Page 80 of One Knight Stand

Wally glanced out the window. They were on the east side of a populated area now, mostly residential with a few warehouses and commercial shopping strips. There was a stoplight at almost every intersection. He was glad that they were tracking Sampson electronically, as they seemed to miss every light. Then he had a wild thought. What if Sampson hadn’t taken the bait and was going to visit a girlfriend or something?

That would be a disaster.

“Where’s Bo?” he asked, looking up from the screen.

“About a half mile back,” Jax replied. “Chill, I’ve got this. You do what you need to do.”

Calm. Jax was calm and steadiness personified. He was glad Jax (and not Frankie) was driving and was solid in clutch situations. He appreciated that a lot.

“Okay, thanks, Jax.”

As Jax had suggested, he returned his focus to his laptop, where the cursor was blinking steadily. Why wasn’t Remington responding? What if he suspected something was up? What if Sampson had never texted him before, and he’d become suspicious? What if the two had made a pact never to text or leave any kind of written trail?

His fingers drummed on the side of the keyboard, mentally willing a text to appear. He shifted in his seat and chewed on his thumbnail. He could spend the next hour going through every possible what-if and drive himself into madness.

He looked over at Angel again, but she was still talking, with her back to everyone.

Why the heck is Remington taking so long to answer?

As the seconds ticked past with no response, sweat began to trickle down his temples. He blinked it away, staring so hard at his screen, the cursor began to blur.

Did I just make a colossal mistake?

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he heard the soft ping of response. Mike must have heard it, too, because he leaned over the front seat, trying to see Wally’s laptop. Wally read the text, feeling faint with relief.

Did you relay the message to the bird’s handler?

Wally gave Mike a thumbs-up and angled the laptop so he could read it. Mike glanced at Wally. “What are you going to say?”

“I’m going to say I relayed the message. Hopefully, it will stall Remington while giving Sampson time to arrive wherever Angel’s mother is being held. Is Sampson still driving?”

Jax answered from the driver’s seat. “He’s still in motion.”

“Good. Let’s hope this works.” Wally rested his fingers on the keyboard and began to type a response.

Yes. Will send confirmation of deed when I have it.

This time, Remington’s response came quickly.

Standing by.

“Wow.” Wally leaned back in his seat, rolling his neck and wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Nothing like being a man in the middle for a hit job. What’swrongwith these people?”

“A lot,” Jax answered grimly from the front seat. “Which is why we’re bringing them down.”

Angel was still talking on the phone, a finger in her ear to block out everything else. He wondered what the heck she was talking about for so long. A glance out the window confirmed they were moving out of town and were headed down a long stretch of two-lane road.

Where was Sampson headed?

They drove for ten more minutes before Mike noted that Sampson had pulled off onto a dirt road.

“He’s headed to the only house that sits at the end of the dirt road,” Mike said toggling between screens. “I can’t tell for certain from the image, but I don’t think the house is visible from the road.”

“Do I follow him?” Jax asked.

“No. I suggest pulling off the road before we get to the turn,” Mike replied. He magnified the map on his laptop. “I’ll have Bo go past us and then turn around and pull off facing us. We won’t be visible either from the end of the driveway or the house, and yet we’re only a couple of hundred yards from the house.” He tapped a couple of keys. “Okay, I have an actual address. Can you run the specs on the house, Wally?”

“Of course. I’ll check the county real estate records.”

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