Free What She Doesn't See by Debra Webb

her
office? Home? She couldn’t decide so she just drove.
    “There was a lot of noise.”
    Alex met his eyes in the mirror but he wasn’t
looking at her. He was remembering.
    “I figured the guy was tearing up my house. I
could hear Lenny, my friend,” he explained. “He was yelling that he
didn’t know what the guy was talking about. Hitch was saying
something, but I couldn’t make out his words. The guy told him to
shut up or he would take care of him right there. I knew we...”
    When he fell silent Alex glanced up again,
this time his gaze collided with hers in the mirror. “I knew we
were all going to die.”
    But he hadn’t, obviously.
    “What did you do then?” she prompted when he
remained silent for more miles than she could bear.
    “I took a chance and sneaked out the back
door.” He heaved a big breath. “Then I just ran. I tried to wake
one of my neighbors so I could call the police but no one was home.
Or she was in bed.” He scrubbed a hand over his pale face. “I made
my way back to my house, would have gone back inside to try to stop
whatever the hell was going on, but Hitch and the guy came
out.”
    “Did you see the guy’s face this time?”
Adrenaline did a number on her pulse rate. This could prove Hitch’s
accident was no accident.
    “No.” The croaked word was barely audible.
“It was dark and I couldn’t see from where I was hidden in the
shrubs next door.” He released a shuddering breath. “He sort of
dragged Hitch to the car.”
    Alex’s breath caught on the ache in her
chest. Hitch had already been hurt even before he was dragged back
into his car.
    “When they’d driven away, I started to go
check on my friend....” Timothy blinked. “The house exploded right
in front of me.”
    Damn. “You okay?”
    He didn’t answer for a moment. “Yeah. Sure. I
couldn’t hear for a few hours but it’s better now.”
    Fury burned through her. The guy had no doubt
driven Hitch to the very place where he would die that night. The
accident hadn’t been an accident at all. Someone had killed him.
Someone who had something to do with Charlie Crane’s death and that
damned contact lens. “We should go to the police.”
    “No way.” Timothy sat forward. “Just let me
out here. I’m not going to the police. Whoever the hell that guy
was, Hitch couldn’t stop him. I’m not getting involved with this.
No way. It’s too dangerous.”
    He scooted to the passenger-side door.
    Alex divided her attention between him and
the traffic all around her. She had to calm him down. “Let me take
you to my place. You’ll be safe there.”
    “You don’t get it.” He looked ready to jump
out the door with her moving fifty-five miles per hour. “This thing
you gave Hitch is like poison. Anyone who touches it is going to
end up dead.”
    Shifting her full attention back to traffic,
she tamped down the natural trepidation his words evoked. “What
exactly is it?”
    “Some kind of new technology storage device,
works just like a computer only it’s tiny and somehow the brain
issues commands through the optic nerve. I’ve heard rumors about
that kind of stuff but I had no idea it existed yet. It has a
shitload of classified information on it. Most of it’s encrypted,
but I deciphered enough to understand what I was dealing with.”
    “What kind of classified information?” She’d
made up her mind. They were going to the cops. If she could keep
him distracted long enough he might not even notice until they were
there already at the precinct.
    “Government stuff. The kind of data we
civilians aren’t supposed to see if we want to stay alive.”
    Government? Classified? She thought about
Charlie Crane. He hadn’t exactly looked like the James Bond type.
Then again, she’d never known a real-life spy.
    “Let me out at the next light.”
    “Look, Timothy.” She sped through the yellow
light instead of slowing for the stop, afraid he’d make a run for
it. She needed him. Without this