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“Missy,” the man said. “You’re gonna have to punch in the numbers for her. She can’t reach it.”
Missy blinked several times, then looked down at the phone like she couldn’t remember how it got in her hand. “Uh, what was the number?”
Laura gave it to her again. After several failed tries where Missy transposed numbers, the man gave Laura an apologetic smile. “It’s been a long night for her. She had to pull a sixteen-hour shift.”
“Yes,” Laura said. “Been a long night for me too.”
The next time Laura gave Missy the number, she succeeded in punching the correct buttons.
The phone rang.
Since this wasn’t something Laura was ready to explain to Harrington, she called a retired senior Warden who’d been friends with her father and the closest she’d had to a grandfather.
Someone she could trust.
And because she couldn’t trust the Senate, she hadn’t dared use Max’s phone to call him. While Max’s fellow Senate members might not have cared about him going missing, the people he’d worked with would explore every possible threat to their operation.
His cell phone records would be the first logical place to look. Either to get an idea where he could be located or who he might be conspiring with behind their backs.
Asking Gordon for help was dangerous enough. Laura didn’t need to leave a trail of breadcrumbs right to his front step.
The line picked up. “No, I don’t need no goddamned extended warranty on my fucking forty-five-year-old truck.”
Laura couldn’t help but smile. “Good morning to you too, Gordon.”
“Laura?”
“I’m afraid so.”
He huffed. “Been a while.”
“That it has.” Laura opened a package of beef jerky with her teeth.
“Where you at?”
To Missy, Laura said, “What’s the address?”
Missy tried to turn around and almost dropped the phone base. “Oh, it’s, it’s…” She rattled it off.
Laura relayed it.
“What the hell are you doin’ in Satan’s asshole?”
“Eating beef jerky and stale cookies.”
“That bad, huh?”
“I’m wearing size eleven boots.”
“Son-of-a-bitch.”
“Out of the three, it was the closest fit. The fourth pair wasn’t designed for hiking.”
“Goddamn it.”
“I need a ride and a place to crash.”
“You’re at least seven hours out.”
