Page 20 of Point of Contact

A head injury. It didn't feel like a hole, so hopefully he hadn't been caught by a wayward shot she didn't hear coming.

She lifted her eyes, barely making out the footbridge she'd seen coming and ducked under. It seemed like maybe she was the only one.

"Godammit." She sucked in air, trying to come up with a plan as her frustration with Reed grew. "You're supposed to be the one who’s doing this, jerk." Panic had her scanning the space around them as her mind raced. A slightly denser area of growth sat about twenty yards away. It would provide decent cover, even as the sun came up.

Courtney wobbled to her feet, crouching down at Reed’s head as she hooked both arms under his, grunting a little as she lifted his upper body off the ground. "God, you’re heavy. You need to go on a fucking diet."

She tried to take a step backward but stumbled, going down hard on her ass with Reed’s head falling right into her lap. She let out an unhinged sounding groan of frustration before wrestling her way back to her feet, hooking her hands under his arms a second time and starting to move.

It was slow going, and the exertion of dragging his heavy body made her already sweaty skin wet and sticky, attracting every mosquito within a twelve-mile radius. But she wasn't fucking giving up. If there was one positive thing she’d learned about herself over the past year, it was that she didn't give up. No matter how many people gave up on her, she would never give up on herself.

And, apparently, Reed. Because as tempting as it was to leave his grumpy ass out there, she just couldn't do it. It would be a waste of such a nice body if it was to get eaten by an alligator.

After what felt like forever, she finally made it to the overgrown area. She set Reed down, making sure not to bang his already injured head against the ground, before kicking her way through the growth to check for snakes or anything else that might try to murder him while she was gone. Leaving wasn't ideal, but there was no way she could take him any significant distance. Hauling him with her would only slow her down, and morning was approaching rapidly, so she needed to be able to work fast.

Breaking the law was always so much easier in the dark, even when you wanted to get caught.

Which she did not.

Once Reed was as camouflaged as he could get, she patted his cheek, giving him one more opportunity to wake up before he was on his own. "Wakey, wakey. Eggs and bac-y."

He didn't react at all. She didn't expect him to laugh—he made it clear he did not find her amusing—but the least he could do was groan. Grunt. Moan. Something. Just so she knew he wasn't already half brain-dead. Because that would mean she'd have to make a stop at the hospital on her way out of town to leave him outside of the emergency room. And while she wasn't against breaking little laws, that seemed slightly more illegal than she wanted to be.

“Fine.” Courtney stood up, propping her hands on her hips. "Be good while I'm gone, Sexy Pants."

It was harder than she expected to turn away. There was some sense of safety that came with Reed, regardless of his feelings for her. He seemed to have a moral compass that was unusually high, especially given his line of work. He might bitch and piss and moan, but he would never abandon her.

Hopefully he didn't wake up and think she'd abandoned him.

His water-logged boots were heavy on her feet as she raced through the last of the overgrowth, breaking through the other end to find herself on the backside of a subdivision. It wasn't nearly as nice as the one she lived in—used to live in— and that was probably a good thing. It likely meant fewer cameras and safety measures.

Courtney scanned the closest homes, looking for one that jumped out. Unfortunately, they were all almost identical, with matching clay roofs and slightly untended yards. At least until she got to the corner lot.

A smile curved her lips as her eyes locked on something peeking out from behind the detached garage. "Bingo."

She took off at a run, covering the distance as fast as she could. The sky was already starting to lighten up, and daylight was her worst enemy, which was saying something.

She reached the corner house and slowed, looking for any sign of dogs or cameras. The place had an almost abandoned look to it, but she didn't want to assume no one was home and end up getting caught. So she crept quietly along the privacy fence enclosing a section of the back yard, ducking down as she peeked through the dilapidated panels. More than a few were knocked loose and hanging by a single nail, making it easy to get a good look at the back of the house. The yard was completely grown over and filled with all kinds of shit. Boxes, bags, sun-bleached toys and furniture, and clothing littered the space.

Holy shit. She'd found a hoarder.

That meant her earlier discovery might not be as exciting as it first seemed.

She paused for a second, considering abandoning this house and hunting for another, but she couldn't walk away. Not yet. Not until she knew the thing that brought her all the way over here was a no-go.

The birds were just beginning to chirp when she reached the back bumper of the biggest vehicle she'd ever considered driving. It wasn't new. It wasn't fancy. It definitely wasn't in great shape. But it was exactly what she needed.

Even better, no one inside the house would even notice it was gone unless they came out and looked for it. It was hidden at the very back of the property, parked behind an outbuilding that was probably also filled with piles of shit.

She hustled up the side, headed for the driver's side door, looking along the ground for anything that might help her break-in. Surely there had to be at least a few wire hangers hanging around the mess. But the area was surprisingly clean. Clean enough she paused to consider someone might actually be living in the camper she was planning to steal.

Courtney backtracked, pushing up on her tiptoes in an attempt to peek into the windows as she made her way around the rear and up the driver’s side. The entry door to the back portion was incredibly close to the building, so it could only open less than a foot before being stopped. It hardly seemed like a convenient place to put it if someone was planning to live there, and she hadn't seen any wires hooking it up to an electric source. So she took a deep breath, grabbed the levered handle and pulled, cringing a little when it immediately opened.

On one hand, she was thrilled to be able to get inside. But on the other, there was a chance someone might be waiting for her on the other side.

It was a chance she was going to have to take. She was getting out of this alive. Her whole life had been lived in a shadow. One that drowned out any chance she had for friends or lovers or jobs. Yes, she had money, every bit of it dirty, but money couldn't buy people.

She knew. She’d tried.

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