Page 43 of Second Chance for Mr. Alden

I nodded. “Okay, Gage. Tell me how to get to Sam’s”

“I’m sending the coordinates to your GPS. Sam’s expecting you. You can hide Jess’s car there and stay low for a day or two. I’ll arrange for you to drive a less conspicuous car.”

Jess loved this car. She wasn’t going to be happy when I told her we had to ditch it until the threat against her was gone.

The coordinates popped up on our screen.

“Any word on where the truck is that was tailing us?”

“I watched it head into a parking garage a few minutes ago. It hasn’t moved from there in the last five minutes. You should be good to head out.”

“Noted. On our way to Sam’s.” Even with Gage’s all clear the tingling at the base of my neck still hadn’t quite gone away. I double checked the alley behind us, and the traffic pattern in front of us, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

With another look around, I eased the car out onto the main road.

We were driving for about five minutes when a gray car took the same turn we did. I went up and down a few more streets and once again, it was still there, always at a safe distance. Ahead of us the light had just turned red. I floored it and went right through it, thankful no other cars were in the intersection. When the car didn’t follow us, I wondered if I’d imagined their pursuit.

“Talk to me, Alden,” Gage piped up through my earpiece.

“I thought we had another tail. Different car. They didn’t get close enough for the make and model, but it’s gray. They stayed a few car lengths back.”

I took a few more turns into a residential neighborhood, until I was certain no one was there.

“We’ve lost them. Heading to the safe house now,” I said to Gage.

Headlights flashed out from a side street and the roar of an engine echoed throughout the quiet neighborhood.

“No fucking way.” I jerked the wheel to avoid the car as it sped out onto the road behind us. I glared in the rearview mirror.

“Alden, I can’t help unless you tell me what’s happening.” Gage barked out through the earpiece.

“They found us.” I pressed down on the gas pedal despite the traffic that had now picked up. I wove in and out of cars to lose our tail. Each time, the car caught up to us; whoever was driving was damn good at it.

“They must have some kind of tracker on you or the car,” Gage grumbled. The sound of his fingers jabbing at his keyboard filled the connection between us.

“Jess, did you bring your phone?” I asked her. “Gage thinks they’re tracking us.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t bring anything. I only have what I’m wearing.”

“Shit, then it’s got to be the car. Gage, I need to lose them long enough for us to ditch the car and get lost in a crowd.”

We were approaching the suburban section of the town. “I need a shopping center, anything Gage, and fast.”

“I’m working on it. The best I can do is five minutes away.”

“Okay. I’ll make it work. So far, we only have the one car.” I glanced at my rear-view mirror. The car had stayed steady in its pursuit, but it wasn’t as close as I thought it would be, which only made more sense if we had a tracker on the car.

Jess unbuckled her seatbelt. “What if it’s what I’m wearing?”

I pulled my attention from the road and glanced at Jess. “What?”

“I spoke to Lauren as we were leaving. She didn’t recognize the necklace or the earrings, remember?”

“Toss them out the window.” I floored the gas to put more distance between us.

Jess’ hands trembled as she yanked off the first earring and then the second from her ears. She jabbed at the button to push the window down and chucked the earrings as hard as she could.

“Shit,” she mumbled, a frantic edge to her tone.

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