Page 36 of Drowning in Darkness

And all I can think is that if they catch her tonight, Christopher will never let her go again.

THIRTEEN

STEPHANIE

The trouble with finding a safe place is that sometimes it’s a person.

“Call it in,” Agent Thompson snaps from the back seat.

I keep my gaze trained on the road, terrified to look at the two agents bleeding around me.

“No,” James says, his voice echoing with command. I relax a little. “Someone ratted you out.”

“There are other ways he could have found her,” Agent Thompson argues.

That Camryn isn’t arguing or even speaking is worrying.

“Are you sure enough to risk it?” James says.

A sign for a local hospital appears. I need to get off the freeway and get her to a hospital.

Agent Thompson mutters something under his breath.

“Where are you going?” James asks.

I frown. Who is he speaking to?

“Stephanie.”

Oh, me.

“Emergency room.”

“Nope. Get back on the freeway.”

I risk a glance at Camryn. There’s an alarming amount of blood pooling on the seat beneath her.

“No.”

“Don’t argue with me, woman. It’s the first place they’ll check.”

“He’s not wrong,” Agent Thompson adds.

“And will your wife find that excuse satisfactory when she’s standing over your grave with your two fatherless children?”

Shocked silence surrounds me. That’s the problem when you’re someone who rarely asserts themselves; everyone acts like you’re being difficult when you do. I’m not apologizing for prioritizing the health of the people protecting me.

“If you guys die, then who is going to help me?” I explain. “Give me another solution that gets medical help for you both and I will happily take it.”

“We need to get off the road anyway,” Agent Thompson says with a pained groan. “The shattered window will attract attention soon enough.”

“Precisely. Glad you see it my way.”

“I’m sending you a location now,” James says. The navigation screen comes to life, and a destination twenty-three minutes away appears. I don’t bother asking how he’s hacked the car’s computer system. That’s not the important thing.

“It’s too far. The hospital is closer.”

“The hospital will get you kidnapped and the agents you are trying to protect killed. There’s already a notification search for a woman with two injured agents out for the state.”