Love's Cruel Redemption (The Ghost Bird #12)(49)

He'd checked his own house's cameras earlier. The girls weren't there. Which was good. The last thing he needed was them snooping around and finding anything they shouldn't. His dad was easier to fool when he had Academy equipment around. There were places Nathan could hide such things and his father never noticed.

One of the cars that was passing by in front of him sped up. It turned into the lot, and parked in front of Dr. Green's and Ms. Johnson's car. Another one that had followed pulled around over the grass on the other side of the lane and parked a few feet on the opposite side.

Yup. Trap.

Nathan sat up, picking up binoculars to get a good look.

The only one that stepped out was the one in a brown car in front: Mr. McCoy.

Shit.

But okay. No problem. He wasn’t expecting him exactly, but now they knew he was involved still at the school. He was sure they’d get a report later from a tracking team, letting them know he was here. He was usually trying to monitor the fake Academy school to catch out who else worked there and what was going on with it.

The other car stayed in position, but no one came out. He wondered if it was Mr. Hendricks or someone else. He fished out his phone, snapped a pic of everything, catching the one plate he could get.

Whatever this was, it wasn't good.

Dr. Green held his hands up, but stepped protectively in front of Ms. Johnson. Mr. McCoy moved forward, wearing sweatpants and a camo shirt, his mustached lips moved as he barked something at Dr. Green. Dr. Green didn't budge, keeping himself between Ms. Johnson and Mr. McCoy.

Nathan waited, watching, ready to go help Dr. Green, but when Dr. Green didn't give a signal he needed help, Nathan was forced to stay where he was. No need to give his position up.

Ms. Johnson might have been set up for just this. Somehow, Hendricks and McCoy knew she was talking to Dr. Green, but that would be easy to figure out.

Was Ms. Johnson actually in on that, though?

For what purpose, he wasn't sure, but it didn't matter just yet. He just needed to get Luke out when it was time and to make sure nothing happened to Dr. Green. Let McCoy or Hendricks know they were watching and listening. It wasn’t like they’d call the cops, not when they were manipulating people in the school.

He waited, with his hand on the door handle, ready to run out. Just in case. McCoy was hotheaded. If he needed to, he'd leave the car hidden and go on foot. Luke would need someplace to retreat to once he left his secret position inside the school.

At first, he kept his attention on McCoy, trying to figure out what he was telling Dr. Green and Ms. Johnson. Then he refocused his effort into figuring out who was in the other car. With the way it was positioned though, he wasn't going to get a good look without moving.

His ability to see was blacked out shortly by a vehicle going by, but as it slowed down and continued to block his view of Dr. Green, he lowered the binoculars. They were drawing attention.

That was when he recognized the Jeep. Or so he thought. Was it...

The Jeep stopped in the middle of the street. Something flew out from it beyond the other cars in the lot. The car waited.

Another teacher? Was he throwing something at them?

Suddenly the area on the other side of the Jeep was being taken over by fog.

“What the hell?” Nathan said and then peered in at the driver of the Jeep with the binoculars.

A mask. A white one.

Volto.

“Oh shit,” Nathan said.

The Jeep started up again, pulling away. Once Volto drove further down the road, Nathan caught the license plate.

It was North's Jeep.

“Shit, shit, shit...” Nathan said. He dropped the binoculars and started the engine, keeping the lights off. He hated to leave Dr. Green, but he sent a quick message to Luke using voice to text and pulled out behind the Jeep.

“Be careful getting out,” Nathan said to his phone to send the message. “Dr. Green and his meeting got interrupted. Volto has North’s Jeep. Following it. Get instructions from Doc or someone else before moving on.”

He gave a voice command to send the message as he drove. He wasn't sure what else to say, but he kept his phone ready to take another message.

He slowed his pursuit when the Jeep slowed to just a few miles over the speed limit. After a while, it was pretty clear to Nathan that Volto would recognize Victor's car and know he was following, especially when he pulled into a cul-de-sac neighborhood and made a few obvious turns.

Did it matter? Unless Volto was willing to race through the streets, it was unlikely Nathan would lose him.

And like hell if he'd stop chasing him.





Left Behind




Sang

––––––––

I kept the pack above my head and continued to stare at the lot, as if the Jeep would magically reappear or I'd realize I was looking at the wrong space.

But the space we had parked in was empty.

The rain that started up was more a mist. Cautious, I held tight to the handles of the backpack, keeping it my head protected.

I steadied myself and approached the empty spot, checking the cars nearby. No one was out here. The cars seemed to be the same as when we’d left.

And as I approached, I spotted the white mask. It was face up, on the ground, positioned a little too perfectly in the empty space.

I closed my eyes, grinding my teeth and feeling an anger bubble inside of me like I hadn't experienced before in my life.