“You’re doing very well with all this,” he said.
She reached across, laced her fingers with his, and said, “It doesn’t really feel like it. There are scenarios where I’m very comfortable and scenarios where I’m not,” she said. “But this? This is so foreign that I don’t even know how to get comfortable with it.”
“Hopefully you won’t be in it long enough to be comfortable or to have time to adapt,” he said. Baylor squeezed her fingers and just held her hand.
She looked over at him. “Where are we going now?” she asked.
“Another safe house for the night,” he said.
She nodded. “So do you guys have safe houses all over the place?”
“To a certain extent, but we can also create a safe house fairly quickly,” he said.
“I would have thought it would have to be set up years in advance,” she said.
“But, when you think about it, various governments have been operating for years in these countries, so we can also utilize the safe houses of those countries, if they are allies.”
“I guess I hadn’t considered that,” she said. “When you say, safe house, I assume nobody knows about it.”
“And, most of the time, nobody does know. Usually even the people who should be in them don’t know,” he said with a chuckle.
She smiled. “Well, as soon as we get somewhere,” she said, “I’m getting tired again.”
“Naptime, huh?” He studied her and asked, “What about the drugs in your system?”
“I’m pretty sure they’re long gone,” she said, but just then she yawned a huge mouth-widening yawn. “Maybe not,” she said. “I am still feeling pretty sleepy.”
“Well, sleepy is better than anything else,” he said. “Your body needs to rest from all these shocks as well. Just the emotional trauma alone has got to be really hard on you.”
“It is,” she said. “I can’t wait until we fly out tomorrow.” When he didn’t say anything, she looked over at him.
“There hasn’t been a change of plans, has there?”
He shook his head. “No, not yet.”
She winced at that. “I really would like to make that flight.”
It was Dane from the front seat who said, “Hey, we all want to leave. We’ll all go together.”
“I guess that makes a difference, doesn’t it?”
“Not really,” he said, “but we all want to go home too, so we’re doing our best to make it happen,” he said. “We have to get these guys off our backs, and then hopefully we can make it out of the country shortly thereafter.”
“We were supposed to talk about setting a trap,” she said, looking at Baylor. “But somehow that conversation didn’t happen.” He slid her a sideways grin. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Not really,” he said, “but, of course, I don’t want to set a trap where you’re the bait.”
“Why not?” she asked. “It’s probably the best thing to do. And let’s face it. I’m the bait already, am I not?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” he said. “Let’s just get to our new location and discuss it.”
“Pretty sure that’s what you said last time,” she muttered, staring out the window. As they drove, it was just a blur of buildings, people walking on the sidewalks and other vehicles on the road. Gradually the scenery changed to a more rural area, with significantly larger properties. “It’s much nicer out here.”
“A country girl at heart, are you?”
“I guess,” she said. “I hadn’t really thought about it much, but I definitely prefer the pace of what life looks to be like out here versus the city we just left.”
“Big cities are economic hot spots,” he said. “They’re always a hub of activity.”
“Yeah, and not my thing,” she murmured.
“Maybe not, and yet you work in a law office.”
“I do, and I’ve still been thinking about what you guys have been saying about my art. I do need to do more with it, and it does bring me a lot of joy.”
“Anything that brings you joy is something worth working on,” Baylor said, “and you may need to be more intentional about getting that back into your life.”
She nodded. “I know. I’ll have to find positive things to do to keep me busy, while I try to deal with losing my parents and wading through all the estate business.”
“Well, we confirmed you are the inheritor of both the estates,” he said, “so there’s no doubt about that.”
“I knew my father had some girlfriends over the last few years, but I didn’t know if they were big in his life or not.”
“Well, he left his will as it was,” he said. At that thought, he turned and looked at her and asked, “Is there any chance that any of these women could have been involved in this?”
She raised her eyebrows at that. “I don’t think so,” she said. “He was probably more concerned with their chest measurement than their IQ.”
“Ah. That doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have both though.”
“No, you’re right. That was a catty thing for me to say,” she said. “Honestly I never knew who they were or how involved he was with any of them, and then, all of a sudden, my parents were getting back together again, so who knows.”
“Good enough,” he said. “It’s just one more thought.”
“And it’s a good thought,” she said, “but I can’t imagine they had ties over here.”
“No doubt it’s being looked into,” he said. “Don’t forget. We have a separate team working on the cyber aspects of all this.”
“Well, if they find anything hinky, let me know,” she said. “I’ll have to get a friend of mine to help me with the estates, I think. I’m not an estate lawyer by any means, and, while I don’t even know if I’ll need one, I’ll have someone take a look.”
“And to check out the life insurance too,” he said.
“Somehow, none of that makes
