Depraved 2 by Bryan Smith Read Free Book Online

for a look at her surroundings. There were no law enforcement vehicles anywhere in the vicinity. The only person paying any attention to her was a teenage boy in the backseat of a Prius parked at the pump across from her. This wasn’t a surprise. She had the kind of body that drew the attention of horny males wherever she went, even in her present disheveled state. When he realized she’d become aware of his scrutiny, the boy stuck his tongue out and waggled it suggestively.
    Some weird impulse made Jessica stick out her own tongue. She then slowly licked her lips in the most provocative way possible. The boy jerked his gaze away from her, intimidated by the unexpected response.
    Jessica smirked.
    That’s what I thought, kid.
    She got some satisfaction from embarrassing the kid, but the feeling was short-lived. Antagonizing anyone, even some dorky teenager, was a mistake. She didn’t need to be doing anything to make herself stand out in anyone’s memory. It was just another misstep in an increasingly long chain of them.
    God, when am I ever gonna get my shit together?
    Her gaze went again to the pump display. Okay, so she wasn’t operating with top-level efficiency here, that was a given, but she didn’t necessarily need to start panicking. As far as the gas purchase was concerned, the damage was done. What she needed to do now was make the most of the situation. To that end, she finished filling the Falcon’s tank and went into the store to use the ATM, where she withdrew the maximum daily cash limits on all her cards. The total came to more than a thousand dollars. Not as much as she’d like to have, but it would help her get down the road a ways without adding to her digital trail. Before leaving the store, she bought some disposable cell phones, an atlas, and a bag full of junk food and energy drinks.
    The Prius was gone when she came out of the store.
    Thank God for small favors.
    She drove away from the convenience store and continued on past the motel, eyeing it in the rearview mirror with a pang of regret. The pause in her flight had calmed her nerves some, but the downside of that was she’d become more aware of her various aches and pains. More than anything else, she longed to crawl into a bed and sleep for many hours.
    As she continued along a maze of interconnecting secondary roads, her thoughts turned to another of her more immediate problems, namely the Falcon. She loved the old car. It had been her deliverance from the nightmare that was Hopkins Bend, but she would have to ditch it soon. Modern vehicles tended to blur together on the road, but the Falcon would stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. She didn’t like the idea of abandoning it, but she would do whatever was necessary to avoid apprehension. Her real dilemma would be how to go about acquiring a new ride no one would connect to her.
    She needed advice from someone she could count on.
    Which left her with just one choice.
    Jessica pulled the Falcon over to the side of the road and took one of the disposable cell phones from the convenience store bag. After activating the phone, she punched in her father’s number from memory.
    Captain John Everett Sloan answered on the first ring. “Whatever you’re selling, I don’t need it.”
    “Daddy?”
    Jessica winced at the uncharacteristic meekness in her voice. She sounded weak and afraid. But maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing in just this one instance. It would communicate the seriousness of the situation faster than any words she might choose.
    She heard an intake of breath from the other end. “Calling me wasn’t a good idea, hon.”
    The words were like a spike through her heart. She knew what they meant. “So they’re already looking for me.”
    “Yes.”
    “I’m calling from a burner phone.”
    “Good. Get rid of it the instant we break connection.”
    “I will, daddy.”
    “That’s my girl.”
    Jessica let out a weary breath. A scattering of cars and trucks moved in