Nowhere to Hide by Sigmund Brouwer Read Free Book Online Page B

minor actor in all of this. That’s what I sold your parents on, and they agreed it would be safe. It should have been routine.”
    â€œMinor actor?” King said. “And the major actor?”
    â€œWhat I need to find out,” Evans said, “is if Ron Delamarre is guilty as charged, or if someone else in the—”
    For King, it was a delayed reaction. “Ron Delamarre!”
    â€œYeah. That Ron Delamarre. Software billionaire. Indicted on terrorism charges. Fled the country. Wanted by Interpol.”
    â€œWow,” King said. “Heavy stuff.”
    â€œIt gets better—or worse, depending on your perspective. There’s some murky stuff that I don’t want to explain because, really, you don’t have the clearance. But there may or may not be a faction within the CIA that’s been putting a squeeze play on Delamarre for a top-secret software thing that Delamarre may or may not possess and that Delamarre may or may not have stolen. Regardless, there’s a terrible chance that a faction of a few connected agents have gone rogue within the CIA. We don’t know enough to identify them, just that rumors exist.”
    â€œAnd,” King said, “that Ron Delamarre has been charged with something related to terrorism and is on the run.”
    â€œThat about sums it up,” Evans said.
    â€œExcept for the fact that Blake and MJ and I are in a car with you after assaulting an agent who pretended to be bringing me in to meet with you.”
    â€œExcept for that,” Evans said. “My best guess is that he wanted all three of you together to contain the situation and find out what was going on. That’s what really scares me. Somehow, it seems, someone else in the organization has wind of this. They knew where to find you guys, they knew you were involved, and they took down our main witness—Jack Murphy, the guy in the mobile home—who the prosecution wasn’t supposed to know would testify that Ron Delamarre wasn’t a terrorist.”
    Evans signaled and eased two lanes to the right.
    Evans said, “Blake? MJ?”
    MJ took the lead. “Kinger, Evans went to our parents and asked if we could become cyber bounty hunters and help him find a guy. Someone who was on the run for missing child-support payments. It was a piece of cake for us.”
    â€œBy ‘us,’ ” King said to MJ, half turning so he could look directly into the backseat, “you mean you let Blake help you a little.”
    Blake grinned and said nothing. Blake’s computer and programming skills were undisputed.
    â€œI ordered pizza when he was hungry,” MJ said. “Important job. And offered emotional support.”
    â€œThat,” Blake said, “plus he’s older than I am. My parents weren’t going to let me work with Evans unless I had company. And since you had stomach issues, MJ had to be the one.”
    Stomach issues. Right , King thought. How about panic-attack issues?
    â€œI assured your parents this was a simple job,” Evans said. “Except for my boss, I was the only one who knew about the hotel room, the computer work, and the drone. At least, I thought I was.”
    â€œSafe conclusion then that Mundie works for the rogue faction?” King asked. “How did they find out what was happening off the books?”
    King saw Evans tighten his jaw.
    â€œThat’s one thing I need to find out,” Evans said. “But my bigger priority is that I have to get you guys clear and back to your parents as soon as possible with no collateral damage.”
    â€œRight,” King said, wondering why Evans hadn’t called their parents yet. Or offered to take them to McNeil Island.

CHAPTER 14
    â€œOur lucky day,” Evans said, glancing ahead to the side of the freeway. He pointed. “Look at that.”
    Two panhandlers were standing beside a sign marking an off-ramp. Both wore army-surplus