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Tuesday, May 31
Dallas, Texas
Kim had not unpacked, so gathering her stuff didn’t take long. She joined Flint in the main room.
“Let’s hit the road,” Flynn said as he headed toward the front door. “Miller, can you let us out?”
Cooper gave Miller a nod of permission. Miller walked to the control panel and turned off the alarm.
“It’s open,” Miller said, handing Kim a small, padded manila envelope. “Keep in touch.”
Kim accepted the envelope and stuffed it into her laptop bag. No reason to open it here. The envelope was from Cooper, and she could easily guess what was inside.
Had to be a cell phone with a special frequency that would allow her calls to penetrate the sophisticated Faraday protocol at the safe house.
Which also explained why he’d spent so much time in his room before dinner. Cooper had had access to the outside world all along.
“Will do,” she replied, loud enough for Cooper to hear. The envelope proved two things. First, Cooper was as big a snake as she’d expected.
For a moment, she’d thought maybe her instincts had been wrong about him all this time.
She wasn’t wrong.
Good to know.
And the second thing? The advanced surveillance tech she’d believed Cooper had access to was, once again, confirmed.
The futuristic stuff science fiction stories imagined was completely within his grasp now.
Cooper could see her and hear her and follow her in ways that the average citizen, friend or foe, would never believe or even guess.
Also good to know.
Kim followed Flint through the doorway and into the warm night air. Miller closed the door firmly behind her and probably reset the alarm. Ironically, she felt safer outside the house than inside it.
Flint unlocked the SUV and stepped into the front seat as Kim stowed her bags in the back. She reached into her pocket for a low-tech alligator clamp as she returned to the front.
Kim climbed into the passenger seat, closed the door, and buckled up.
“You know carrying Cooper’s phone around with you is like sending him a constant update on your activities,” Flint said, shaking his head.
“I’m aware.”
“You could leave it here. Solve the problem. Just sayin’.” Flint flashed a big grin her way as she loosened the shoulder harness and put the clamp on the webbing below the retractor.
The shoulder harnesses on these big vehicles cut high across her petite body and locked to imprison her. A fast brake or a slight collision activated the SUV’s safety restraint, and the strap practically beheaded her.
“What if that thing fails when we have a crash? The shoulder harness wouldn’t lock. You could fly right through the windshield,” Flint teased.
“With luck, the clamp will fall off on impact and the strap will keep me in the seat. I’ll be battered and bruised but with my head still intact. That’s the plan, anyway,” Kim replied. “Problem is, most people in this country are so damned huge. When you’re my size, life is deploying a series of equalizers. I’ve got to figure out how to survive in the giant’s world.”
Flint shook his head as he put the transmission in gear and reversed down the long driveway like a pro. Because he was a pro. Gaspar wouldn’t have sent him otherwise.
“And you’re keeping Cooper’s phone because?”
“Because we might need it.” She didn’t say that the connection to Cooper wasn’t always a negative. He wasn’t the best backup she’d ever had, but he was better than nothing. Sometimes.
Flint arched both eyebrows and flashed her an oh, please look.
“Where are we going?” Kim asked instead of arguing the point. She peered into the darkness as he turned onto the main highway.
“Private helipad nearby. I’d have been here sooner, but it took Gaspar a while to find me a place to park.”
“Yeah, run that down for me quickly, will you? How did Gaspar know where I was? Why did he send you in?”
“He got your texts. He knew you were with Cooper. He started following your signal. When you went into the safe house your signal disappeared,” Flint paused to fiddle with the dashboard. “He knew right away what had happened. He tried all of our usual methods for getting past Faraday shields, but we weren’t able to get through to you. That’s when Gaspar asked me to check on you because—”
“Let me guess,” she interrupted dryly, offering his usual excuse. “You were in the neighborhood.”
He gave her a quick side-eye and laughed.
They traveled a few more minutes before he turned into an industrial park. Kim counted eight buildings on either side of the street. All were quiet for the night.
As the SUV rolled past, she saw the helipads.
Kim said, “I guess helo travel is better for miles in the great state of Texas, eh?”
“Definitely,” Flint replied as he pulled up to the driveway of the last building in the cul-de-sac at the end of the road. “Big state. Lots of ground to cover.”
He pushed a button on the dashboard of the SUV, which activated the chain link gate blocking the driveway.
The gate engaged and slid slowly open until the SUV could slip inside. Flint rolled forward through the opening.
The big vehicle must have activated a sensor on the opposite side of the gate, because it closed again behind them.
Flint drove around to the side of the building, approaching a helicopter secured at the fixed tie down points holding it to the pavement. He parked the SUV and turned off the engine.
“I’ll get the helo ready. Can you bring your bags?” he said, halfway out the door.
“Yeah. Let me take a minute to send some stuff to Gaspar. He can get to work on it while we’re flying to Red House Ranch,” Kim replied.
Flint stopped a second. “We’re going to Pecos first.”
“Why?”
“Interview a lawyer who has helpful intel,” Flint said before he headed to the helo.
“I’ll bet,” Kim replied to his retreating back.
She climbed out of the SUV and walked around to the cargo door. The earlier storm had chilled the oppressive heat and humidity out of the air. It felt like seventy-five degrees, maybe. No wind. With any luck, they’d have weather like this all the way to Pecos.
Kim opened the cargo door and pulled her laptop out of her bag. She sent all of Cooper’s files from the flash drive to her secure server for safe storage.
Then she sent them again. To Gaspar’s secure portal this time. She didn’t include a note. He’d know what to do.
She closed the laptop and stored it again. Then she pulled her travel bag and her laptop bag from the SUV, closed the cargo door, and walked toward the helo like a woman headed to the guillotine.
Man, she hated helo travel. If she drove the SUV, she’d get there almost as fast as the helo. In theory. If she knew where she was going. If there were no tie-ups of any kind.
But Flint wouldn’t travel with her in the SUV, and he had intel she needed.
Flint had removed the tie down straps and completed his preflight check. The helo had started to spool up. She picked up her pace.
The big rotors were already spinning, pushing air and building noise in the otherwise quiet darkness. Kim stowed her bags and climbed up into the copilot’s seat.
She fastened her four-point harness and gave Flint a big thumbs-up as she positioned her headset.
Slowly, the helo began to rise straight up off the ground.
“How long will we be in the air?” she asked, ignoring her churning stomach.
“Don’t worry. We have plenty of fuel,” Flint’s voice came through her headset. “Beautiful out here tonight, isn’t it?”
Before she had a chance to respond, the headset signaled an incoming transmission. Flint accepted with the press of a button. “Yeah, Gaspar, what’s up?”