"I'm not certain, but when I searched the Saturn before I came in to rescue you, I found it under the seat. My guess is that it belongs to Burgess or Lester. And since neither seem the type to own a laptop-"

"They stole it." Jake slapped his hand down on his thigh.

"And if-and that's a big if-they stole it from the Coalition, then maybe, just maybe, it will be useful to us."

"Stop the truck again," Jake demanded.

"What?"

"Stop, give me the laptop and I'll take a look at it while you drive."

"Other than as fast and far away from Dr. Payne and her hubby, where do you suggest we go? We have no idea where Verde Valley is."

"We'll drive to the nearest town, ditch this SUV and find us another vehicle."

"I suggest we check into a motel, get a few hours rest and a hot shower, then grab a bite to eat-after I contact Johnson."

"We won't make any definite decisions until after I take a look at the laptop. Agreed?"

Mariah stopped the SUV again, long enough for Jake to pull the laptop out from underneath her seat. He placed the computer case in his lap, unzipped it and looked inside. "Well, look at this. There's a hookup for the charger that connects to the cigarette lighter. How convenient."

"Maybe too convenient. What if the thing is b.o.o.by-trapped? What if when you turn it on, it explodes? Or what if it triggers a bomb planted somewhere in the truck?"

"d.a.m.n, I like the way your mind works. Being a fed has taught you to be suspicious, to take nothing at face value. But you know this laptop looks just like the one I saw where I was held at the Oregon compound."

"Hmm, interesting. So, do you turn it on or not?" Mariah asked.

"I say we risk it. What do you think? Your decision. After all, you wanted to be the boss for today."

"All right. If I'm the boss, then give me the laptop and we'll both get out of the truck. We'll get far enough away from the vehicle to be relatively safe. You go in one direction and I'll go in the other, then I'll turn on the computer and we'll see what happens."

"Sounds like a reasonable plan," Jake said. "Except for one thing."

"What?"

Before Mariah realized his intentions, Jake flung open the pa.s.senger door and jumped down onto the pavement. He looked back at her and said, "I'll turn on the computer. You run in the opposite direction."

"Dammit, Jake, I'm the boss today. I'm the federal agent. I'm the bodyguard."

"Yeah, honey, I know." He started walking away, then called back to her. "But I'm the man, and to me that means I'm your protector, not the other way around."

Without protest-apparently because she knew protesting would be useless-Mariah jumped out of the SUV and ran in the opposite direction. When he reached a distance he deemed somewhat safe, Jake squatted on his haunches, set the laptop carrying case down, then lifted the lid slowly, cautiously. He took a deep breath and uttered a quick prayer before activating the computer.

Mariah prayed, begging the Good Lord to help them. Don't let anything happen to Jake. If I lose him, I'll have no reason to live. She stopped running when she felt she had reached a safe distance, then she turned around and looked toward Jake.

"It's on," he shouted. "No bomb. No explosions."

"Not yet."

"Are you expecting a delayed reaction?"

"Maybe."

"Okay, we'll wait. Is five minutes long enough?" he asked. "I sure hope so. It's d.a.m.n cold out here."

"You're worried about being cold?" Much too far away from him to have any idea what he was typing, she watched while Jake tapped on the keyboard.

"From what I can tell, this isn't a weapon of any kind. And the battery needs recharging. But I know one thing for sure-I need the modem connected to a telephone as soon as possible."

Mariah walked in place, trying to stay warm. The effort proved useless. It took her all of three minutes to shout at Jake, "Let's get back in the truck and find a town. We'll abandon the truck and either hide it somewhere or camouflage it in some way. It's only a matter of time before Agnes and Oliver have their Coalition goons canva.s.sing everywhere within a hundred-mile range of where we left them."

Jake met her on her side of the SUV. "Why don't you rest for a while and let me drive?"

"Because you're the man and-"

He shoved the laptop at her and said, "Because you've had a rough time and you could use a little rest. Okay?"

"Okay."

As she took the laptop and rounded the Saturn's hood, she wondered why it was that allowing Jake to treat her like a woman, all possessive and protective and caring, didn't bring her I-am-woman-hear-me-roar instincts into full force. Perhaps it's because Jake doesn't make you feel as if you can't take care of yourself. He just makes you feel like taking care of you is the most important thing in the world to him.

Mariah got in on the pa.s.senger side, placed the laptop on the floorboard, then connected her safety belt. "Buckle up," she told Jake, humor in her voice. "We've been breaking the law traveling without our seat belts hooked up."

Jake buckled up, then started the truck. He glanced at the dashboard. "Do you realize we're nearly out of gas?"

"Oh, great. No, I didn't realize it. But then checking the gas gauge was the last thing on my mind."

"How close to empty are we?"

"d.a.m.n close," he told her. "My guess is we might have twenty, possibly twenty-five miles worth of gas left."

"Then let's hope we find a service station sometime soon."

"If we don't, we'll be abandoning the SUV a lot sooner than we'd planned."

Shortly after Agnes Payne telephoned for help, a Coalition helicopter arrived to pick them up. And Oliver wasn't the least bit surprised when she gave Burgess bad news.

"You're to stay here," Agnes told the man. "Someone will come by in a few hours and pick you up. I suggest your prepare yourself to be severely punished, Mr. Burgess."

When he boarded the chopper, Oliver gave Burgess a sympathetic glance.

"I expect whatever branch of the government Dr. Brooks is working for will have agents here within another hour," Agnes said.

"And you've left Burgess there? He'll talk. He'll tell them-"

"Burgess is an underling. He knows nothing important about Coalition business."

"He can identify you and me."

