Hard Core Law

“You’re the one who brought it up.” He shrugged, but kept walking. “It’ll pass the time.”

“My last name isn’t Cassidy. I mean, it wasn’t. I changed it.”

That stopped him. There was a lot of light on the bridge and she could see Josh’s confused expression pretty well. He was in jeans and a long-sleeve brick-red shirt that had three buttons at the collar. She’d given it to him on his birthday because she wanted to brighten up his wardrobe. The hat he normally wore was still at home. They’d left without it or it would have been on his head.

“I ran a background check on you. Tracey Cassidy exists.”

“It’s amazing what you can do when you have money. In fact, I could hire men to help you. My uncle would know the best in the business.”

“Let’s go back to the part that you aren’t who you say you are.” The phone in his palm rang. He answered and held it to his ear. “We’re here.”

Josh looked around the area. His eyes landed on the far side of the bridge, opposite where they’d left the car. Tracey joined him.

“Whatever you want me to do, you don’t need my babysitter.”

“No, you need me. I can take care of the twins, change Jackson’s cartridge.” She held up the emergency pack.

“I don’t need any extra motivation. Leave her out of—” He pocketed the phone.

“I’m sorry for getting you into this mess.” He hugged her to him before they continued across the bridge then on the river walk under the trees. The sidewalk curved and Josh paused, looking for something.

Another couple passed. Josh tugged on Tracey’s arm and got her running across the grass toward the road. If the couple were cops, he didn’t acknowledge them. Their shoes hit the sidewalk again and a white van pulled up illegally onto the sidewalk next to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The door slid open. That’s where they needed to go.

The blackness inside the van seemed final. But she could do this. She’d do whatever it took. Whatever they wanted.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a man approaching. Then another. The more the two men tried to look as if they weren’t heading toward them, the more apparent it was that their paths would. Maybe they were the cops that Bryce had arranged to follow them. If they got any closer, the men inside the van would see them, too.