One Night More by Clara Bayard Read Free Book Online

sped up a little. Instead of heading straight across the city I took random turns and the mysterious car followed me every time. I wound my way north and east, sliding into heavier traffic.
    For a few minutes I thought I'd lost the other car, but it soon reappeared. Figuring I'd be safest off the road, I pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store. I gathered my things and was deciding whether or not to call Sam when someone knocked on the window.
    With a gasp I looked up to see a tall, thin man standing over me. He was pretty much unremarkable except for a large scar that ran down the side of his neck and disappeared into the collar of his blue button-down shirt. It was way too quick, I thought, for the other car to have caught up to me, so I didn't know what he wanted.
    I opened the window a crack and said, "Yes? Can I help you?"
    "No, Ms. Chase. I'm here to help you."
    My blood ran cold and I tried to shove the keys back in the ignition to get the hell out of there but my hands were shaking so hard I dropped them into the footwell.
    "Relax, Ms. Chase. I'm not going to hurt you. Just sit there and listen."
    "Why do you keep saying my name?"
    "So you realize I do know who you are. I know where you live and where you work. Or worked , as it seems your former employer has closed his business."
    "What do you want from me?"
    "I'll get to that in a minute. First, please place your phone on the passenger seat along with your purse."
    I shoved them over, my eyes scanning the lot around us for potential help. There was a woman with a stroller wrestling bags into the back of her car. A pair of teenagers laughing and shoving each other by the front door of the store. No one was paying any attention to me and the man. And none of them seemed inclined to help even if they knew something was wrong. I was on my own.
    "Excellent," the man said. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned down closer to the gap in the window. "I told you some of the things we know about you. Here are a few more. We know about the cop you're staying with." He paused for a second. "Detective Samuel Rollins, Junior. Badge number two-one-seven-nine. Assigned to the seventeenth district."
    "Okay, okay. I got it."
    He smiled, a wide grin that made me want to curl up in a ball and hide. "Good. We know you and Detective Rollins were instrumental in the arrest of Mitchell Douglas, your former employer I mentioned before.
    "What we don't know is how long you and Detective Rollins have been involved in this undercover scheme, or how much evidence of our work you have turned over." He shook his head when I was about to argue. "Fortunately for you, those details are unimportant right now. Any evidence you collected will be destroyed or misplaced."
    I thought about the phone Sam had said went missing. Obviously it was no accident.
    "Here's the part you really want to pay attention for, Ms. Chase. Anyone else you tell will be handled similarly. Destroyed or misplaced."
    My head swam and I started to hyperventilate. Anna knew. She knew everything. "Please, I-"
    "Wait, I'm not quite finished. I imagine you're wondering why I'm telling you this. Why you yourself are not going to be destroyed or misplaced. All of your shenanigans have caught the attention of way too many law enforcement agencies.
    "Consider it a gift from us to you. Your life. In return you will be quiet about what you know. No more interviews with the cops. No talking to the press. No blabbing in court.
    "You forget everything you know about our activities and we forget you exist. Violate this agreement and there will be consequences. Serious consequences." He cocked his head to the side and smiled again. "Now I'm going to leave. You will sit here for ten minutes and then go wherever you were headed before. No one will know about this conversation. Understand?"
    I nodded, throat too dry to speak."
    "Wonderful. Goodbye Ms. Chase."

Chapter Six
    By the time I was composed enough to drive, the time the