I walked out to the driveway and he handed me the keys. “Figured I might as well put that in my name, too. I just kicked in the other rental and got something with more room.”

“Perfect,” I said.

He held up the key cards. “Got the room, too. We can check in whenever she’s ready.”

Bella came outside. “I think I’ve got everything together.”

“You think you’ll be okay by yourself tonight for a little while?” I asked her. “I’m gonna need Alex to come with me.”

“To get Jackson?” she asked.

I nodded.

Uneasiness crept into her eyes, but she nodded. “I’ll be okay.”

“One other thing I forgot to ask you about,” I said. “Your car. I’d rather that you leave it.”

“I sorta need a car,” she said.

“We’ll get you another in San Diego.”

“Are you like made of money or something?” she asked.

“No,” I said. “But if you aren’t attached to it, we’ll get you another one there. Be easier than trying to get yours there. And then we can leave the rental at the hotel with you and drive yours tonight.”

“I don’t care. I just want Jackson.”

“Let’s load up then,” I said.

It took us half an hour to get all of their things in the SUV and then another twenty minutes to get to the hotel—Alex and Bella in the SUV, me following in her car. The room was on the ninth floor and looked out over the Gulf, the blue-green water stretching endlessly on the horizon.

“When we leave, you don’t answer the door for anyone,” I said. “Me or Alex, that’s it. And one of us will come up to get you when we get back. Keep your phone on. Don’t answer the room phone. If we call, we’ll call your cell. Alex is going to leave his gun with you. If anyone comes in here but us, you use it.”

The uneasiness grew in her eyes.

“Look, all of this is overkill,” I said. “No one but the two of us know you’re here. Once we get there, they won’t be going anywhere. The only ones coming to get you are gonna be us and Jackson.”

She bit her lip and nodded. “I hope so.”

I wanted to reassure her, but there was no point and I didn’t blame her. Until her son was back, she was going to be anxious.

“We should go,” I said to Alex.

He nodded and stood there awkwardly for a moment.

“I’ll meet you out in the hall,” I said.

I left the room and shut the door behind me. A minute later, Alex joined me in the hall.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Figured you might be able to reassure her more than me at this point,” I said.

“I dunno,” he said. “I guess. She’s scared.”

“She trusts you,” I said. “If you told her it’ll be okay, it’ll help.”

“I did.”

“Then we’re good. Think she could use the gun if she had to?”

He glanced at the door, then back at me. “Yeah. Think so.”

We took the elevator down to the parking garage and I drove Bella’s Accord out and onto the highway. I checked the mirrors carefully to make sure we didn’t have any unfriendly followers, but didn’t see anyone.

I parked the car in the cul-de-sac outside my place and told Alex to wait for me.

Stepping into the garage that had been my home for the past few months was a weird feeling. I knew it would be the last time I’d see it. It wasn’t a place I’d miss but yet I still felt attached to it. I knew every nook and cranny in the space, the product of too many sleepless nights. It would be odd to never see it again.

There were two guns on my bed, along with a note from Ike.

Noah, I got you three. One auto was all I could come up with. No charge and don’t argue. Be safe. Ike

The two handguns on the blanket were both HK-45s. There was no automatic weapon with them.

I smiled.

I grabbed the beat-up backpack off the nail on the wall and tossed in the few articles of clothing I owned. Everything else in the place was there when Ike had given me the key. I laid the guns in the backpack on top of the clothes, zipped it up and slung it over my shoulder.

I took a deep breath.

Several months before, I’d done the same thing. Packed up quickly and left a place I felt comfortable in. Now, I was doing it again. There was no going back.

I had no way of knowing if I was doing the right thing. It felt like so long since I’d had an internal compass, that innate sense that told me I was doing the right or wrong thing. I’d been drifting for too long, rudderless. I hadn’t made a real decision in—I couldn’t remember how long.

But now, I was making a decision.

I was just letting Liz’s voice guide me.

FORTY-NINE

“I probably should’ve said something awhile ago, but how exactly are we going to do this?” Alex asked.

I’d pulled the car to a stop several blocks away from where I’d parked earlier in the day in Hanson’s neighborhood and cut the engine. I handed him one of the guns Ike left for me.

“We’re going to wait for a sign,” I said.

“A sign?”

“Yeah. A sign. We’ll know when to go in.”

“What kind of sign?”

“I don’t know.”

He stared at me.

“Just trust me,” I told him. “We’ll know.”

“And we’re just going in the front door?”

“Yep.”

He stared straight ahead for a moment, then turned back to me. “A sign?”

“A sign.”

He blinked. “Alright.”

“I’ll go in first and you can cover me,” I said. “But it’ll be safe.”

He shook his head, disbelieving, but said, “You say so.”

We got out of the car and I tucked the gun into the band of my shorts, beneath my T-shirt. I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d even need it if everything went according to plan. Alex came around to me on the sidewalk and we walked slowly in the direction of Hanson’s house.

I glanced at the watch on my wrist. “Four minutes.”

“Until?”

“Until the sign,” I said. “I think.”

“Dude, you’re confusing the hell out of me.”

“Bear with me.”

“Trying.”

We stayed on the opposite side of the street and I scanned the houses as we walked. I saw no one perched between the homes or in cars or posing as lookouts. As I suspected, Hanson was either too stupid to believe Red, or too arrogant to think we could come and get him. I didn’t want to go in overconfident, but Hanson was proving himself to be pretty predictable.

We slowed as we reached the block where Hanson’s house stood. A guy was parked in front of his door, but it wasn’t Red. It was someone I didn’t recognize, but he didn’t look all that different from Colin or the other guys Hanson surrounded himself with. He stood indifferently on the brick steps, turning his head occasionally from side to side, his arms folded across his chest like he was pissed that he’d been stuck with lookout duty.

“Let’s split up,” I said. “You walk ahead and go all the way past the house. Stay on this side. Don’t even look at the house when you pass it, just keep going until you’re about the same distance away as me on the other side. They won’t recognize you.”

“Then what?”

“Wait for the sign.”

“Right,” he said. “The sign.”

“Trust me.”

He shook his head but started off.

The guy glanced at him when Alex was across from the house, stared for a moment, then continued his rotating gaze. Alex walked casually, messing with his phone as he passed the house, not giving it even the slightest glance.

Perfect.

I looked at my watch.

One minute.

I stood and waited.

I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for. I wasn’t being difficult or evasive with Alex. I really didn’t know what we should expect. But I was confident that we’d know it when we saw it.

Two minutes later, I saw movement on the roof. A large figure, crouched, wearing something that looked like a backpack with an automatic weapon of some sort slung around his body. He moved quickly along the pitch of the roof, then paused, staring down at something. Then he brought the weapon around, aimed it at the roof and unleashed a flurry of bullets into what I was pretty sure was the bank of windows above the living room.