Page 68 of Hiding In the Dark (The Righteous 4)
“Baby Doll, intercept target’s transmissions.”
“Interception established.”
Arek’s Hummer roared up behind the armored transport as he stepped out from the shadows of the bridge. The lights of the truck were bright in his eyes as he lifted the gun and took aim at the windshield. The truck jerked and sputtered as it came to a slow stop a few feet away from him. The two guards inside held their hands up. He doubted highly that they would’ve been nervous about moving this prisoner or having someone try and break out one seemingly lowly girl.
He fired the first round, which punched a hole the size of a pop can into the center of the bulletproof glass. The immense power of the gun slammed his shoulder back with enough kick to knock most people over.
“Damn,” he groaned under his breath. That shit was going to leave a mark. The two guards that were manning the front of the armoured truck covered their heads and dove to the sides towards the doors and away from the projectile. As predicted, the canister hit the back wall between them and didn’t try to get out until it was too late. Human instinct alone would have them thinking that inside was still better than outside with the gunman.
Kes immediately fired again with round two, which sent a can half the size through the newly-made hole to land between the two occupants. They stared at the can and then began to cough, their hands clawing for the door handles—but the sleeping agent being released into their truck was strong, and neither one ever got their door open before they slumped over.
“Baby Doll, locate tracking device.”
Kes could hear Arek working at the truck’s back door and the small banging sound as the explosive blew open the lock on the thick metal doors. He slipped under the vehicle as Baby Doll conveyed the information about the hiding spot and then relayed the step-by-step of how to remove the tracking system. He went to work, and as he pulled the final wires free, he rolled back out just as feet walked up beside him.
“Any trouble back there?” Kes asked.
“Nah, Maeve here already had the guy choked out. She took all my damn fun,” Arek pouted as Maeve grinned widely like a crazy little clown. This was the first time he’d laid eyes on Maeve, and she had a wild aura to her—he could definitely understand how she was one of Morry’s.
“Baby Doll, proceed to pick up.” Kes held out the tracking system to Arek. “You good with this?”
“Please, give me something hard to do. I’m sleeping so far.”
“Anyone else would say this was a successful mission, and you’re complaining you didn’t get to kill anyone?”
Arek shrugged. “When you got an itch, you need to scratch it. It’s fine, though. I’m sure I can find a piece of trash somewhere on the way home.”
“I like you two,” Maeve said as she rocked back and forth on her feet. “Morry talks about you guys all the time, but you’re even better in person,” she said as her eyes roamed over Arek with a heated look that said she was picturing him naked.
Arek cleared his throat and took a step away. The fucking chicken whipped out his phone and looked at it like it had miraculously just rung. “I better get going. Say ‘hi’ to Morry for me when you get back.”
She waved at Arek and sighed as he wandered to the truck, her eyes glued to his ass. “Fuck that is nice.” She made a shiver sound and slowly turned to face him. The whole ‘prison break’ thing was rolling off of Maeve like it was the most normal thing in the world. She seemed to be more interested in finding a date than she did getting her ass back to Arizona. He knew all too well what Morry did to get you clean. He’d found himself addicted to pain meds by the time he was finished with his last surgery. That shit was hard to shake, and he’d seen firsthand the hard line in the sand Morry drew, but he’d been clean since and hadn’t looked back, so he owed her his life twice now.
Arek turned his Hummer around and drove away just as Baby Doll pulled up. “Hop in the back and lay on the seat.”
“You planning on joining me?” There was no denying the suggestive tone in her voice, but he had less than zero interest in whatever she was thinking.
“No,” Kes said, closing the door as Maeve laid down. He marched around to the driver side door of Baby Doll and jumped up into the seat.
Kes hopped in behind the wheel of his girl and turned her around, heading in the opposite direction of Arek. He pulled off his mask but kept the hood in place as they drove, leaving the city and the lights of Los Angeles behind.
* * *
“It should be safe for you to sit up here now,” he said over his shoulder some time later. The outskirts of the city were dark, with open land and limited lighting or vehicles. He’d purposely chosen a more back-road route to his destination over the busy freeways that left him more exposed.
Maeve sat up and crawled into the front seat. “You taking me to Morry?” Her unusual light caramel-colored eyes turned to him.
“No. We figure that whoever set this up will be expecting that move as soon as they discover you have escaped. I’m going to drop you in Las Vegas, and you’ll have to make your way from there.”
“Hmm, Vegas and I are not friends.”
He glanced over at her. “Lucky for you, you don’t have to stay long.”
Maeve rubbed at her eyes and crossed her arms as she looked out the passenger window. “I didn’t think Trev would find a way. I mean, Morry always talked about him like he was the best, but I thought for sure once that verdict came down, that all was lost, and I was spending the rest of my life in jail for something I didn’t do.”
“Do you have any idea why someone would go to this much trouble to frame you?” A lone car passed them, and for a moment, the headlights lit up the interior of the cab and Maeve looked over at him. A sad expression stared back at him before they were plunged into darkness once more.
“No fucking clue. I’m a group home kid, and other than getting into trouble with stupid shit like painting walls, getting drunk, and trespassing, I can’t think of a single reason. I’m a nobody.” The last part of the sentence was weighted, and he could almost feel the weight of her sadness.
