VOLITION (Perception Trilogy, book 2) Read Online Free Page B

through his
hair. “I think I know a place.”
     
     
    Chapter 5
    NOAH
     
     
    Fugitive.
    That was a word I’d never have dreamed would be attached to my
name. Yet, here I was on the run in a used two-seater electric car with a weak
battery, and a beautiful girl in the passenger seat.
    As we crossed into Utah, my eyes shifted from the I80 to Zoe,
whose head rested up against the passenger door window. She had her eyes closed
but I could tell she wasn’t sleeping.
    The tear tracing down her cheek was a giveaway.
    I cursed myself.
    It wasn’t the first time I second-guessed my decision to steal
her away from her insane family.
    I’d wanted to help her. I wanted her to remember, and she did.
But not really. I glanced at her again, still not used to her shorter brunette
look. She wasn’t anything like the strong, feisty girl I used to know. This
girl was fragile and damaged.
    My pulse jumped as I recalled the shadow in the window of our
motel room in Reno. Damn, Vanderveen was quick. I was sure I’d secured my
connection. He’d broken in somehow. I must’ve really pissed him off.
    I’d almost made Zoe stay behind at the room. My throat closed
up at the thought. They would’ve caught her if she hadn’t insisted on coming. A
part of me, a sliver-sized part, wondered if it wouldn’t have been for the
best. Maybe she should go back to her family. My gut squeezed with the idea of
them violating her mind again and that she’d go back to not remembering me.
    Because despite everything that happened, despite everything
that Zoe no longer was, I still loved her.
    I had to keep her safe.
    I reached for her hand and threaded my fingers through hers. I
waited for the squeeze of acknowledgement—something to signal things could be
fixed between us, but it didn’t come.
    A half-hour later I turned off the main road onto a rougher
side road that cut through a forest. The bumpy surface roused Zoe. She
straightened and yawned, pulling her hand free to cover her mouth. “Are we in
Utah yet?”
    “We crossed the border twenty minutes ago,” I said. We’d driven
through the night and the horizon was just beginning to brighten. “We’ll be
there soon, which is a good thing, since the battery is low again.”
    “Where exactly are we going?”
    “I’m not sure,” I admitted. “A place I found online that’s
supposed to be off the grid.”
    The GPS guided me farther down a dirt road leading to an open
parcel of land with a large wooden structure centered on it. Dawn had just
broken and I hoped we weren’t arriving too early. I saw movement near the front
of the building. A guy wearing a flannel jacket and old jeans walked over to
greet us.
    “Sorry, folks, we’re shut down.” He motioned behind him and
that was when I noticed the building was boarded up. “They’re gonna tear it all
down.”
    Another dead end. Zoe flashed me a worried look.
    “Can you recommend somewhere else?” I asked. “Off the grid?”
    “Off the grid, huh?” He smiled crookedly before giving
directions to another place two hours away. “I’ll warn ya, though. The folks
there are different .”
    I thanked him and prayed our battery would make it that far.
    Zoe reached for a water bottle rolling around by her feet.
“We’re almost out,” she said. She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her
forehead.
    “Another headache?” I asked. I worried that they came too
often. If I ever saw Jackson Pike again, I’d punch his face in for what he did
to her.
    “I’ll be fine,” she said. “Just tired.”
    I fiddled with the media center. It didn’t respond to my touch
or my voice commands. “Nothing’s working,” I said. “Must be the mountains.”
    A light tap, tap, tap hit the windshield. More rain.
    I switched the wipers on. “Or it could be the weather. The sky
looks pretty dark.”
    Zoe ducked to peer out the front window and stared at the
brooding, gray clouds that had fallen into the valley.
    She shivered in her light jacket.