Page 120 of Pressure

Forcythe had been a vendor providing tech upgrades to the company receptionists. It seemed to be one of his trademarks when he stole from people. Lance wasn’t the only one he’d stolen from that year.

It was four in the morning before she had a list of known associates. By six, she was convinced that Sebastian Forcythe was in Colorado.

She wondered if Lance knew that.

On a whim, she dug for the dark web chat room she’d been in previously, looking for a way to contact him.

Was Sebastian the one who hit her over the head? Jodie was too short to have hit her.

She rubbed her eyes and forced herself to lay down and get some sleep. While she slumbered, she relived their conversation with Sebastian at the prison visitor center.

She woke with a start and ran to her computer, she knew how to find him and how to lure him out. Twenty minutes later, she was in a chat with Sebastian Forcythe. Her heart pounded as she typed out an invitation to access one of Lance’s apps.

Her fingers trembled as she waited for a response. Would he fall for it?

Why are you doing this?

It took her a minute to decide how best to respond. She didn’t want to be too over the top but she also needed him to believe she was a pissed off woman.

He dumped me… again.

Please believe me, she thought as she waited for his response.

Oh damn. I got you girl. We’ll need to talk payment if you really want me to do this.

What about revenge?

Opportunist.

Are you still on Nicholas Sutton’s payroll?

A pause

I am.

I can get you back into the Solitaire system too, but we’ll need to meet in Colorado.

It was several minutes before he responded.

Tonight. Or not at all.

Fuck. Could she get on a plane without that damn security team following her? She highly doubted it, but she had to try.

If she walked to the train station, they would just follow her, and it would be easy for one of them to hop out on foot. Her best bet was calling a cab and having him take her to the airport. The guards wouldn’t get past security before she got on the plane if she timed it right and would take them a few hours to figure out where she was going. Especially if she purchased a couple of tickets to different destinations.

I’ll be on the next flight out.

She pulled up a flight reservation site as an idea for losing the security team formulated. She knew she was being idiotic, but if she could meet Forcythe and get a confession from him, it would be easier to put an end to all of this. Especially if he knew where Jodie was.

In the back of a cab an hour later, she watched as the SUV expertly tailed them. She leaned forward and spoke to the cab driver.

“I’m sure my asshole ex is in that SUV back there. Can you get a few more cars ahead of him so he doesn’t try to follow me into the airport? He’s really mad that I’m leaving.”

She prayed the driver would be sympathetic. He was and maneuvered the lanes of traffic until the SUV was another half a dozen cars behind them.

At the airport drop-off terminal, she jumped out, tossing a wad of too much cash to the driver and ran inside. She’d pulled up her boarding pass on her phone, so she was able to head straight for security. A ball cap she’d tucked into her bag provided a bit of cover as she slid into line.

Once through security, she looked for her gate and settled in to do more research into Jodie King.

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