Page 30 of Boxed In

Chapter 5

To Luke’s relief, he was able to remove the license plates in the dark and exchange them without incident. With thanks to God for small favors, he drove away from the scene of the new crime, his mind still scrambling to think of a place to hide out.

“Where are we going?” Olivia asked again.

As if by magic, an address leaped into his mind.

“We can go to the house of some friends. Ginny and Tom Hanover. I got in touch with them when I came back to town.”

Won’t we put them in danger?”

He shook his head. “I had dinner there a week ago, and they told me they were going to spend a month in Mexico.”

In fact, Luke had already used them for this assignment—putting them on a customer list at Marathon Computers so that if anyone checked up on Luke Garner, they’d see that he had other accounts besides Peterbalm.

“And they don’t mind lending you their house?” Olivia pressed.

“I hope not.” The answer came out more sharply than he intended, and he knew this situation was getting to him. His life was out of control, and every time he turned around, he got into a worse fix. He wished he’d never opened that damned box.

Then Olivia would be in bad trouble, Zabastian was kind enough to remind him.

“Yeah.”

“What?” Olivia asked.

He sighed. “Just talking to myself again.”

She tipped her head to the side, staring at him. “You mean, you’re talking to the warrior? And you said it out loud”

She looked like she didn’t expect him to be straight with her. But he answered with a simple, “Yes.”

“And you and I . . .” She swallowed, then started again. “I’m talking to Luke Garner now.”

“Yes.”

“So—what’s it like? Channeling?”

“It’s not exactly channeling. I’m not . . . communing with someone who’s dead. His spirit was in the box.”

“Can you explain that?”

He sighed. “I’m not equipped to explain it.”

She reached out and carefully laid her hand over his. “Can he feel that?”

“Yes. He feels everything I feel.”

“How do you know?”

“I can tell when he’s reacting.”

“And he’s listening to this conversation.”

“Of course.”

“Is he critiquing our discussion—inside your head?”

“He’s been quiet for a while.”

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