Don't Fear The Reaper

Chapter 11

Phil and I both nodded and walked out. Cyrus watched us get into the SUV before closing the front door. Phil's phone rang, and he answered.

"Hello?" Phil asked as he turned on the ignition.

"You're clear. They tried to bug you. I think it's just a tracker and not a listening device, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Either way, I got them. We'll send them on a goose chase. Just stop at the gas station you passed, and we'll get them off," Daisy said.

"Got it. Thanks for the update," he said, putting the SUV into drive and starting to make our way to the gas station.

I pulled my phone out and started typing. My text appeared on the dash so Phil could see it, and so could Daisy.

"Daisy?" I asked. "I'm assuming they bugged the SUV."

Phil nodded, and Daisy was chuckling in my ear. "Of course, you can access the vehicle. I gotchu, LoveLace."

"I thought our vehicles were unhackable," I heard Mack say in the background.

"They're supposed to be," May answered him.

I rolled my eyes. I quickly typed. "Keep saying it, Skye. Maybe you'll meet the real LoveLace someday."

She continued to laugh. "Sure." Her sarcastic tone said without voicing it that she still believed I was LoveLace.

"That seemed to go well," Phil said.

"It did," I said, folding my hands in my lap.

"You ok?" he asked, peeking over at me.

"Sure, I'm good," I told him with a sigh. "I admit, I never thought I would see Cyrus again."

"When did you first meet him?"

"Hmmm," I paused in thought. "Cyrus Pallin. If I remember correctly, it was my fourth or fifth foster home. The Bransons, I think."

"Got it," I heard Daisy say and the sounds of her keying in his name. "Damn, that boy has a wrap sheet as tall as Mack."

I typed. "That doesn't surprise me at all. The boy was a sadistic little asshole when I met him at fourteen."

"How old were you?" Phil asked.

"Twelve. I was just starting my last year in high school." I shrugged.

His eyes went wide.

"No wonder you're such a smartass, Firecracker."

I tried not to giggle. "Asshole, 007." I typed.

"Twelve? How did I not know this?" Phil said. "Dang, Ex...Knox. You must have gotten dad's smarts."

This time I did chuckle. "And you got mom's beauty?"

Phil laughed. "Nah, you got the best of both worlds there, Knox."

I snorted. "Whatever you say, big brother."

"I gotta stop for gas," he said nonchalantly.

"There was a stop a few minutes up the road, wasn't there?"

He nodded. We pulled in, and another innocuous vehicle pulled up and got out.

"We have a couple of Agents headed to Jersey. We're gonna have them drop it over there," Daisy grinned as she passed it to an Agent to take.

I noted it was Agent Stahl, and I nodded to him.

"Nicely done," Phil said. "Let's head back and see what we got from the drones."