Free Royal Opposites by Lori Crawford Page A

stopped at a traffic light and looked at her. She held up the phone that now displayed the wanted poster with their pictures on it. “Are you kidding me?”
    “I wish I was.” She slumped in her seat. “What do we do now?” We can’t go to the police. We can’t go to the FBI. We have Boo Boo and Tu Tu on our tail. We are so screwed.” Just when she’d thought she was about to get her life back on track, too.
    Would this never end? Or better yet, would it have a good ending, meaning one that didn’t have her in jail for the rest of her life.
    Running from the local authorities was one thing. Evading a federal agency like the FBI was a whole different ball of wax.
    Tom eased forward in the flow of traffic, but spared her a look. “Come now. Surely, you’re not ready to give up.”
    “What else can we do? It’s not like there’s some accessible higher authority over the FBI. Maybe we should turn ourselves in and take our chances.”
    “We do have one more option.”
    “Yeah? What’s that?” Joan frowned.
    “Come home with me.”

    Her eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me? I don’t have a passport and yours is in Los Angeles, most likely under lockdown by the local cops. Not to mention the fact that even if I could afford a plane ticket, chances are pretty high that I’m now on the ‘no fly’
    list. So how exactly do you propose we leave the country?”
    Tom smiled at her and held out his hand for the phone. She pressed it in his palm and stared out the windshield. What a ridiculous idea. Even if they could leave the country, she couldn’t just pick up and go. She had a life to—then she remembered. Life as she knew it was, for all intents and purposes, a thing of the past.
    She fiddled with the camera case that contained the one thing that might get her life back on track. Assuming she could find someone to believe her.
    “There’s been a change of plans. I need you to send the jet after all.”
    Joan frowned when she tuned in to Tom’s conversation. The jet? Hope had the nerve to sprout in her chest. Of course he had a jet. After all, he was royalty, right? She’d almost forgotten about his little revelation from earlier. Maybe he hadn’t been pulling her leg.
    “I’m fine, Mother. Send it to Dallas. We’ll meet it there.”
    Joan watched him closely. She wondered at the blush staining his cheeks all of a sudden. He glanced at her, but looked away just as fast. What was that about? And Dallas? Why not Phoenix? That’s where they were.
    “Thank you, Mother. See you soon.”
    He hung up the phone, but stared straight ahead for a bit.
    When it became obvious he wasn’t going to volunteer anything, Joan prompted, “Dallas?”
    He focused on her at last. “Yeah. It’ll take a couple days for the pilot to get here and I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to stay put for too long. It’ll take us a day or two to drive to Dallas.” He checked the rearview again. “But first, we must lose our friends.
    Then we’ll drop off the grid until we can get to safety.”

    Joan had to admit. She liked his plan. Anything that had to do with their getting to safety was all right with her. Except for one little thing. “But how do we get through airport security to board your jet?” She tried not to be flabbergasted she was talking to someone who had a jet. Wonder if they offered coupons for that.
    He smiled at her. “Jai, my head of security, will prep for our arrival.”
    Joan rubbed her forehead. What had she been thinking? Of course he had a head of security. And of course he’d prepare for their arrival. How ridiculous of her to think otherwise. If she hadn’t felt out of her element before, she certainly did now.
    She stared out the back window at their pursuers. “We could use your head of security right about now.”
    “Given my abrupt change in plans, I expect him to arrive with the jet.” Tom gave a one shouldered shrug. “Even when we were kids, he was always a bit overprotective.” Tom