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I didn't like that one fucking bit.
"Car?"
"Pick-up," Mr. Accommodating supplied immediately. "I saw it because he illegally parked it right outside the doors. Black. Had one of those mini backseat things."
"We're going to need a plate number," K said in a way that brooked no argument.
"Um, we have cameras up front..."
"And you're still standing there like a fucking idiot because..."
The guy rushed toward a computer, hitting keys frantically and having to retry three times before he could get his shaking fingers to cooperate. "Okay here," he said, turning the monitor.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and punched in Janie's number, rattling off the number before she could even finish saying 'what's up'. "They're paper plates. The truck is new. Find out where it's from. Try to get it on cameras heading out of the city."
"On it," she said, hanging up.
"You got anything else to tell us?"
"That's all I know, man. I swear. I have noth..."
"Shut it," K said, turning to me. "How long until they find something?"
"Ten, fifteen depending on where he bought the truck."
"Alright. Coffee then we'll get out to the highway until we get a direction."
Ten minutes later, inside his truck with coffees in the holders, my phone started screaming. "Tell me you got some good news, Janie."
"He bought the truck outright in New York. The plates will do nothing as they're temps. But, get this, the truck came with six months of On-Star."
"That's supposed to comfort me because..."
"Because On-Star has tracking," she declared like I was an idiot. I drove bikes and vintage cars. I was clueless to all the bells and whistles of late-models. "They have major security, but with me and Alex on this... we should be able to pinpoint a location."
"How long?"
"An hour? Can't say for sure. But Alex said they headed south out of Philly so it won't hurt to get on the road and head in that direction so they don't get too much of a lead."
Janie's voice drifted off and I heard Reign pick up. "Repo, got Duke, Renny, Cash, and Wolf out looking for Viktor. Called in Hailstorm, Breaker and his crew, and the Mallicks. Even put a call out to the Grassis to let me know if they see him. They're no fonder of the Russians than we are. Someone will find him and bring him to us. From there, well, I guess that's up to K and Maze to decide what to do about him."
"Right. Thanks, Reign. I really..."
"Fuck off. This is what we do," he brushed off my gratitude and hung up.
And, I realized, not for the first time, that he was right. In our little, albeit ever-widening circle, there didn't need to be questions and explanations. All one needed was a phone call and the others were on board. It never occurred to me before how thankful I should be for the whole fucking lot of them. When all was said and done, I owed everyone a couple rounds at Chaz's.
Hitting the lowest corner of Pennsylvania, the last sign we'd seen was for some bumfuck town called Stars Landing, we pulled off the highway and waited for a call from Janie before we got too far out of town.
Half an hour after parking, both of us knowing we should get some rest but neither of us willing to do so, the phone screamed in the quiet space, making both of us jump.
"Janie..."
"Yep, all us bitches are interchangeable," came a voice that was distinctly not Janie.
"Hey Alex, you got something for me?"
"Aside from very possible carpel tunnel?" she asked and actually laughed at the growling noise I made in response. "Touchy. Anyway, yes. That's why I'm calling." I switched the phone to speaker at K's impatient snap. "Janie is tracking them now. They're in Maryland." With that, the SUV turned over and peeled out of the lot we were parked in. "They're not slowing down so we can't really pinpoint anything helpful. Besides, you're behind them by a while. Best bet is for us to keep guiding you in general directions until they pull off and call it a day. But it's early and they haven't been on the road that long yet so I wouldn't count on them stopping until nightfall."
With that, we made our way to Maryland.
The phone rang again half an hour later, a number I didn't know, so I put it on speaker immediately. "Repo," I said as K's hands gripped the wheel.
"K, it's Shelly. Vermont called."
I looked over at K whose eyes were completely off the road, confirming what I had suspected. Vermont was Maze. "What did she say?"
"She said..." Shelly trailed off for a second, shuffling paper and then reading back what she had obviously written so she wouldn't forget anything. I didn't blame her. K seemed meticulous as fuck about details. "'This is Vermont. I haven't been able to get in touch with K since I bugged out. I don't know if he's okay or if I should be calling Xander. But I don't have a lot of time. Ruslan Kozlov has me. We're in a black pick-up heading toward Miami. We're almost in Virginia now. I can't leave my phone on because I have no charger. I'll check for a message when I can or call back if I can get free or have an address where someone can come find me. Um... okay. I'm safe. He won't hurt me but, ah, he fucked over his brother so Vik is an issue. I gotta go.' She rushed that last part, her voice dropping and I heard someone calling her name."
