Danger On the Run

by Wylder Stone

  If anything was made clear at this point, it was that they wanted her and wanted her bad, and he would do anything and everything to protect her from their phantom enemy, who appeared and disappeared at random. James might have disabled GPS tracking to the outside world only traceable by his own system, but if James figured out how to chase a ghost, Watson likely did too, and Watson had the upper hand at the moment, it seemed.

  “What do we do?” Genevieve pulled James from his thoughts. “He can’t keep us up here all day. Port Authority or the harbor police will be here soon – whatever they’re called. He doesn’t want that kind of attention. And he needs me alive, right?”

  “I don’t know, but we can’t sit here.” He referred to his rearview and side mirror again as people started to exit their vehicles in panic. The person after Genevieve could be among them, but he wouldn’t see them coming because they still didn’t have a face for the ghost chasing them.

  James made eye contact with an elderly man in the car next to him and wondered if he was Watson. He could be anywhere.

  “He could be in one of these cars, ready to grab you, shoot you…throw you off the damn bridge to a waiting boat. Who knows. Just because he needs you alive doesn’t mean this isn’t a threat. He’s coming for you, Vivi.” James hadn’t meant to say any of that out loud. He didn’t want to scare her, but he knew he did. “We need to get out of here…”

  When the car began to move, Genevieve grabbed James’s arm. “What are you doing? You’re scaring me, James!”

  “I’m not doing it.” James pulled his hands off the steering wheel and held them up in surrender as the car weaved between cars, approaching the end of the lift. “Dammit! The parking lot! He tampered with the car at the resort. He was there. The black car picked us up there. I didn’t see this coming, dammit!” He slammed his hands against the steering wheel as the car continued to pick up speed.

  “What do we do? Oh my God, James, we aren’t going to stop. We aren’t going to stop.”

  Genevieve screamed as the car launched from the bridge lift and soared through the air several feet. They braced themselves for impact when the vehicle finally descended, crashing against the ground to a rolling stop. The car died on impact, and they sat there in disbelief.

  James turned to Genevieve and began to check her over, grabbing her face in his hands, looking her up and down. “Are you okay? What hurts? Talk to me, Vivi. Tell me…”

  “I’m fine…I’m okay.” Her voice shook, and she finally let out a deep sigh and relaxed in her seat. James followed suit.

  When the car started up again, James yelled, “Get out! Get out of the car, now!”

  He ran around the back of the car and grabbed Genevieve by the hand as she stepped out of the passenger side, pulling her close to him as he led them away from the chaos. James led them to the side of the bridge and ran up the sidewalk to a set of stairs that led to the heavily populated beachfront boardwalk below. Several stories down, they ducked under the bridge overpass and slowed to a walk as they disappeared into the crowd.

  James walked up to a street vendor, dropped a couple of hundred-dollar bills on the counter, and grabbed what he needed.

  “Here, put this on quickly,” he said, pulling a souvenir style Santa Marina sweatshirt over Genevieve’s head before putting one on himself. He handed her a drawstring backpack and hat that had a hot pink palm tree on it that lit up.

  “Seriously?” she said, not impressed with the flashing cap.

  “Seriously. We need to get out of here. He’ll resort to any nearby cameras if he hasn’t already. He’ll be looking for us. Hell, maybe even satellite at this point.” James shook his head at the idea that Watson was a step ahead again. “Hurry up, and hold my hand. I found us a ride.”

  “A ride? We’re in the park. Are you planning to steal some kid’s bike, or have you opted for paddleboards down the coastline?”

  “Just look down – disappear with me,” he said, not realizing just how much his words actually implied.

  “Trust me.” James draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. “Play along. Put your arm around me. Pretend you like me, and we’re a couple.”

  Genevieve complied, hooking her thumb in his back pocket, and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked. James tried to ignore how good it felt and how perfectly she fit into his side, but he couldn’t. She felt right there even though he knew she wasn’t. He couldn’t give her what she deserved.

