Ben looked over his shoulder out the back window. No one was following yet. He turned to Abby as the car pulled from the driveway onto a road.

“Abby, what were you thinking? How could you possibly have thought…”

She was crying. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go in there. I didn’t know—”

Ben gently grabbed her chin and looked at her head. “Are you injured?”

“Ben…”

He placed his hands on her shoulders and ran them gently down her arms. “Are you injured?” he repeated.

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Ben, what are you doing here?”

“Saving you from a big mistake. Just in time, obviously.”

“Who were those men? Why were they…” She took a heavy breath. Her shoulders relaxed slightly.

He glanced out the back again. “Associates of Damien Cleary, I suspect.”

“But how did they know where I was? And how did you—”

“I still have a friend at the bureau who owes me a few favors. As for Cleary…Are you sure you’re okay? We’re going to have to hike a ways. Several miles. Are you up for that?”

She nodded. “Why can’t we continue in the car?”

“Not safe. Cleary’s men will follow us. Or the police will track it. Either way, we have to switch to foot.”

“But what about…Don’t you have one of those locator chips?”

“I took care of that.”

“Your bureau friend?”

“A different one.”

The car pulled onto the shoulder. “Point A,” it announced. To their left were open fields; to their right, a forest of spruce and pine. Ben glanced at Abby. “We get out here.”

“Here? In the middle of nowhere?”

“It’s not nowhere. Trust me.”

Ben climbed out of the car. “Point B,” he instructed it.

Abby stepped out behind him. “Ohhh!”

Ben turned. “What is it?”

“My ankle.” She took another step with her left foot and quickly shifted her weight to her right. “Ohhh. I must have…it must have…”

“You probably sprained it.”

The car drove off. Ben looked down the road both ways, then glanced into the forest. “Abby, we’re going to have to hike through this forest. There’s no other way. I can support you.”

She took in the area, her mouth set in a firm line. “Okay. I can do it.”

Ben paused to access the Grid’s global positioning system. After a moment he shook his head in disgust.

“What’s wrong?” Abby asked.

“I don’t have Grid access. Must have been the blow to the head.”

“Do you need it right now?”

“Yes.”

“What for?”

“To prevent us from wandering around aimlessly in those woods for the next twenty-four hours.”

“You won’t know where we’re going?”

He shrugged. “We’ll see, won’t we?”