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“Get down, Claire!”
She dropped to the cold ground just as Mike’s foot hit the man midchest. They both fell over with Mike on top.
The gun skittered to the side of the struggling men and with one fluid movement, Mike grabbed it and drove the butt against the side of the man’s head with a sickening thud.
Claire sprang to her feet. “Let’s go!”
Mike had his hands buried in the man’s pockets. “The money, Claire. Leave the money.”
Her movements shifted to autopilot and she dumped the bundles of cash on the ground next to the inert form of her attacker.
Mike grabbed her arm and they barreled back through the door and ran toward the front of the bus station.
The bus had just closed its doors and Mike banged on the glass. The driver opened the doors. “I almost left you.”
Mike panted out his thanks and they stumbled down the aisle to their row.
Claire dropped to her seat, pressing her hands to her still-thundering heart. “H-how did that happen? How did he find us?”
“The money. There must’ve been a tracking device in the money. I was stupid not to check it.”
“He wasn’t FBI, no way.”
“The FBI didn’t bug the cash, either. They still think that money belongs to you, that it’s Hamid’s payoff. That must be why someone put it in your safe deposit box.”
“That guy in the alley? He was Spencer’s guy.” She brushed some dirt from the knees of her pants. “Are you sure that’s how he tracked us down, the money?”
“It must be. I made sure we weren’t followed, Claire. Now that you dumped the cash, we should be safe.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, shaken up, but fine.” She threaded her fingers through his and brought his hand to her cheek. “Are you okay? I thought for sure he was going to shoot you when he spun around.”
“I had the element of surprise, thanks to you. Good job not giving away my presence.”
“I saw you searching his pockets. Did you find anything?”
“I found a phone, which I didn’t take in case it could be tracked, and a couple of other items, which I’ll take a look at later—no ID, no wallet, nothing like that.”
“Do you think whoever sent him gave him orders to kidnap me or kill me?” Her muscles tensed. Either way, if she hadn’t had Mike by her side, she’d be dead meat by now.
He disentangled his fingers from hers and squeezed the back of her neck. “I’m not sure, but this is looking better and better for your story about Correll. The fact that someone other than the FBI was tailing you proves that this is some kind of setup.”
“No call to your boss yet?”
“I’ll wait until we get to our destination. By now, he’s probably heard that you took off. He’ll have plenty of questions.”
She sighed. “Unfortunately, we don’t have many answers for him. If the ID of the man in the two videos comes through, will Prospero have enough information to go after Spencer, along with what just happened in the alley back there?”
“It might be enough to start looking at Senator Spencer Correll more closely.” He reached down for his bag and unzipped it. “In the meantime, let’s eat.”
She peeled back the plastic wrap on the sandwich he’d handed her and spread a paper napkin on her lap. She took a bite and raised her eyes to the ceiling of the bus. “I never thought cold turkey on white bread would taste so good.”
“Sorry, that was the only kind of bread available.” He unwrapped his own sandwich and took a huge bite.
“I’m being serious. It tastes great.”
He popped open a bag of potato chips and shook the bag in front of her. “Want one?”
“No, thanks, but do you have my soda in there?”
“Be careful.” He pulled it from his bag. “It’s been through the ringer.”
She twisted the cap and the bottle hissed at her, so she settled for another bite of her sandwich while the bubbles fizzed out. “I can’t wait until this is all behind me. I’ve been living with it for so long—my husband’s death, my mother’s death, my suspicions, walking on eggshells around Spencer. I just want a normal life, a safe space to raise my son.”