  They wandered through the large Annual Kite and Sand Castle Festival crowd, James guiding them closer to where they needed to be in order to really get out of there. Both Genevieve and James were taking in all of the faces around them, wondering if one or more of them was there to bring them trouble.

  “Hurry up, get in,” James said as they approached a rickshaw offering tours along the boardwalk, up and down the beach from pier to pier.

  Rickshaw’s were a staple in Santa Marina and a tourist favorite. It was genius, really – everyone wanted to travel the expansive boardwalks and beaches Santa Marina was known for, but not everyone wanted to pedal all day or roller skate. James had never been so grateful for the annoying ring of the bell and chintzy bike horn. Today, it would be their saving grace as he pulled up the cover like shade from behind them, and they blended right in.

  “Next stop?” the driver questioned.

  James couldn’t be sure that anyone around them was safe or a threat and didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to their intended location. For all they knew, the driver had an empty rickshaw waiting just for them for an unfortunate reason.

  He chose to err on the side of caution, “Force Bar & Grill.”

  It was probably a mile, maybe two before they were near the Bar & Grill and The Elite Building. They played the role of tourist, hiding in plain sight. Or maybe they were pedaling right into the next trap. Who really knew?

  “Everyone is staring at us. Why do I feel like we are in the middle of enemy territory?” Genevieve asked.

  “You’re safe. You’re with me,” he reassured her. “It could just be the flashing pot leaf on your hat.”

  “I thought it was a palm tree?”

  He looked again and shrugged, “Maybe it is.”

  The bike came to a rough stop in front of the Bar & Grill after passing the Elite Building. James handed the driver cash. More than was necessary, given his reaction.

  “I don’t hand these out regularly, just to special customers,” the driver said, handing him a business card. “You ever need a lift, you call me, and I’ll drop everything.”

  James accepted the card and nodded. Holding Genevieve's elbow, he directed her toward the entrance to the restaurant, only to quickly turn and head toward the Elite Building once the rider was on his way.

  “How much did you give him?” she asked.

  “I thought it was a couple of tens, but now I don’t know,” he said, tucking the card in his pocket. “I think I might have just paid his electric bill.”

  With the Elite Building in sight, time seemed to slow because every step closer felt unproductive. When they reached the side closest to them, James hauled them up the side, tapped his smartwatch, and entered through a back pedestrian door that led to the parking garage rather than trek the final half block to the main entrance. He was desperate to get Genevieve inside to safety, so he could finally breathe again.

  Once they were safely inside the confines of the Elite Building, James spun Genevieve around, holding her against the wall, and said, “It would destroy me too, okay? If anything happened to you, I couldn’t deal with it. Ruby needs you…I need you.”

  “James…”

  He shook his head to quiet her. “The thought of someone coming for you, harming you… It’s almost too much to handle. I can’t lose twice what someone should never lose once. We need you, Vivi.”

  The feeling that coursed through him was almost overwhelming as he searched her eyes with every word he spoke. His voice was coarse
and demanding like the levity of his promise pained him as much as the alternative. “It will be over my dead, cold body that this Watson or Benson pieces of shit get their hands on you or my daughter…got it?”

  Bracing himself against the wall, he stroked her cheek with his free hand as his body nearly rested on hers. James finally rested his forehead to hers and let out a deep sigh of relief when she nodded her head. It was a small moment, but a moment nonetheless. Because timing was never on their side, the heavy metal security door began to rise, startling a distance between them.

  When Derek’s car pulled in, James was pulled completely away from his moment of weakness. Genevieve was quick to slap the elevator call button on the wall next to where they stood, anxious to get out of there and settle her thoughts around what had just happened between her and James.

  As soon as Derek parked, Jackson pulled in after him. The mood in the space was a mixed bag of frustration, anger, and something intoxicating, depending on who you looked at.

