Hellbent (Orphan X #3)(36)

“You had to be. You were never the best. Everyone loves a thoroughbred, sure. But they root for the underdog.”

“Who’s rooting, Charles?”

Van Sciver kept on. “Helluva move you pulled all those years ago back at the home. Beat me to the starting gate.”

“That was long ago.”

“It was the past, yes. And it’s the present, too. You define me, Evan. Just like I define you.”

Evan watched the headlights blur past on the freeway. He could sense Joey’s gaze heavy on his face.

“The Mystery Man wanted me,” Van Sciver said. “Not you.”

“Yes,” Evan said. “He did.”

“We were so young. Remember when we thought he was important? Remember when he held all the power in the world?”

“I remember.”

“Now he works for me. The Program’s pared down, way down, but when I decided to recruit a little fresh blood … well, he’s still the best. Though even he makes a mistake now and again. Like the girl. I’m sure she’s told you all about it.”

Joey’s hands tightened on the wheel. Van Sciver’s voice, deep and confident, was carrying from the receiver.

“A mistake,” Evan echoed. “I asked her how to find you. She couldn’t tell me anything. She’s not even bait. She’s useless.”

Joey looked straight ahead, drove steady, but Evan could hear her breathing quicken.

“She’s another stray mark we have to erase,” Van Sciver said. “She knows my face.”

“What’s she gonna do? Hire a sketch artist? She doesn’t have the skills. She’s damaged goods. She’s not even worth killing.”

“Yeah, but Johns took her in, so I’m gonna kill her anyway. Because he took her in. Because that makes her important to you.”

“Your call to make,” Evan said. “If you think you can afford not to concentrate on me.”

Van Sciver sounded amused. “You have no idea, do you? How high it goes?”

“What does that mean?”

He laughed. “You still think it’s about me and you.”

“That is all it’s about,” Evan said. “From the minute you took Jack.”

The reception weakened and then came back, the Subaru skirting the edge of the Wi-Fi hot zone.

“For years I’d reconciled myself to living off the radar,” Evan said. “I was content to hide in the shadows. To leave you alone. Not anymore.”

Joey had inched above the speed limit, and Evan gestured for her to slow down.

“Evan,” Van Sciver said. “That’s what we’re counting on.”

The connection fizzled into static, then dropped.

Evan turned off the Samsung and pocketed it. He leaned to check the speedometer. “Keep it at sixty-five.”

Joey’s chest rose with each breath, her nostrils flaring. “‘Not worth killing?’” She shot his words back at him.

“Everything’s strategic, Joey.”

“Didn’t seem that way to me.”

“We don’t have time for this,” he said.

“What?”

He tore the dangling duct tape off the laptop and popped it open. “Your feelings.”

They drove in silence.





24

A Teaching Moment

Given the events at Portland Union Station, Evan decided to get Joey safely out of the state before parting ways. In the past he’d had a few near misses with Van Sciver around Los Angeles, so Van Sciver likely knew that Evan had a base there. Putting himself in Van Sciver’s shoes, Evan figured he’d bulk up surveillance on routes leading south from Oregon. So rather than head for California, Evan and Joey rode the bell curve of the I-90, routing up through Washington and cutting across the chimney stack of Idaho.

They swapped seats at intervals, Evan driving the current leg. His attempts to access the laptop had been unsuccessful. The Dell Inspiron had proved to be heavily encrypted. Breaking in would require time, focus, and gear, none of which he could get until he had Joey off his hands.

Van Sciver’s words returned, a whisper in his ear: You have no idea, do you? How high it goes? You still think it’s about me and you. No matter how many ways Evan turned the conversation over in his head, he couldn’t make sense of it. Van Sciver was working off an agenda unknown to Evan.

That scared him.

It felt as though Van Sciver were sitting at the chessboard and Evan was a pawn.

It was ten hours and change to Helena, Montana, a destination chosen for its unlikeliness and because they had to cross three state lines to get there. His stomach started complaining in hour six. It had been nearly eighteen hours since he’d eaten.

Joey had finally dozed off, slumped against the passenger window, a spill of hair curled in the hollow of her neck. It was good to see her sleeping peacefully.

Evan pulled off at a diner, braking gently so as not to wake her. He parked behind the restaurant, out of sight from the road, and reached to shake her awake.

She jolted upright, shouting and swinging. “Get off me! Get off—”

Awareness came back into her eyes, and she froze, backed against the door, fists raised, legs pulled in, ready to kick.

Evan had leaned away, giving her as much space as possible. He’d taken the brunt of her fist off the top of his forehead. If he’d been a second slower, she would have rebroken his nose.