KELSEY WAS DRIVING along the coast when she heard the news come over the radio. An FBI agent had been shot and a cold case detective was missing. She had to pull over to the side of Highway 1 in order to hear the entire news flash. Ever since she’d left the airport, she’d been driving around, enjoying the feeling of being free. She made an attempt to find the person Rollins wanted her to find, but it was only halfhearted. She knew Rollins was never going to fly her to France —or anywhere, for that matter. In fact, she was a big liability to him now.

Abby Hart was missing, kidnapped by a fugitive. Kelsey wondered how she should feel about this news and realized she didn’t feel anything. At this stage of her life she doubted that she’d ever feel anything again.

But this news was something unexpected. Kelsey speculated if she truly would be cut loose and if the plan she’d been given would be shelved. This thought made Kelsey pull back onto the highway. If her orders were canceled, what did she have? She was a fugitive from justice. To be back in jail now meant more than fifteen years.

She glanced in the rearview mirror and still didn’t recognize herself. The black hair dye was a simple change that made her a new person on the outside. The picture on the fake CDL, under the name Helena Cooper, was still close enough to be her, but no one walking by her on the street would see Kelsey Cox.

Her phone buzzed, and she jumped. It was the burner phone DelRey had given her. Kelsey answered.

“You’re in place?”

“Yes, but have you seen the news —?”

“I don’t care about that. You’re in position. I want you to proceed with the plan. You have enough money?”

“Yes.”

“Then call me when it’s done. And hurry.” The connection was ended.

Kelsey set the phone down. Running a hand through her hair, she tried to think. She was in the fire now and she wanted out. She’d exchanged one prison for a different one, a kind of living purgatory. Was there any way out of this? After a minute she realized that there was. There was nothing to gain by doing the governor’s bidding. Nothing.

The realization was so freeing Kelsey laughed. Rollins had given her freedom. And she was going to use it to benefit her, no one else. She made a U-turn and headed back to San Luis Obispo. She had to come up with a plan fast, and finally she felt alive enough to do that and complete it.

Napier started getting paranoid almost immediately.

“Someone is following us. How did they do that? Girl, who is it?”

Abby looked behind them as best she could but couldn’t say that anyone was following them. “I don’t know what you mean. There’s no one I know behind you.”

“I don’t believe you.” He began making turns, driving erratically. Finally he pulled onto a dirt road, in a rural area. He relaxed slightly, but for what seemed to Abby hours, he drove around and around on dirt roads or two-lane country roads until finally hitting the blacktop again. It was about a mile before Abby saw a road sign. They were back on Highway 46, but she was so turned around she had no idea exactly where they were. The only thing she was sure of was that Napier seemed certain he’d shaken the “tail.” All Abby could think was if only there were a tail.

They continued on Highway 46 for another hour, and daylight began to fade. Napier said nothing to Abby; he simply drove and kept tapping out that number sequence, either on the steering wheel or on his thigh.

Abby had not driven this east/west highway before, but she knew from looking at a map earlier in the week that it would eventually hit north/south Interstate 5. When they passed a sign that said Lost Hills, she knew the interstate was close.

But Napier didn’t reach the interstate. They drove through a bleak landscape with old oil drills, bare fields, and dilapidated buildings. He passed a grocery store and turned right into what looked like an industrial area.

She couldn’t imagine where he was going until he turned again and stopped in front of a locked gate. The gate blocked the entrance to a storage facility, one long closed from what Abby could see. There were tumbleweeds piled around and dandelions growing up through broken and crumbling asphalt, rusted containers, and a weathered For Sale sign with only the r, s, and e truly readable.

Napier got out and worked a key into the padlock and opened the gate. He had to kick the ground at the bottom of the gate to get it to swing, but after a few kicks he had it open enough to drive the car inside. Once inside, he hurried and closed the gate behind them.

He drove the car between rows of storage units to the back of the yard. Here, he parked just before the last two units. The yard backed up to a bare hillside. Abby despaired. She wanted to get away and find help, but from where?

He got out of the car again and opened both units. The doors were the metal roll-up type, like garage doors. One was empty from what Abby could see, but there was a car in the other, covered. Napier opened Abby’s door.

“Okay, girl, time to get out.” He uncuffed her hands from the seat belt, let her stand, and then quickly cuffed both hands behind her back.

“Look, I’m not going anywhere. I want the combination to the IED. I’m not letting you out of my sight.” She stretched as best she could, stiff from the ride and hungry and thirsty. She’d also need to use the restroom soon and wondered how Napier would handle that.

“Better safe than sorry, as they say.” He pointed to the unit with the car inside. “In there, now. I’m going to get your car out of sight.”

He pulled a dusty chair out from the side of the unit and Abby sat. When it looked as though he was going to cuff her to the chair, she protested.

“Where would I go?”

He stared at her for a long minute and then nodded, leaving without attaching her to the chair.

He pulled the rental car into the empty unit and closed the door and locked it. While he was doing that, Abby looked around at her surroundings for anything that would help her get free. The cuffs were rubbing her wrists raw and her shoulders were stiff from being held in one position. She couldn’t see much. It was dark in the unit and now dark outside. There looked to be boxes stacked in the back of the unit.

Napier stepped inside and pulled the door down as he did so, plunging them into complete darkness.

Abby fought rising panic. “What are you doing?”

“You’ll see,” he said. Then she heard him count out a sequence of numbers. “One, two, one, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four.”

There was the sound of him opening something, three or four clicks, and lights switched on —bright, overhead shop-type lights —causing Abby to blink at their brightness.

“That’s better,” he said, rubbing his hands together.