Ania woke up in the front seat of the car, stiff and sore. When she turned, Sanders smiled at her from the driver’s seat. “Hey,” she greeted him, her tone gritty. “I guess I really slept, huh?”
Sanders chuckled. “You went out pretty fast.”
“I didn’t think I would,” she murmured, as she straightened up and stretched. “Where are we?”
He quickly pointed out their location on the GPS map on his phone. “This is where we’re headed.” He again pointed to his cell.
“Oh, did you hear from somebody?”
“I did. We’re meeting Riff there.”
“Oh, thank heavens for that,” she cried out in relief. At his look of surprise, she shrugged. “I wasn’t sure that he was okay.”
“He’s fine, and he has a plan to get you out of the country. I don’t know the details or even much about where we’re headed, but I trust Riff, so let’s hope it works.”
“Yeah, our destination is right along the southern border,” she noted, “so in a way it’s a good choice, as long as we can get across into Latvia, without drawing too much attention to ourselves.”
“That’s the plan,” he said comfortably. “I’ve put my trust in these men so far, and I’m not about to doubt them now.”
“I hear you there.” She yawned and asked, “It’ll still be a few hours, right?”
“Yes, and I need to hit a gas station soon. Looks like one is about two miles away.”
“Good, if we can stop, get gas, fresh coffee, and a pit stop for my bladder,” she shared, “I would really appreciate it.”
“No problem, and good timing anyway.”
The signs for the gas station came up soon afterward. He pulled the vehicle into the station, quickly started to fill up with fuel, then turned to her. “Wait for me, and I’ll take you to the bathroom.” She hesitated, as if not sure what to say, but he cut her off. “No, you wait.”
“What if somebody comes and steals the car while we’re gone?” she asked, with a note of humor.
“Then I’ll steal another one,” he stated, his tone serious. Her eyebrows shot up, and he nodded. “Believe me that this is not something to fool around with.”
“Right,” she said, now frowning.
Once he had paid for the gas, he followed her to the bathroom, and, after she’d used the outside bathroom, he took his turn, with her promising to stay right beside the door.
When he came out, she smiled at the look of relief on his face when he saw her. “I said I would stay here.”
“You did, but that doesn’t mean that somebody else would try to take away your ability to do so.”
She winced at that. “Thanks for that reminder, though I can’t say that’s something I really want to think about too much.”
“Maybe not, but let’s go grab some hot coffee really quick. Then we’ll hit the road again.”
With fresh coffee in their hands, they piled back into the car and took off. “By the way, where did you get this car?”
“I have no idea,” Sanders replied. “Riff got it.”
She burst out laughing. “Okay, so I guess I shouldn’t ask questions I don’t really want to know the answers to then, should I?”
“No, you shouldn’t,” he teased, “but I understand why you would ask. I sure didn’t think to ask, and I’m just surprised you didn’t ask before this.”
“Me too.” She was still chuckling, as she looked over at him. “But, hey, it seems Riff’s got his head together.”
“Oh, he does, indeed,” he said, with a smile. “His team members are all very capable.”
“Do you know much about Terk?”
“I know a lot about him. I started staying with them after I was rescued, just because I needed so much healing,” he began. “I’m also interested in working with them, and they’re interested in hiring me, so that will be good.”
“Doing what?” she asked.
“Similar to what I’m doing for you,” he replied. “Rescuing people, search and retrieval, deep research in some cases. Basically developing my abilities so I can be more of a team participant than I am right now.”
“To even think that such a team exists seems crazy,” she noted, marveling at the thought.
“Right? I have to tell you, these people on Terk’s team have skills, serious skills. I don’t even know all of what they can do myself. It’s daunting to think that I would be coming in so green, but the fact that we can talk telepathically? Apparently it means that we belong with them,” he shared, with a laugh.
“You mean, you belong with them,” she clarified, with a smile. “You got a direct invitation. I didn’t.” She had to admit she felt a bit envious, and a hint of jealousy filled her tone. “The thought of being safe and knowing that the people around you knew what you could do and you didn’t have to hide it?” she noted in wonder. “That would be amazing.”
“I think that’s one of the biggest things that they offer,” Sanders replied. “The wonder of it all, being safe, using what you can do for good, and not having people persecuting you for what you can do? That’s huge.” He smiled at Ania. “You spoke to Terk already, didn’t you?”
“Well, I listened. I was under the van, and suddenly he was talking to me. Who did the talking is a fine point of distinction, but one I’m sure we need to make.”
“Got it,” he murmured, as he checked his rearview mirror.
“What are you looking for?” she asked suddenly.
