Page 26 of Yankee in the Wind

“I’m afraid not. He made sure she never laid eyes on him.”

“Shit.” Then she remembered something else. “But that means Smith now knows what your new face looks like. I mean if the shooter saw it.”

“There’s a chance, yes, but since there were no cameras, I doubt he got a very good look even if he saw me through his scope. He was too busy aiming at you.” He swung his legs out of bed. “But we need to take extra precautions from now on.”

“What are you planning?”

“We need to see Ace and Fox. Let’s shower and get ready.”

She nodded. “I guess that means I won’t be able to go back to my apartment to pick up some of my stuff.”

He tossed her a regretful look. “I’m afraid not. I’ll try and get you what you need some other way.”

“Alright,” she said, swallowing hard, but accepting the hard fact that her normal life was over, and her career would go down the drain.

Maybe when all this was over, when Jack and his friends had found the mysterious Mr. Smith and stopped him, life would go back to normal. With one difference: she and Jack would have a chance at a life together.

For now, all she had were the few items she carried in her purse. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do for now.

They showered and dressed. While Jack went into the garage, Lilly made coffee. She poured herself a cup, then poured one for Jack. He was still in the garage, so she opened the door and joined him.

She found him at the back of the van, crouching down and screwing a license plate onto the van. “What are you doing?” she asked when she handed him the coffee mug.

“Changing out the license plate just in case it was somehow spotted.”

“But you’ve been so careful. You didn’t use the van to come to Delta Labs. You used a different car.” One that was most likely also borrowed like the one they’d used to get to the Medical Examiner’s building.

“If whoever is after you is checking the traffic cams, they might have tracked us to the parking garage where we changed cars. It’s possible that they followed all other cars exiting the garage when they realized that I dumped the Toyota there. Though I’ve tried to use routes that don’t have a lot of cameras.”

“So you think they might have the license plate number?”

Jack took a sip from his coffee. “Yeah. And they’ll be on the lookout for a white van.” He walked around the van, then opened a large storage cupboard.

Lilly looked at the interior. “What are those?”

“Decals,” Jack said and rummaged through the items. “I need to disguise the van. Can’t leave it plain white. The more I can make it look different the better.” He pulled several large decals out of the cupboard. “Wanna give me a hand?”

“Sure.” She placed her coffee mug on the workbench.

Jack handed her a decal the size of a large briefcase. It had a phone number printed on it, as well as the symbol of a Staff of Asclepius, a universal medical sign.

“You’re making it look like an ambulance?” she asked doubtfully.

“Not an ambulance.” He stuck a much larger sign on one of the sides of the van and pointed to it. “Medical transport. It’ll be perfect for where we’re going.”

“Which is?”

“A rehab facility.”

“For alcoholics?”

“You’ll see.”

13

This time, Jack didn’t exchange the van for a car in a parking garage. Instead, they drove for about half an hour, making lots of detours, which Jack said were necessary to make sure they weren’t being tailed, until they finally stopped in front of an iron gate.

Lilly read the sign.