Jones sighed. “Okay, leave it with me. I’ll be in touch.”
He clicked off the line, and Black pocketed the phone as he walked hastily out of the room, heading for the entrance.
SANTA CLARITA, CALIFORNIA, USA
April 19th, 2017
Jericho leaned back in his seat, casting a glance sideways at Julie, who had sweat on her brow as she focused intently on the road ahead. They passed a sign that said the freeway was two miles out.
“What are you doing?” Jericho asked, after a few minutes of silence. “Why are you helping me?”
Julie’s hands began to shake as they gripped the wheel. The concentration on her face waned slightly, and tears welled up in her eyes. When she spoke, her voice cracked with emotion.
“I… I don’t know. What they did to you wasn’t right. I… I tried telling them to wait until you woke up, but—”
Jericho placed a hand gently on her shoulder. “It’s okay,” he said. “Just relax. I’m grateful, whatever your reasons.” He glanced over his shoulder, looking through the back window to check if they were being followed, but he couldn’t see anything suspicious. “Just try to stay calm and focus on the road. Forget about everything else for now, okay?”
Julie took a deep breath and nodded. After a half mile in light traffic Jericho pointed to a Mobil gas station just ahead of them on the right. “Pull in here,” he said.
She drove in and killed the engine in front of an unoccupied pump. She turned in her seat and stared at him. “Now what?” she asked.
“Now… we drop off the grid while I figure out my next move,” replied Jericho, as he opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle. The strangely pleasant smell of gasoline hit his nostrils. He looked up and down the road, but still couldn’t see anyone he thought might be a tail.
Julie got out and stretched, and then started walking toward the store.
He quickly stepped in front of her, grabbing her arm to hold her still. “They’ll have security cameras inside,” he said. “We should limit our visibility as best we can.”
He glanced around and saw a generic, anonymous, dirty-white sedan parked in front of the pump just ahead of them. He couldn’t see anyone inside the vehicle. He took a couple of steps toward it, glancing casually through the window of the store and seeing a small line of people queuing at the checkout. Figuring the owner was one of them, he looked over at Julie and said, “Come on, quickly.”
He made his way over to the car, pausing for a moment to discreetly slide the gun he had into a trash can. He didn’t want to risk getting caught with it.
He slid in behind the wheel, and Julie climbed in beside him a moment later.
“What the hell are you doing?” she asked with disbelief.
“I’m borrowing this car,” he replied, like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. “We need to stay off GlobaTech’s radar for a while, which means ditching their vehicle, as it will almost certainly be LoJacked.” He looked across at her and smiled reassuringly. “Trust me, okay? I know what I’m doing.”
She held her breath and nodded.
He started the engine and eased away from the gas station, turning left and heading back the way they’d come.
“I thought you wanted to get away from them?” asked Julie, confused. “You’re heading straight for them…”
Jericho shook his head. “They saw us go left. Human instinct is to keep running from danger. It won’t occur to them that we’d stop and turn around, so we’ll head the other way, free and clear.”
“And then what?”
“Once we’re out of the city, I’ll think of something.”
After passing GlobaTech’s main compound, they continued on for another twenty minutes in silence. The sun was blazing, and Jericho had the window wound down, resting his arm on the frame.
“Should you be driving with only one eye?” she asked him, breaking the silence. “It’ll affect your ability to judge distances…”
“It’s fine, I’ve driven under worse conditions in my time,” he replied.
The traffic was getting heavier, and progress was getting slower, but Jericho wasn’t concerned. He figured they’d bought themselves at least twenty-four hours. He checked his rearview every few minutes, out of habit, but saw nothing that raised the alarm.
They shot past a sign that announced Los Angeles was thirty miles away, which he knew would be about a forty-five minute drive, if the traffic stayed calm. Julie must’ve spotted the sign too.
“We’re going to L.A.?” she asked.
Jericho nodded, but didn’t take his eye off the road. “It’s a big place — easy to hide and stay hidden,” he said. “I need time to think.”
Julie didn’t say anything; she sat back in her seat and let out a slow, heavy sigh. Jericho flashed a quick glance across at her, seeing her staring blankly out of the window.
He was grateful to her for sticking her neck out for him the way she had, although he still couldn’t understand why. It was a gutsy move for a nurse with a small frame and innocent eyes. But he wasn’t complaining. Without her, he’d still be fighting a small army of GlobaTech operatives.
Fifteen minutes passed before either of them spoke. It was Julie who broke the silence.
“So, what’s your story, anyway?” she asked.
“How do you mean?” replied Jericho.
“Is it true you worked for the CIA before this?”
Jericho paused before answering, choosing his words carefully; even after everything that had happened, he was still unsure if he could fully trust her. “In a manner of speaking, yes,” he said. “I ran a specialized unit that focused on preventing large-scale threats to both national, and international, security.”
“Wow!” she said, with a small, shocked laugh. “That sounds… important. Is that what D.E.A.D. was, then?”
Jericho threw her a sideways glance, questioningly.
She smiled weakly. “I overheard Mr. Winters talking, while you were in your coma,” she admitted. “What does it stand for?”
He shook his head a little, letting slip a small smile, feeling silly for saying it out loud. “It means, Doesn’t Exist on Any Database. It means I’m a ghost. Or, at least, I used to be.”
“Do you remember what happened to you?”
“I’m getting there. I know that a member of my team turned on me and shot me in the fucking head.”
“That’s crazy! Do you know why he did it?”
Jericho shook his head. “That’s something I need to figure out. Winters and Schultz offered me an explanation, but I don’t believe them. I can’t… I need to find out for myself what happened.”
“Mr. Winters is a good man,” said Julie. “And Mr. Schultz is… well, his heart’s in the right place.” She laughed a little, but Jericho didn’t respond. “With everything that’s going on right now, they’re pretty much in charge of supporting the world, using our company to do it. Go easy on them, okay?”
Jericho stopped at a red light and looked over at her, holding her gaze. He’d always believed you can learn everything you need to know about a person by looking into their eyes. She seemed nervous, and tired. But she had an innocence that shone through more than anything. A genuine, kind nature that made him believe she was being honest with him.
“How did GlobaTech get involved in the first place?” he asked. “Surely, after an attack of this magnitude, the U.N. would arrange relief and foreign aid?”
“I don’t know the specifics, but I know we lost one of our directors, Robert Clark, during the terrorist attack. Mr. Schultz was originally with us as a consultant, but given his history, the board of directors didn’t blink when they gave him the role of Acting CEO, and he believes GlobaTech is the best option to support everyone affected. I know we have the money, and the technology, so it makes sense.”