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with only one way out, that being the exit that could be blocked by the goons, left her with an even sicker
feeling in her gut than she d had when she d first spotted them. No, out here among lots of witnesses felt
safer. Or at least as safe as she was going to get for now.
It didn t take long to unwrap the tie holding the hat and shirt together. With a hand she noticed was
shaking, she brushed her hair back from her face and pulled the baseball cap over it. She should have
thought to buy scissors and hair dye. They d be looking for her with long, brown hair. Then again, she d
never thought they d get this close to finding her in the first place, so how could she have predicted she d
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need to change her appearance? The plan to drive to the casino, abandon her car and then hop on one of the
many busses leaving from there each afternoon for all parts of the country should have worked.
Why didn t it? How the hell had they found her? She still didn t know, but for now the hat would do
to hide her until she could figure things out.
She pulled the cap lower over her eyes and positioned herself behind the bulk of the man next to her.
Only then did she dare to turn and look for her pursuers.
It didn t take long to spot them. As they moved in her direction, their beady eyes swept the space in a
practiced move. Her simple disguise wasn t going to work if they spotted her. She needed to move.
The cell phone in her front pocket vibrated against her hip. She jumped and stifled a small cry. Then
realization hit her. Could Jerry trace her location from her cell phone being on even if she didn t answer it?
Of course he could. She should have thought of that before. Jerry s brother, Johnny, was reputed to be
some big shit with mob connections. He was powerful enough he could do anything he wanted and no one
would question him. His umbrella of influence even extended to Jerry. Everyone simply said yes to both
brothers. People jumped to please them, even the cops, which is why she was totally on her own.
But she wouldn t be alone for much longer if she didn t ditch her phone. She d have three very mean
men for unwanted company.
A family walked toward her as she frantically tried to plan. Should she take out the cell phone s
battery? Would that help? As Leesa s panic dulled her ability to think, the woman pushed a baby carriage
with a sleepy-looking child inside past her, while the man walked by holding a toddler in his arms. Bits of
conversation reached Leesa s ears as they passed her.
The man spoke.  I ll take him to the men s room with me and then we ll leave?
The woman nodded.  Yeah, she s not going to fall asleep here. Maybe she will in the car.
Forcing herself to move slowly, calmly, she slipped to the edge of the crowd while still remaining
hidden by the bodies around her. She slid the phone out of her pocket and with trembling fingers adjusted
the mode to totally silent instead of vibrate. The father disappeared into the bathroom while the mother
moved in front of the stroller, her attention totally consumed in trying to get the baby to stop fussing.
As casually as she could muster given the pounding of her heart, Leesa let her phone drop into the
diaper bag hanging from the stroller s handles. With any luck they wouldn t notice the small cell phone
stowing away in their bag right away. Instead, they would take Jerry s search for her on a wild goose chase
to some hopefully far away suburb.
She stifled the feeling of guilt that she might bring harm to an innocent family by using them to get
away. Then again, Jerry and his brother had nothing against these people. It was her they wanted, even
though why was still a mystery. Who or what had Leesa seen that could cost her life? She couldn t think
about that now.
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The crowd sheltering her started moving toward a set of doors. They formed somewhat orderly lines
at each of the many entrances leading into another area. Looking around, she noticed everyone clutched [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]