CHAPTER 42

Noah had shaken his one remaining pill out of the prescription bottle halfway through the flight, and now as the last of the medicine was wearing off, a nasty withdrawal was setting in with a vengeance. By the time they reached the car rental counter he could feel himself starting to fade. Headache, chills, dizziness, a general sickening malaise‑ it was already bad, and he could tell it was going to get much worse over the next few hours.

Molly was driving, since he clearly wasn’t fit to sit behind the wheel, and to put it delicately, she drove with a purpose. If he’d been feeling good and in the right sort of daredevil mood her driving might have been easier to take in stride. As it was, though, between his worsening physical condition and being jostled around the front seat by all the surging and braking and swerving through traffic, he wasn’t having any fun at all.

Plus, she wasn’t talking. Since they’d started out in the car all he was getting were one‑ word answers, along with clear unspoken signals that there was nothing so important that it needed to be discussed at the moment.

They’d left the city limits of Las Vegas over half an hour ago, so his hope of a good night’s recovery in a five‑ star bed was more than thirty miles behind them and fading fast. According to the speedometer, wherever she was taking them she was trying to get there in way too much of a hurry.

“We’re going to get stopped, ” Noah said.

She didn’t answer, and she didn’t slow down.

“Where are we going, Molly? ”

“To help a friend, ” she said curtly. “Now would you please just let me drive? ”

“Fine. ”

“Thank you. ”

Before long they’d left the main highway and were barreling down some narrow desert road that was only a thin single line on the GPS screen. Before they’d gotten started she’d spent quite a bit of time and frustration entering their destination into the device. It was hard, she’d said, because it wasn’t a street address that she’d been given, only a latitude and longitude.

The sheet of paper from which she’d read those coordinates was still tucked into one of the cup holders.

Okay, then.

If she didn’t want to take a few seconds to tell him what was going on, he could damn well figure it out for himself. Before she could stop him Noah picked up the sheet and opened it up, tapped on the overhead map light, and held the paper near his eyes.

What was printed there appeared to be two cut‑ and‑ pasted text messages or e‑ mails, he couldn’t tell which. Maybe it was because his mind was working only at half capacity, but he had to read it all over twice. The first time through he couldn’t accept what he was seeing.

molly ‑

spread the word ‑ ‑ stay away from las vegas monday

FBI sting op ‑ › * exigent *

be safe

xoxo

* FYI ONLY DO NOT FORWARD DELETE AFTER READING *

Big mtg today, Monday PM, southern

Nevada. If you don’t hear from me by

Wednesday I’m probably dead*, and this is

where to hunt for the body:

Lat 37°39’54. 35”N Long 116°56’31. 48”W

› S T A Y A W A Y from Nevada TFN ‹

* I wish I was kidding

“Unbelievable. ”

She glanced over at him, but only for a second before she got her eyes back on the road. When he looked down he found he’d crumpled the paper in his hand so hard that it might never come unfolded.

“I can’t believe it, ” Noah said. “You people got me again. ”

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