Page 64 of Fighting for Lucy

They were being followed.

At least that’s what she suspected although Lucy was a little too cowardly to ask for confirmation. After everything she’d been through, it didn't seem unreasonable to want to stick her head in the sand and refuse to believe that anything else was going to go wrong.

Because her biggest fear was that she couldn’t handle anything else going wrong.

So sticking her head in the sand it was.

For a few more minutes anyway.

“Nope, won't be late today,” Zander said, although his strained tone made it clear he was making an effort and not at all in a teasing and jovial mood.

“I’ll have to thank your sister and Tate for looking after Cotton last night,” she continued, making another attempt at pretending nothing was wrong.

“Mmhmm.”

Cursing this feeling of helplessness that blanketed her, she hated that all her life she had worked so hard to prove to everybody, and mostly to herself, that she wasn’t useless. Most of the time it worked, she made sure her environment was one that remained nearly constantly under her control. But this wasn’t under her control. This was so far out of her element that she may as well be shooting off in a rocket into outer space.

If life had taught her anything, it was that being prepared and informed worked best at keeping fear and anxiety away.

To that end, she placed her palms on her knees and straightened her fingers out when they wanted to curl into impotent fists. Then she drew in a breath, attempting to drag in as much strength and calm as she could muster before breathing out slowly, purging her body of tension and stress.

She could do this.

Already she’d survived a plane crash, a hike through the jungle, and being held captive and drugged. If she could do that, she could handle a simple car ride through the city.

“Zander?”

“Hmm?” He tossed her a quick glance before returning his gaze to the road.

“Are we being followed?”

“Truth or lie?”

Truth or dare had been her least favorite game as a teen because guaranteed one of the kids would wind up asking her about her epilepsy if she picked truth. And if she picked dare, they would usually just make her tell them about her epilepsy anyway. That, or they would dare her to kiss a boy or something like she was some freak who nobody would want. But she’d had her first kiss when she was eleven, behind the large tree in front of her church one Sunday morning.

Although, why that was important at the moment she had no idea.

Swallowing down the urge to ask for the short-lived comfort and reassurance a lie might bring, she forced herself to make the right choice.

Really the only choice she could make. If they were being followed, the last thing Zander needed was her freaking out or panicking. That was only going to make matters worse.

“Truth.”

“Yeah. Picked up about ten minutes after we left my place. Not sure how they knew where I lived, that house isn’t in my name.”

“Does someone at Prey have the address?” Lucy assumed they did since she was sure Eagle would have made sure somebody was watching the house last night as another line of protection for both her and Zander.

“Yeah, Eagle asked. Said he wanted security on you.”

While she was sure Eagle had mentioned security for both of them, she didn't push the issue, it didn't really seem relevant right now. “Then the mole must have it. They must have passed it along to Raul Castillo and he had some of his men lying in wait for us.” It was what he’d done a few weeks ago with Scarlett, kept sending men after her until he got her back in his clutches. The man was nothing if not predictable.

Sooner or later, that would catch up with him and lead to his downfall, but not soon enough to save her and Zander from whoever was following them.

“Wish I hadn't sent away the protection detail this morning. I made a mistake, I thought that nobody outside of Prey had the address. Eagle said he was only going to allow a small number of people he was sure he trusted have the intel.”

“The mole has proven themselves to be pretty intelligent so far. They likely have a backdoor into the system and hacked it to get the intel.” At least she hoped that was what had happened because the alternative was that one of the people she trusted one hundred percent to have her back was actually working against her. “What's the plan?”

“Try to lose them and get to Prey. Then once I get you there keep you locked away in a room where only I have the key to the door.”

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