by Imogen Rose
Then she sat and stared at the little one-story whitewashed bungalow. It looked exactly the same as it had a year ago, save for the new swing set she spied in the backyard. She suddenly heard a squeal of laughter as the swing set shook, and then she caught a glimpse of dark curly wisps of hair blowing in the wind. She strained to catch a glimpse of whom the hair belonged to. It had to be Tiffany. She was overcome with emotion. All she wanted to do was to get out of the car, rush over, and throw her arms around her daughter. She caught a peek of herself in the side mirror as she turned to get out. She stopped and stared at the mess in the mirror. What had happened to Tiffany’s mother?
A year ago, she’d been a blond-haired, well-dressed woman with a responsible job. That was whom Tiff knew and loved, not this dark-haired mess staring back at her. Tiffany had no chance of recognizing her; in fact, her own mother would have a hard time with it. If she walked into the back yard now, her mom would probably call 911. She needed to get back to her normal self before she approached her daughter. Anything else would be unfair to both of them.
So, she sat there in the car for an hour, catching the occasional glimpse whenever Tiffany appeared at the bit of the broken fence where she could just see the top of her daughter’s head.
Dan had returned before the hour was over. Sophie had been surprised; she’d thought that he would be late for certain. He seemed clearly perturbed as he got back in the car. She hoped that he hadn’t been foolhardy and rushed at his wife.
“Everything okay?” she’d inquired softly.
“Nope. She ain’t there.”
“Oh?”
“Yup. New family’s moved into the house. They were outside getting in their car. I stopped and talked to them–nice people. Moved in seven months ago. They didn’t know the previous owners. Suggested I speak to the realtor. Gave me his name.”
“Wow, that sucks. I’m really sorry. What are you going to do?”
“Don’t know. Call the realtor, I guess. But yeah, it sucks big time. What about you? Tiff around?”
“Yes, over there.” Sophie pointed to the head bobbing up and down in the backyard.
“Did you go see her?”
“No, not yet. I think I should get my hair color back to normal so I look like I did last year so she recognizes me.”
“You’re her mom! She’ll know who you are! Go see her.”
Sophie shook her head. “No. It’s not fair to her to see me looking like this. I need to look like her mom again. And I need a plan for what I’m going to do with her. I can’t just walk in there and take her. Not after a year. Mom would never allow that, not without me having a solid plan and somewhere to live. All we have at the moment is this stolen car.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” Dan agreed.
“Our best bet is to find Raj, get the money he owes us, and then figure out our lives. Then I’ll come back for her.”
“And how are we gonna do that? I mean, find Raj? I’m not even sure where the Bahamas is exactly. It’s an island, right?”
“Yup, it’s actually many islands, and it’s not even a part of the U.S., so we’ll need our passports. Did you put yours in the safe deposit box before we left, like I asked?”
“Yep.”
“Good. So now we need to know exactly where in the Bahamas and get over there.”
It hadn’t been easy to get any information about Raj. He was still wanted by the FBI. If he’d flown to the Bahamas, it was under a different name. After giving up on getting any information from the Internet, they’d decided to just fly out to the Bahamas and try to find him themselves. Sophie was glad that she’d had the foresight to get fake passports made before they left here last year. She looked at the photo in hers. She looked so different. She put her hair in a bun hoping that she could slip past the TSA. Luckily, the agent at the desk had been busy chatting with the pretty agent next to him and just gave them a cursory glance.
Armed with only a couple of photocopied pictures of Raj, they had arrived in Nassau and begun the process of trying to locate him, by foot since they were quickly running out of money. A couple of lucky breaks–at bars where Raj had left an impression by running off without paying for his drinks–had led them to this remote section of the Bahamas. Sophie couldn’t believe her eyes when she finally saw him.
She was just about to get out of the car to confront him when a girl suddenly appeared out of nowhere, as if by magic. “Woza! Where did she come from?”
“Who?”
“That girl, over there!”
“Dunno, didn’t see. Who is she?”
“No idea.” The girl was young, in her teens. She was very well dressed, but appeared upset. She threw herself at Raj, who looked mildly irritated. Then he suddenly took the girl’s elbow and walked off with her.
“Let’s follow them,” Dan suggested.
Duh. Sophie waited for Raj and the girl to leave the parking lot, and then followed them slowly, hanging back as much as possible without losing them. After a while, they stepped onto the beach.
“What now?” she muttered.
“The beach seems quiet. They’ll probably notice us if we follow them. Let’s wait here. They’re bound to head back to the motel eventually.”
~
Simla had calmed down somewhat by the time they got to the beach. Raj walked her over to one of his hidey spots–a bunch of trees and bushes they could hide between. It also provided some much-needed shade.
“Simla?” He extracted a couple of bottles of water from his rucksack and gave her one. She grabbed it and gulped down the water.
“Thanks, Dad. What’s with the backpack? Are you leaving again?”
“Yes. How did you find me?”
“Potomal.”
“How does he know that I’m here? And why? What do you have to do with him?”
“Everything, Dad, everything.”
“What does that mean? Are you working for him? In that case, why did he dump me at Mountain View with those old ladies? That was unacceptable! I’m very angry about that.”