Oliver glanced out at Burgess standing in the driveway at the cabin, clearly visible in the moonlight brightly reflected off the snow. Suddenly the man froze, a stricken look on his face. He dropped to the ground. Dead. Oliver gasped, then jerked around and looked behind him. A Coalition soldier pulled in his rifle-the rifle that had effectively silenced Burgess. Permanently. Oliver realized that he should have known Agnes would leave behind no witnesses.

"When will you ever learn, Oliver dear, that I always think of everything."

Not everything, Oliver thought. You haven't even guessed that Burgess and Lester stole a laptop computer from the Oregon compound and at this very minute Dr. Brooks and Jake Ingram are in possession of that valuable item.

"Agnes, I must tell you something."

"What is it, Oliver?"

"Well, it seems that when Burgess and Lester picked up Jake at Redcom, they-er, actually Lester stole something from the room where Jake was being held."

He felt his wife's body tensing, sensed her barely suppressed anger. "What did that fool Lester steal?"

"A laptop."

Agnes's face flushed scarlet. No doubt, her blood pressure rose by several degrees. "And where is that laptop now?"

"Under the driver's seat of the Saturn Burgess was driving."

"The SUV Lester took when we sent Dr. Brooks with him?"

"Yes, that very same SUV."

"And Jake and Dr. Brooks escaped in that vehicle."

"Yes, they did."

"Then it's a good thing Burgess is dead and Lester, too, probably. Otherwise, I'd kill both of them myself. If it's a Redcom laptop, there's a good chance it is linked directly to the Coalition's main computers. You do realize what it means if Jake and Mariah find that laptop, don't you?"

"Yes, my dear, I have a pretty good idea."

Agnes grabbed the helicopter pilot's arm. "Take off immediately. And contact headquarters as soon as possible. We have a major problem on our hands."

The small whirlybird lifted off, blowing loose snow in every direction. All the while Agnes ranted, and Oliver and the other two men aboard had no choice but to endure her tirade.

Thirteen.

Fortunately, Jake and Marian came upon a town before running out of gas. After ditching the SUV, hiding it behind an abandoned gas station on the outskirts of Eagle Springs, they trekked into town, an unincorporated wide-place-in-the-road. Since it wasn't quite four in the morning, the place was dead. No sign of life anywhere, only the eerie glow of half a dozen streetlights. The snow had tapered off to a few stray flakes ten miles back and had now stopped completely, leaving about two fresh inches of the white stuff. By the time they reached the center of Main Street, Marian was beginning to think they'd have to backtrack to the SUV and hit the road again. But suddenly she noticed a flickering neon light ahead.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"I believe we've found a motel," Jake said.

"I'm surprised this place has one."

They picked up their pace, all but running as they headed down the only street lined with businesses and went straight out of town in the opposite direction. When they came to the building beneath the neon sign flashing Eagle Springs Motel, they paused long enough to inspect the place. The one-level motel, probably originally built in the fifties, was constructed of cinder blocks painted a vivid turquoise. Mariah counted ten units-ten doors, each with bright red numbers painted in the center.

"I never thought the prospect of sharing quarters with c.o.c.kroaches would actually be appealing," Mariah said.

Jake chuckled. "It doesn't look like much, I admit, but it might be a lot cleaner than you think."

"At this point, I just want to get in out of the freezing cold so we can inspect the laptop and make some informed decisions."

"Then let's see if there's a room available." Jake scanned the parking area. There were only two vehicles. "On second thought, I doubt that will be a problem."

Mariah followed behind him as he went directly to the door marked Office. He opened the door and they went inside, the warmth of the interior hitting them the minute they entered. Sitting behind the counter, a fat, bald man snored loudly. Jake marched up to what pa.s.sed as a front desk and slammed his hand down repeatedly on the metal ringer. The man's eyelids popped open and he all but fell out of his chair.

"Yes, sir. What can I do for you and the Mrs.?" The man rubbed his hand over his mouth as he stood up.

"We'd like a room," Jake said.

"It's fifty-nine a night and if you're planning on staying past our eleven-o'clock checkout, it'll be another fifty-nine."

Jake's eyes widened as he glanced at Mariah, apparently only now realizing that neither of them had any money. Mariah smiled, reached inside her coat pocket and pulled out a billfold, then removed a credit card and held it out to the desk clerk. Before the man could take the card, Jake grabbed her arm and pulled her aside.

"You've got a credit card?"

"Yes, I do. No one bothered to check my clothes for a wallet. I have two credit cards, a driver's license and forty dollars in cash. All the ID is fake, of course," Mariah whispered. "It's all under the name Dr. Mariah Brooks."

"And if we use the credit card-"

"It won't matter. By the time anyone tries to trace it, this whole thing will be history."

"Right." Jake took the credit card from her and handed it to the desk clerk. "Sorry about that. I felt I should put the room on my card, but my wife insists on putting it on hers."

"Whatever." The desk clerk shrugged. "How many nights?"

"Two," Mariah replied, asking for two nights just in case they were here past the eleven o'clock checkout time today.

The man yawned, took the credit card, ran it through the machine, then handed Mariah an ink pen and the bill to sign. After she scribbled her alias, he gave her a key. "Room Six."

As they made their way down the cracked concrete walkway, Jake's arm around Mariah's shoulders, she said, "He didn't look at the credit card or ask for other ID or inquire about our luggage. And he didn't even notice we showed up without a car."

"Yeah, lucky for us he wasn't very observant, huh?"

Giving him a sidelong glimpse, she noticed his big smile. "Ha-ha. I'm glad you've been able to keep your sense of humor."