Page 66 of Last Chance

“You didn’t. Like I said, David knows about Fortress. No way to hide the truth from him, anyway. Besides, if he is involved in the attacks on you, I want him to know you have people watching over you who have your best interests at heart. For me, the stakes are a lot higher and more personal.”

Brody finished his coffee. “Ready to get out of here now? We’re too exposed with this many windows in the coffee shop.”

Janie stood and picked up her tea. “I’m ready.”

Brody and Sawyer tossed their empty to-go cups of coffee and escorted Janie outside the shop.

She glanced at the other side of the parking lot and froze. Her brother was arguing with two men. Both of them appeared to be of Hispanic descent.

CHAPTER 16

SAWYER’S EYES NARROWED as he watched Janie’s brother argue with the two men. That David knew anyone well enough to argue with them was puzzling and made Sawyer reconsider how long the man had been in Hartman.

He grabbed his phone and took several pictures of the trio before tucking Janie into the passenger seat of his SUV and circling the hood to climb behind the wheel.

“Did you get them?” Brody asked.

“Yep.”

“We need to run the photos through our databases to see if we get a hit.”

“I’ll take care of it as soon as we return to the safe house.”

“Drive down the block and park behind a building,” Brody instructed. “I want to check the vehicle for trackers.”

Excellent idea. He’d planned to do that before his team leader mentioned it. Sawyer drove to one of the local banks and parked behind the building.

Brody hopped out with his electronic signal detector in hand and circled the vehicle. He paused at the rear of the SUV, dropped below Sawyer’s line of vision only to reappear a moment later. He walked to a car four spaces over and pressed his hand to the wheel well, then returned to the SUV.

“One tracker.”

“How did they know which vehicle we arrived in?” Janie asked.

“We were the only customers inside the coffee shop,” Sawyer said. “The rest of the customers were in the drive-through lane.”

He drove to Main Street and turned in the opposite direction that he’d been heading, taking detours through neighborhoods and doubling back on himself, turning squares to see if he could spot a tail.

After 30 minutes, Sawyer headed for the safe house. He glanced at Janie. She was staring out the side window, her hands fisted. “You okay, sweetheart?”

She shook her head. “This is so wrong,” she muttered. “I don’t understand why this is happening.”

“We’ll figure it out and when we do, everything will make sense.”

“What can you do to help with your shop, Janie?” Brody asked.

Sawyer’s friend was trying to distract Janie. At the moment, there was nothing anyone could do. They needed more information.

“I need to place another order for supplies. I’d planned to do that after lunch, but my brother’s sudden appearance distracted me.”

“We have laptops with encryption at the safe house. You’ll be able to place your order without fear of anyone seeing what you’re doing.”

Didn’t mean the enemy wasn’t monitoring her business’s suppliers. Still, Sawyer knew the chances of that were remote. If they tried to get a lock on her location, they’d fail. Zane’s safeguards on the laptops were too good to break without several alerts on Fortress’s end to warn of hacking.

“What about dinner?” Brody asked. “Do you and Sawyer have a meal in mind?”

Sawyer glanced at his team leader in the rearview mirror. “We haven’t had lunch yet. The sandwiches we put together are in the refrigerator, waiting for us.”

The other man glared. “I’m a growing boy. I have to plan ahead.”

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