Mama Said (17 page)

He stopped her with an outstretched hand. “Wait a minute. I’m not so sure about this. What if they figured out where we’re at? They could be waiting for you.” He reached down to put on his tennis shoes. “I’m coming with you.”

“No way. If my mission is to fly under the radar and blend in, being next to a six foot, four inch Barney wannabe is not going to work.”

“I’ll put some makeup on the bruises or something.”

She put her hands on her hips, ready to fight him on this. Out of everything she’d done over the last couple of days, this had to be the easiest, even if she knew nothing about computers. “I never thought I’d see the day when Shane O’Neil would be asking for some cover-up cream,” she huffed. “Besides the fact there isn’t enough makeup in the world to help you right now, two of us will definitely attract more attention than one.”

“Yeah, but—”

“I’m right and you know it, so get over yourself. The bad guys don’t even know where we’re at.”

He hung his head and took off the one shoe he’d managed to slip on. “Remember, try not to attract attention.” He gave her a wry smile. “I never thought I’d see the day when Gabriella Santos shopped at Walmart.” He laughed. “But at least you bought some jeans and tennis shoes. You actually might be able to blend in.”

She pointed her toe. “My first pair of Keds. It’s been an adjustment. Heck, I think there were even high heels on my baby shoes.” Distracted for a few minutes, she got back to business. “Tell me again how I work this thing?” Unable to imagine much information could be stored on such a small object, she held up the cylinder.

“See this metal prong in the middle? It hooks into the USB port on the computer.”

“Where is the USB port?”

“Laptops usually have it on the side or in back. Desktops have them in front. Usually.”

“That’s not helping.”

“You’ll figure it out. Just put Tab A into Slot B and then open it up. Retrieve the files from the drive and print out anything from Perry.”

“Sure,” she said with as much enthusiasm as possible, considering confidence in her computer ability was sorely lacking.

“Keep an eye out. They’re coming after us and won’t stop until we’re both dead.”

With that sobering thought, she walked out the door into the hazy afternoon.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

It didn’t take long for Gabriella to get to the library, as it was on the outskirts of the campus and their motel wasn’t more than a few blocks away. Since it was late afternoon, she was able to find a parking spot in the small lot, rather than having to go to the larger parking garage a block down.

The library itself was several stories tall, bordering the edge of the campus. Students milled about on the walkway outside as well as the steps leading up to the building.

Even though she was at least ten years older than most of the people around her and had no idea what she was doing, no one noticed. The students passing by seemed preoccupied with either schoolwork or talking to their friends and ignored her.

She walked inside the cavernous place and adjusted the backpack she’d slung over her shoulder. Students were milling around doing individual research or working in study groups at tables set up along the perimeter.

Trying to get the lay of the land, she meandered past rows of computers. Students sat engrossed searching the web, checking e-mail, typing a paper, or, in some cases, playing a game of solitaire.

Technology made her anxious. She could sing before a thousand people and not break a sweat, but stick her in front of a computer, and her confidence did a quick crash and burn.

Her five-year-old niece Santana could probably do this. She should be able to negotiate her way through the simple steps of pulling files from the thingamajig on Shane’s key chain.

But after ten minutes, all she’d managed to do was turn the computer on. She couldn’t find the elusive slot in which to insert the silver thing. Maybe it didn’t have one of those ports Shane talked about.

“Can you help me?” She asked the young man sitting next to her.

He put a pencil to hold the spot in his book. “Sure. What do you need?”

“How do I pull files from this CBS thingy? I can’t seem to find where to stick it.” She showed him the key chain with the cylinder, feeling like a total and complete idiot.

“You mean the USB drive.” Smiling, he removed the key ring from her fingers. “Simple.” In seconds, he put it into a slot in front. “It should pop up on your screen and you should be able to bring up any files saved.”

The computer flashed on the bottom to indicate it detected new hardware. “Thanks so much.”

“What class is this for?” Obviously she’d intrigued the boy and he wasn’t willing to stop their conversation as quickly as she’d intended.

“Lit.” It was the first thing that came to mind. She hoped he didn’t feel the need to explore any further.

“I have Professor Greene. How about you?”

“Me, too. Strange coincidence.” She didn’t want to appear rude, but she wanted to get in and out.

