Page 12 of Lure

I snorted. Not how I remembered it, particularly since she’d nailed Bones but good. Still, a conversation for another time. “Are you good to look at a phone while we’re moving?”

“Yes,” she said.

I unlocked the screen and tabbed open the map. “We’re the red dot, they will be the blue dot. You should also be able to see the landscape, tell me if there are any good hills or rises—something with a vantage point.” Then I handed over my phone.

Her silence wasn’t promising, but I let her scan the screen. Goblin had settled back on the floor. Good boy had relaxed so maybe she had too. There was tension knotting in my gut and bleeding into my veins.

“It’s pretty flat.” The frown she had to be wearing reflected in her voice. “How high do you need?”

“Not that high, just a place to get the van out of sight and where I can…” Goddammit.

“Where you can target them?” Her fearless attitude humbled me. This was not a thing she needed to be dealing with.

“If I tell you, I make you an accessory.” That seemed a reasonable point.

“If I find the location for the ambush, I’m already an accessory.” Apparently, she had the skills for absolutely sinking my battleship.

“Then yes, where I can target them. We need to clean up any pursuers so we can get back to base.” At this point, I didn’t careif the damn job was done or not. We could refund the fucking money. Nothing was worth putting Gracie at this kind of risk.

“Right. I see something that looks like it might be a little hillier, the ground is bumpy. Maybe.” Wasn’t much but we didn’t need much.

“How far?”

“Um…”

“Press your finger to the area and drop a flag on it, then hit the arrow.”

“Oh, that’s easier. It says a little over thirty minutes at ninety kilometers an hour.”

“That would make it forty-five kilometers. Actual distance?” The van was gonna rattle like fuck when I pushed it, but we could push it.

“Says it’s closer to thirty-seven kilometers, at least to the center of the flag, if I move the flag to the edge…” She went quiet for a long moment. “Oh, that’s much better, that’s less than thirty kilometers.”

Right. “Hit the arrow again, and then go, then tab over to the phone log and call back the last number that called me.”

The GPS offered me instructions, including telling me we would be on our current road for a lot longer than we needed to be before we turned north.

Grace didn’t argue or ask more questions, but she held up the phone which rang once on speaker. Bones answered after the ring.

“You have something?”

“Dropping you a pin. Meet me there. Don’t take any detours.”

I wanted to get Gracie back to base. Finished, I motioned to Gracie to end the call and she hung up.

“That felt good.” The savage satisfaction in her voice made me laugh.

“Hanging up on Bones?”

“Yes.” She didn’t even pretend she didn’t enjoy it. “He’s a dick.”

I could argue the point, but I didn’t. Right now, I preferred the boost to her mood. Selfishly, I’d like it to last a little longer.

“Do me another favor?” I said. “Climb in the back and call Goblin up onto the seat and thread his harness on so he’s buckled in.”

“Okay.” She handed me my phone back before she unbuckled, then climbed back there. Goblin, the good boy, did as he was told and she got him buckled in, then he laid down. “You want me back here buckled in or up there?”

Not smiling was a challenge. “Up here is fine, but definitely buckled in.” She didn’t make me wait, returning to her seat and then pulling the seatbelt across her chest. I wasn’t sure if these buses came with these kinds of harnesses or if someone had upgraded them.

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