“Oh my God. You’re not joking.” If possible, her eyes widen even further.
I shake my head slowly, then launch into an explanation of the past twenty-four hours of my life. She listens raptly, asking questions like a soldier gaining intel before going on a mission.
“Sach, I don’t want you involved in this,” I tell her at the end. “I just need to stay here for the night, then I’m going to disappear for a bit and hope this whole thing blows over.”
“You may be staying here, but you arenotdisappearing. Not from me, anyway,” she counters sharply. What Sachi lacks in height—she’s barely four-eleven—she makes up for in spunk. Weusually complement each other nicely, but right now, I just need her to listen for once.
“No, it’s too dangerous—” I try to argue before she cuts me off.
“All I’m saying is we’re going to get a couple of disposable phones so that we can keep in touch. No reason for you to be totally on your own if you don’t have to be.”
I slump back against the cushion behind me, realizing she has a point. “I guess that’s okay. I turned off my phone so he can’t track me, not that I have any clue how that stuff works.”
“Not good enough, hand me the phone.” She takes my lifeless device, removes the case, and pops out the SIM card. “This is the real culprit.” Her eyes light up as she snaps the tiny square in half.
“This is a product of all that true crime stuff you watch, isn’t it?”
“You mean my survival research? Yes, and as you can see, it’s paying off. Now, we need to get burner phones. I’ll run by the electronics shop around the corner in a minute.”
“Okay, but the phones are only for emergencies.”
She holds up her hand as if swearing an oath. “Scout’s honor.”
“Crap, what about my laptop?”
“Should be fine, just don’t connect to the internet.”
I have work due, but I guess staying alive is more important. I’ll worry about my projects later once I know I’m safe.
Sachi scoots closer with a conspiratorial lean. “Tell me about this place where you’re planning to stay.”
“Nope. It’s too dangerous. I’d like to think Biba doesn’t know you exist, but if he does, I want you to be able to honestly say you have no idea where I am.” I keep going when she starts to frown, hoping to distract her. “One thing I can use your help with isthese.” I take out the bundle of lock picks still in my pocket from when Gran gave them to me earlier.
“What are those?”
“Lock picks. Our mission tonight is to figure out how to unlock a deadbolt.”
As I’d hoped, her eyes light up with excitement. “Let me run to the store to get those phones, and then we can get started. I’m sure there are tons of YouTube tutorials we can watch. You can learn how to do anything on YouTube.”
“Exactly.” The adrenaline filtering out of my system brings my attention to a throbbing pain a few inches above my right ankle. I remember the scalding pipe on the motorcycle and have a look.
“That a burn?” Sachi asks.
“Yeah, from the motorcycle.”
“Who has a motorcycle?”
“Random stranger—I hopped on to escape the Russian thug.” I lift my gaze to my best friend when she goes quiet and find her staring at me like I’ve just won an all-expenses-paid cruise to the Caribbean.
“Your life is totally insane, and I’m a little jealous.”
I roll my eyes with a smirk because I know she doesn’t mean it. Sachi grabs her purse and slides on a pair of flip-flops before pausing, then crossing the room to give me a big hug. “But for reals, I’m so sorry this is happening, Dani. I wish there was more I could do.”
“Thank you, honey. Having you here for me is more help than you can know.”
I give her one last squeeze before she leaves in search of phones for us. After getting a baggie of ice for my burn, I dig in my emails to see what I can learn about Ricky’s travels, hoping for clues about a possible house sitter. Unfortunately, not much info is available. On the upside, we make decent headway onthe lock pics after Sachi gets back with the phones. We practice for over two hours on her apartment door while watching video tutorials. I feel confident I could get in a lock like hers, but who knows what kind of lock Ricky will have. I never paid attention to that sort of thing when I went to gatherings at his place. I watch a few videos on other types of locks and learn what I can before deciding to call it a night.
The following morning, I slip out of the apartment without saying goodbye. It’s just too painful. I prefer to believe I’ll see her again very soon—the same with Mom and Gran. Losing touch with them is too unbearable to think about, so I don’t.