“Not looking for anything really, but I’m watching a vehicle that has been on our tail for a while, since we left the gas station.”
“Oh, shit,” she muttered, twisting in her seat to look behind them, her fear returning with a vengeance. “Do you think they’re following us?”
“They’re heading in our direction, but does that mean they’re following us? I’m not exactly sure,” he replied. “They’re keeping their distance, and I don’t even know what to think about that.”
“What else will they do?” she asked. “I mean, they’ll hardly run us off the road if they want us that bad.”
“Maybe not,” he said.
“So, are they just following us to see where we’re going?”
“I don’t know. I’m just keeping a wary eye on them.”
“Got it. You can bet I’ll keep a wary eye on them now too.”
He burst out laughing. “You do that, but let’s not do it in such a way that they become aware of the fact that we have noticed them.”
“Right. So, secret spy mode then, right?”
“Something like that.” Sanders chuckled.
“This is the work that you used to do, isn’t it?”
“Before my accident, yeah,” he confirmed, “but I wasn’t thinking I would get back into it again because I have some injuries, and I’m not as physically fit as I’ve been in the past. Plus the subsequent captivity was a hard row to hoe for me in many ways, and frankly I’m still struggling to survive the effects.”
“My father is an asshole,” she declared.
“I can’t say he’s my favorite person, but I don’t know whether he ordered the abuse that I suffered or not. For all I know, that was a freebie, courtesy of my individual captors. I would have preferred that they not try to break my bones and threaten me as much as they did,” he muttered, “and I could have done without the torture completely.” She stared, her eyes wide in horror. “Oh, shit, did you not know about that?”
She swallowed hard and shook her head. “No, I didn’t,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
He shrugged. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed that you knew.”
“Are you okay now?”
“Getting there, but I’m dealing with residual things, like my fingers for example. They took a lot of abuse and aren’t quite functioning the way I would like,” he admitted, “but, hey, none of that is your fault.”
“But it was my father, so doesn’t that make it my fault?”
“No, not at all,” he murmured. “Definitely not in my mind. Aside from the physical realities, mentally it’s tough, though I suspect they were just doing their job. So I shouldn’t hold it against them quite so much. A doctor I saw suggested I would do better if I could embrace forgiveness.”
“Right.” Ania rolled her eyes. “And forgiveness should be something we’re all better at, I suppose, but it’s easy to forgive—until you come to the big things, and then it’s not that easy.”
“I think most people forget that. You say you forgive them, but do you really? Some of these things are just so big and so hard to forgive that you don’t even know what you’re asking.”
“Maybe,” she murmured. “I don’t know that I could ever forgive him for taking my mother and my aunt from me. Even considering just what he’s done personally to me is hard to forgive, but to think that he hurt you to that extent?” She shook her head. “I’m just so embarrassed and feel like I want to punch him myself.”
“If you ever get the chance, let me know because I wouldn’t mind getting in a kick or two myself.” She burst out laughing. Then he added in a mild and somewhat serious tone, “You know we can’t though, right?”
Surprised, she looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“This is something you need to know if you’ll do energy work. In this field, it’s important that we keep the energy positive and loving. We have to do good in life and not revert or give in to bad vibes.”
“Hmm. I wasn’t planning on doing anything bad,” she said, “but it really spoils the whole thing if we can’t get a shot in to even the score every once in a while.” At that, she burst out laughing, Then she saw his gaze once again go to the vehicle behind them, now gradually moving up closer. “Do you really think they’re after us?”
“They’re staying pretty close, and they aren’t passing us and blowing by. The reality is, they could just happen to be going in the same direction, which doesn’t mean a thing.”
“And because it doesn’t mean anything, in a way it makes it way worse,” she shared. “It could be that they’re after us and might do something at any moment, or they could be completely innocent.”
“Exactly,” Sanders agreed. “So just chill about it, and we’ll continue to drive as we are. We’re about an hour from the rendezvous point, and that will tell us if they’re after us or not.”
“Right. But we need to give a warning ahead to Riff, before we come in, right? We don’t want to risk bringing them to where Riff is. I would never forgive myself if the man who rescued us was caught and captured himself.”
“No, that’s not in the plan,” Sanders replied, with such cheerfulness that she looked at him and frowned. Then he laughed. “When I told you how these people have skills, I meant it,” he murmured. “I get that you probably don’t understand what that means, but I think we’ll be safe.”
She let out a deep breath. “I hope so because I feel like we’ve been on the road forever. Yet we’re still not even close to being secure.”
