A car’s headlights nearly blinded her. The vehicle screeched to a halt a few feet away, and the door opened. Reese raised her hands, squinting into the glare, and pointed the gun at the man in black.
CHAPTER 38
“Put the gun down!” the agent ordered.
She didn’t budge, though her hands trembled. Beside her Amber was breathing rapidly. Reese couldn’t see David.
“Stop moving and put the gun down,” the agent yelled. He was a black shadow pointing at her. She knew he was holding a gun too.
“No,” she said. “We’re leaving.” Her hands were slippery with sweat and she thought about dropping Carter’s phone, but she wanted it. Evidence. She pressed the device against the weapon and let her finger hover over the trigger.
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” the agent said.
She took another step to the right. The headlights were no longer directly in front of her, and she saw the gleam of his weapon lit up on one side. “How do you know that?” she demanded, fear and anger bursting out of her. “I shot that guy.” She thought again:
His presence in her mind made everything around her snap into focus. It was like being at the eye doctor’s office and having the proper lens slide into place, and what had previously been a blur was now crystal clear. Reese was near the edge of the road, the van doors gaping open behind her. Amber was to her left, still trapped in the beams of the agent’s headlights. David had somehow snuck behind the sedan and was creeping up behind the man in black. He had a rock in his hands. She knew what he was going to do.
“Put the weapon down and we can make sure you aren’t prosecuted for that,” the agent said.
David smashed the rock into the back of the agent’s head. The man lurched, letting out a surprised grunt. David struck him again, and the agent collapsed against the side of the car, sliding down to the ground. David threw the rock away and pulled the agent’s gun from his limp hands. “Come on, we have to get out of here.”
“Should we take the car?” Reese asked, gesturing at the sedan.
“It’s probably got a tracking device in it,” Amber said. They all froze as a sound came from the front of the van. Wilson. Reese didn’t know what kind of deal Torres had struck with Wilson to persuade him to give them ten minutes, but the time would be up soon if it wasn’t already. She didn’t want to stick around to deal with Wilson if he decided he had to get out of the van.
A crescent moon was rising in the east, sending a dim light over a field of knee-high grass that stretched away from the road. “Across the field,” Reese said. “Let’s go.”
The grass crunched as they sprinted through it, the sound of their footsteps thumping dully on the earth. Reese was wearing flats, and as she ran her shoes slid across the uneven ground, nearly tripping her several times. She soon realized she had it easy, because Amber had been forced to pull off her other shoe and was now running barefoot. She began to slow down, wincing as she ran. Reese glanced behind them, but she couldn’t see anyone following, and she hadn’t heard the van’s engine start up again.
The ground began to slope down, and in the distance Reese saw the glint of water. She still gripped the gun and the phone in her bound hands as she tried to avoid tumbling down the hill in her slippery shoes. David slowed as he approached the edge of the creek and turned back to wait for Reese and Amber. He put the gun he had been holding on the ground and pulled something out of his pocket: one of Carter’s knives. “Come here,” he said, flicking open the blade.
Reese held out her hands and he sliced through the plastic restraint. She put Carter’s gun down and pocketed the phone before taking the knife to cut David free.
“What is that?” David asked, nodding at the phone.
“I took Carter’s phone for evidence.”
“Turn it off,” Amber said as she scrambled down the slope. “Turn it off now. They could be using it to track us.”
Reese felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her. She pulled out the phone and scrutinized it in the dim moonlight. “I can’t find the power button.”
David sliced off Amber’s wrist restraints as she said, “Give it to me.” Reese handed it over. Amber inspected it up close, and then she pressed her fingertip into the back of the phone and removed the thick exterior case. The device beeped.
“What are you doing?” David asked.
“Taking out the battery.” Amber pulled it out and gave it to Reese. The screen of the phone flashed once and then died.
“I’m sorry,” Reese said. “I just wanted some evidence—I didn’t think—” She squeezed the battery.
“It’s okay,” Amber said, sounding tired. “It was smart to take it for later.”
“We don’t know if they could track us with it,” David said, rubbing a hand over his forehead.
“Well, now they can’t,” Amber said. “Hopefully. We ready to go?”
“Yeah,” David said, picking up the agent’s gun.
“Wait,” Reese said. She pocketed the disassembled phone and took off her jacket. “Give me the knife.” When David gave it to her, she poked the tip of the blade through the seams, detaching the sleeves and handing them to Amber. “Wrap these around your feet.”
“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Amber said dubiously, but she took the two sleeves anyway and wound them around her feet, flinching as she did so.
Reese handed the knife back to David and glanced up the hill behind them, then across the creek. “It’s not that deep, is it?”
“You want to cross it?” David asked.
“Where else are we going to go?” Reese slid her arms through the now-sleeveless jacket and picked up Carter’s gun from the ground.
“Let’s just do it,” Amber said. “The farther we can get the better. We’ll just keep running east toward the moon so we don’t go in circles.” She finished wrapping her feet. “Sorry about ruining your jacket.”
“It’s okay. Sorry you ruined your shoes.”
Amber let out a choked laugh. “I’m not.”
The creek was only a few feet deep in the middle. Mud squished beneath their feet as they waded across. They clambered out onto the opposite bank and started up the hill. When they reached the crest, they stopped to look across another field of grass.
Reese saw a single light in the distance. “Do you think that’s a house?”
“Maybe,” Amber said.
They began to walk toward it. Reese kept listening for any sounds of pursuit, but the night was quiet, with only the faint whisper of the cool wind blowing through the grasses. By the time they reached the edge of the field, the moon was straight overhead, and Reese guessed they had been walking for at least an hour or two. The light she had seen from the riverbank did come from a house; they could see the outline of its roof against the night sky. As they drew closer she saw it was an exterior light attached to a carport, where a dirty white truck was parked. They halted about a hundred feet from the edge of the field and the house.
“Do you think we should just go knock on the door?” Reese whispered.
“It’s the middle of the night, I don’t know,” Amber said.
The sound of a car engine could be heard in the distance, and a moment later headlights came toward the carport. “Get down,” David said, crouching onto the ground. Reese and Amber dropped onto the dirt.
“Maybe it’s just some guy coming home late,” Reese said.
The vehicle pulled up to the carport. It was a black-and-white police car.
“Or maybe not,” Amber said.
The engine shut off and the driver’s-side door opened. The police officer climbed out. Reese peeked through