“I don’t know anything about that, Dad. But yes, I’m working for Potomal. I was, anyway; I’m not sure anymore. I think I screwed it all up.” She teared up again.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t yell at me! This is all about those flaming blueprints that you were supposed to get, Dad! So you screwed up, and I’m trying to clean up the mess!”
“I don’t understand.” He was totally confused now.
“Dad, Potomal is your buyer.”
Raj was confounded. Potomal? “Why on earth would Potomal want the blueprints, for goodness sake? He can wander wherever he wants!”
“I guess he wants the power they represent. Imagine the chaos he could create. I’m guessing it’s his leverage to get ultimate power over the Sigma-W.”
“He’d have ultimate power over more than just the Sigma-W with that kind of a tool and the money to develop it. The possibilities are endless.” Raj was impressed. It all made sense now. No wonder the prints had been spotted as fake so fast! Potomal was a smart being, one that he’d like to work with. “So, let’s figure out how to get them for him.”
“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing all along? And you’ve failed! That’s why he brought me in. When he realized that you were my father, he decided to use me. So, he brought me back to work for him after his first plan went bad. He decided to help you get the blueprints from Dr. Darley; it seemed the best way. He wanted to keep as low a profile as possible so that his name wouldn’t be connected when he made his bid for control. So, he sent Stan to help you.”
“Ah! Stan told me he was a friend of yours, that you’d met him at Potomal’s.”
“Not exactly. He’s not a friend. He’s Potomal’s son. He wasn’t exactly pleased when he was told to get Arizona. I think he likes her.”
“Likes her? He helped her escape! That’s why I’m in such trouble now,” Raj muttered. “Why did he do that?”
“It was
n’t him. The Wanderers rescued Arizona. Stan was ticked off, and Potomal is furious. He wanted Stan to get Arizona back, but he refused. So he decided to send me.”
“You? Why? You can’t even wander!”
“Actually, I can. I’m not very good at it yet, but I can. And it’s not like Potomal has a large group of people he can choose from, not anyone that would be willing to kidnap the Sigma-W princess herself. I was more than happy to.”
“Good! So everything’s fine now. Where’s Arizona? Let’s get this show on the road and contact her mother again.”
“No, everything is not okay! Far from it. I screwed up!” Simla sobbed.
“Simla, get a grip on yourself. What happened? Didn’t you get Arizona? I can help you.”
“I tried, Dad. But Kellan was holding her so tight that I couldn’t budge her.”
“So, we’ll go back, and I’ll help you.”
“It’s not as simple as that. I’m scared to go back.”
“Why?”
“I killed someone.”
I woke up in Kellan’s arms. He was practically lying on top of me, his weight pinning me down into the cushions. We were still in the storage room at Abercrombie. I was totally stiff and needed to stretch, but sat as still as I could in order to not disturb Kellan. He smelled good despite us both probably needing a shower. Eventually, I had to move; I felt as though I was suffocating. I squirmed a little, trying to get comfortable. He moved. I could feel his muscles going taut as he slid his hands up and down my back sending shivers through my body. His heart thumped as he ran his lips up my neck toward my ear. Geez! Who was he dreaming about? “Kell! Wake up!” I pinched him.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry! Get off me. I need to move.”
He opened his eyes, looking confused.
“It’s okay,” I said. “We’re still at Abercrombie. Please, let me get up.”
“Uh? Yeah, sure.” He slid off of me.
“Don’t let go of my hand, though.”
I stood and stretched, and Kellan did the same. There was a soft knock at the door before it opened, and Harry entered.
“Are you done with your shift?”
“Yeah, I’ve been done for a while. I came to check on you before, but you were asleep, so I decided to go outside and investigate. I walked to the Wynn to see if Simla was still there.” He stopped.
“And?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I thought I saw Raj.”
“Raj? What the heck is he doing here?” Kellan asked.
“Maybe that’s the help Simla brought back.”
“Geez, what are we going to do? They’re probably going to keep looking for us until they find us,” I whispered. “We should go back to the Bellagio to see if Gramadea’s looking for us. She must be, or she might have sent someone else to find us.”
Harry shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. We don’t know how much help Simla brought back with her. For all we know, she’s got the Bellagio–and every other hotel–covered. We need to get out of here, out of Vegas.”
“Where to?”
“We should try to get home. Maybe not to our house, but we could head to Morena or Mrs. Skoog’s house. We’ll be safe at one of those until we figure out what to do next.”
“And how are we going to get home? We don’t have any money,” I pointed out.
“I made some today, and I think it’ll be safe enough for us to go back to the motel we were at last night. Clara said she’d have some work for me, and I can ask to use her computer to figure out how to get home.”
“Sounds good.” Kellan yawned. “Let’s go.”
We tried to walk out of Abercrombie as casually as we could, though we did get some weird looks as we exited the storage room. I stayed sandwiched between Harry and Kellan, and we kept to the shadows as much as possible as we walked briskly toward the motel. I was relieved to see Clara at the reception desk. Harry went to speak to her while Kellan and I waited by the armchairs.
Harry came back and handed me the key. “Same room as last night. I’ll join you later. Here are some snacks.”
