other one?”
Instead of answering, she picked up the water bottle and held it toward him. “I can’t open it.”
He took care of it and handed it back. “Sit tight. We’ll be leaving soon.”
He climbed out and shut the door.
Dani twisted around and watched the two men walk down the road behind the SUV for about twenty feet before stopping to talk.
Thinking this might be her only chance, she leaned between the front seats and looked for anything that could help her get away.
The vehicle employed a button to start the engine, so there were no keys dangling from the ignition. She did, however, spot a black bag in the passenger footwell and reached for it.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
She looked around for the source, but before she could find it, the passenger door opened and Nate leaned in.
“Sorry about that.” He touched a black square affixed to the armrest and the noise stopped. “Motion detector. Why don’t you settle back in your seat while I reset this.”
__________
“S HE THINKS WE’RE just like Edmondson,” Nate said as he joined Quinn behind the SUV.
“Well, wouldn’t you?” Quinn said.
Nate sighed. “Probably. What are we going to do if Helen doesn’t turn up? We can’t drive around with Danielle forever.”
Quinn looked out at the woods. “I don’t know. It’s something we’ll have to—”
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
They turned toward the SUV. Quinn had mounted the motion detector before he climbed out, on the off chance the woman tried anything. Well, more an on chance than off, apparently.
“I got it,” Nate said, already moving toward the vehicle.
Quinn looked back out at the woods. They needed a plan, or at least a partial one that included more than getting out of Seattle.
One option would be to find someplace around here to hide out in and think things through. There had to be dozens of isolated cabins in the area, and at least a few should be unoccupied. But while that idea had a certain appeal, Quinn felt they were still way too close to the city to stop.
If they continued the way they were going, they would cross into Idaho. They could get lost in the backcountry up in the panhandle. He liked that idea a lot better.
As much as he wanted to avoid using Orlando, she could probably arrange things a lot faster than he could. He pulled out his phone, saw the cell signal was down to one bar, and switched it to satellite mode.
“How far have you gotten?” he asked Orlando.
“Almost to Portland. We’ll cut east from there.”
After Quinn and Nate had left Bellevue, Quinn realized she’d left him a voice mail. When he called her back, she’d sprung her idea of shadowing them. He wasn’t keen on it, but he couldn’t fault the logic that it would be smarter for her and Daeng to be nearby.
“I was thinking Idaho,” he told her. “Maybe someplace isolated up north. If you have time, you think you could look into it for us?”
“It’s not like anyone needs me here. Daeng’s driving and Mr. Vo’s telling him what he’s doing wrong. Garrett’s on the bunk playing video games, and Mrs. Vo is pretending to watch one of her telenovelas but is really just napping. Time, I’ve got.”
“Thanks. Any progress on Danielle?”
She’d filled him in on what she’d been doing to find out more about the girl, but ultimately the answer was no.
WEST TEXAS
U NENDING STRINGS OF data streamed skyward and earthbound, as they had since the satellite had come online.
At various points in the orbiter’s history, the monitoring equipment housed in a western Texas facility had experienced undetected augmentations to its operating software. Some of these new modules had built-in self-destruct codes that activated after a specified period of time had passed. Others continued to run long after their initial purpose had been fulfilled. The instigators of these intruders were varied, but they all came from the same family tree—United States intelligence.
The
Instead of answering, she picked up the water bottle and held it toward him. “I can’t open it.”
He took care of it and handed it back. “Sit tight. We’ll be leaving soon.”
He climbed out and shut the door.
Dani twisted around and watched the two men walk down the road behind the SUV for about twenty feet before stopping to talk.
Thinking this might be her only chance, she leaned between the front seats and looked for anything that could help her get away.
The vehicle employed a button to start the engine, so there were no keys dangling from the ignition. She did, however, spot a black bag in the passenger footwell and reached for it.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
She looked around for the source, but before she could find it, the passenger door opened and Nate leaned in.
“Sorry about that.” He touched a black square affixed to the armrest and the noise stopped. “Motion detector. Why don’t you settle back in your seat while I reset this.”
__________
“S HE THINKS WE’RE just like Edmondson,” Nate said as he joined Quinn behind the SUV.
“Well, wouldn’t you?” Quinn said.
Nate sighed. “Probably. What are we going to do if Helen doesn’t turn up? We can’t drive around with Danielle forever.”
Quinn looked out at the woods. “I don’t know. It’s something we’ll have to—”
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
They turned toward the SUV. Quinn had mounted the motion detector before he climbed out, on the off chance the woman tried anything. Well, more an on chance than off, apparently.
“I got it,” Nate said, already moving toward the vehicle.
Quinn looked back out at the woods. They needed a plan, or at least a partial one that included more than getting out of Seattle.
One option would be to find someplace around here to hide out in and think things through. There had to be dozens of isolated cabins in the area, and at least a few should be unoccupied. But while that idea had a certain appeal, Quinn felt they were still way too close to the city to stop.
If they continued the way they were going, they would cross into Idaho. They could get lost in the backcountry up in the panhandle. He liked that idea a lot better.
As much as he wanted to avoid using Orlando, she could probably arrange things a lot faster than he could. He pulled out his phone, saw the cell signal was down to one bar, and switched it to satellite mode.
“How far have you gotten?” he asked Orlando.
“Almost to Portland. We’ll cut east from there.”
After Quinn and Nate had left Bellevue, Quinn realized she’d left him a voice mail. When he called her back, she’d sprung her idea of shadowing them. He wasn’t keen on it, but he couldn’t fault the logic that it would be smarter for her and Daeng to be nearby.
“I was thinking Idaho,” he told her. “Maybe someplace isolated up north. If you have time, you think you could look into it for us?”
“It’s not like anyone needs me here. Daeng’s driving and Mr. Vo’s telling him what he’s doing wrong. Garrett’s on the bunk playing video games, and Mrs. Vo is pretending to watch one of her telenovelas but is really just napping. Time, I’ve got.”
“Thanks. Any progress on Danielle?”
She’d filled him in on what she’d been doing to find out more about the girl, but ultimately the answer was no.
WEST TEXAS
U NENDING STRINGS OF data streamed skyward and earthbound, as they had since the satellite had come online.
At various points in the orbiter’s history, the monitoring equipment housed in a western Texas facility had experienced undetected augmentations to its operating software. Some of these new modules had built-in self-destruct codes that activated after a specified period of time had passed. Others continued to run long after their initial purpose had been fulfilled. The instigators of these intruders were varied, but they all came from the same family tree—United States intelligence.
The
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