Page 66 of Shadowing Her Stalker

“There’s seriously only one terminal?” Chris asked, quickening his pace to fall in beside her.

“Yep.”

She smiled as they approached the single escalator down to the baggage claim area. Cara paused to allow Chris to go first, waiting for Tom to catch up. With his ever-present computer bag hanging off one shoulder and a small carry-on in the other hand, the man was craning his neck as if the small airport was one of the wonders of the modern world.

“Come on, Captain Moneybags, you can put an offer in on the place another time,” she teased.

“It’s weird. I guess I’ve only ever flown into larger airports,” he observed, stepping on the escalator behind her.

“When you’ve flown commercial,” she qualified. “We won’t count general aviation.”

Tom frowned as he pondered her take. “You know, if you’re serious about this, maybe we should look into investing in a company plane after all,” he mused.

“Yes!” Chris thrust his fist into the air, garnering the attention of the passengers around them. He didn’t shrink from the spotlight. “I’ve been saying so for years.”

“Yeah, well, we haven’t been able to actually afford one,” Tom shot back.

“And now we can,” Chris said, his smile smug.

At the foot of the escalator he hooked a hand through Cara’s arm. Tom flanked her left side, and they walked three abreast through the sliding doors into bright autumn sunshine. The late-November breeze swirled around them.

Beside her Chris gave an exaggerated shudder. “I thought it was supposed to be hot in the South?” he complained.

“We’re due east of Los Angeles,” she reminded him.

“Do I need to call a car?” Tom said, sliding a phone from his pocket.

“No, I have a friend picking us up,” she said as she scanned the line of cars depositing and scooping up passengers. She spotted the plain black SUV with the state tags parked in one of the diagonal pull-through spots with a five-minute limit. “There she is.”

As they approached, the driver’s door opened and Emma Parker stepped out. “You made it,” she said, meeting them at the back of the vehicle.

“We made it,” Cara called back. “Tom, Chris, this is Special Agent Emma Parker. Be polite. She has a gun.”

But it was Emma who was enthralled by the sight of the tech whizzes. “Wow. I’m so thrilled to meet you.” She shook each man’s hand, then turned to Tom. “I’ve been hacking multiplayer games since I was eleven. Like you.” A pretty peach blush colored her cheeks. “I mean, I know you used to—”

Tom cut her off there. “Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes I still do.”

“He never had the patience to beat them legitimately,” Chris chimed in.

“Me either,” Emma said with a grin.

“Some of us actually have skills,” Chris said pointedly.

“Okay, okay.” Cara waved them both toward the doors. “You can flirt with her while we drive.”

Once they were all settled into the vehicle, Emma joined the steady flow of traffic circling the small airport. Cara pointed to the parking deck. “The garage where I got carjacked,” she said, using her best impression of a tour guide.

“Not funny,” Tom muttered.

“I’m not kidding,” she retorted.

“Cara’s Trauma Tours,” Chris said with a peevish edge. “Not a great selling point for your plan.”

Cara turned and found both men scowling at the concrete structure as if it were responsible for the incident. “I don’t have to sell you on my plan,” she reminded them gently.

“We’re still partners,” Tom argued.

Smiling, Cara nodded, pleased too with the way they’d reconnected in the two weeks since Zarah Parvich and Paul Stanton were arrested and LYYF had a record-breaking launch on the stock exchange. When Cara told them she was heading back to Arkansas to spend Thanksgiving with her parents, the two men seemed genuinely sad to end the ongoing celebration.

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