Page 13 of Kissing Kayley
“That’s all I can ask. Call me back on this number.”
“Will do. I’ll call them as soon as we get off here.”
“Thanks.” Vic ended the call and his grimly set jaw chilled me.
“What’s going on?” I asked while trying to beat back my growing terror. “How many attacks? Who’s behind them?”
“I don’t know, Kay.” He glanced at me. “Please hold the questions for now, baby. I don’t have answers.”
We rode in silence, which was weird because we both preferred having the radio on, and normally talked all the time. His cell rang ten minutes later.
Vic answered it in speaker mode. “Go ahead.”
It was the same man’s voice. “I talked to Derek. Considering I was short on deets he provisionally agreed.”
“Provisionally?” Vic asked.
“Yeah. When you and your plus-one arrive here, I’ll call him and he’ll come over to talk to you in person before he renders a verdict. That’s the best I can do. And he promised me confidentiality, but we’ll have to give him more deets before he decides. I trust him and the security team not to leak anything.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Listen, again, you’re welcomed to stay with us. I can call in favors to provide additional security, and unless someone knows where you are, I can guarantee you that you’ll be safe here. Not to mention I have a reinforced panic room in the basement.”
Vic looked at me. “I would normally accept that offer, but these are not normal circumstances and my plus-one is not a normal… civilian.”
“From the way you’re talking and what’s on the news, I kind of figured. When will you arrive?”
“Approximately ten hours. When we’re under an hour out I’ll let you know. I’d prefer not to put you out for even one night but that might not be possible. Either he says yes and we’ll go there tonight, or he says no and we bunk with you tonight and bytomorrow morning I’ll have another plan worked out and we’ll leave.”
“Okay. Safe travels.”
“Thanks, man.”
Vic ended the call and then called up an address on his phone. He plugged it into a map app, and after waiting for it to load and checking something he swiped out of it and passed the phone to me.
“See what you can find out about what’s going on from the news outlets,” he quietly said. “Stay off social media. I don’t want mis- and disinformation. I only want reasonably verified facts.”
Part of me felt tempted to drop the phone because I didn’t want to know.
“Okay,” I said as I started scrolling.
Vic held my hand as he drove. I’d stopped reading about the attacks five minutes in because it made me sick to my stomach.
Because of the news, not from motion sickness.
Whatever the attackers’ goal, the carnage was widespread in various coastal areas. I knew Leo, Jordan, Elliot, and my parents were safe, but beyond that I had no information except that port and lock facilities were being attacked in several states, in addition to the bridge attack in Tampa.
And I didn’t want to watch any of the videos of the attacks increasingly being posted at an unbelievable pace.
Instead, I connected Vic’s phone to the SUV’s system and we played music, occasionally tuning to a satellite news radio channel for updates before quickly returning to music.
Then my burner phone rang but I didn’t recognize the ringtone. Before I could check who the caller was, much less answer it, Vic snatched it from where it lay in the center console.
“Yeah?” He listened, his features relaxing almost immediately. “We’ve changed plans…. Yes, I ditched the tracker once the shit hit the fan…. I’ve already contacted the head of her detail. I’m taking her to a secure, undisclosed location…. No, I won’t while we’re in transit. Not on an unsecured line…. Best I’ll say is do you know Ced…? Yes, him. He has a connection to a secure place where—. Exactly…. I will…. Yeah, here she is.”
He handed the phone to me.
“Hey, kiddo,” Leo said.
