Page 22 of Just Right

"FBI," Connor said.“We need to speak to you.”

The man acted instantly, and surprisingly fast.

He shoved the table toward them violently, so that its edge hit Cami in the stomach, and she let out a choking gasp.

And then, having grabbed his laptop with lightning speed, he was out. A chair clattered down as he pushed it aside.

Landon Graham was on the run, fleeing the cafe. He'd gotten the jump on them, he'd seized the element of surprise, and now they were at risk of him getting away.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Connor shoved the table away, so hard that the salt and pepper cellars teetered and wobbled and then clattered down. And the next moment, in a rush, he was out.

Feeling breathless with shock, Cami scrambled to her feet and hurtled out of the cafe after him.

She couldn't believe this. In front of their eyes, Landon Graham had taken flight and was now racing down a side road that seemed to lead to a recycling center. On the blacktopped surface, several large containers of various colors stood. Landon wove his way in between two of them and abruptly disappeared from sight.

Connor swore under his breath as he powered down the hill and into the center, taking the same route their suspect had gone.

"FBI! Stop!" he yelled, but Landon took no notice, and if anything, his headlong flight accelerated.He must know the area,Cami thought. He must have found a side entrance and be speeding out already, because Connor was darting the same way and was now visible in the alley beyond the center.

Connor had pulled ahead of her and that wasn't helpful at all. She was already losing him, seeing the two men race further and further away.

She sped up, trying to accelerate. She could feel her lungs burning, her legs aching, and she forced herself to go faster.

She had no idea what she was doing, she was just blindly following Connor. But she wanted to be there for him. She wanted to support him. She wanted to be there to back him up.

She wanted to be his equal.

But she knew she wasn't. He was a trained FBI agent, and she wasn't trained for this. She hadn't been co-opted onto the FBI for her running ability. She'd been forced to help them because of her coding and hacking prowess.

And yet, she was still running. She was still going to pursue this man with everything she had, and she would help to take him down, if she possibly could. As she saw him turn a corner and disappear, she surged on. She raced down the alley, hurtling over a trash can and skimming a low wall behind the two men, with speed and agility that surprised her.

Now, they were racing down the alleyway, and as she entered it, they exited, turning hard right.

Cami's shoes were feeling like lead weights at the end of her feet. She felt as if she was bursting with the effort.

She wasn't going to give up. Not now. Not when she needed to keep Connor and the fleeing suspect in sight. Not when she could feel it, the close presence of danger, the adrenaline racing through her veins.

She'd left the cafe far behind her. There was nothing now, besides the quick pounding of her own frantic running and the thumping of her heart in her ears. She wasn't going to give up. She was going to run as fast as she could and do everything she could to help them catch this guy.

And then, suddenly, the alleyway opened into a large, open space. It was a parking area, and she could see Connor and Landon racing between the rows of cars.

More running! How had Connor done this? How did he do this every day?Nothing had prepared her for this. She wasn't a runner. She loved to walk. But she'd been hired for her smarts, not her fitness. Just as well, because fitness had failed her totally now. She wasn't able to run another step. All the resolve in the world was not going to change basic physiology and the fact that she was past her own limits.

What else could she do. Feeling defeated, Cami stopped, leaning against the fence and gasping for air.

Was there any other way she could get to him? She had some basic information on him. Could she get more? Could she find anything else from this underhanded hacker, this creator of malware, who'd fled when the FBI had arrived?

He had his phone and laptop with him. He'd logged into the cafe when he gotten there. She'd had programs running then, to pick him up, and they might still be running now. She might be able to see his access logs. Maybe there would be more information on them, or something that could help her.

She was so exhausted and starved of air that her hands were shaking as she accessed the information.

It was partially downloaded, not fully. She didn't have everything she needed. What did she have?

Aha. Here was something. She had an online app payment. He'd booked his wifi immediately on arrival. And from that, Cami realized, she could see his home address.

Gasping for breath, she checked it out on her maps app. Her mind was racing with possibilities. Chief among them was whether Landon had been trying to lose the FBI so that he could bolt for home and lock himself away.

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