Page 71 of Erase Me
Reed scrolled through them, reading them loud.“Hi.Checking on you.Hoping you’re having a pleasant day.I’m here if you need anything.Don’t forget the email I sent you before.I meant every word.”
Judy jumped in.“How many texts are there?Five?Six?He talks like a teenager.A lot of it is total gibberish.”
“This is how Vaughn talks.”
“What did his email say?”I asked Judy.
“It came just a few minutes before I was supposed to meet with you,” she responded, directing her words at me.“He said something about not selling myself short.He claimed to be an investor, and I’d have a blank check for my research if I decided to go with him.I didn’t answer him.”
I wasn’t an expert agent, but I did know that a handler’s role didn’t include involvement like this.Their primary responsibility was to facilitate the assignment, make local arrangements, and certainly not to possess a higher classification of documents than the agent.On the other hand, I cross-referenced what Judy was saying with the information in Payam’s memory.
“So this Vaughn guy was aware of your meeting with me,” I said to Judy.“And he had prior knowledge that we were discussing your research funding.”
Reed handed her phone back.“Did you tell anyone where you were going today?Anyone at all?”
“Not a soul.Even after meeting with Xander and Nadine.Research money is a difficult business.I’ve gotten more ‘Thanks, we’ll get back to you’ responses than I care to count.I’ve learned the hard way not to celebrate or talk about it until the check is cashed.”
I turned to Reed.“It seems like Vaughn is taking over.He obviously knows more than you do.I’m convinced he orchestrated both of us showing up at Surf Ghetto.”
“How did he get you to go there?”
“Throughmyhandler.”
“You two are talking in code,” Judy objected.
Reed’s gaze locked with mine.“How did you get a handler assigned?Your mission was unauthorized.”
“My assistant is AI, and he was hacked that afternoon, before you and I showed up in that scrap metal yard.That was a set-up to take us both out.”
A new text lit up Judy’s screen.The three of us read it simultaneously.
- You’ll want to get out of that apartment before the fireworks start.
I heard vehicles pull up on the street, and my eyes immediately turned to the porch.I reached for the nearest lamp and switched it off.Reed did the same with the overhead lights.
Judy showed us the next text.
- Don’t believe anything they say.Those two are rogue agents.Come out.You’re safe with me.
Reed promptly pulled the young woman out of the direct line of the windows and porch door and sat her by the kitchen door.He moved quickly toward the back of the apartment, switching off any lights.I threw the bolt on the front door, though that hardly made me feel any more secure.One good kick could bust it open, and there were other ways in too.
Right now, I needed to identify who we were facing and how many.The balcony slider was open.Dropping to my hands and knees, I moved through it and crept forward until I could see the street below.Three dark SUVs were double-parked in front of the building, blocking the driveway.
I backed into the apartment.Reed had moved Judy into the bedroom, strategically placing her in a corner by a dresser.I told them what I’d seen.
“I got a text from Vaughn too,” Reed told me.“He wants us to send Judy out before we get down to business.And he knows we can’t jump time.”
One of the fundamental facts of time travel was that after a time jump, another transfer was impossible for at least three days.This interval allowed the human body’s cells to recover before undergoing another displacement.
“He knows that’s how we were able to disappear from that shipping container Tuesday night.”Despite our conflicting goals regarding Nadine and Judy, with Vaughn on our trail, Reed and I were currently united against a common enemy.“We need to face him and his crew head-on, just as we are.”
“Why is he doing this?”Judy asked in a small voice, the gravity of the situation suddenly dawning on her.
I didn’t know Vaughn.His motives remained a mystery to me.I was just as curious as Judy about what made this guy tick.
“We’ll answer all your questions once we get out of here,” Reed said in a calm voice, his expression revealing none of the stress I was feeling.
The thought crossing my mind at that moment was that he was exceptionally skilled at what he did.It seemed like he had navigated through situations like this many times before.Or maybe he was just a great actor.
