Page 42 of Peace Under Fire

It was good to have friends with mad-ass computer skills.

Squish angled his head to get a better look through his side mirror. “You see anything concerning back there?”

Brick had spent as much time checking the rearview mirror and side mirrors as he’d spent watching the road ahead.

“Nothing.” Brick glanced in the rearview mirror again. “You?”

Squish shook his head. The freeway exit was up ahead. Once they took it, they’d be in the clear. The bastards after them wouldn’t know where they were headed. He doubted they had the manpower to cover every road out of Virginia Beach. The further they traveled from town, the safer they’d be. He’d wait until they were several miles from town, and then—assuming Mandy was still awake—he’d start the questioning.

Brick pulled onto the freeway exit and merged with the steady flow of highway traffic as Squish monitored the road behind them. Nobody followed them onto the ramp. Unless someone was staying way back, they’d made it out of town without unwelcome company hugging their ass.

Five miles out of town, Brick’s cell phone—which was sitting on top of the dashboard—rang.

“Tex,” Brick confirmed after picking up the phone. He stabbed at the talk icon, and then the speaker button. “Yo, Buddy, a big thank you for all the green lights.”

Squish grinned and leaned toward the phone. “Thought I recognized your work. Were you behind that run of luck?”

“Maybe,” Tex said, his voice sounding tinny. “Any problems?”

“Nope. It was a cakewalk from the moment we rolled up behind the strip mall.” Squish leaned closer to the phone. “Thanks for setting up the rendezvous.”

Tex grunted and quickly changed the subject. The guy certainly hated gratitude. “Was shattering the rear exit at Mercy General part of your cakewalk?” he asked, his voice noncommittal.

Squish paused, before responding guardedly, “Maybe.” A longer pause ensued. There were probably cameras at both the front and back entrances. They could have him on tape. Considering he’d just stepped out of the MRI machine, someone in radiology was sure to recognize him. “They got an all points out on me yet?”

“Not yet.” Tex matched Squish’s pause. “It’s my understanding the clinic’s video cache for today was mysteriously deleted.”

“No shit.” Squish’s lips quirked. “That’s even more of a lucky break than all those green lights.”

In typical Tex fashion he changed the subject, again. “You talk to her yet?”

In this case, Squish figured talking meant asking questions related to precognition, traitors, and hell, why Mandy had come back.

“Not yet. Things were hectic until recently.” He twisted until he could see into the back seat.

The sunglasses hid her eyes, but he knew she was staring at him. He could feel it. He needed to get those shades off her. It was less likely someone would recognize her on the freeway, and he needed to see her eyes when he questioned her.

The eyes and the skin around the eyes often broadcasted lies. The pupils would dilate, or the eyes would widen, or the skin around the eyes would tighten. He wanted to see her face and watch how she reacted to his questions.

Before he had a chance to tell her to remove the sunglasses, Tex started talking in a much louder voice, like he was trying to project to wherever Mandy was sitting.

“It’s good to finally meet you, Mandy. My name’s John Keegan, but my friends call me Tex. I’ve been helping Squish track you down.”

Mandy went rigid, before jolting up and forward until her seatbelt strained to hold her back. “Wait. You? You’re the one who was looking for me? You’re the one who ruined everything?”

Squish didn’t need to see Mandy’s eyes to witness her reaction to Tex’s introduction. Her voice—her icy, flat, utterly furious voice—told him exactly how she felt.

“Uh…uh…” Tex stuttered.

The poor bastard. He probably wasn’t used to people ripping into him after he’d offered his assistance.

“Tex was looking for you because I asked him to,” Squish broke in. More like begged him to, but he kept that news to himself.

“Because you asked him to?” Mandy didn’t lose any of her icy fury, although an edge of disdain had joined the rage. “I suppose he’d jump off a bridge if you asked him to do that too.”

Squish exchanged amused glances with Brick.

“Probably,” they said in unison.

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