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When she reached the exit for the mall, she veered into the exit lane at the last minute. No one appeared to react, and she took a deep breath. Thank God.
After spending twenty minutes in the mall and purchasing a purse and a new pair of running shoes, Alex trudged back to her car. Yesterday’s tense, stressful drive had drained her, and she was already tired. But Fargo was only three and a half hours away, and she needed to get there. Needed to escape from Minneapolis and that creepy ‘someone’s watching’ feeling.
The drive to Fargo was low-key. Unremarkable. She watched the cars behind her, but no one seemed to be following her. She drove in the right lane, and most cars flew past on her left. By the time she neared the city, twilight had painted the sky a million shades of pink and purple. She picked an exit that had lots of chain hotels and checked into a Marriott Fairfield Inn. She’d switch hotel chains every day until she reached Seattle.
After checking into the hotel, she took a shower and changed her clothes. Dumped her old, broken down sneakers into the bottom of the suitcase and replaced them with her new On Clouds. She could practically hear the ‘ahhh’ from her feet as she moved around the bed.
Time to transfer everything important from her tote bag to her new purse. The tote held files from her other active cases, the make-up bag she kept for court appearances, her tablet and her new burner phone. Along with all the typical detritus women kept in their purses.
Pulling everything out, she laid her belongings on the bed and sorted through them. Only her money, her gun, the new phone and Jerry’s files would go in her new handbag, along with her wallet, stripped of everything but some cash. The rest of the stuff would go back in the tote, to be packed at the bottom of her suitcase.
She grabbed the tote and opened it, and a white thing that looked like an oddly shaped, curved flash drive gleamed in the overhead light. Frowning, she pulled it out.
Damn it! This was no flash drive. It was a tracking device. Exactly the same as the ones she dropped into client’s briefcases or purses when she considered them a flight risk. A little shady, maybe, but better than having a client disappear. She needed to be in control, and life had taught her to always have a card up her sleeve.
Who would have planted a tracking device on her?
Jerry? Had he tossed it in her tote bag so the hitman could track her down?
Chilled at the thought, she set it on the floor and stomped on it until it was nothing but broken plastic and pieces of metal. Then she tossed it into the trash can.
Maybe the hitman was already following her. She wanted to run, but she needed food. She’d stop for dinner, then get out of Fargo.
Opening the maps app on her phone, she scanned the North Dakota map. Valley City was about an hour west of Fargo. She could drive another hour tonight.
It might be a matter of life and death.
Slinging her new purse over her shoulder, she grabbed her suitcase and tote bag. Exited the hotel through a side door so the clerk wouldn’t see her with her bags and ask questions. After stowing them in her trunk, she pulled out of the parking lot.
She chose a busy chain restaurant, and while she waited for a table, she let her gaze drift over the other diners. No one seemed interested in anything but their food and their companions. Not a soul looked her way. By the time the hostess seated her, the tension in her shoulders had eased a little. The waitress took her order promptly, and while Alex waited for her food, she pulled up her maps app and studied the route to Valley City. A short drive.
Five minutes after the waitress had set her plate of salmon, green beans and a roasted sweet potato in front of her, the hostess led a man to the table across from hers. Her eyes were drawn to him as he followed the hostess. He walked with self-assurance. Power. As if he knew exactly who he was and what he wanted. She noticed the way he held his body -- alert. He paid attention to everything, scanning the diners at the tables he passed. Always studying his surroundings. Finally he slid into a seat at the table. He sat facing her, studying his menu. The angle of the menu kept her from seeing his face.
He finally put the menu down when the waitress approached his table. He smiled up at her, and Alex heard the low murmur of his voice as he placed his order.
As she studied him, a tiny hum of awareness buzzed beneath her skin. She didn’t know this guy. She was certain of that. But something pinged when she looked at him. A sense of familiarity.
Had she seen him before? One of Jerry’s friends?
No. This stranger was nothing like Jerry. An air of danger clung to the man sitting at the next table. He looked like a guy you wouldn’t mess with. A guy you wouldn’t want to meet in the proverbial dark alley.
Alex forced herself to finish her meal. She’d been too nervous, too edgy to eat earlier. And she needed the protein and calories. She didn’t stare at the man across from her. She pretended she was preoccupied with her phone. But she was always aware of what he was doing. Where he was looking.
And he was often looking at her.
Finally, as the waitress delivered a thick steak to Stranger Danger, Alex lifted her hand to summon the young woman.
“May I have my check, please?” she asked, quietly enough that the guy across from her shouldn’t be able to hear.
“Sure thing,” the waitress said chirpily. “Be right back with it.”
Stranger Danger had eaten barely half his steak when Alex put some bills in the folder, stood up from the table and walked out of the restaurant.
* * *
Gideon followed Alex’s progress through the restaurant and out the door. She never glanced at him as she passed his table. Didn’t look over her shoulder before she stepped into the parking lot.
Why would she? Conway had no idea what he looked like.
