She dropped the separate pieces into the cup holder in the console of her late-model gray Honda. It was one of the most popular cars in the United States, which was precisely why she owned it. This vehicle would blend in with every other car on the highway.
“Got any particular direction you think we should head?” he asked.
“Just out of Risk Peak, definitely not in the direction of the ranch, and probably not toward any of your family’s houses, either.”
He nodded. “Yes, those will be the first places they’ll look.”
They drove toward Denver, deciding that the more vehicles around, the less conspicuous they would be. As they approached Aurora, a suburb just outside Denver, they started running low on gas.
“We’re going to have to stop,” Tanner said. “But we can’t run any credit cards. I have eighty-seven dollars in my wallet. That’s not going to get us far.”
“That’s okay. I have about two thousand in my backpack.”
He nearly gave himself whiplash as he spun to look at her before returning his eyes to the road. “Why the hell do you have two thousand dollars in your backpack?”
She shrugged. “It’s my bug-out bag. Do you know what that is?”
“I was raised in Colorado and have a brother who’s always one step away from disappearing. So yeah, I know what a bug-out bag is. But most people have camping supplies and waterproof matches. Not two grand.”
The termbug-out baghad been coined by survivalists to mean a bag that contained whatever emergency gear someone kept available and ready to go at a moment’s notice—in case they needed tobug out. Most people thought of it in terms of wilderness survival.
Bree’s bag was completely different. It did have some traditional supplies—a Mylar blanket, changes of clothes and a small first-aid kit. But Bree had never planned to be heading to the wilderness if she had to survive on the run. Her kit was forurbansurvival.
“Actually, I have something we should probably use now that we’ve cleared Risk Peak. Can you pull over at that rest stop ahead?”
Tanner nodded tightly and did as she asked. He definitely didn’t look any more relaxed as she took a license plate out of her backpack.
“The first thing any police officer will do if they’re looking for a car like mine is run the license plates. These will come up clean.”
“Why do you even have those?”
She gnawed on the side of her lip. “Actually, six months ago I had five different clean license plates, to use if I had to run from the Organization. I got rid of all but one.”
He scrubbed a hand across his face. “Well, I’m glad you only have one illegal set.”
“In the interest of full disclosure, I also have a creditcard and ID under another name.” She flinched at his thunderous look. “I—I...I’m trying, Tanner, I promise. But running and disappearing was my whole life for so long.”
She didn’t want him to be disappointed in her, and she’d tried to force herself to get rid of the bag multiple times, but she just couldn’t.
His face relaxed, and his hand reached for hers. “I know. And who am I to judge, considering you’re using all this stuff to help me? But let’s try to keep the illegal activities as much to a minimum as possible. And when we get all this cleared up, how about getting rid of all the illegal stuff.”
She nodded. Maybe by then the thought wouldn’t send her into a panic.
He took the license plate from her and changed it out. Then they got back on the road.
“We need to come up with a plan,” she said after a few more minutes. “Driving around puts us at unnecessary risk. I know you don’t want me to use the fake ID or credit card, but that will allow us to get a hotel room. All we need is somewhere with good internet and I can start to look into the situation.”
Which would involve more illegal activity, but she didn’t want to bring that up.
But she wasn’t fooling him. His lips tightened. “What systems are you going to hack?”
She sighed. “I was going to start with the sheriff’s office. I should be able to find all the details of the latest murder there. Then cross-reference them with Darin Carrico and see if there’s an association. I also want to see if he sent out another email before Owen Duquette was killed.”
Tanner nodded, not giving her a hard time about thehacking she would need to do. At this point, there was no way around it. They needed info and they needed it fast. The best she could do was promise to only access the info they needed.
She was capable of so much more.
“Will Grand County be able to trace where the hack is coming from? Find you?”
