Page 98 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

“And who else was I supposed to turn to?” I snapped. “I’ve been running for years and look at where that got me. I saw a man—that was only trying to help me—run down at a bus station. And that was after I got this,” I held up my bad arm. “He did everything he could to protect me, but it wasn’t enough. I was running out of options, and Cash intervened, saving my life more than once. I trust him with my life!”

That seemed to shut her up for the time being. She bowed her head, nodding slightly, then walked over to the wall and pulled at a loose panel. Sticking her hand inside, she pulled out a flash drive and handed it over.

“Seriously,” I sighed. “Do all of you have secret hiding places?”

She finally smiled at me, closing my fist around the drive. “I’m trusting you with this. I hope you’re making the right choice, because if you’re not, it’s not just your life on the line.”

Tears pricked my eyes as I looked at my aunt. I wrapped my arm around her, hugging her tight. “I know that. I’m not the same girl you knew. I’m older and smarter. And hopefully, when this is over, you’ll see that.”

“I hope so too.”

30

CASH

After a tearful goodbyewith her aunt, Eva said goodbye and we loaded up in Noah’s truck to head to California. I half expected Jones to skip out on us, but he insisted on coming along now that he was involved. Halfway there, we stopped and picked up another vehicle. I had never been so grateful that I opened that credit card in another name. We would have been shit out of luck without it.

With Eli running the business from the safe house, I could focus on ending this so we could get back to life. Since giving up on working with the government on the power outage, the rest of the team had time to reorganize and get the business running again—something I should have been doing. But I wouldn’t change a damn thing. Eva was too important to me.

I insisted on driving alone with Eva on the way back to California. We desperately needed some alone time, and with hours to while away, there was no better time. I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. She was staring out the window looking a million miles away from here.

“What are you thinking about?”

“I’m just wondering if I’ll ever see my aunt again.”

“You will,” I promised. “We’re going to get that final piece of evidence, and then we’ll be home free.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Have I let you down yet?”

She finally turned and looked at me, giving me that gorgeous smile that she rarely let anyone see.

“It’s about time.”

“What?”

“You don’t smile much.”

“I used to smile all the time,” she admitted. “Things haven’t been going the best for me for a while.”

“So, what were you planning to do in California? You know, before you wandered onto a drug farm and ran for your life.”

She scoffed at me. “I didn’t wander onto a drug farm.”

“Really? Then what would you call it?”

She thought about it for a moment. “An unlucky encounter.”

“I’d call it a bad sense of direction.”

“I happen to have a great sense of direction, and great instincts.”

I huffed out a laugh at that. “And your instincts told you to go inside the creepy barn and then film what was happening inside?”

She rolled her eyes at me. “You know, it didn’t seem that creepy at the time. I thought I was just on a farm. I looked inside the house.”

“Which some would have said was inappropriate. Who just goes and looks in people’s windows? You could have been shot.”

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