No Ordinary Day , Tate, Harley [ebook offline .TXT] 📗

sat up.  John bent over a screen in the truck bed, typing with his thumbs. He tapped the lower right corner of the screen and waited. After a few moments, he began typing again, looking every bit like a man engaged in a text conversation.

Does he have a signal? She reached for her bag and fumbled around in the dark before her fingers flitted over her phone. She pulled it out and checked. Nothing. How did he have a signal she didn’t? Hairs rose on the back of Emma’s neck. It wasn’t the first time she’d caught him with the device.

Out in the barn he’d had it in his hand when she walked in. When they were walking on the side of the road, he’d claimed to just be checking. Now, it was clearly more than that.

She thought back to that time when he wandered off into the tree line. She’d thought it had been to relieve himself, but what if it wasn’t? What if all this time he’d had access to the outside world and he hadn’t told her?

The light flicked off in the bed and Emma ducked, head barely higher than the seat as she tried to blend in with the pillow. Time ticked by. John didn’t move. She was about to give up when the screen of the phone lit again.

She watched John swipe the screen. Passcode required. Emma held her breath.

7-3-4-8.

His thumb hit each number in succession and the phone unlocked. She ducked behind the seat. I need to find out what’s on that device. After a few moments, she rose up and made a show of stretching, purposely catching his attention. John turned off the phone.

Easing out of the truck as quietly as possible to not wake Holly, Emma slipped down to the ground. Tank nosed her hello.

“What are you doing up in the middle of the night?”

She smiled at John. “Couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d take over at watch.”

“No sense in us both being awake. You go back to bed. I can keep watching.”

Emma shrugged. “I’m not tired. Besides, you can’t pull two all-nighters in three days. You’ll fall asleep at the wheel.” She stepped closer to the bed. “Let me do this.”

John glanced at his watch. “Are you sure? I can stay up if need be.”

Emma waved him off. “It’s no trouble, honest. You get some sleep. I’ll stand guard.”

John made a show of fluffing the blankets and his pillow. “I’ll sleep out here. Wake me if you need me.”

“Will do.” Emma led Tank to a place far enough away from the truck to not be heard and made herself comfortable on the ground. How long would it take for John to fall asleep? To be sure, she waited half an hour before standing up and slinking back to the vehicle. Every step risked a broken branch or a snapped twig, so she rolled her feet, cautious and quiet.

As she neared the vehicle, snores emanated from the bed and Emma took a deep breath. Now or never. Using the truck tire as a step, Emma rose up over the side and leaned in toward John. After half an hour in the moonlight, her eyes had adjusted.

She made out his sleeping form and his bag tucked neatly beside him. No visible sign of the phone. Emma chewed on her lip. Would he sleep with it in his pocket? It would be almost impossible to find if so. Leaning over, she slowly inched the front zipper of his bag open and fished around inside. Her fingers closed around something rectangular and metal, almost the size of a candy bar. As her fingers grazed the end, she snatched her hand away. It was a magazine for the pistol he carried.

Her breath caught in her lungs. If he woke up, what would she say? Her heart hammered, the sound obscuring the whoosh of the wind through the trees and the insects chirping and buzzing in the dark. She reached for the top zipper of the bag and steeled herself. I can do this. She slipped her hand inside. Her fingers wafted over the last of the snack bars and what felt like a pair of binoculars before finding something small and flat and rectangular.

She eased it from the pocket and pulled it toward her, careful not to touch the front and light it up. Clutching the device close to her chest, Emma slipped off the truck and crept toward Tank patiently waiting in the trees.

“Here goes nothing.” Emma touched the screen. Typed the numbers. 7-3-4-8.

The device unlocked. It wasn’t a phone she recognized. An austere interface greeted her and she tapped the message button. A text chain appeared.

Emma began to read from the bottom up.

Twenty-five miles to destination. ETA 11:00 hours. Will need Cross to verify last miles.

> GPS Unreliable. Update ETA and location.

Understood.

> Confirmed.

Logistical problem. Power’s out. ETA now unknown. Sanchez will add to the timeline. Confirm necessary.

> Klein confirmed. Change in circumstances. Add Sanchez to your list. Current location unknown.

No later than 22:00 hours.

> Update ETA. Time is of the essence.

Emma almost dropped the phone. These messages were about her and Gloria and Zach. He was telling someone their current location and giving updates on arrival time. Time for what? She read the message string again. It was vague, probably on purpose, but she couldn’t escape the feeling it wasn’t reconnaissance he was after.

Klein confirmed…

Emma’s lips parted as she put together the pieces. John wasn’t who he claimed to be. He was…

Hired to kill me?

The texts didn’t spell it out, but what else could they mean? Emma’s breath came in rapid bursts, in and out, in and out. Her heart thundered against her chest. The trees swam in her vision. She reeled.

Tank nuzzled her arm and John’s words from the elevator came back to her. Four breaths in. Hold. Four breaths out.

With a curse on her lips, she did as he’d instructed and her heart slowed. She leaned back on the nearest tree and closed her