  “I lost him,” Jackson said. “I kept going for another mile or two, hoping I’d find him, but then he was coming right at me. Fucker turned around on me and ran me off the road. Couldn’t pick up his scent after that. No dust trails off the road, nothing.”

  “There are so many old private access roads to various properties out there, so it would be easy to disappear. They could have taken any one of them,” Derek offered in what felt like an odd effort to console his brother.

  “What the hell happened on the bridge, man?” Derek’s attention turned to James. “I looped around and hit the other bridge. The bridge was back down, and your car was gone when I finally doubled back on the other side of the channel.”

  “I don’t know. Somehow, he got control of the car again. Took us off the bridge…while it was up.”

  “What?” Jackson’s eyes went wide. “How the hell did he do that? You two okay?”

  The elevator door dinged, and Killer jumped out of Derek’s car and ran to the open doors, laying down on the elevator floor. “He’s had a hard-ass day. Owen is going to be pissed we ruined his dog.”

  “That’s what he gets for taking a bounty case,” Jackson said. “What’s next, James?”

  “Well, they sent their message today. They mean business, and they aren’t stopping until they get what they want.” James looked at Genevieve. “We just need to get ahead of them, keep hitting back.”

  “How’d they find you?” Jackson asked. “You secured the vehicles.”

  James laughed. “The old-fashioned way – without technology. He followed us. It’s the only thing that makes sense. The car was parked in a secluded parking lot for quite a while. We gave him the perfect opportunity to screw with it then.”

  “That’s how he gained control while you were on the bridge,” Derek said, rolling his head back with the epiphany.

  “We’ve been watching him with algorithms and recognition programs when all we had to do was look over our shoulder.” James shook his head, angry with himself for not seeing it coming. “We weren’t expecting it or prepared for it. He won this round. We’ll get him next time.”

  With the large steel door still up, James’s car pulled in, stopping right in front of them before the ignition died and the horn started honking. The men each pulled their weapons on it while James tucked Genevieve behind him and backed her into the elevator, slamming the button once she was inside. With her out of danger, he dropped the rolling door and approached the car.

  “No driver. Son of a bitch,” Jackson said.

  James reached inside the driver’s side door and popped the hood after looking and feeling around under the dashboard for clues. Nothing. He pulled the battery cable to disable it completely. Though the brothers joined him under the hood, looking for anything that appeared out of the ordinary, they were mostly there for support since they didn’t have a clue what to look for specifically.

  “Ah, he has jokes.” James laughed, pulling his arm out from deep in the mechanics. He pulled out a round silver disc and held it in the air, inspecting it. “He attached it to the car’s firewall between the engine and interior of the car. Get it? Firewall? Play on words.”

  “It looks like a LoJack,” Derek said.

  “It is a LoJack. That’s how he tracked us. Old-school, right?” James said, flipping it over. “It’s souped-up, though. I think this is how he controlled the car.”

  James tossed it up and down in his hand, staring off with his brow furrowed as he thought through the technology that supported a basic LoJack and all the ways that could be exploited.

  “This is how he got around all of my shit. He was blocked from the computer. No way he could hack my tech-based firewall – unlike the car's mechanical one. I have too many traps. He’d have to take down my entire system just to get into this car. My stuff is designed to regenerate a new code every few minutes, so good luck finding a back door to get in. You’ll be booted almost immediately.” James looked at the confused faces of his brothers and elaborated. “He only took over the car for a few minutes on the bridge. He could have run us off a cliff out in the country and drowned us in a ravine along the way…but he didn’t because he couldn’t get in yet. I’m sure he found a back door. He’s good, just not as good as me. He couldn’t find a way to stay in there without being kicked right back out, so he designed a payload. It wasn’t ready to toss in until we got back to town.”

  “Uh, what? You mind translating? Payload?” Jackson questioned.

