Page 21 of Over the Top

“The police?” Chas blurted, alarmed.

“They surely found your neighbor on your porch, and they know you’re missing. They may have the cavalry out looking for you already.”

“Great. Just what we need.”

“What we need is some time to figure out what the hell happened and who the kid is.”

“That’s no lie,” he muttered. He called the phone number teachers reported sick to and left a message that he would be out for a few days, recovering from the events of Friday night. Then he used bottled water to make formula for Poppy. She drank it hungrily from one of her sippy cups as they rolled down the road. Next, he put dry Cheerios, strawberries he sliced with a pocketknife Gunner passed him in silence, and banana pieces into a plastic bowl and passed those to her.

“She acts like she hasn’t eaten in a week,” Gunner commented.

“I know the feeling,” Chas replied. He dug out granola bars and bananas and passed one of each to Gunner.

“What? I have to eat like a baby too?”

Chas shrugged. “Unless you have a cooked steak in the grocery bags that I didn’t notice, you get no-cook snack food too, until you want to stop at a restaurant or somewhere we can cook real food.”

Gunner said nothing but went back to staring at the rearview mirror.

“Why aren’t we getting on Highway 91? We’d make better time.”

“Because I’m going to turn west at some point, and we’re a whole lot harder to track if we stay off major highways.”

“Track how?”

“There are traffic cameras at intervals along major highways. And where there are cameras, there are hackable feeds.”

“Paranoid much, are we?”

“Not in the least. I’ve used those feeds in my work. And if the SEALs can use them, so can hostiles.”

Chas quieted, more alarmed by the idea of being surveilled on American soil than he wanted to let on.

About midmorning, Gunner’s phone rang, and he put it to his ear. He listened intently for a long time and then said merely, “Got it.”

“Well?” Chas demanded when the call ended.

“Well what?” Gunner asked blandly.

“You’re just teasing me now. Getting even for the car seat, are you?”

“Might be,” Gunner said cryptically.

“C’mon. This isn’t funny. What’s up with Poppy, and what happened in Misty Falls? Who were those guys?”

Chapter Four

SPENCER NEWMANstepped into the guard shack at Norfolk Naval Air Station. It felt weird as hell to be signing in as a civilian visitor. His companion, Drago Thorpe, murmured as they headed back to the car, “You okay?”

“No, actually. I don’t like being back here one bit.”

“I’m sorry, man. Just remember, I’ve got your back.”

Spencer flashed an intimate smile at his best friend and brand-new husband. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Then up to DC?”

“Yeah. I don’t think we’re going to get anything out of your old contacts unless we speak with them in person.”

---