“Maybe not, but let’s trust a little bit longer. Our skills and instincts haven’t done us wrong yet, and I’m not prepared to even think about it at the moment. Just too much is going on, so let’s keep driving. We’re nearing our destination, so I’ll give Riff a warning soon. With any luck, we may just capture these guys too.”
At that, she beamed. “I wouldn’t mind that either, and I know I’m not supposed to want to kick them, but …”
“I think a kick here and there is fine,” he suggested, with a chuckle. “We’re just not allowed to beat the crap out of them unnecessarily.”
“It depends,” she noted. “I wouldn’t beat on them very much before my hands would start hurting, but I sure wouldn’t mind getting one or two kicks in.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” he said, with a smile, as he put on his blinker and headed into the town center. “But first we have to see if they even give a crap about where we are and what we do in town.” And, with that, he made the first of many turns.
*
Sanders watched as the other vehicle continued to follow them, turn for turn into the city.
“Not looking good,” Ania noted, fidgeting beside him.
“I agree,” he murmured. He picked up the phone and handed it to her. “Hit Redial, and that should get you to Riff. Update him on our location and the fact that we have a tail.”
Her hands shaking nervously, she quickly snatched the phone and did as he asked. When Riff’s voice filled the car, she hit Speaker. Sanders stated, “We’ve had a tail the whole way. First, it was on a flat stretch of highway with few crossroads, which didn’t determine one way or another if they gave a crap about us. However, now they’re following us as we zigzag through the city.”
“Of course they are,” Riff muttered, with a note of resignation in his tone. “Stick to the plan, and I’ll see if I can take them out first. What we want to do is get you inside a building, without anybody knowing which building it is.”
“Yeah. So have you got some tricks to handle that?” Ania asked.
“Go to this underground parking lot first,” he replied, giving its address, “and we’ll change vehicles there.”
So, with that, and a new location punched into the GPS, Ania hung up the phone and looked at Sanders nervously.
Sanders smiled at her. “It’s all right. Our guys are on it.”
“While I’m glad to know they’re on top of it, who would have thought there would be such a need in the world for this craziness?”
“It’s not just us in need,” he noted, his tone firm but quiet. “People are in trouble all over the world. One of the reasons why I would consider doing this work with Terk’s team in the future is because I’ve felt so useless since I got hurt and left the military service. I felt as if I had no purpose anymore, but this? … This is what I did before, and I felt as if I contributed a lot to what was really good and important work,” he shared, the yearning evident in his tone.
“But, once I got injured, it seemed I had become redundant, and everybody else in the world kept moving forward in life. Yet I just came to a dead stop. It was hard, even after all the healing and rehab was over. I was at loose ends when your father found me, and I don’t ever want to be in that place again,” he murmured.
“Understood,” she agreed, with a nervous laugh. Then she pointed up ahead. “We’re coming up on the parking lot that Riff wanted us to go to.”
Sanders nodded. “Now pack up as much as you can that we’ve brought with us. Be prepared to do a quick exit. Expect another vehicle to pull up beside us, and we’ll make a quick dash.”
“The food too?”
“Yes. Grab everything. We don’t want to leave behind any evidence of our presence. Let’s see if we can make a clean jump from one vehicle to the next.”
They still had a few more minutes of driving, and, by the time he pulled into the covered parking lot, she had everything bundled up. Even now she took the napkins and the hand sanitizer she’d found in the glove compartment and wiped down all the surfaces she could reach, then had Sanders do the same on the driver’s side.
He nodded approvingly.
“I have no idea if it’s enough,” Ania noted, “but I figured something was better than nothing.”
“You’re doing just fine. When that vehicle comes, it’ll be quick.”
Terk added in Sanders’s head, Langdon will give you further directions, as to left, right, stop, park.
And, with that, he pulled into the underground parking lot, following Langdon’s lead. Sanders drove into an empty parking spot, flanked by two huge SUVs, in a darkened area of the underground parking level.
The vehicle tailing them drove past and carried on, with the two passengers inside keeping watch as best they could.
Then the door to the SUV beside them opened, right beside Sanders. He hopped out, and, with her sliding over in the front seat, following closely behind him, they quickly made the switch into the new vehicle, lying down in the back seat.
Then Riff reversed, turned around, and left the parking lot at a sedate pace.
As Sanders looked behind them, he said, “I don’t think they saw us.”
Riff nodded. “No reason for them to. I stayed in the shadows. So, as long as they were finding a place to park, it’s all good.”
“I hope so,” Ania muttered.
And, with that, Riff pulled out onto the highway, then picked up speed and headed toward their next destination.