The next morning, they decided it was time to finally call her family. It had taken him quite a bit to convince her that they needed the extra help in figuring out who was after her. Plus, they needed to find out where to meet everyone.
She would have been happy continuing on her travels until she became tired of it all and returned home to Boston. But Jason had convinced her that a trip to meet Damiano Cardone was the next move they needed to make.
After the call to both her fathers, it was agreed the best place to meet would be at the New Edges Corporate office building, which happened to be only a few blocks away.
They checked out of the B&B and left their bags in the rental car, which they decided to leave parked in a small spot they had hunted down the day before. Then they set off on foot for the short journey.
They stopped and ate breakfast and had some coffee at one of the street cafes. Watching people walk by was one of the normal things Katie missed about being in larger cities.
When they were done eating, they still had an hour before the meeting, so they spent the time walking around the stores and enjoying the scenery. Then they started heading to the larger office building they could see in the distance. The tall glass tower was a beacon in the older city with its large, bright sign that hung above the rest of the shorter, older buildings. The closer they got to the building, the more nervous Katie felt. She actually felt her hands sweat and they even shook a little.
She knew Jason understood her and he tried multiple times to keep her mind off the meeting. He joked with her, trying to get her to think and talk about other things, but nothing was working. He’d always had a knack of keeping her mind off impending doom. Back in high school, he’d joked and made her laugh right before every test she’d had. Then he’d been there to help pick her up if she had failed, or help her celebrate if she had passed. He, of course, had always gotten A’s, no matter what class. She had struggled a little more in school. It didn’t help that she had no clue what she wanted to do after school. She’d gone through multiple career plans. Doctor, teacher, architect, lawyer, and even, at one time, a zoologist.
Jason had always known what he wanted to be; law had been in his blood. All his hard work at school was paying off. When she’d left, he was on his last year of college.
Now, however, she couldn’t stop thinking about what was about to happen. They were just across the street from the large building. She wanted to turn and run, with or without Jason, but then he reached over and grabbed her hand and she felt her nerves disappear.
“I’ll be right here with you.” He smiled over at her just as they heard the squeals of tires.
“They are at New Edges, you fool. How could you let her get this close?”
“We know; we’ve been waiting for her here. We’re right outside; don’t worry, we’ve got her.”
“Fine, just take care of it, and don’t mess up this time.”
The line went dead, and he cursed and tossed the phone down. “Okay, Raul, we need to do this quick. Don’t screw it up or we’ll be out of our money.”