Kevin drove a bit faster than the posted speed limit, and kept his eyes moving. He figured he was being paranoid, but there was no such thing as being too safe right now. Somehow, and it didn't matter how, the person they had been trying to avoid for the past day had nearly bumped into them at the store.
He was sure they hadn't let their guard down. To the best of his knowledge they hadn't been followed, but Peter Arnet had still shown up. Something wasn't right, but he had no idea as to what or how to prove it.
"You're awfully quiet," Shannon's voice broke into his consciousness, pulling him out of his own head.
"Sorry. I was just...just thinking. That happens sometimes. I end up so entangled in my thoughts, I forget everything else around me."
"I vacillate between going silent or needing to talk about things. Right now, I'm still so freaked out I think I need to talk about it." She paused and looked at him before she sighed. "If you don't want to, that'll be okay."
Kevin's fingers flexed on the steering wheel "I don't know what to say," he finally managed. "I keep wondering how he found us."
"You don't think this was a complete coincidence, do you?"
Kevin shook his head. "Afraid not. It doesn't seem plausible, but I keep thinking we've overlooked something. But the facts are we have a man from out of town—heck, out of state—who is following us and trying to keep us from giving what we've discovered to the police. This man suddenly just happens to appear at the exact store we stopped in, at the same time. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, we'll even allow him to prefer to do his shopping at that particular chain of department stores. But there are at least four other branches in the area. And he happened to choose the exact one we're at? No. I don't believe in coincidences. We had to have missed something."
Shannon let out a long sigh. "I know you're right. Intellectually, I knew he'd followed us, but it was easier to relax when I could at least pretend he had accidentally stumbled into the same store. But I can't argue with your logic."
She took a Kleenex out of her purse and dabbed at her eyes, the action only fueled Kevin's ire. He wanted nothing more right now than to make Peter Arnet pay for making Shannon shed tears. "We'll make it through this, Shannon. The Lord always takes care of his faithful." He reached over and squeezed her hand.
She smiled weakly. "I've heard it all at church, but that phrase takes on a whole new meaning when your life is in the balance. Letting go is hard to do, to accept you're not in control of what happens."
"Agreed. But all we can do right now is to control what we can and leave the rest to Him." He pulled the car into the parking lot of one of the Timmy's coffee shops. "What we need now is a plan. Any ideas?"
Shannon looked over at the squat building, and made a quick decision. "I'll be right back."
"We've still got doughnuts. What do you want now?"
"My brain works best when I've got a hot drink and chocolate. Here I can obtain both quite easily. After I get some into me, I might have an idea for you." She reached for the door handle.
"Hold on. We'll go through the drive thru," he said, restarting the car.
"Afraid I won't make it back?" she joked.
"Let's say, I'm going to play things cautiously until I'm convinced we don't have a tail."
Shannon played along and they made their way through the line. By the time they ordered, she had decided to order a chocolate chip muffin instead. In her way of thinking, too much chocolate was a fallacy, but she didn't want all the sugar a doughnut had.
Kevin had just turned back onto the road, when the dark sedan pulled up at the light. She fumbled the muffin, dropping it into her lap. "I think we've got part of your answer," she said with a nod towards the car.
Kevin identified the car immediately. "Sure does. Now we have to figure out how he has been tracking us. If luck is on our side, we can lose him and still make our final meeting.
She had to admit, Kevin didn't panic under pressure. He kept driving at a normal pace, and merged into the flow of the other traffic around. "Keep your eye on our friend. It'd be helpful to determine if he's tailing us visually or if someone else is giving him the data."
"Who? Did you tell anyone where we were staying last night? After we split from the store, did you contact anyone to tell them we were going through the drive through?" She ran her hands through her hair. "How did he figure it out?"
Kevin's fingers played a nervous rhythm on the steering wheel. "We didn't contact anyone directly, but perhaps we did send them a message."
Shannon's mouth dropped open. "What? How?"
"I used the burner to call Nate and my father."
"I don't see how that would make a difference, Kevin."
"Nate thought someone was relaying information from inside the Sheriff's department. If that person somehow cloned the phone Nate has, he'd have the number we called from. And once they've got that—"
"They tracked the GPS signal." She thought of several words she'd never say in company as she ground her teeth. "So what do we do now?"
"We turn them off, for starters. We'll try to find some heavy traffic or something to help us disappear and we'll take a roundabout way to the attorney."
"So I guess all we can do is hope they'll get confused and we can make it unharmed," Shannon said as she leaned forward to check the mirror. "It doesn't look like he turned around to follow us."
Kevin let out a long sigh. "Finally we have the first bit of good news I've heard in the last hour. I wish I could figure out who the leak is at the sheriff's office." He used his car's hands-free option and his personal phone and called his father.
"Kevin. I'm surprised to hear from you already. I thought you were meeting with Steve Townsen in a few hours," Thaddeus said.
"Dad, we've got some problems. Somehow one of the parties we suspect is deeply involved with the illegal activities here knows where we are and what's going on. I've turned the phone off for a bit, but could you give Mr. Townsen a call and see if we can meet somewhere else? I'm afraid the guy who is after this information may already have an idea on where we're heading."
"What makes you think that, Kevin?"
Kevin let out a soft sigh, glanced over at Shannon and shook his head. "How about we pretty much went off the grid last night, yet we nearly ran into him—in a very literal sense—twice in the last hour. Nobody knew where we were or how we were heading to our meeting, yet he's shown up here."
