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“All right, so we go to Dallas?” I asked.
“The immediate use is likely for research,” Philip said. “Dallas certainly makes the most sense.”
But Naomi held up a hand. “You’re right—the two drivers and the guard are most likely in Dallas. Probably Dr. Charish as well However, there’s a solid chance that my mother ordered Mr. Ivanov taken for retribution or some other personal reason. If so, then he might be in New York, since that’s where she stays this time of year.”
Great. Everyone had some bit of personal knowledge to help except me. I wanted to ask questions, but I had a feeling I’d end up being one of those people who asks the stupid questions that everyone already knows the answers to and simply ends up slowing the whole thing down.
“We don’t have enough manpower to check both,” Kyle said, then lifted his head and snapped his fingers. “Flight plans. They’d have flown him to New York if they took him there. Naomi, how hard would it be to check if a Saberton jet left here and, if so, where it went?”
She smiled. “Not hard at all.” She walked a few feet away and started doing stuff on her phone. I moved off in another direction and once again tried to call Marcus. Again it rang and then went to voicemail. Frustrated I hung up without leaving a message and instead simply texted him. Something happened 2 ur uncle n doc. Need to talk 2 u ASAP!!!!
My heart leaped when it dinged with a reply message. I know. Pursuing possible lead and keeping head down. You ok?
Relieved, I quickly thumbed in a reply. I’m ok. with some others. where r u? need to join up.
Can’t join up. Risky. About to leave town. Will explain later. Need to turn off phone soon. Stay safe. I love you.
I stared at the last three words, heart in my throat. Even after being dumped, he still cared. Finally I texted my reply. Love you too.
“It’s New York,” Naomi crowed in triumph, jogging back to the others. “Flight pl
ans confirmed it. Time to get serious now. First things first, we need to ditch all the phones.”
“Phones can be tracked,” Kyle said with a nod of agreement.
“Right.” I tore my eyes from Marcus’s text. “I’ll turn mine off.”
“Not good enough,” Naomi said and held out her hand. “With the right technology it can still be tracked, even without a battery. Hand it over.”
The look in her eyes stopped me. “What are you going to do?” I asked, suspicious.
“Smash and toss,” she said.
“Are you crazy?” I clutched my phone to my chest. “This is a brand new phone!”
Philip looked at me, expression grave. “And we’re talking about our lives. A phone is replaceable. You aren’t.”
“Yeah, well I bet you three make a fuckload more money than I do!” I retorted. “Y’all can smash your phones, but I don’t see why I can’t hide mine somewhere so I can get it back after all this shit is over.”
“It’s just a phone,” Naomi said with a roll of her eyes.
“Did the Tribe give you your phone?” I demanded.
“Well, yes—”
“And the rest of you?” I stabbed the two men with my glare, and they gave grudging nods. I swung my attention back to Naomi. “I’m not as stupid as you seem to think, and I get that we need to ditch the phones, but shit’s only replaceable if you have the money to replace it. I have a goddamn mountain of debt right now because I had to replace everything.” My stomach roiled with tension at the memory of the flood and the aftermath. “I’d rather not make that mountain any fucking higher, so forgive me if I’m not all excited about tossing away something that isn’t exactly cheap. I spent half a week’s salary for my phone.” I started to go on about the fact that I had two pairs of jeans to my name because, instead of buying a third pair, I decided to buy dishes that actually matched each other, but Naomi jerked her hand up to stop me.
“Okay, fine, I get it,” she snapped, and I had the sense she was more annoyed that I was making her feel guilty about her financial status. Well, what the fuck was I supposed to do about that? Not my fault she had no clue what it was like to be poor.
“Where do you want to hide it?” she asked with an impatient gesture around her. “Need to do it sooner rather than later so we can get moving. And you have to promise not to freak if it’s not here when we get back.”
My scowl deepened. “I won’t freak,” I muttered, stung. “I just don’t want to destroy it.” Part of me knew my freakout about the phone was avoidance to keep from thinking about the scariness of going to New York, but I still felt a weird hurt that Naomi wasn’t even trying to understand what it was like to always have to sweat finances.
“There’s a post office half a mile down the road,” I told the others. “The lobby’s open twenty-four/seven, and I can mail it to myself.”
Philip nodded slowly. “That’s a damn good idea, Angel.”
Naomi grumbled something under her breath, but didn’t protest, though she made a big production over smashing her own phone and tossing the remains into the water. Philip rolled his eyes at her antics, but he followed suit. As we returned to the car Kyle suggested that it might be best if Philip didn’t drive, and, considering the incident moments before, no one argued. Kyle took the wheel and less than ten minutes later my phone was sealed within a priority mail box—addressed to myself at the Coroner’s Office, because I didn’t trust my neighbors not to steal packages left on my porch. The self-serve machine spit out the correct postage, I dumped the box into the slot, then returned to the car.
