Taken by the Con by C.J. Miller

selected was foreign to her.
    “Why do you keep wrinkling your nose?” Cash asked. “These are fresh ingredients. I’ve missed them.”
    She realized that she took the ability to buy fresh food for granted. “I’m confused about what you’re picking. How do you know how to fix avocado?”
    Cash laughed. “Slice, knock out the seed and remove the skin. Easy and delicious.”
    Lucia could have fumbled her way through it, but wouldn’t have attempted it if she were alone. “Learning to cook is on my to-do list.”
    “You don’t need to learn to cook. Cook and see where it takes you,” Cash said.
    His suggestion highlighted a big difference between their personalities. He was intuitive and she went by the book. When she needed to do something new, she studied it. She’d wager Cash just did it.
    They paid for their groceries and Cash carried the bulk of the items in her fabric food bags. Lucia held one. Her leg was feeling much better and she would have made more of an issue about each of them carrying the same number of bags, but it seemed as though he needed to be in control for a while. She gave him some leeway.
    The sun was beginning to dip low in the sky and the streets were less crowded. Turning down a side street, she sensed someone behind them. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a man with his hands in his pockets and his head down. He could be traveling in the same direction, but his posture and proximity made her nervous. On the heels of the bombing, was she overreacting to nothing?
    “I think we’re being followed,” she said.
    “Advise,” he said.
    Cash’s immediate willingness to defer to her surprised her. Lucia looked around for their next move. “When we reach that Dumpster, I’ll pull my gun and turn around. Duck behind the Dumpster and protect your head.”
    “You need to take cover, too,” he said. “We should turn around and let him know we see him.”
    If he was following her with the intent to approach, that might scare him off and Lucia wanted to put an end to this. “I want to catch him. I can take care of myself,” she said. “Do as I said.”
    She didn’t want their follower to know she’d made him, so she was careful to conceal her movements, reaching for her gun, unsnapping the strap over the handle and removing it from the holster. As many times as she had practiced using it, she hadn’t fired her gun with a lethal result. She’d been trained to do so and she could protect herself.
    When they reached the Dumpster, Cash moved behind it, pulling her with him.
    Lucia shook him off and peeked around the corner. The street was empty. “Cash, that was not the plan. I lost him. There’s no one there now.”
    Cash didn’t move. “I heard the footsteps, too. Someone was behind us. I didn’t want you hurt.”
    Lucia looked up. No stairwell leading up from the ground level. A metal door halfway down the street could have been the exit point. “I’ll look for him.”
    “Don’t be insane. Call the police and let’s get out of here,” Cash said.
    She hated backing down from a fight. Whoever was stalking her had to know he couldn’t intimidate her. As persistent as her follower had been, would he duck away that easily? Lucia lowered herself to the ground and peered under the Dumpster. She could see a pair of dirty worn sneakers on the other side. Her nerves tightened and her mouth went dry.
    Someone was waiting for her to leave the safety of the metal box. She signaled to Cash to stay and handed him her phone and pressed a finger over her lips. He dialed 911.
    “I must be hearing things. Let’s go home,” she said.
    As she’d hoped, the man stepped out from behind the Dumpster and Lucia leveled her gun at him. His hooded sweatshirt covered most of his face. “FBI. Hands where I can see them or I’ll put a bullet in your head.”
    “Lucia, for crying out loud. Don’t get trigger-happy on me.”
    Surprise had her lowering her gun. Jonathan Wolfe, her partner from