  “Basically, he used this to do his dirty work because he couldn’t get around my stuff. Think of it as a small window you don’t fit through,” James went on. “When the window was open, he tossed in a bomb before it closed again. Once the bomb was inside, boom. He was able to disable parts of the car and regain control, just not all of them. This little LoJack held the payload. He remote detonated to save time transmitting his signal so he’d make the window.”

  “But you said he didn’t have it figured out until you got to town,” Derek reasoned.

  “Right. The LoJack told him where we were. It was also where he sent the payload when he had it ready. Once it was sent, he just waited to execute.”

  “Like a game of relay.” Jackson nodded in understanding.

  “Exactly! Old-school shit.” James laughed.

  “If you say so.” Derek shook his head, overwhelmed by the information. “Why are you so excited?”

  “He didn’t know how long he had to execute or even if it would work. He wasn’t confident. He was guessing at best.” James’s smirk was cocky and full of arrogance. “I’m still ahead of him, but he’s catching up. I have some work to do, starting with this disc. I need to take it apart and find out everything I can about him. He’s good, but I’m better.”

  13

  James was thrilled as he came off the elevator when he reached his floor. Another break. Finding a clue such as he had under the hood of the car could give them a major upper hand. As advanced as technology had become in recent years, it was still flawed and never really anonymous. Hackers, programmers, coders – they all had their own personal style and left traces of themselves behind at some point. If you were really good – and James was one of the best – you could find those traces and learn a lot about the person behind it.

  The rug was quickly pulled from under him, as it often was when he and his brothers entered his apartment. Ruby was sitting on the couch crying, flanked by Troy, who had stayed with her, and Genevieve on the other side. His heart sank. That familiar nagging sensation to retreat back into himself settled in, and he began to shut down before he even knew what the crisis was.

  Troy looked up with tears in his own eyes. “Bob died.”

  Grunts and groans filled the space as the sadness Ruby was exuding fell upon everyone. Bob was her pet and best friend – a chinchilla. After her mom passed away, the brothers tried everything to put the sparkle back in that little girl’s eyes. Jackson finally succeeded when he took her to a pet store, giving James time
to grieve alone one day.

  The animals made her smile, sure, but the minute she saw Bob, the twinkle was back. Jackson bought the chinchilla without caring what James would say on the matter. Bob wasn’t big, nor was his required habitat, and most importantly, Ruby loved him immediately. Bob helped Ruby through a difficult time. He even slept on Ruby’s pillow right next to her every night. It was like he knew how badly she needed him.

  Ruby named him Bob because she said that was what he liked to be called. He was the best thing in the worst time, and now he was gone. Her devastation was their devastation.

  Troy straightened, trying to push the sorrow aside, which wasn’t easy for him as the sensitive brother. “The vet said he, uh, had a heart attack.”

  “I told you guys to stop feeding him so much junk. Jesus,” James fired in response. He pointed at Jackson. “This is your fault.”

  In an attempt to break up an impending argument, Troy continued, “The vet took him with him, said Bob will be back in about a week.”

  “Back in a week?” James threw his hands out wide, assuming Troy meant a chinchilla to pass off as Bob. “What the hell, Troy?”

  “We’re having him cremated,” Troy defended.

  James cocked his head to one side. “Is that even a thing? He’s tiny.”

  “Yes. Yes, it is a thing,” Troy fired back a little more hastily than intended. He nodded his head at Ruby and said, “Jesus. Lighten up, James.”

  Jackson plopped down on a nearby chair, resting his head in his hands. “I should have got her the turtle. Those things live for decades.”

  James shook his head at his brother. He needed someone to blame and didn’t want to deal with death, even if it was the death of a chinchilla. “I told you that thing was a bad idea. Now look what happened – what I get to deal with. Thanks, Jackson.”

  “She wanted it! It was years ago, and you’re still hung up on this. He was supposed to live a lot longer.” Jackson took to his feet again, ready to put his brother in his place. “You should have seen her face. You would have bought it too. It was the first time she’d smiled since…”