Page 8 of No Time Off

I sighed. “Jeez, Mom. No one is going to be shooting anything at us except a camera. I don’t want anyone to get hurt today. It’s not worth it. We’ve already been over this a hundred times. It’s just a honeymoon. No heroics, no crazy driving. If we get found out or followed by the paparazzi, so be it. I don’t want anyone to get hurt on our behalf.”

Gray put a hand on my shoulder. “Relax, we’ve got this, Lexi. It’s going to work. Slash isn’t stupid, and neither are we. None of us will do anything to get hurt.”

My mom kissed my cheek. “She’s right. I’m just teasing you, darling. You’re going to have a wonderful, tranquil honeymoon with your fabulous husband and come home rested, bored, and rejuvenated. It sounds heavenly.”

Basia suddenly threw her arms around me, nearly knocking me over. Now that she was pregnant, her emotions were all over the place, and I wasn’t always sure how to react. “Your mom is right, Lexi. It’s going to be an epic, relaxing honeymoon. Just what the doctor ordered for you two.” She started sniffling and I patted her awkwardly on the back.

“Thanks, Basia. I appreciate all the hard work you did to get this off the ground.”

“You could have let me be one of the decoys,” she said with a little pout.

“The pregnant lady stays home,” I said firmly. “That’s nonnegotiable.”

Elvis joined the hug, squishing me between him and Basia. “I hope it goes flawlessly, Lexi. But what I really wish is for you to have a safe and relaxing honeymoon without that little black cloud of yours.”

“Oh, please, someone, make it happen,” I said, and everyone laughed. “I think we’re ready. Let’s get out of here. It’s time to put Operation Honeymoon Go into action.”

SIX

Mick Watson

There were now four cars in front of the house, two in the driveway and two parked on the street. Mick had counted at least fifteen people who’d entered so far. If Lexi and Slash were in the house, that would make seventeen. This was a massive undertaking.

They were all dressed similarly in dark clothes and had hurried inside, hunched to hide their appearance as much as possible. There appeared to be more men than women, not counting the two from the first limousine. There was no way to be sure. Regardless, he could see their plan developing and expected to have to make some snap decisions soon.

They weren’t going to make this easy.

Abruptly the porch light at the front of house went out, plunging the driveway into semidarkness. That was followed seconds later by all the streetlights going dark. Mick looked up in astonishment. How had they pulled that off?

He didn’t have time to worry about that before four couples and several people he presumed were drivers suddenly emerged from the house, all dragging suitcases and heading for separate vehicles. There were differences among the couples in how they moved, but their outfits were dark, and in the shadows, with their faces obscured, it was impossible to identify the real couple. Several camera flashes from the street lit up the scene as his competition tried furiously to sniff out the real pair.

One couple immediately got into the white limousine and waited while the driver and a porter loaded their luggage. They were the first ones finished and quickly headed off. Scant seconds later, the SUV in the driveway departed, making a U-turn before heading in the opposite direction. The third car to move was one of the paparazzi as they raced off after the white limousine. A second photographer’s car followed the SUV. The second limousine parked on the street pulled out in the same direction as the white limo, though Mick was certain it would be headed to a different destination.

There was some confusion and shouting among the paparazzi on the curb before one of them ran down the street, jumped in his car, and peeled out after the second limo. The fourth car, a black sedan parked on the street, just sat there with its engine running. The last remaining paparazzo, a guy in a hooded gray sweatshirt, tried to approach the car, but as he got closer, the car slowly drove away from him, and stopped a little farther down the street. Taunting him, the clever bastards.

Cat and mouse.

Mick was torn as to whether to follow this last car. It was almost as if the car was giving him time to make up his mind. Finally, the car started moving in earnest, and he saw the last paparazzi car pull out after them with the man in the gray hoodie driving.

The house was now quiet, and Mick was alone. He pulled around the corner and got out of the car, walking back to observe the house on foot. He wasn’t sure why he was waiting, but his instincts told him the couple was far too clever to assume their brazen decoy maneuver would shake all their tails.

He knew he was taking a big risk in waiting, but he needed to be patient.

Sure enough, about thirty minutes after the departure of the last car from the house, the garage door opened, and a dark SUV slowly backed out of the driveway and headed down the street. Mick sprinted back to his car, wishing he had parked a little closer. They were out of sight by the time he got started, but there were only a few ways out of the neighborhood, and he guessed the right one.

The black SUV drove nonchalantly, heading north toward the Beltway.

Mick stayed back, hoping that they hadn’t seen him. After a few minutes, they turned onto the Beltway, following the interstate west. Traffic was still light but would grow quickly as rush hour approached. Mick decided to follow them from ahead. He moved over a couple of lanes and pulled ahead by several cars. He was confident he could make any exit if they decided to get off.

After ten minutes, they turned farther north on I-270 toward Germantown. Mick started racking his brains trying to figure out what airport was in this part of Maryland. He wanted to check his phone, but it wasn’t possible to drive in the heavy traffic, stay abreast of them, and search for airports on his phone.

He used the traffic to hide his presence by dropping back and speeding ahead of them between exits. Thankfully, they seemed oblivious to his presence and were driving at a very conservative speed. They almost fooled him when they suddenly changed lanes and exited onto a county road with little warning.

“Sly little devil,” Mick muttered to himself as he managed to cross multiple lanes and exit as well. He slowed and let them get well ahead of him, since the traffic was much lighter now.

When they stopped at a light, he pulled out his phone and searched for nearby airfields. Just as he’d suspected, Montgomery County Airpark was only a few miles away. His quarry seemed to be carefully checking for tails now as they turned away, instead of toward the airport. They were probably doing a final check for tails by driving around on empty country roads before heading to the airport.

Gambling he was right, Mick turned in the opposite direction and drove to the airfield ahead of them. He parked his car in a location where he could surveil both the parking lot and the airfield.

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