Chapter 45

 

THE STUDENTS WERE all quiet the next morning. I felt their tension before I saw it in their faces. There was no way we could sugarcoat it for them either.

I’d spent that morning meditating. It had been difficult but I was thankful that I had persevered. Now I could feel more. It was important I made sure my armor was in place.

During lunch break, I snuck to the garage to check if the bus was ready and cover Jessie slipping in to load the last of the cases.

Frei’s SUV was gone. She’d taken it to meet Huber. As far as Caprock was concerned, Frei wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. I wasn’t sure how she was going to sneak back in or how we were going to get the bus to the airstrip. I’d learned however that Frei could do a lot of things. I just needed to trust her to do what she was good at.

As Jessie fiddled about in the trunk of the bus, I wandered around the pretty empty space. There were a couple of staff cars parked inside. I knew that Jäger and the principal had people to drive them. One was a long car and looked like something out of the fifties or maybe thirties.

I stopped at a chunky, mean-looking Jeep. I squinted at it and hovered my hand over the hood. Jones in a temper gunning it down a dirt track flickered before my eyes.

Next to it was a battered red suburban. It didn’t look like it had ever been cleaned. I peeked in the window. Owens, cell to her ear, swearing at whoever was in her way.

“Miss Samson, do any of you have luggage to go in?” Jessie was in the trunk by the sound of her voice.

“Nope, all good.” Frei had taken all our stuff to the airstrip ready. She and her group had spent the morning wiping every trace of us from the villas.

I wandered to the far corner as Jessie mumbled something about making sure there was water on board for Miroslav. A black racy-looking bike sat looking sad and alone. I knew whose it was because I got the flash of Sawyer astride it, some woman he’d picked up in a bar draped over his shoulder. It looked as mean as the man who rode it.

Next to it was a dirt bike. That made me smile. I knew enough about bikes to know it was a lot flashier than the ones I’d ridden back in Oppidum.

No, this one looked like a real racer. She looked pretty beat up but fast. I cocked my head. It looked like bullet holes had riddled it.

“Hey, Jessie?”

The scurrying of mini-feet echoed as she scampered over to me. “S’up?”

“That bike still work?” Jessie had been Frei’s understudy and that meant there wasn’t much she wouldn’t know.

“Not sure you should touch it,” she whispered. It would have been convincing if her aura hadn’t wriggled like it was desperate to spill the truth.

“Why?” Apart from the dinks, it looked fine.

“It belonged to . . . er . . . one of the staff.” She nodded as if she was trying to convince herself. “He disappeared.”

I tried to keep my smile in check. “Really?”

She nodded again, this time with enough force to make her wobble. “They say he haunts the garage.” She looked around for effect.

My burdens may have been depleted but I knew enough from looking at her that she didn’t believe a word herself. I hovered my hand over it and smiled. “It work?”

Jessie shrugged.

“Can you make it work?”

She gave me an innocent “Who me?” look. I returned it with a “Yeah, you” one.

She sighed, rolled up her sleeves, and slid something out of her pocket. “Don’t tell Jed . . . or Miroslav . . . or Miss Locks.”

I chuckled. “Why? ’Cause Jed stole it before you could use it?”

Jessie’s eyes widened in shock.

“He wanted to learn to ride to impress Miranda.” I folded my arms. “He fell off it and broke his arm in two places?”

He was lucky he’d only broken his arm.

“Bribing members of staff ain’t a clever idea.” I frowned at her.

Jessie glanced around as if wondering where I was getting the information from.

“It don’t matter if they were messing around with Kevin or not.”

Jessie bowed her head.

“You must have been pretty mad at Jed when you’d gone to all that trouble to get a bike for your escape and he went and trashed it.” I lifted up her chin. “Kid, there ain’t a whole lot you can hide from me.”

She stared up at me and smiled. “Miroslav said you were special. He said . . .” She glanced around her. “He said you see things.”

I could see why Frei liked her. She was impetuous at times but cute. “He’s right. I’m different. Fire her up.”

Jessie slouched on over to a box fixed onto the back wall and pulled out a key. “Helmet is in the locker. It’s got gas and is ready to go.”

“Frei?”

She smiled.

Frei. “Good. As long as this baby is ready for action.”

Jessie put the key back. “None of the other vehicles work. Just the bus and the dirt bike.”

“You’ve been busy, huh?” I walked with her to the bus. “Let’s lock up and get going before Jäger thinks I’m abducting you.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“Trust me, you really don’t wanna know.”