He pushed an old flip phone into her hand.“You hold the future now.Melissa will be in touch as soon as she can.I placed the items in the back seat of your car.Be careful.They are everything.”
Bree turned toward her car.Theywere everything?She turned back toward the caretaker.“What are you talking about—”
He was gone, disappeared into the darkness.
She shook her head and turned back toward her car—a nondescript late-model Honda most people wouldn’t pay attention to—cautiously, even knowing she could’ve been killed multiple times over by now if that was someone’s intent.
She heard yelling on the other side of the parking lot and picked up her pace.Maybe it was just the normal type of trouble that could be found in an empty downtown parking lot in the middle of the night, but maybe it was trouble coming specifically for her.She paused again as she came up on her car, seeing two large, odd-shaped boxes in the back seat.
She’d been expecting some files, but electronic ones on a hard drive.Definitely not anything that size.
After another couple steps, Bree realized those weren’t file boxes at all.She ran the last few feet to her car, pushing her face up against the window.
“Oh, my God, Mel, what have you done?”
Chapter Two
Bree stared, rubbed her eyes just to make sure she hadn’t been affected by some sort of airborne hallucinogen, then stared some more.
Not file boxes at all.Strapped into the back seat of her car were two separate baby carriers.Inside each of them was a tiny sleeping infant.Bree didn’t know anything about babies, but those were definitely fresh ones.New.Couldn’t be more than five minutes old, right?
A note was taped to the top of one of the carriers, so she carefully opened the door and grabbed it.
I couldn’t get out.But you see now why I have to.Their names are Christian and Beth, and they’re two months old.The Organization doesn’t know about them.I will keep it that way and hope you will keep them safe until I can escape.
Crisscross, applesauce, Bree.You hold my heart in your hands every time you pull the twins close.I never knew what true family was until I had them.
Bree removed the small hard drive attached to the paper then crumpled it, bringing her fist down softly on the roof of the car.She didn’t know the first thing about babies.Had never held one in her life.What was she going to do now?
She quietly shut the back door—heaven forbid she wake one of them up—and got into the driver’s side.Staying here wasn’t safe.Her fingers wrapped around the steering wheel in a death grip as she pulled the car out of the parking lot.
She’d known it was going to be hard.But this was so much worse than she thought.
There were babies in the back seat.
Not just one.Two.Babies.One of them even named after her.Oh, Mellie.
This changed every possible plan that had been stirring around in Bree’s head since Melissa showed up this afternoon.All the routes she and Melissa could choose, modes of transportation they could take.She’d had multiple possible plans.
Prepare for the unexpected and you’re much more likely to get out of a situation alive.She could almost hear her mother’s voice.
But of all the scenarios Bree had run in her head, none of them had involved the particular variables she was dealing with right now.All her options were now defunct.
Becausebabies.
She glanced down at the phone Smith had given her.It wasn’t a high-tech smartphone; it was a low-tech flip phone that could barely be used to make a call.
A safe phone, so low-tech that it would be difficult for the Organization to use it to find someone.
She quickly scrolled through the call history to see if she could find any information, a way to get in touch with Melissa, let her know what a terrible plan this was, but there was nothing.Until Melissa called Bree, the phone was basically useless.
How long before Melissa could get away from the Organization?Hours?Days?
Years?
When one of the babies let out a soft gurgle from the back seat, Bree put the phone down and focused on figuring out where to go.Maybe the best plan was to go back to her apartment.Obviously, Melissa didn’t intend her any harm, so Bree’s home was probably safe.
At least it would allow her a chance to regroup.Figure out what she was going to do.
