My phone rings and I snatch it up. “Sarah!” I cry when I see my sister’s name on the screen. I swipe right and answer. “Oh my God, where have you been?”
“Hey girl!” I hear nothing but cheeriness in her voice. “We’re here! Can’t wait to hit Disneyland.”
“Wh-what?”
“What an incredible surprise. Grady is over the moon. Thanks so much for swinging this, but next time a little heads’ up would’ve helped. I had a big project at work, and I had to call in sick to get here.”
“Wait, where are you?” I stand up, already grabbing my purse. Dune is right behind me as if he heard every word.
“We’re in Anaheim already. We took the hotel shuttle, checked in and came straight to the park. Didn’t you say to meet you at Space Mountain? Why all the cloak and dagger, anyway?”
“Uh, so you’re at Space Mountain now?”
“Yeah, but I don’t see you.”
“Right. I’m not there yet, but I’m on my way.”
“Tell her to get lost in the crowd,” Dune whispers.
“Don’t wait for me. Go ride a bunch of rides, and I’ll call you when I get there. Okay? Get busy, and I’ll find you.”
“When are you going to tell me what this is all about? Why the big surprise?”
“Go!” I practically shout, then dial it back in. My sister’s phone is probably bugged. My phone is probably bugged. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay, whatever! See you soon.” Sarah hangs up, and I grab Dune’s arm.
“They have my sister,” I whisper in a choked voice.
“No. This is a mindfuck.” He shakes his head and touches my shoulder. “If they wanted to hurt her, they would have. This is an elaborate game to scare you. Either that or they plan to hold her hostage for the non-existent journal.”
I stare at him, my heart racing. “This just keeps getting worse and worse,” I whisper. “And the minute I called you in, I declared war.”
“Yeah,” he nods, grimly. “So, we’re going to get to Sarah and Grady before they do.” He takes the phone out of my hand, drops it to the ground and steps on it, crushing the electronics. “Only the burner phone from now on.”
I nod.
“You go first. Take my keys. My truck is parked on the street south of the building. Get in and drive to the west side. Pick me up there. I’ll see you in two-point-five minutes.”
I have to force myself to gape at the precision of his instructions. There’s no time to marvel. I have two-point-five minutes to follow his orders. I move briskly out of my apartment and down the stairs. I’m paranoid, so every single human being I see looks like an agent watching me-even the little old lady walking her miniature schnauzer.
No one stops me. I get in the truck, start it up, and drive to the west side. Charlie emerges out of nowhere and gets in. He directs me through the Los Angeles streets toward Anaheim.
I’m a nervous mess, but his calm, clipped instructions keep me sane, focused. He drops the passenger side shade and uses the mirror in it to watch behind us.
“Turn into this alley,” he commands sharply.
I squeak and make the turn, my tires screeching on the pavement. “Are we being followed?”
“That’s an affirmative.”
He takes his gun out and cocks it.
“What are you doing?” I wail. Things have escalated too fast. I know shootouts happen. I know car chases happen, but they don’t usually involve me. He rolls down the window and aims at the car that turned into the alleyway after us.
“Just slowing him down.” He fires and the car behind us swerves.
“Turn right, back to the main street. Step on it,” he commands.
They return fire as I make the turn, but nothing hits us.
“Did you shoot someone?” I know I don’t sound like a CIA agent, but I’m rapidly going into shock here.
“No, I shot their tire. I’m not going to shoot one of our own unless I’m sure they’re going to kill one of us. And I don’t believe they have orders for that.”
“Th-this could be someone we know.” The thought occurs to me with a sinking sensation. It’s not some nameless enemy.
“Yeah. I couldn’t see their faces, but that’s another reason I think we’re safe enough. If a kill order had been issued, we’d know it.”
He speaks with such certainly. I have to trust he knows what’s going on here. He’s usually the guy doing the chasing.
It takes me an hour to get to Anaheim. We park and get out. “You know what the worst thing about this is?”
“What?” Charlie asks, eyes scanning the parking lot, the park, every bit of our surroundings.
“I’ve been talking to Sarah about bringing Grady to Disneyland since I moved here three years ago. I never made it happen and now-”
“Now they’re fine. You’ll have a chance to take them later.”
I lean into his quiet authority. Hope to God he’s right.
“Right now, you’re going to call your sister. Figure out a place to meet without saying it if you can.”
My fingers tremble as I call my sister’s number.
“Hello?” She doesn’t recognize the burner phone number.
“Hey, I’m here. Meet me at the ride I puked on when we were little.” I end the call before she can answer.
Charlie’s lips twitch. “Good work.” He pulls my suit jacket off and rips open my blouse, popping all the buttons off.
“Hey!” I yelp, even though I know what he’s doing.
“Sorry. I’ll buy you a new one,” he says. He ties the two ends of the blouse at my waist, leaving my camisole exposed in front. Then he rolls the waistband of my skirt down a couple times, shortening the length of my skirt by several inches. He hands me his ball cap. “Any chance you can get all that hair underneath this?”