Page 74 of Montana Freedom

Phillips added. “Yes. But don’t talk unless you have to.”

“Okay, Grumpy.”

I thought I heard Daniel laughing, but it was faint.

The path to my destination wasn’t far, and I walked slowly. This wasn’t meant to be some kind of sprint. I was meant to blend in. On my way to my new boring computer job. Simon was the only person whose attention I wanted to attract.

God, it was hot. It was still early enough in the season that the weather could be nice. There was a breeze off the lake from across the street, but it felt like the sun was beating down on me.

I had some cash, so I stopped in at a coffee shop on the way, grabbing an iced drink to keep me going. My nerves were building the longer the silence lasted.

Finally, I reached the cross section of streets. “Okay, I’m here. Going into the store.”

No answer. That was fine. They were listening and waiting. Everything was exactly the way Jones said it would be. The little shop was dim, quiet, and empty, with the appointment sign on the door. It was almost like a look into the past. A lot of computers I hadn’t seen since I was a kid, dusty shelves, and older technology. The owner must work on computers that had long outlived their technological life-span.

Standing behind the counter, I waited. There wasn’t much to do, other than get on the guy’s computer and mess around on the internet.

That was where my memory could actually come in handy. I remembered everything, including what I’d found that led to Simon locking me up in the first place. Since they’d basically told him I was here, there was no point in hiding it. Odds were Simon would have wiped anything to do with himself, but I wanted to try anyway.

The main page to the cover business was still intact, but it looked dead. My log-in and the admin log-in were gone. I knew enough to get around it, but there wasn’t anything left. What little had been there online to begin with was completely blank.

I was disappointed, but at the same time, that wasn’t unexpected.

It had been an hour, and I hadn’t had any contact from either Phillips or Jones, and no one passing by on the street had even glanced inside. We hadn’t said how long this was going to take, but at the same time, I wanted at least to hear someone’s voice.

“Okay, guys. I know you’re trying to focus, but can you say something? Please? I’m starting to get nervous.”

Nothing.

Okay, maybe it shorted out and wasn’t working. That wasn’t good, but it was something I could fix. The van was across the street—I could see it from where I stood. Maybe I could sneak out and ask Agent Jones if he could fix it. I wasn’t going to do any of this while they couldn’t hear me.

I slipped out of the store and looked both ways before crossing the street. No one was in the driver’s seat of the van. Where was Agent Jones? Low panic built in my gut. It didn’t feel right. “Can anyone hear me?”

Retreating across the street and back into the store, I jumped when Agent Jones was standing behind the counter, and then I breathed out a sigh of relief.

He winced. “Sorry I startled you. I wanted to check in on you without giving anything away. The earpiece isn’t working.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I realized.”

“We’ll try this again tomorrow, once we figure out what’s wrong with it. Or, if you want, we can just go without.”

I blinked. Of course I didn’t want to do that. Being alone without them to hear me put my life in danger. Why would he even suggest that? My gut churned, and I suddenly felt alert. Adrenaline ran through me, and I breathed in and out, trying to get a hold of the sudden panic and think through whether my anxiety was real.

“No, I’d like to be done. I want to be able to hear you guys.”

He smiled. “Fair enough.”

I looked outside, back in the direction of the other van. “It’s a nice day. I think I’ll walk back to the others.”

He laughed. “Don’t be silly. It’s hot as balls out here. I already called them. They’re out back.”

“Oh. Okay.”

I moved toward the back of the store and the alley. True to Agent Jones’s word, the van was in the back. But no one was in the driver’s seat of that vehicle either.

Why would Agent Jones pull all the way around to the back of the store, risking someone seeing him get out of the van, when everyone was already back here? That didn’t make sense.

Phillips didn’t like me, but I imagined he could check on me without taking my head off.

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