AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Their vehicle had no license plates. Didn’t federal agents have government plates?
They’re not FBI agents! Maybe they’re the ones who broke into your house!
She knew this neighborhood better than anyone—she’d grown up here. Jenna sped down the street, not slowing at the stop sign after a quick look to make sure no people were around, then she turned right and sped up. Two blocks later she ran a red light, barely missing a minivan that was just starting through the intersection, eliciting the angry blare of horns.
She didn’t care. Her heart thudded, her hands shook, all the way to the freeway. She spared one glance behind her; her pursuers had stopped at the light.
Thank God thank God thank God.
She went north on the interstate instead of south, because south meant she would have to wait at a light. North, she just turned and merged.
She got off at the next exit, only a mile down. She prayed hard that they were so far behind that they didn’t see her exit.
Then Jenna drove under the Beltway and headed west, taking a variety of turns through neighborhoods she was less familiar with, until she reached the nature center off Democracy Boulevard.
She didn’t know exactly why she went there, except that she had volunteered there in high school for a semester because she had a crush on a senior named James. James had been her first real crush, her first kiss, and her first breakup, such as it was. But it wasn’t a bad thing, and she and James still chatted on social media from time to time. He’d moved to England after college and had been living with a girl for the last three years, they both worked with the park system doing something outdoorsy, she didn’t remember what.
But Jenna knew the center and its grounds well, and while most of the parking was in the front, employees parked in the back lot, which couldn’t be seen from the road. She drove around and parked. The center was open only in the morning for school field trips, and on the weekends for the general public.
No one was there. But no one could see her if they were driving by, either. She didn’t care if they had security cameras because she wouldn’t mind talking to one of the nice officers from yesterday, telling him everything, and hoping he’d find her a safe place to stay. But she didn’t see any on the building.
She turned off her car and sat, trying to control her emotions, figure out what was going on—and who she might call for help.
Not the FBI. How did those men know where she lived? How did they know that the FBI were going to send two agents to talk to her?
Maybe they really were federal agents...
No, they weren’t. They didn’t show ID and they jumped on her car then followed her! It was surreal.
She needed to call Lance, tell him what happened, tell himnotto go to her house!
She searched her purse for her new flip phone. It wasn’t there! She dumped the contents on the passenger seat, looked through all the pockets...and remembered she’d left it on her desk to charge.
She put her head down on the steering wheel and cried.
Had she actually run from FBI agents? Hit one of them with her car?
Who could she call? Who could she trust?
The only person she trusted was Lance, but she didn’t want to get him in trouble or hurt for helping her. Still...she should wait until he got out of class, then talk to him in person.
She sat there, wiping the tears from her face, looking at her dashboard clock. She had two hours...how would she find him? She didn’t know where he parked, what specific class he had, where he would be when he got out at 5:30.
The hospital! The hospital would be safe—Jenna knew everyone there; they knew her. She’d call him from there, tell him what happened. Then she’d call the Bethesda police and tellthemwhat happened. They’d figure out if those agents were real or not.
Not real agents.
She liked having a plan. Resolved, she headed straight for the hospital.
But as soon as she turned down the street toward the employee parking entrance, she saw the black SUV. Inside were the two goons who had shown up at her house pretending to be FBI agents.
They spotted her two seconds after she saw them. Jenna saw them looking at her car, and the passenger pointing right at her. The SUV engine roared, and their deathly black vehicle charged right at her.
Jenna spun her steering wheel while slamming on the gas, turning around her vehicle without hesitation, in the process almost sideswiping a car parked on the street. She floored it, hoping, praying, she could get away.
Twenty-Six
Regan really, really hated the traffic that now seemed to go in every direction, not just flowing out of DC and Arlington into the suburbs. Her GPS told her it would take more than an hour to get to Grant’s place for a drive that should have taken thirty minutes. But there was no getting around it; she was going to see him tonight and not leave until he told her what he and Tommy had been doing.
