I keep driving. I have gone a circuitous route, just in case someone has decided to follow. And weaving through town, going back on route like I'm lost is a good way to catch anyone following me.
No one is, though.
Suddenly, a nasty thought jumps into my head.
It is so awful I pull over by the side of the road once more, and this time, I have to will myself not to shake. After all, I might be wrong.
It takes me a few quick security checks to find out my nasty thought is right, and my blood turns cold.
Someone hacked into my phone.
It is something I should have noticed. Something I would.
Actually, it is something someone shouldn't be able to do.
But they didn't hack into the cloud or my physical phone.
They hacked into the circuitous system I have the Alex shit on.
I punch the steering wheel of my car.
"Fuck!"
How the hell could I make such a fucking rookie mistake?
You check things. You just do.
And even the most secure phone is notoriously not as secure as people believe.
I know this.
I make a fucking living off hacking and copying contents of phones. It is an easy way in.
The fact I got scammed into that happening isn't such a big deal. No, the big deal is I didn't notice.
There are all manners of excuses, like I have been busy trying to protect Lola.
Fuck.
I call Cade, but his phone rings out. So, I start the car, pedal to the metal, and I drive like a demon back to the fucking beach house.
I'm about twenty minutes out because I have been patting myself on the back for evasive route taking. But why the fuck would anyone follow me when they have got what they want?
Lola.
"Or," I tell myself silently, "think they have got."
I have no way of knowing what was said on the phone.
I almost swerve into another car as realization and a wave of blood-curdling nausea hits me hard.
Alex hasn't ever called Lola.
And when we met up, I made it a point to keep dialogue to a minimum—as much as possible when I'm also using words and commands to direct the scene and play. But all the fucking things I said to her in person were done in a whisper.
I punch the wheel again.
"She doesn't know my voice. Alex's voice. So, she will have no idea that she's been played."
