Page 44 of Fool Me Once (Blackhawk Security)

They reached I-94 ten minutes later, far less time than it had taken to drive into Boughton. He hadn’t wanted to leave this early, but they hadn’t had a choice. With those Russians in the office, they needed to get away from Boughton.

Maybe it was for the best. With so few cars, it would be easier to watch the road behind them.

Once they’d gone a few miles on the interstate, he opened his phone and found the number for the Boughton police department.

When the sleepy-sounding dispatcher answered, Gideon said, “As I was driving out of town, I spotted two men breaking into the office of the Parkside Motel. I pulled over and managed to restrain them. They’re in the manager’s office.”

He disconnected before the dispatcher could say anything. Gideon slid the phone back into his pocket.

“They’re going to call you back,” she said.

“Can’t,” he answered. “I have an app that blocks my phone number.”

“Another FBI trick?”

“Nope. Just a useful app I found in the Play store.” He reached into the back seat and pulled two bottles of water out of the bag. Opened one and handed it to Alex, who gulped it down. He drank most of the second bottle.

Neither of them said much as she drove. Alex turned the radio on and they listened to a talk show. People calling in and asking for advice on their love lives. Finally she started giggling at one especially outrageous question. “I had no idea how bad late-night radio was.”

“Oh, this is nothing,” he said. “Lot of worse stuff out there. Right now, all the misfits, nut jobs and guys living in their mom’s basements are awake. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff you hear.”

“You listen to a lot of radio this time of night?”

He shrugged. “Stakeouts. Long drives in the middle of the night. I’ve heard my share of these kinds of programs.”

“Aren’t they all on the internet now?”

He shook his head. “Late night talk radio attracts of lot of troubled and lonely people,” he said. He searched until he found a channel playing classic rock. “This’ll be a little less disturbing.”

They listened as the car hummed over the road. Sang along to a few of the songs. Finally, Gideon nodded at a sign. “Truck stop in Dickinson. Ten miles. Let’s stop there. Get more supplies. I can take over the driving if you’d like.”

She shot him a glance. “You’re asking instead of telling me?”

He shrugged. “Your car. And I suspect you don’t react well to being told what to do.”

“You’d be right about that.” She shrugged. “You can drive. I’m not sure I can stay awake.”

“You can help keep me awake,” he said. “We’ll talk.”

As the tires droned over the highway, Gideon pulled out his phone. Opened the app for the tracker he’d put on Jerry’s car. Sucked in a breath.

“What?” Alex asked, glancing over at him.

“Jerry’s on the move,” he said. “On I-94. Just outside Fargo. He probably left at about the same time we did.” He scowled at the screen. “I wonder if those Russians called him. Told him they found the motel.”

She glanced at him again, and he saw fear in her expression. “Good thing we left right away,” she said. “The last location for that tracker was the motel. That’s why the Russians showed up. If we’d waited, Jerry might have caught us before we got out of Boughton.”

“Yeah.” Gideon was confident he could take Jerry in a fight. But Jerry and the two Russians? That would have been a lot tougher. Especially with Alex in the mix. If one of them had managed to grab her, they’d have had all the power. “I’m glad we’re not still there,” he said, his voice even.

Gideon shifted in the seat so he was looking at her. “Why’s Jerry coming after you? I told him it was gonna take a while to make the hit because I had to watch you before I killed you. Learned your routines. Your habits. Set it up to look like an accident.

“What changed?”

* * *

Alex drew in a deep breath. Another. She’d told him she’d taken some things from Jerry, but she’d been careful not to tell him what they were. She no longer feared or mistrusted him, but those files were her ace in the hole. Her bargaining chip. She had no intention of letting Jerry get hold of them, and keeping them hidden from him might buy her some time. She was pretty sure Jerry wouldn’t kill her until he had those files back.

She glanced at Gideon. He was still watching her, and his expression was impossible to read. He must have learned how to do that at the FBI Academy.

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