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"Let’s hope we are, too"

The curtain on Brent’s booth slid open, and the man beckoned to them Bryn sed her tequila before she went and nodded to the bartender, who nodded back, cautiously polite this time

"Don’t sit," Brent said when they caet out I don’t knohat you’re into, and I don’t want to know" He slid a folded piece of paper across the table, and Bryn took it Their fingers touched, and the man drew back fast

"Brent," Patrick said "I can’t lie There could be blowback from this Watch your ass"

That made the older h objectively he probably was--laugh It sounded like a gravel crusher loaded with broken glass "Son," he said "You think I do anything but? Fuck off I’m done" He slid the curtain closed with a brisk whip of his wrist, and Bryn unfolded the paper On it was a two-line address The city was Paradise, California

Ironic

As they walked away from the bar, she looked over at Patrick and said, "How do you knoon’t turn around and sell us out?"

"He won’t," Patrick said "He may be a hard bastard, but he’s loyal And like it or not, he did owe "

She hoped he was right

Chapter 11

San Francisco was about an hour away, but they only skirted it; in Oakland, they found a long-terle, which was exactly what they needed The place was staffed, but with lackluster, disinterested e space until it was time to clock out No problem to shop the available selection and choose the best without anyone noticing, especially since Patrick spotted and disabled the ca until the attendant went for a restroo the lock on the booth to retrieve the key, conveniently labeled by space nued the car out on the co without password protection, and they’d started it and driven off the lot before he everorder on the way out With even average luck, they had a clean car, one the police wouldn’t flag for days, maybe even months

Plus, it was a pretty sweet ridesome kind of BMW, one of the luxury models with all the bells and whistles Patrick tried to take the first shift driving, but Bryn sensibly pointed out that he was still healing, and she wasn’t, so a nap would do hiood In true military fashion, he took about two minutes to sack out in the e in Cali wasn’t exactly a hardship, and Bryn enjoyed feeling in control, for once--even in aspeed and direction of her forward motion And this time, there was forward motion A Fountain Group member, on their radar Finally

The as sipper, not a gulper, so she had to pull in to fill up only once along the way At the stop, Patrick woke up, visited the men’s room, and demanded to take a turn at the wheel Despite the cups of coffee that Bryn bought, and the fact that she drank all of hers, she was asleep in ain, seduced by the faint, low rumble of the road beneath their wheels

But she woke up instantly when she felt the speed of the car change, and opened her eyes to see that they were taking an exit fro to the map, was just a few miles from that medium-sizedout a living in tough country "We’re close," he said "We’re going to need to do some reconnaissance"

"How about a blatant drive-by?" she asked "Nobody’s looking for us Not here"

"You hope," he said, but it was an absent-minded, reflexive sort of pessimism--well earned, these days "Keep your hat on"

She slid on sunglasses as well--the car’s oas fener frames "How’s that?"

"Spyworthy," he said "Keep watch You see anything suspicious, we abort and go at this another way"

But they didn’t spot anything Chico was a nice town, nobody looked at the for Paradise, they were almost alone on the road, except for the ever-present truckers The hills were rugged, but the BMW handled theood tih the small don of Paradise--pretty, neat, perched up above the coast’s fog and away froht, like the kind of place she’d enjoy staying--soht actually live up to the name, if you enjoyed the rustic coation system led them outside of town, up into the hills, and indicated a dirt-road turnoff that looked isolated and private