"Twice? You're kidding?" Thaddeus's voice was strained, and Shannon surmised it as concern.
"Yes, twice. One time he was standing less than twenty feet away and the second we passed him in a car."
"That's not good, son. Did you tell anyone else what's going on?"
"No. And that's what's got us concerned. I've been with Shannon since everything fell apart last night. We've been looking over our shoulders almost the entire time and still we've had two incredibly close encounters."
"I'll give Steve a call," Thaddeus paused. "How can I let you know where to go if you've got your phone off?"
"I've got an idea on that, Mr. Stivers," Shannon interjected. "I've got a blog I run for a client, so my name isn't on it anywhere. I put up a post three days ago, so that should be the top item on the page. After you've got the information for the meet, go to the site and leave a comment.
"Since I'm the administrator and have to approve any comments, I'll be able to delete your comment before anyone but us sees it. That way you can contact us but there won't be any record of it in case they're watching our electronic communications."
Thaddeus let out a slow whistle. "I have to admit, Kevin, I like her. Brains and spunk.
"Shannon, if you'll give me the web address, I'll pass the information along as soon as possible for you." He hesitated another minute. "I'm going to schedule a flight up to Winslow Cove. You two are picking up the pieces of a mess I'm involved in. The least I can do is help wherever I can."
Kevin swallowed loudly and his voice was a bit shaky. "Thanks, Dad. I'd say making the trip isn't necessary, but it sure is appreciated."
"You two take care," Thaddeus said. "I'll make those calls, and both pieces of information will be in the message. I'll meet up with you both soon."
Kevin hit the end button before turning the phone off. "I hope this works. It seems like Arnet is constantly one step ahead of us at every turn."
"It does." Shannon wrung her hands as she the scenery passed by. She prayed silently, Lord, please guide us and show us how to do this. Keep us safe, and let us end this without anyone getting hurt. Amen.
Kevin popped the last of his chicken finger sub into his mouth as he observed the other occupants of the little diner. Shannon was seated across from him tapping on the keyboard of her computer. "Anything yet?" he asked.
She smiled, and the gleam in her eye nearly caused him to forget basic English and the ability to construct simple sentences. "Your dad left a message," she said and spun the computer so he could read the comment.
He read the message twice, noting the location of the new meet. "You're absolutely sure no one else can find that?"
"We're dealing with a computer, Kevin. A serious hacker could probably make their way through the firewalls, but it's about as secure as we can find right now. Nobody expected us to stop at this little place, or for us to use the free Wi-Fi and my name isn't anywhere on this site. Not much more we can do right now." She popped another fry in her mouth. "Do you know where this place is?"
Kevin nodded. "Yeah, the garden is right by the south entrance for Boston University, not too far from the rapid transit terminal. It shouldn't take us too long to get there." He studied the woman across from him. Worry marked her face. "What are you thinking?"
Shannon let out a forced snort and shrugged. "I wish I could tell you. Call it whatever you'd like—a sixth sense, woman's intuition, whatever—something has me on edge about this. And I can't shake it."
Kevin placed his hand over hers. "I've been feeling the same. For me, worrying about you is the cause." He gave a slight squeeze. "We've come too far in the past few weeks, rekindled some of those feelings I've carried for close to three decades. I don't want to let anything happen that might put those in jeopardy."
Shannon smiled, "Thanks. I've got to say, those feelings are mutual, and it’s amazing how nice it feels to have somebody who worries about you. I didn't realize how much I missed that after Uncle Chet passed. Realizing you are the last of the line is a sobering thought. Hearing that someone is concerned about your welfare, well, let's just say it gives me a sense of comfort I haven't had in a while."
Kevin checked the time. "We probably need to head off soon so we can arrive a little early."
"Probably would be a good idea to be a little on the early side," Shannon agreed. "It will give us a chance to scope the area out and make sure nobody is stalking us."
As they stood, Kevin reached to take her hand. "I think they are stalking us. But getting a chance to eyeball the place before we meet up with the attorney will hopefully give us a little piece of mind so we can concentrate on the important stuff."
The drive to the campus took nearly forty minutes, but according to car's clock, they were at least fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. Kevin took the opportunity to drive the car around the lot, passing the sculpture where they were to meet Townsen. "Do you notice anything that sets off alarms?"
Shannon frowned. "No. I guess that will be part of the problem with meeting here. I don't know the area, so I can't tell if anything is out of place. My intuition is still twitching, but I can't pinpoint why."
"Nothing's jumping out at me either. Maybe the best thing is for us to casually stroll towards the sculpture in a few minutes. We can look like a couple who have returned to their alma mater and wander about.
They strolled hand-in-hand, and Shannon even leaned into him as they made their way around the walkway. Several others were out and enjoying the day. A few people were jogging and a small group of girls were talking animatedly as they weaved along the path.
As they turned at the far end of the path and headed back toward the sculpture garden, Kevin sensed something. Even before he could react, he felt the muscles in his back spasm.
"You should have listened to the warnings we sent you. Do what you're told and everybody walks away fine. Ignore us or go to the cops, and your little friend will end up feeding the fish."
The sound of crackling electricity screamed in his head right before the world went black around him. Kevin's last thought before he lost consciousness was trying to figure out what they had done to Shannon.