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“Really? And where did you go once no one was keeping tabs on you?”
She shrugged and smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “Mostly? Nowhere. We just drove around being free.”
“Well, that’s going to work in our favor. I want to pull over by that lot outside town where the trucks stop and check for GPS. Then we’ll hit the road and keep going.”
“Do we have a plan beyond that? What are we going to do?”
He turned his hand over and she put her hand in his then wrapped her other palm around their joined hands. “We’re going to take names and kick some ass.”
Chapter Five
Thursday. I-70 Eastbound.
By mid-afternoon, Jessica had settled into a kind of existence that balanced on a tight-rope of anxiety. She watched the rearview mirror for any sign they were being followed, but apart from the typical lead foot driver, few vehicles stuck with them for long.
They were on I-70 in Kansas. The landscape had long since begun to blur together as time crept past. She did well enough to navigate a city. Out here? Everything looked the same to her. Foreign and unfamiliar. If they broke down, she wouldn’t know what to do.
“Should we try to change vehicles?” she asked as a sign for another town started counting down the miles.
“With what money?” Samuel asked.
She grimaced but nodded. “Point taken. How much do we have after we filled up?”
“One twenty.”
That would not get them far.
She chewed the inside of her cheek and rolled some ideas around, examining them for possible pitfalls. When she couldn’t think of more than a few downsides, she decided to speak up.
“Here’s an idea.” She twisted to face him. “Could I buy gift cards online for in-store pickup? We could use that for gas, food, whatever.”
Samuel shook his head. He was constantly punching holes in her theories. “The moment we make a transaction, someone might track us.”
She was inclined to agree with him, but there was one very important fact she wanted to clear up before backing down. “Can we stretch a hundred and twenty dollars seventeen hundred miles?”
It was his turn to grimace. “I… I don’t know.”
“I think somewhere around Topeka we find a library with open Wi-Fi. I use that to get gift cards and then we drive straight through to the east side of Kansas City before finding a place to stay for the night. I know what you’re saying, but Samuel, we need money to get to DC.”
His brow furrowed, and he looked across the Jeep at her. “I don’t want to take unnecessary risks…”
“Does it help to know that I have a VPN?”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I mean, it’s been standard in our family but we also use the same service for work.”
“Hm…”
A virtual private network wasn’t a foolproof solution, but it would at the very least mask her computer and make it more difficult for anyone tracking them. Hard enough they’d have a head start if they didn’t drag their feet.
“We could pick up the gift cards from somewhere we can also get new clothes. Because we both look a mess to the point that people are going to remember us,” she said.
“Fine. Fine.” Samuel sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Truth be told, I think we could both use a hot shower, clean clothes, and something to eat.”
They’d found a hundred and fifty in cash in the bag she’d dug through first. She didn’t see a way for them to eat and have enough gas to get to DC. Not with current prices. And besides, as much as Samuel had done to protect and care for her today, he was recovering just as much as she was.
She spent the rest of the drive to Topeka sorting through her thoughts and trying to figure out where she’d gone wrong.
