Page 84 of Don't Game Me
“If you’re being pursued and this isn’t paranoia, then that’d be what they expect. Stay away from the office and don’t go to your parents’ house or Noah’s.” Jake’s tone changed. He ordered, “Go. Get on the Green Line. Move now.”
“Okay. On my way.” She moved down a set of stairs to the subway entry with the phone still to her ear. The smell of stale air mixed with fuel and body odor assaulted her as she descended.
“Are you there yet?” he demanded.
“I have to figure out how much to put on the subway card.”
“Buy the card, Becca. Put fifteen bucks on it. Get on the Green Line. Move.”
“I think I was being dramatic. This seems like overkill.”
“We don’t know what the hell’s going on right now. I’m on my way. It might take me a half hour to get there. Heath is a good guy. We used to do triathlons together before I became injury prone. Do not leave Heath’s office. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Call me or text if you run into Quan or any other NSA agent.”
She hung up and inserted the last of her cash to buy a subway card. No one else was at the ticket machines, which made her feel exposed. The few passersby didn’t seem to be looking at her weird. They did the standard avoid-eye-contact pass like good New Yorkers. A glance up to the cameras…NSA could see her. Monitor her.
Hurry, Jake.
27
Jake’s hands shook at the thought of Becca running through the city, scared and crying. He could barely breathe as his mind calculated the fastest route to the Flatiron Building.
“What’s going on?” Noah asked.
Jake jumped. He’d forgotten Noah was still in his hospital room. “That was Becca. She’s scared and in the city.”
“No, she’s down the hall. I just saw her an hour ago.”
“She left. Now, she’s running from someone in the city.” Jake peeled off monitoring devices. When the machine initiated a shrill alert, he yanked the power cord out of the wall. It didn’t even pause its ear-deafening scream. He pushed buttons until it turned off. Surprisingly, or maybe not so much, no nurse showed up. Once he woke up, they’d left him alone.
“She checked herself out? I planned to give her a ride to my parents’ place in a few minutes.” Noah stared at the door as if expecting a nurse to burst into the room announcing Becca left.
“Quan agreed to allow her to speak with Lisi before she got moved to Virginia. Becca got spooked and ran. She doesn’t know if her instinct to run was legit or based on side effects of this drug. I tell you, the drug’s a bitch.”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“To rescue your sister.”
“You think she’s hurt?”
“I don’t know. She sounded shaken up, but I don’t think she’s hurt. Hell, I don’t know. She was a mess on the phone.”
Noah put a hand on his shoulder when Jake sat up and worked to get the IV catheter out of his wrist and all the tape off. “You’re not in any condition to be a knight in shining armor right now. I’ll go get Becca.”
“I’m doing this. I’ll take her to my place, which you know is locked down tight despite what happened in the lobby earlier. Once inside my apartment, no one else can get in.” He pressed his thumb to the bleeding hole where the catheter had been. No obvious bandage material in sight. “I need you to call Quan. Try to figure out what the hell happened, at least get his take on things.”
“Sit down, Jake. You look like you’re about to pass out.”
“I’m fine. Little headache.” Woozy as shit, but not enough to stop him from getting to Becca. He found his clothes across the room. Without modesty, he chucked the hospital gown and dressed. “I’m going to get her. This is something I need to do.”
“I’m going with you.” Noah put one finger on Jake’s shoulder and pushed.
Jake grabbed at the counter to steady himself. “Maybe you better come along.”
Jake’s watch indicated thirty-five minutes since she’d called. Too long. His heart pumped a breath-robbing dread through his veins until he arrived at Heath’s office. Even though Heath had texted she was safe over fifteen minutes ago, he wouldn’t feel assured until he saw her.