“Okay, don’t be too late.” I took the bag from him. That was nice of Clara. She must really like Harry. “What sort of work do you have to do?”
“I’m going to restock the supply room. They had a delivery today; the boxes are around the back. Then I’ll get to use the computer.”
I nodded and made my way to our room with Kellan attached to me.
I needed to take a shower, but I could hardly do that holding Kellan’s hand. “Kell, you’re going to have to let go, just for a while. I need to use the restroom.”
He looked unhappy. “I don’t know, Shrimp.”
I shot him the death glare. “Let go!”
He did, and I shut the bathroom door behind me, but left it unlocked. I didn’t take long, but managed to have a quick shower. I almost felt human again as I emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel.
“Feel free,” I said to Kellan, who was sitting by the door.
“I’ll wait for Harry. I didn’t like that at all. I know you had to, but I didn’t like it one bit.”
“I know; I’m sorry.”
He slipped his fingers through mine and pulled me to the bed. “It’s my job to keep you safe.”
“It’s not really. I mean, it’s really nice of you to be here and help out, but it’s not your job.”
“Promise you won’t let go of my hand for the rest of the evening, at least until Harry gets back.”
“Yep, pinkie swear.” Then, I remembered that I was still in my towel. I had to get dressed! That would be a challenge now. “Can I get dressed before the promise goes into effect?”
“No. I’ll turn around, and you’ll manage.”
I sighed and went to work on trying to squirm back into my clothes. Way awkward. Especially when there was a knock at the door. I didn’t want to scare our visitor with an eyeful that would embarrass me into a virtual tomato. I wondered who it was. We didn’t expect Harry back yet. Thankfully, I managed to get most of my clothes on before Kellan turned around. I pulled up my pants as he wrapped his arm around me, then dragged me toward the bathroom.
“Who is it?” he yelled.
“It’s me! David!”
David? I broke free from Kellan’s arms, ran to the door, and threw it open. I stood and stared at him for a moment, not believing that it was actually him. When his face broke into his usual killer smile, I launched myself into his arms.
“Get in,” Kellan said, closing the door behind him. “What are you doing here? How did you find us? Were you able to track her?”
David let go of me and turned to Kellan, who immediately grabbed my hand.
“Yeah, I tracked her,” he confirmed. “So, what happened? What are you doing here? I thought I left you guys safe and sound with Amadea.”
I told him what happened, leaving out the boring details, and he nodded. “I felt something was really wrong, so I decided to come and find you.”
“It’s okay, I have it under control.” Kellan sounded a bit defensive. He slipped his arm around my waist from behind, drawing me close. “Besides, Harry’s here, too. Arizona is fine.”
“Hardly,” David scoffed. “Look around! Is this the sort of place Arizona should be at? And I’m not so sure she’s fine. You keep rubbing your shoulder, Poppet. Did Simla hurt you when she tried to wander you?”
I narrowed my eyes, not being the least bit happy that he’d brought it up. I had, in fact, not noticed it until I took a shower. Both my shoulders were black and blue, heavily bruised from Simla’s fingers. It was fine, though. It wasn’t like she’d dislocated anything. “It’s okay, really.” I pouted.
I could feel the daggered exchange between David and Kellan. Could it be that David was jealous that I was standing so close to Kellan? That would be silly. I’d rather David’s arm was around my waist. Kellan was just protecting me, doing his job, as he called it.
“Show me your shoulder.�
� David’s eyes narrowed and focused on Kellan’s.
I wasn’t feeling the least bit like complying, but if my shoulder could break the icy exchange between the two of them, it was worth it. I didn’t get a chance to bare them, though.
Kellan expertly pulled down my top, revealing my bruised shoulders. He grabbed my arms and turned me around. His eyes were blazing, and his face tightened into a dark scowl. “Why the heck didn’t you say anything? We need to get you to a doctor.”
“Stop it, Kellan. You’re scaring her.” David was by my side pulling me away from him.
His face softening, Kellan took a step back. “I’m sorry, Shrimp.” Then he took a few more steps back and sat down on the bed with his face in the palms of his hands.
“Kell, it’s okay. It really is. I just didn’t want to say anything because we’ve got enough problems right now. It’s just a bruise; that’s all.”
David slid his fingers over my shoulders and took a closer look. “It’s not just a bruise. There are scratch marks on your neck, and your skin is torn in places. Did you clean the cuts?”
“Not properly. Just sprayed them quickly when I was taking a shower.”
“We need a first-aid kit.”
Kellan nodded and picked up the hotel phone. “I’ll ask Harry to bring one up.”
“Come with me, Arizona,” David said. “I’ll clean them off properly with some water in the meantime.”
I followed him into the bathroom where he gingerly picked up a washcloth and soaked it in hot water. Then he gently patted my back and shoulders with it.
Once we were back in the room, he went on the offensive again. “That bathroom is filthy. I don’t know if washing the wounds with that washcloth did more harm than good. How long were you planning to stay here?”
“Not long. We figured it was best to hide out in a hole like this. Like you said, no one would expect to find us here,” Kellan explained. “Shrimp, come sit down.”
