Skye felt her nostrils flare as she clawed at the hand over her mouth. She felt more than saw a head moving closer to her face. She felt his warm breath heavy on her face. Skye tried to scream as she kicked and clawed with all her strength.
“Shhhh.”
Screw that. Skye reached for the bedside table and swept her hand in a blind panic. Her fingers connected with the lamp and she shoved it, causing it to crash to the ground. A second later her door was kicked open. The man paused to look over his shoulder, but he was too slow. Skye’s college lacrosse stick swung through the air and smashed into his face.
Karri hollered and raised it swing again as the man stumbled back. Not waiting to see what happened, Skye leapt from the bed and charged. The man was running for the balcony as Karri swung. She knocked the man in the back as Skye reached for him. She grabbed his shoulder, spun him around, and jammed her knee as hard as she could into his cowardly balls.
The man cried out and bent over as he stumbled backward and into the blackout curtains, which parted where the balcony door was. As she and Karri charged him again, he pedaled backward through the curtains and out the now open balcony door. His butt hit the railing and his arms pinwheeled in the air as he tried to catch his balance. Skye and Karri grabbed for him. He looked at them, seemed to come to a decision and threw himself over the railing with a grunt.
Skye and Karri rushed to the railing to find the man sunken into the eight-foot tall hedgerow. He groaned, crawled out of the hedge, and limped off into the night.
“Still got it,” Karri said with a smirk as she spun the lacrosse stick in her hand. “But now we’re getting the hell out of here.”
Karri and Skye packed as much as they could in two giant suitcases then Skye woke Agent Shaw up to tell him what happened.
“I can get you into a safe house if you’d like.”
“No thank you. I know exactly where I want to go. I’m going off the grid. It’s best that way, isn’t it?” Skye asked as Karri wrinkled her brow at her. She hadn’t discussed it with Karri yet, but the fact was there was only one person she trusted right now.
“Are you going to your parents?” Agent Shaw asked.
“No. I’m going to South Carolina.”
Karri’s eyes went wide, but she didn’t comment.
“Where’s that and why are you going there?”
“A town called Shadows Landing, it’s near Charleston, and I’m going there because there’s someone there that I trust that no one can connect me to.”
“Name?” Agent Shaw asked all business.
“Trent Faulkner.”
“Okay, let me see what I can find. I’ll call you back in ten minutes.”
Skye zipped her suitcase and then looked over to Karri. “Let’s get your stuff. I’m not leaving you here alone.”
“No complaints from me. The barbeque in Shadows Landing is to die for. If we’re doing this, we can’t tell anyone besides Shaw where we are. That means no flying and no credit card use at all.”
“No problem,” Skye set the bags down at the top of the stairs and headed to the spare room she’d been sleeping in. Karri followed her, asking what she was up to. Skye didn’t answer as she went into the bathroom and opened the cabinet under the sink. There were some extra towels, a hairdryer, and an open package of maxi pads. Skye pulled them all out and then reached into the back near the water pipes. She placed a finger in the hole the pipes went down and pulled up. The cabinet floor came sliding up as she angled it out. The space underneath was filled with ziptop plastic bags of cash. “Mom told me to hide money away in case of an emergency.”
“Way to go, Mom,” Karri said in wonder right before she hurried into the bedroom and came back with a pillowcase. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
“Me either, but everything here feels wrong. I don’t know who to trust in this town, so the only option is to get out of Hollywood.”
“I agree completely.” Karri held open the pillowcase as Skye filled it. Then they were on the move again.
They were halfway through packing Karri’s things when her phone rang. It was Agent Shaw. “Does Trent pass your test?”
Agent Shaw chuckled. “More than you know. The reason I got this job is because of Agent Ryan Parker who is now in Lexington, Kentucky. I called him after I ran my search on Trent. Turns out he and your friend Trent are cousins. Not only that, but Ryan is friends with the Charleston Agent in Charge, Peter Castle. I’ll notify him of our situation and he’ll be your in-person contact. With your approval, that is.”
“You trust these agents?” Skye asked, not really liking more people knowing about her. But she remembered Trent’s author aunt whose books were all being picked up for movies. She lived near Lexington, so the cousin thing was likely true.
“I trust Ryan Parker with my life. If Ryan says Agent Castle is trustworthy, then I trust him. I’ll talk to him first and let you know what I think. I assume you know better than to fly, right?”
“I’m going to drive my car,” Karri told him.
“No, I’ll get you a car that has no connection to you or any of your friends. If this is serious, they’ll know to look for not only your car, but Miss Hill’s too. Meet me at the FBI office in thirty minutes.”
“Thank you for everything, Agent Shaw. You’re a good man.”
“See you soon, Miss Jessamine.”
5
Skye yawned as her eyes fluttered open behind her large sunglasses. The tinted windows of the borrowed SUV Shaw had signed out of the FBI for training purposes did a good job at cutting the glare of the sun beating down on them.
Skye stretched and Karri glanced at her. “Morning, or should I say afternoon? Agent Shaw called while you were asleep and told me that Jim and Lenny are pissed. He also figured out where the photos were taken from and is working on seeing if he can get more information before he passes it along to us. Mason texted me after he tried to reach you. He wanted you to know we could stay with him if we didn’t feel safe. I thanked him. He’s a sweet guy. Kinda like the real-life version of the superhero he plays.”
“Agreed. I missed a lot while I was sleeping,” Skye said even as she yawned. It was four in the afternoon and they’d been driving since four in the morning. She had taken the first shift, but by eleven in the morning, Karri was ready to drive. “Where are we?” Skye asked as another Interstate 40 sign went by. They’d be on this interstate all the way to Memphis, Tennessee, before they dipped down into Alabama and drove through Atlanta on their way to South Carolina.
“Halfway through New Mexico. I figured we’d stop in Amarillo, Texas, for the night. Also, Agent Shaw said he talked to this Agent Castle guy in Charleston and really liked him. With your approval, he’ll fill him in.”
“What do you think?” Skye asked as she looked around.
“I looked him up when I stopped for gas. He’s a hottie.”
Skye saw Karri wiggle her eyebrows and shook her head. This was why she loved her friend. She could make her laugh under any circumstances. “But was he a trustworthy hottie or a bad boy hottie that you give a fake name to and sneak out in the morning?”