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“Nope. His brother, or whatever, took him away before the ambulance got there.” He elbowed his friend in the ribs. “Some brother. If it was me, I’d want to go to the hospital. That guy was out cold, from the looks of it.”
“Yeah, me too.” Max shoved his glass away from him. “We gotta go, honey. Olive will be happy to hear the man at the rink was okay.”
Ava waved to Dina and pushed back from the bar.
Max paid for the drinks, leaving Dina a hundred-dollar tip.
When they hit the sidewalk, Max cursed and took her arm, hustling her toward the parking lot.
“What’s wrong, Max? I know you think being in Tempest’s clutches is the worst thing ever, but at least Adrian’s alive.”
“Being a Tempest drone is not being alive, Ava.”
She puffed out a breath, happy for the hundredth time that Cody had secured the lab. Max would’ve never gone for her plan to return to Tempest only to be rescued by the antidote later, no matter how much whipped cream and hot fudge were involved.
He beeped the remote for their little car. “It’s not just being under the spell of Tempest again. Tempest has Bessler and they’ll be privy to any information he has—including info about Cody and maybe even the bug Bessler put in his place. Do you know if Cody was home when he called us?”
Max’s words had instilled a cold fear throughout her body. “I think so. We need to warn him.”
“I don’t want you to call him. If Tempest does know about him, he’ll be tracked.”
She pressed a fist to her lips and then clapped her hands. “Dina! I’ll give a message to him via Dina. She’s already proven herself to be discreet.”
“I’ll drive you around the front of the bar and wait for you in the street.”
He exited the parking lot and pulled the car in front of the bar, double-parking.
Ava ran into the bar, threading her way through the crowd. She gestured to Dina to join her at the end of the bar.
“Hey, thanks for the tip.”
“Do you want another?”
The girl’s heavily lined eyes widened. “Sure.”
“I need to get a message to Cody but I can’t call him on his phone. I don’t want you to call him with this message either. Can you get him to come down here and talk to him in person?”
She smiled a slow, seductive smile. “I can get Cody to do anything I want.”
“Too much information.” Ava held up her hand. “When he gets here, tell him to leave town immediately and throw his phone away. Tell him it’s life-and-death.”
Dina’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“I’ll do it, of course.”
“Thanks.” Ava slipped her another hundred-dollar bill, courtesy of Max’s stash. “Maybe you should join him.”
She ran back to the car, still double-parked, and jumped in. “Done.”
“We need to get out to that lab as soon as possible.”
They left town just as a light snow began dusting the treetops. Max maneuvered the car down the mountain and they sped past Salt Lake City, heading south.
Ava clutched the piece of paper with the directions to the lab in her lap, crinkling the corners. “We’re turning off in about four miles. What’s the odometer reading?”
He poked a finger at the control panel. “I just reset it. I’ll keep my eye on it, not that it looks like there are going to be a lot of options for turning off in the next five miles.”
Darkness had descended and the snow had turned to slush.
Ava turned up the heat and folded her arms across her body. “Too warm for you?”
“It’s fine.” He flipped down the vent. “We don’t have to go through with this, Ava. We can drive on by and spend our last few days together someplace warm and safe.”
“It’s right within our reach.” Her fingers danced along his forearm. “I’m not afraid.”
“I know you’re not. That’s what scares me.”
He took the turnoff and she continued to guide him by reading the directions from the notepaper. “I hope you have a flashlight in your bag of tricks because it’s dark out here.”
