Page 39 of Factory Thief

I pop him good and solid on the jaw, then catch his limp body as it falls.

“Sorry, man.” I pat his cheek and set him on his chair to use his thumbprint to unlock his computer. As soon as it’s done, I lay him down on the floor as gently as I can.

I get into the database and look for the files I’m looking for. I can’t find them. I’m about to panic when I remember that while time stood still for me in jail, everyone else moved on with their lives. The data I want must have been moved from the current research folder to the archive section. It takes me a while, but I do manage to access the archive and then find the files I came here for. It’s a simple matter to download them into the flash drive I also purchased at the thrift store. It resembles Thor’s hammer from the comic book movies.

Seconds turn into minutes as I watch the data load…I feel as if I’m working with a freaking dinosaur. When was the processor in this PC installed, the nineties?

While I anxiously await my download to complete, Jeff moans gently.Please don’t wake up, I don’t want to hit you again.

I keep glancing at the door and hoping nobody else comes to check on Jeff.

Victoria is probably awake by now.

I hope she isn’t furious with me.

VICTORIA

Adreamy smile stretches my lips as I awaken in the sun-warmed bed. I’ve never been so happy to wake up in a place so dismal. Why? Because Jack is with me…

I roll over and stretch out my arm, hoping to feel his masculine warmth. My smile turns to a frown when I continue to pat about at the mattress without finding my quarry.

“Jack?” I roll over and see only rumpled sheets in his wake. The pillow bears the divot from his head, but he’s gone. The only thing left is his smell is all over me.

I sit bolt upright and try not to panic. Okay, he’s not here—

I peer over at the open bathroom door. No one. Where is he?

A stab of panic overtakes me as I look from one end of the small room to the other searching for the truck keys. Fuck, the keys are gone. Did Jack take the truck?

I peer out through the window curtains and groan. The truck is missing too.

Okay, no need to freak out yet.

Maybe he just went out to get breakfast.

Yeah, breakfast.

That’s it.

I wait for about twenty minutes before I decide I’m kidding myself.

He ran.

No, Jack doesn’t run.

He wouldn’t leave those cancer patients to fend for themselves.

Then where did he go?

“You idiot,” I growl in a guttural voice as I finally accept the obvious.

Jack went to the tech campus.

He went without me.

That has to be it.

That moron is probably trying to protect me.

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