AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Feeling sick with terror, Cami stared around. She was seconds away from being caught.
The only possible bolt hole she could use was the living room. Cami darted into it and crouched down behind the couch. If he decided to come in here, it was all over.
Her pulse was accelerating into the stratosphere. She heard his footsteps scrunching up to the front door. And then, the now familiarthunkas it opened.
Not daring to breathe, Cami heard him mutter to himself, sounding surprised. He must have seen that the alarm had been deactivated.
She heard the faint beep of keys. He was dialing a number on his phone.
“I just got home. My front door alarm has malfunctioned,” she heard him say.
Then she heard his footsteps and voice pass by the doorway. He was walking through to the kitchen and Cami felt breathless with premature relief. She hadn’t been seen, but now, she had to get out, and fast, because every moment she spent in this house was now a danger.
This might be her only chance. Unappealing as it was, she had to take it. She got up from behind the couch, knowing that he was right on the other side of the adjoining wall. She could hear his voice clearly from the kitchen as she headed to the front door, lightheaded with tension, pulling it open with her sleeve over her hand, and then closing it as quietly as possible. At any moment, she expected to hear the angry shout that would tell her she’d been discovered.
She knew she should walk casually, but she was done with being casual. Cami rushed for the gate and sprinted down the road, clutching her now-heavier laptop bag tightly.
She'd just done something that was highly illegal and no matter her muttered promise to return it, Cami knew that what she'd done was a criminal act.
But had she had a choice when this man was a bigger criminal? He had deliberately sabotaged a missing persons case, and he had left the FBI in disgrace. He’d either planted malware on that file in the FBI archives or else instructed someone else to.
She hadn't had a choice, Cami knew. To get to the bottom of who this man was, and why he'd done what he had, this had been necessary.
She reached the bus stop just as the bus was pulling up. Jumping onto it, she hurried to a seat at the back and sat down, feeling as if her legs had been cut from under her.
There was no going back. She'd struck a blow against him, and now he'd know it was war. Now, she seriously hoped she hadn’t left fingerprints in the house. Mistakes were inevitable when working under that pressure. And it wasn’t like she was used to breaking into houses.
"‘Scuse me. ‘Scuse me," the woman behind her said.
Fear surged in Cami's throat, and she glanced around, dreading what this was about, wondering what this woman was going to say. For a moment, her fevered imagination conjured up that perhaps Liam had had a hidden camera somewhere that hadn't been visible on the network, and even now was chasing after the bus in his car.
"Your bag."
"My bag?"
"It's open." The woman pointed at her laptop bag. Cami hadn't closed it properly, and she could clearly see the red outline of Liam's machine, half jutting out. This helpful woman had seen it too. Would she remember if a description of the laptop was circulated? Would she link Cami to this theft if Liam made it public?
Then again, maybe he wouldn't make it public, because maybe he was a person who didn't operate within the law himself. That might prevent him from doing what a normal person would do.
"Thank you," Cami said to the helpful woman. She yanked the zipper shut.
"That computer, where did you buy it?"
Cami's heart nearly stopped as the woman pointed to her bag again. So much for flying under the radar. She was going to be remembered by this passenger, who looked to be in her thirties, with a plump, round face and curly, ginger hair.
"Which one?" Cami said politely.
"The big one."
Cami felt her heart lurch in relief because that was her own machine. Quickly, she told the woman the specs, where she'd gotten her machine, and what the features were.
"It's a gaming and programming machine. So, it's quite expensive," she concluded.
"I love gaming," the woman said wistfully. "If only I had time to play more."
She glanced out of the window. To Cami's vast relief, it seemed that she'd gotten where she was going.
"Nice meeting you," she said, standing up.