“Maybe you’d like to join our study group?”

“Hmmm?” She focused her attention on the screen. “Sure,” she mumbled.

“We’re leaving in about ten minutes for coffee. If you have time, you could meet the group.”

“Oh darn, I can’t do it today.” Save her from twenty-year-olds hitting on her. “Maybe I could hook up with you guys next time.”

“Sure. We meet every Sunday afternoon right here in the library and work on the assignments for the week.”

She nodded, still focusing her attention on the screen. Thankfully, he took the hint and went back to his own work. Opening files, she began looking at Shane’s notes.

Shane had everything neatly organized. His system didn’t require a lot of skill to negotiate. Which was good. She printed out the documents and stuffed them into her backpack.

Next she keyed Shane’s e-mail address into the Yahoo site and found a whole bunch of new messages. She ignored them all except the one from Garrett and the two from Vince Perry. She scanned Garrett’s message first, hoping he was on his way home. It took everything in her not to send a ‘HELP’ message back to him. Besides, by the time he got back, one way or another, it would probably be too late.

With that depressing thought rattling around her brain, she started feeling paranoid. She glanced around while clicking on the first message from Vince. No one was peering over her shoulder. Students were oblivious to her presence; librarians were helping people at the desk in the center. Everything was as it should be. So why did she have this weird sensation inching up her spine?

Then she spotted them. O’Brien, along with another guy she didn’t recognize, was trolling the perimeter. They were followed by Stu, the same guy who’d somehow turned up MIA when everything went south for Mack. There was no way this was some kind of weird coincidence. He had to be with the other two.

She pulled the bill of the cap lower on her head and appreciated her foresight in wearing a Wisconsin red t-shirt and jeans. Half of the students around her were wearing some form of the same, allowing her to blend in.

Gabriella watched as Stu unfolded a piece of paper and thrust it before the librarian. When the woman shook her head, he unclipped a shield off the waistband of his pants and showed it to her, as if that might change her mind.

He was a cop? This was even worse than she thought. He could shoot first and ask questions later.

The librarian shook her head, but then called over another woman. It had to be pictures. Maybe pictures of Shane. Maybe of her.

Even though she had yet to print out the two new e-mails from Vince Perry, let alone read them, she couldn’t stick around. Instead, she gathered what she had from the printer as inconspicuously as possible, stuffing it into her backpack, pulled out the flash drive, then scanned the interior for O’Brien and the other guy.

She found them on each side of the pillars bordering the interior space. Drawing in a breath, she tried to remain calm as they walked through the aisles. Although they were doing a good job of making it appear they were searching for book titles, she could easily tell they were looking for her and Shane. If she hadn’t been paying attention, more than likely they would have blended in with the students because they were wearing t-shirts and jeans. The difference was, over their t-shirts they wore jackets. No doubt to cover a gun.

Breathe.

Think.

Above all, don’t panic.

Quickly, she ticked off the options in her head. First, she needed to put as much distance as possible between her and the computer station. Since she was betting they had a picture of both her and Shane, she needed to make herself as invisible as possible. If she went over to where the two policemen had already searched and engrossed herself in some impromptu research, she might get away without being noticed. But so might inching her way out the front door, which was even more tempting. Right now she wanted nothing more than to be as far away from this place as feasible.

She had very little time to escape, if any. She could only hope there weren’t more police waiting outside the door. Just as she was about to crawl out of her skin worrying about what to do, she spotted her newfound friend from the computer station walking with a group of students. They must all be headed to that coffee shop to discuss lit class.

Voila!
Plan B. She would attract the least attention in a group.

Hooking her hand into her new friend’s arm, she said, “I changed my mind. I’ll join you for coffee after all.” She turned her head so that it was as close to this guy’s shoulder as possible, obscuring her face.

“Nick.” He had a big smile on his face when he spoke.

“Tasha,” she replied, scanning the scene outside for more police. If she wasn’t mistaken, there was another guy stationed outside. While she’d never seen him before, his appearance and mannerisms definitely said
cop
.

Sticking with the crowd, she followed where they led and tried to avoid attention from others in the group. The last thing she needed was for some perceptive student to ask specifics about classes or professors.

Somehow the bad guys had figured out where they were. Maybe the call she’d made to Vince Perry’s office had given them a general location.

