Running by Calle J. Brookes Page A

dozing off. No,
she had no other real choice. She’d need a payphone. He’d only added ten minutes to
her disposable when he’d activated it. Those minutes were long
gone, in his attempts to call his partner. Who’d never answered.
She needed to call the Texas State Troopers. Crazy, but what other
option did she have?
    Fifteen minutes later she
found what she was looking for. There was a gas station and an
actual payphone next to the highway. Her disposable phone was out
of minutes. Useless. Hopefully the pay phone worked. She pulled the
SUV up to the phone and parked it.
    Seth barely moved. She
suspected he was hurting more than he’d told her—why else would he
have insisted she drive?
    She followed the directions
she’d been given on the phone. Twenty minutes later she was pulling
into the driveway of a nice older two-story in a decent
neighborhood twenty miles south of Wichita Falls.
    She was met at the door by
a redheaded woman in a TST uniform. Al killed the engine and
slipped from the driver’s door. She’d leave Seth right where he was
until she decided what to tell him.
    “ Al.
It’s good to see
you again? You are all over the news. Are you
hurt?”
    “ I figured as much. Have
you spoken to Carrie? I’m a bit sore. Someone definitely doesn’t
like this guy.”
    “ Sebastian called. They’re
fine. What’s going on?”
    “ I really
appreciate you doing this, Melody. I know you have a bunch of
questions.” Awkward didn’t begin to describe how she felt. She
didn’t know Carrie’s biological family, other than the few times
they’d met when preparing for Carrie’s wedding. Or when they’d
first met. And that hadn’t been conducive to talking and getting to know someone.
A burning building and Carrie trying to escape a madman did not
great conversation make, by any means. “If we can get him inside,
and hide Carrie’s SUV—I’ll explain more.”
    “ I hope you know what
you’re doing. If this was anyone but family…What’s going on? How
can we help?”
    “ Is your dad or sisters
home? I think we really just need someplace to stay for the night.
Then we’ll get what he’s after and decide what to do with it after
that. I don’t have any clue what he’s planning.”
    “ Dad’s on his way home.
I…uh…called the school and had Sydney go home with a friend. And
Jillian is in class. Brynna will be home in an hour. Jilly much
later, she has more of a drive.”
    “ Let me get Seth inside.
Then when your father gets here, hopefully Seth will give you more
details.”
    She turned back to the SUV
and shook him awake. He woke groggy and pale. “Where are we,
Blondie?”
    “ I took a
risk. Figured it was safer to avoid hotels. So I brought us to some
people I know. They will help us.”
    ***
    Seth was pissed and
fighting hard not to show it. “I don’t want to involve anyone else
in my mess. Thought you understood that?” He climbed out of the
Escape and studied the house and the neighborhood. He fought not to
puke his guts out. Blood loss always did that to him. But he was
controlling himself. He was just a small bit wobbly on his feet.
But he had some of his color back, at least. “Who are they,
Blondie?”
    Alessandra stepped up and
blocked his path. He wanted to shake her. Her blue eyes were
resolute, and a purely obstinate expression was on her face. “It’s
time you shut up and listened to me, for once . We are not going to be able to do this alone anymore. We
need help. Because this is far too big for one idiot who thinks he’s
Superman. We need planning and resources and backup. And if you won’t seek that
out from your people, and you won’t let me involve my team, then we’re going to have to
think outside the
box. Outside the Bureau. This is my solution to that. We’re staying
here for tonight. First thing tomorrow, we’ll get to the post
office and check that box. Or do you plan to camp in the post
office parking lot tonight? In an obviously newly damaged vehicle?
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