The Virus Within: Blood Moon (Book 3)

Chapter 3

I crouched down to sniff the still-faintly-damp wad of thread, and my lips pulled back from my teeth in a feral grin as I skipped out of the way of the incoming truck. It barreled past me, barely missing the place I had been standing. As it went by, I grabbed onto a handle on the side and swung myself into the back.

"We're catching up," I proclaimed with a growl in my voice. "It's less than an hour old."

"That's good news," Nina replied. "We've been driving for almost four hours, and even if they don't slow down or stop, we should be able to catch up in about another four hours."

"I'm expecting them to slow down or stop for a break soon," Daniel said. "They've been pushing hard, and their drivers will be getting sloppy. As it is, they've been hitting more potholes."

"Maybe fortune will shine upon us and one of their tires will blow," I said grimly, far too eager to envision such a mishap on their side. If we happened to round a corner and found all of them parked there, I'd be even happier.

"If they don't slow down, something will happen," Daniel replied. "From the tracks, one of them hit that large pothole back there. I'm not sure how the driver didn't see that one, but I'd be surprised if it didn't damage the tire in some fashion."

"If they're in some sort of military or SWAT vehicle, those vans are going to take a lot of abuse before they break down." Logan grimaced at his thoughts.

I bestowed a grimace of my own upon the man. "Those aren't exactly the kinds of things I want to hear right now."

He shrugged. "Better to be prepared for the truth than to be caught off-guard, but there is a glimmer of good news if you want to hear it."

He was baiting me, and we both knew it. "I'm listening."

"If Nicky is dropping all these clues, then she isn't bound. And before you mention how hard it is to tie her up, consider this," he paused to make sure I was listening. "She dropped hair. People in handcuffs or bound hands can't play with their hair without attracting a fair bit of attention, so at the very least, Nicky isn't tied up. And if she isn't, then Jess likely isn't either. From how often she's leaving these things, she's either being really sneaky – which is hard in that style of vehicle unless she's sitting near a peephole – or she isn't being closely supervised."

Now that was food for thought. I narrowed my eyes and tried to recall how many scents I had detected when we passed their bathroom spots. Eight, for sure. Maybe nine if two were siblings, assuming everyone had taken a leak at some point. We hadn't stopped at those places, so I wasn't sure how many people got into each vehicle. If they were evenly spaced out, there would be two or three men in each van.

That was enough people to keep Jess and Nicky from running away, but too few to keep an intense around-the-clock vigil on their two captives. So as long as Nicky laid low and didn't mouth-off or aggravate the guards, any major distraction might be enough for them to slip away.

But that also left several burning questions. Did they have guns? How were they restraining Jess and Nicky and ensuring their good behavior? How hard would it be to get those two away from them?

These questions and more chased themselves around my mind even more relentlessly than Nicky on a coffee high.

"Trinity, do you see that?" The worried note in Daniel's voice had me swiftly scanning the road, ditches, and trees ahead.

Nothing looked out of place at a glance, but I wasn't about to take the time to play guessing games. "See what?"

"Smoke on the horizon. I don't recall seeing it before, and it's getting darker, so the fire likely just started."