Her only consolation right now was that if they were on campus they probably weren’t scoping out the motels in the area, which meant that for the time being, Shane was safe. At least she hoped he was.

Despite the circumstances, she tried to remain calm. The college students around her seemed oblivious to her foreign status, although she wasn’t sure how long that would last.

Trying to fit in while she followed along with the crowd, she joined in their discussion. “That lit paper is going to be brutal, isn’t it?” she chimed in as the group walked en mass.

Without even noticing the fact she was new, one of the guys responded, “I hear Professor Greene takes off if you don’t have the bibliography formatted properly.”

Holding her breath, she continued to walk with the group, hoping against hope no one would make her as an outsider. She could almost envision someone demanding, ‘Who the hell are you?’ If so, the result wouldn’t be pretty.

She followed the crowd, stopping for coffee and taking it with her to the grassy area between the buildings. They sat in a circle sipping and talking about projects they had to do while her mind was preoccupied with how quickly she could get back to Shane.

She was introduced by her new friend Nick and she volunteered to do research for the CHAPTER Two quiz. Frankly, at this point she would have agreed to anything as her mind was buzzing with the overwhelming need to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Then Stu came around the corner of the building, heading straight for where they were sitting. He scanned the general area, then put a set of binoculars to his eyes and looked again. The other two guys stood along the sidewalk doing their best to blend in. Given their out-of-the-norm-behavior, it wasn’t working very well.

More anxious than she cared to think about, she kept her head down. “I need to leave,” she mumbled incoherently as overwhelming fear nearly robbed her of breath.

“We’re not—”

Nick didn’t get to finish his statement before she stood and sprinted across the grassy triangle. She couldn’t sit there one second longer. If she did, it would be like waiting for certain death. She needed to make a run for it.

She wasn’t sure how long it took before they figured out she was the one they were looking for. She was too busy running and not looking back. In all the horror movies, the heroine always made the mistake of looking back. That was how she got nabbed by the bad guy. Gabriella wasn’t going to fall into that trap.

Instead, she kept running. Even when she could hear shouts coming from behind asking her to stop, she kept going. She wasn’t a track star like her sister Juliana, but given the right motivation, she was fast. And if this wasn’t motivation, nothing was.

* * *

Shane felt like crap. His whole body ached and he couldn’t seem to get warm. He focused on the clock and tried to remember how long Gabriella had been gone.

Damn. It had to be close to an hour by now. She should be back any minute. The last thing he’d wanted to do was to send her off on her own. At the time, the risks had seemed minimal. In and out. She should have been able to finish and be back within a half hour. But now, as the minutes stretched by and she still wasn’t back, he had to wonder if he’d made the right choice.

She was a strong woman, much stronger than she gave herself credit for. But whoever was involved in this wouldn’t hesitate to kill her, or anybody else that got in their way.

Why hadn’t he gone with her? Sure, they’d draw more attention with him still looking the way he did, but at least he’d be around to take the heat. If anything happened to her he’d never be able to forgive himself.

Ten more minutes. That’s all he’d give her.

He went into the bathroom, splashed some water on his face, and took some aspirin, hoping it would kick in fast. As he walked back to the bed, he heard somebody outside the door. Based on the size and shape of the shadow against the window, it wasn’t Gabriella.

As in a bad movie, the lock turned slowly to the left, then the right before the tumblers clicked into place and the door eased open. The guy was bigger than a tank and leading with a gun. Shane reached to the waistband of his jeans, only to remember he’d left his gun in the nightstand.

This was going to get ugly.

* * *

Gabriella figured there were too many people around for them to shoot. If a stray bullet hit one of the students, there’d be messiness and a whole lot of questions. She was betting on the fact they wouldn’t want that.

She kept running, trying to find populated areas in which she could get lost. Luckily, given the nice weather and a lazy Sunday afternoon, students filled the area, strolling around in groups or in pairs. While she didn’t blend in, given the fact she was running, she was at least circumventing any real show of force for the time being. Most criminals, even if they are cops, don’t like witnesses, she reminded herself.

Adrenaline kept her moving, but she needed a destination. Going straight back to the motel while they were trailing her would be trouble for both her and Shane. But she also couldn’t continue running indefinitely.