He was torn over what he wanted Ty and Zane to do. Every mile they drove brought them closer to DC and the danger that lay in wait there. But while stopping in the snow storm would afford him and Cameron the chance at escaping, how far could they realistically get in a whiteout blizzard like this?
Eventually, the snow was falling so fast and thick that it didn’t matter what any of them wanted to do. Ty could barely see to drive the car, and as soon as they caught wind of an exit off the toll road that had a hotel, Ty headed for it. It took them half an hour to get from the exit to the hotel, inching along in the driving snow. Every minute that passed, the agents grew edgier and meaner.
“I could get out and walk and get us a room before the car could get there,” Zane said.
“Zane, shut up,” Ty said through gritted teeth. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. Julian supposed it was partly instinct and mostly dumb luck that he was able to navigate at all. He was tense, though, and for someone wound as tight as Ty already was, making him more so wasn’t going to help anyone.
Julian and Cameron wisely kept their mouths shut.
“You want me to drive for a while?”
“Zane, seriously, stop talking to me right now, okay?”
Zane cleared his throat and shrugged a shoulder, looking out the window.
Julian glanced over at Cameron again, trying to gauge how well he was holding up. “You okay?”
Cameron shook his head, eyes darting to the front to see if either agent was looking at him. Julian knew that Cameron was ashamed to admit to his fear in front of Ty and Zane.
The anger flared so unexpectedly that Julian gave a sharp gasp as it burned through him. Who were these two clowns to make Cameron feel like that? Who the hell did these ass**les think they were dealing with?
He had to take several long, deep breaths to calm himself. “It’s okay, love. There’s no shame in being frightened.”
Cameron looked at him, eyes pleading, expression miserable. Julian’s chest twisted and the anger banked to a slower burn.
“It’s okay.”
Ty threw the car in park and rested both hands on the steering wheel. When Julian glanced at him, he had his eyes closed, visibly trying to relax after the stressful drive.
“I think we’re in a parking lot,” the agent muttered.
Zane cleared his throat again and looked back at them as he popped the car door open. “I’ll go see about a room.”
He left them with Ty in the car, and Ty reached to turn the car off, instantly throwing the car into an otherworldly silence. The chill began to seep into Julian’s bones as soon as the heat turned off.
“Can’t we at least have some heat while we wait?” Cameron asked, voice wavering.
Ty shook his head. “If we get stuck we’ll need to conserve it.”
“Stuck? Is that really a possibility?”
“No.”
“Yes,” Ty said in a louder voice.
“Agent Grady,” Julian said through gritted teeth.
“He’s not stupid, Cross, he deserves the truth.”
“Not from you,” Julian growled, barely able to rein in his temper. What it was about Ty that caused him to lose control so easily, he could not fathom.
“Well, he’s sure as hell not getting it from you.”
“I’m… I’m sitting right here,” Cameron muttered.
“What do you think your boyfriend does, Jacobs?” Ty asked him, his hazel eyes seeming to pierce right through the mirror as he looked at Cameron.
Cameron swallowed hard. “He deals in antiques.”
Ty snorted and shook his head, muttering to himself as he looked out into the wall of white around them. Occasionally they could see the motel’s sign, the neon like a beacon of salvation amidst the world of white. But the chill and the silence were still oppressive.
Julian stared into the falling snowflakes, reflected blue in the moonlight, clamping down on the angry words running through his mind, trying to remain outwardly calm, for his own sake as much as Cameron’s.
The passenger door popped open, and Zane stuck his head in. His hair was wet with melting snow, and his shoulders were covered with flakes. “We got the last room at the inn.”
“Must be our lucky day,” Ty muttered as he got out of the car and both doors slammed.
Julian met Cameron’s eyes.
“I’ll die before anything happens to you,” he promised.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Cameron whispered.
“WE LOST them,” Agent X reported to his superior without emotion.
“What do you mean, you lost them? How can you lose two FBI agents with a prisoner who don’t know they’re being tailed?”
“I believe we need to consider the possibility that they’ve caught wind of us,” Agent X said. “They went through security at Midway like they were supposed to, but I believe they caused a commotion in order to flee. We never picked them up at O’Hare, and we later got reports of an FBI sedan being stolen. The GPS tracking on the sedan has been disabled. They’re avoiding official channels, zigzagging and scrambling. It’s classic maneuvering.”
His superior sighed. “Yes, it would appear they know we’re after them.”
“We picked up their trail when they used a credit card at a hotel in Portage, Indiana. And again when they got on the toll road. They’re trying to make the trip overland.”
“That seems imprudent, to go to all that trouble and then use a credit card.”
“I said they know we’re after them, not that they’re particularly smart. But we lost them again when they took an unexpected detour off the toll road into Michigan.”
“Michigan.”
“Yes, sir. Michigan.”
“What’s in Michigan?”
“Snow.”
“What?
“A lot of snow.”
“I see. Find them, understand? Our one true advantage was the element of surprise. I know Richard Burns, he’s not an idiot. If he knows we’re coming, make no mistake, he’s put his best operatives on this. Whatever they’re doing, it has a purpose. Julian Cross cannot make it to DC. Do what you have to.”
“I understand, sir.”
RICHARD BURNS sat in his darkened office, eyes on a computer monitor, brow furrowed. Years ago he had installed a special tracking device in Ty Grady’s wristwatch for times like this. Ty could turn it on and off at will and only employed it when he was working a special assignment or in trouble, if he was able. Burns could also ping it remotely when he needed to. It was on now. Ty had turned it on moments after getting Burns’ initial call.