She nodded as she looked across the room to Bobby. “Let’s do it,” she said, determination in each word.
Blaze pressed the key with a quick nod.
She wasn’t sure what she expected. Some sort of dramatic flash, a drum riff, some ominous musical score to accent the moment as the lights flashed on and off. But none of that happened. It was just a line of code disappearing into the World Wide Web.
And hopefully, if it worked, Matteo would notice, ready to track her down.
She blew out a breath as she stood straighter, her hands to her lower back as she stretched a little. “Well, I guess we need to get to Savannah if this is going to work.”
Bobby nodded, his face unreadable. He pushed himself off the wall and headed to the room. “I’ll get us loaded up.”
Blaze glanced over to Abe. “Looks like you get your solitude back.”
“Well, this was uneventful,” the other man said with a chuckle, and then he glanced at Delaney. “For which I’m glad. You got good people around you. They’ll have your back. No worries there.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, so said nothing. Instead, she headed to the bedroom to pack what little she had so they could get going. Marshal Ashland was doing the same thing in the front room, along with Blaze.
Thirty minutes later, they were out on the front porch, saying goodbye to Abe and loading the SUVs. Blaze was going with them, so Deke would ride with him, leaving her alone with Bobby for the three-hour drive to Savannah. That was a lot of time to fill, but then again, they still had a lot to talk out. She just wasn’t sure she was up for it right then.
Deke stepped up to her, his hands on his hips, his posture rigid. “You understand what this means, right? If you follow through with this, you’re leaving the protection of the marshals.”
She adjusted her purse strap. “I know. But if I want to end this and get my real life back, I have to do this..”
The marshal exhaled through his nose as Bobby eased closer to her.
“You sure about all this?” Abe asked Bobby as they stood on the front porch.
Bobby clasped the man’s hand, giving it a firm shake. “We’ve got it. Thanks for letting us crash your party.”
They stepped off the porch and moved to the SUV, Abe following her as Elvis moved to the driver’s side of the vehicle. Abe wished them safe travels as he closed Delaney’s door for her and stood off to the side, watching as they departed.
“I like him,” she said, staring into the vehicle’s side mirror as they pulled away.
Bobby glanced in the rearview mirror, making a slow bob of his head. “Abe’s good people. His entire team is. I’ve met a few of them, and I’d have any of them at my back in a fight.”
As they slipped into traffic on I-10, Delaney’s phone rang.
A quick glance made her stomach churn. “Well, this can’t be good.” She held the phone so that Bobby could see the screen. “Director Boudreaux. Why would he be calling me?”
Bobby gave a soft laugh. “Answer it and let’s find out. Put it on speaker.”
She gave a curt nod and then swiped her phone. “Director Boudreaux, how can I help you?”
“Dane Garrison called about that Leon fellow,” the man’s voice carried through the speaker. “Thought you’d want to know that when he left, he wasn’t alone.”
“Any idea who was with him?” Bobby asked, and she saw him tighten his grip on the steering wheel.
“As it turns out, yeah,” the director said. “We have facial rec software on our casino cameras so people we’ve banned can’t sneak back in. It flagged the guys with your Leon fella as two of Matteo Serrano’s scouts.”
She felt her brow pinch. “They thought I was still at the hotel? After that big show we made of me leaving?”
“We didn’t make a big show,” Bobby said as he shot her a quick glance. “We sneaked you out the back and changedvehicles to keep anyone from knowing you went anywhere or from following you. Seems we got lucky and fooled the man.”
“Well, he’s not fooled anymore,” the man said into the phone. “They just left, and it looked like they were in a hurry.”
She glanced over at Bobby, but he held his hand up for her not to ask what she was about to ask. He pointed to the phone and then made a slicing motion with his hand.
End the call. She nodded, turning back to the phone in her hand.
