, and it makes her want to scream. She and Tyler have never been particularly close, not in the way she is with Riley and Mikey, or even Alex, more recently. But he has always been the quiet, rational one, directing Alex’s anger away from her and making sure she stays safein his own way. Close or not, he cares for her to some extent. That thought alone keeps her jaw clenched, holding her mouth firmly shut while she reads.
Her spine cracks as she stands, stretching her arms above her head to relieve some of the tension settling deep into her back and shoulders. She needs to move.
Compared to her, the guys have had a lifetime to prepare for this type of work. Riley had explained that this isn’t their first time spending weeks collecting intel, and it won’t be their last.
Liz steps out onto the porch, letting the crisp night air wash away the sounds emanating from inside. Four tired, hungry, men forced to huddle around screens and read for hours on end does not make for good company. She leans on the railing, letting her head rest against the chipping wood.
The night hums around her. Crickets and tree frogs form a steady rhythm while somewhere far in the distance coyotes let out bone-chilling yelps. She listens to the sounds, letting it ground her before forcing herself back indoors.
The hairs on the back of her neck prickle, shooting her head up. Liz reaches for the gun on her leg only to be met with air. Goosebumps crawl up her arms. Squinting, she tries to focus her eyes in the dark, scanning the near pitch-black tree line. She can feel it, that eerie, unexplainable way you know you are being watched.
Something is out there, watching, waiting. Not daring to turn her back on whatever, or whoever, is hiding in the woods, Liz backs her way inside. Her eyes don’t stop scanning the dense trees until the door is shut and locked. Only then does she let her panic show
“Someone’s out there,” she announces to the men, fighting to keep her voice steady. Her guns are being strapped on without having to think about it thanks to muscle memory. Tyler pulls upthe security system as Mikey sprints down the hall, legs kicking out from under him, nearly sending him tumbling across the floor.
“I’m not seeing anything. No motion has been detected. No vehicles are around. Nothing,” Tyler informs them. His eyes never leave his screen, clicking through each and every camera, looking for signs of life.
“What exactly did you see?” Riley asks while strapping his own weapons to his body. Liz sucks a sharp breath in, thinking maybe she shouldn’t have said anything. They are going to think she is crazy the second she explains what happened.
“Nothing, really,” she starts, wanting to scream when she sees Alex’s shoulders slump. It’s obvious he has all but written her off.
“I know someone is out there. You know that feeling when you’re being watched? Like you can feel their eyes on you even though you can’t see them? I felt that outside. I was getting air, fine one minute, freaked out the next,” she explains.
Her eyes snap to Mikey as he sprints back into the room, nearly tripping on the ripped carpet. Wearing all black and one of Riley’s masks, he shoves her own mask into her hands before turning to Riley and doing the same. If anyone will believe her, it’s him.
“There is no one out there, Liz. We are in one of the most remote safehouses at our disposal. They may suck, but we have cameras everywhere, and no one has seen or heard anything. I think you’re still just paranoid about the car from earlier. No one will blame you if you need to get some rest,” Alex says.
