Page 23 of Axel (Reed Hawthorne Security #6)
Axel
It’s been a few days since we’ve been hiding out at a motel in New Jersey. Stevens claims they have eyes on Bennett but not Marco. Apparently, no one is watching Bob.
Durango was unable to trade off with me as he had hoped. He was sent out on an assignment. Reed said I could handle this on my own.
The bathroom door opens, and Savvy steps out after her shower. Her damp hair is clinging to her neck, and suddenly the air in the room feels a little too thin.
She smiles when she sees me, unaware of the inappropriate thoughts racing through my mind.
“Hey, I’m going to grab a pizza from the place down the street. You good with a combo pizza?” I ask.
“Sure.”
I grab my wallet and keys and head out the door. Once outside, I find Peter waiting next to my car in the parking lot. How did he find us?
“What do you want?” I ask.
“I’m living here with one of the men who worked for Mr. Hawthorne.”
He’s livestreaming?
“Hunter! No mushrooms!” Savvy yells.
I turn to find her standing in the open door in full view of the podcaster’s phone. I whack it out of his hand, and it falls to the ground.
“Get back inside,” I say to Savvy.
“Hey! You broke my phone!” Peter says.
“You have no right to be filming me. Who was watching that?”
He grins as he pockets his phone. “About ten thousand of my followers just saw you break my phone. I’ll send you the bill for the new one.”
He turns on his heel, but I grab his jacket before he can get away.
“How did you find us?”
He shrugs.
“Dammit, that woman is in serious danger. And you just led a killer to her with that video. Tell me how you found us!” I’m yelling, but I don’t care.
Peter winces. “I put an AirTag on your car.”
“Show me.” I let him go.
He bends down and pulls it from the bumper.
If I had an iPhone, it would have alerted me. But I don’t. I’ll have to talk to Reed about that later.
I take the tag from Peter. “Go away. ”
He runs to his car. Once he leaves, I glance around and spot a dumpster. I toss the AirTag inside.
Then I race back to our room and call Piper.
“Piper, Peter from the podcast claimed he live-streamed a video of me. It shows where Savvy and I are hiding.”
“Oh no, let me check his socials.”
The sound of her clicking on her keyboard comes through the phone. “It says his live just ended. I’ll keep an eye on it and see if he posts the video to his site,” Piper says.
“Thank you. He said he had ten thousand people watching.”
Piper sighs. “That sounds about right. I listened to his last podcast series, and he supplements it with live streams from his social media. He likes to catch people off guard.”
“Sounds dangerous for him,” I say.
She laughs. “Actually, he did get punched by one guy about six months ago. He posted that video.”
Of course he did. This guy has no interest in getting to the actual truth. He wants what will get him the most views. Because there is no way he truly could believe Stacy is innocent. The evidence was overwhelming.
“Thanks for checking. Let me know if he posts the video.”
“Will do,” Piper says before ending the call.
I pocket my phone, and Savvy is staring at me.
“Did you hear all of that?” I ask.
Savvy’s face is pale. “Peter broadcast our location to the world?”
“Yes, we have to leave. ”
My phone buzzes, and I check it.
Piper: He posted the video. I’ll send a link.
Savvy is already packing up her bag. “Where should we go?”
That’s what I’m trying to figure out right now. It’s going to have to be another hotel. Lightning once hid in plain sight—Times Square. We could try that.
“Times Square,” I say. “We’ll get a hotel.”
She raises a finger. “No, I’ll never sleep with all that noise.” She sits on her bed. “We are already in New Jersey. Why not go farther into some quiet area? It’s unexpected.”
She’s right. Everyone we know is in the city or near it. We have no connections farther out in Jersey. “You’re right. Let’s do it. Grab your stuff,” I say.
We make a quick drive-thru stop for lunch and then keep on moving.
“Pennsylvania?” Savvy asks as we pass the sign welcoming us to the state.
“It was close, so I figured why not? Can you see if you can find us a hotel nearby?” I ask.
“Sure.” She scrolls on her phone. “I found one.”
She directs me to it. It’s nothing fancy, but it looks nicer than the one we were at last night.
We step inside, and she marches to the counter. I catch up to her.
“I’ll pay for it,” she says. “Since you got the last one.”
“No, don’t. We don’t know if Bob or Bennett has some way of tracking your credit card. I’ll pay.”
“How would they be able to track my credit card? I thought you needed a subpoena to do that. ”
“A subpoena is for law enforcement and those who follow the law. You never know who these guys have working for them. It’s best to be cautious.”
A clerk walks over to us and helps us check in. We find our room, and I open the door. It’s at that moment that I realize my mistake.
“Wait, she said it would have two queen beds,” Savvy says.
“Well, it’s a king, at least. We won’t even notice each other there,” I say, hopeful we can make this work. I don’t want to go back to the desk and stand out in any way.
She walks around the room. “It’s fine.”
Good. I didn’t think it would bother her. She already offered to share a bed with me when I slept on the floor instead. I’m glad I did because Bennett didn’t realize I was there, so I was able to capture him.
“I need to call Reed.”
“Okay, I’ll check out the room.”
I call Reed and explain everything to him. He says he will ask Trip to see if he can locate Bob or Marco. I end the call and lie back on the bed.
“Hey, they have a restaurant here. It looks good,” Savvy says as she’s holding up a menu. “We should go and check it out for dinner.”
“No, we’ll order room service.”
Her hands go to her hips again. Any time she disagrees with me, I swear those hands move to her hips.
“There is no way Bennett will find us here. It’s too random. And besides, I want to enjoy a glass of wine with my dinner,” Savvy says .
Before I think better of it, I laugh.
“Why is that funny?” she asks.
“Because we are hiding out from men who want to kill you, and your concern is having some wine with dinner.”
Her eyes well with tears, which has me sitting up right away.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
She waves her hands in front of her eyes. “You didn’t make me cry. It’s the situation. I do understand the gravity. I wanted to feel normal for a moment.”
I get up and go to her, wrapping my arms around her. “I understand. You’ve had to hide out for a long time. But hopefully, it will be over soon. Then I promise I’ll take you to a nice restaurant, and we will order a bottle of wine.”
She pulls back and wipes under her eyes as more tears fall.
“The hardest part of all of this, aside from being hunted, of course, is not knowing my future. My clients have probably left me by now. I no longer have a broker. I need to find another one. But if I can’t even get a letter of recommendation, how do I compete with everyone else out there? ”
“Be honest. Most industries are small enough that they hear the rumors. They will probably be aware of Bob and what happened. He made the news,” I say.
She takes another step back. “I hadn’t thought about that. You’re right. They will know. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. That means Maggie is probably struggling, too. I should call her.”
She picks up her phone, and I grab it. “No, not yet. We still don’t know if Bob is looking for you or who might be working with Bennett.”
“Do you think Maggie knew about Bob’s side business?”
“I don’t.” I set her phone down on the table. “Let’s order some food and watch some sitcom reruns. Then I’ll check in and see if Trip or Reed has learned anything new.”
She nods. “Okay.” She lies on the bed, and all I want to do is lie next to her and hold her.
My pull to be close to her at all times is getting harder to ignore.