by Jana Janeway
Ignoring Josiah’s attitude, Wade’s full attention was back on Jessica. He stared at her for several long seconds. “You can change your mind at any point, okay? Remember that.”
Jessica shifted uneasily. “I will.” They kept saying she could, and she knew they wanted her to, but there was no way she would be able to live with herself if she did. She had to see it through.
“Then I guess we’re as ready as we’re gonna be.” Wade tossed a trench coat each to Craddock and Jessica. “Put those on, and let’s get moving.”
Luckily, the colder weather supported such attire, or they would have been even more conspicuous than they already felt they were. They felt like they had great big neon signs pointing at them.
Each step down towards the platform brought with it an increase in adrenalin and nerves, prompting Craddock to squeeze Jessica’s hand.
‘Whatever happens, whatever you decide, just know that I love you.’
‘I know. I love you, too.’
Once they were through the turnstiles, Wade checked his watch. “We’re early. We need to wait for the next train.”
Craddock and Jessica both nodded.
Time stood still, the world around them distorting as Jessica focused solely on her part in the plan. Shea and Stacy barely knew Craddock, and didn’t know Wade at all. It would be up to her to convince them to bolt out the doors at the last second, all while avoiding detection by the Registry’s agents.
Leaning into him as they waited, Jessica could sense that Craddock had found a place of calm and steadiness, which she found comforting. He seemed to be imagining the best case scenario, whereas she couldn’t imagine the outcome at all. Latching onto him, physically and mentally, only eased her anxieties a little.
“This is us,” Wade announced, as quietly as possible amid the noise of the arriving train. Jessica pulled her head out of its fog and, clutching Craddock’s hand tighter, they moved to board.
Jessica forced herself to let go of him; she took her position, standing and holding onto the rail above her for balance as Craddock and Wade took seats nearby, near the door. With her back was to them, Craddock offered reassurances, helping to keep her calm in spite of not having a visual of him.
‘I’m right here, baby. I’m only a few feet away. Wade says they usually take a seat to the right of where you are.’
‘How does he know that?’ She knew he was asking him, so she waited the few seconds for the answer.
‘He says later.’
Jessica sighed. ‘Fine.’
When the train started moving, she took in a deep breath to settle herself. The tension was unbearable and climbing. Minutes later, the train screeched to a stop and the doors flew open, to let passengers on and off. Jessica locked her muscles, straining not to turn and look at the oncoming riders.
‘They’re on. You should be able to see them any second.’
Jessica glanced discreetly and spotted them, taking seats exactly where Wade said they would. ‘I see them.’
‘Only two agents. It’s a go. Wade says wait for his cue.’
The train jerked forward after the doors swished closed, continuing its journey; Jessica white-knuckled the bar above her, for both necessary and nervous reasons.
‘The agents are distracted, in a conversation. Go. Move slow. Be casual.’
Fighting off tears, from seeing them again and from fear, Jessica stepped cautiously towards them. Her head hung low, she sat beside Shea, who was seated the farthest from where the agents stood several feet away.
“Don’t react,” she whispered. “It’s me. It’s Jessica.” When her brother startled and began turning towards her, her warnings became hastier and harsher. “Don’t! Don’t look at me, and don’t react!”
Shea forced his eyes forward, nudging Stacy to get her attention. “Jessica, what the hell are you doing?”
Hearing him say Jessica’s name, Stacy gasped; her body tensed and shifted, like she was about to leave her seat. To stop her, Shea grabbed her hand, encouraging her to sit back, shaking his head in a pointed yet discreet manner. Even though he had no idea what was going on, he could sense the urgency.
“There’s no time for questions or answers. No time!” Jessica insisted, still whispering. “When I tell you, you and Stacy need to follow me off the train. Fast. And then get up and out onto the street. Josiah and Bibi are waiting for us, in a van just outside the entrance.”
“Why?” Shea asked, ignoring his sister’s previous demand that he not question her. “What’s going on?”
Stacy inched forward in her seat just a little, to hear the answer better, but kept her eyes forward.
“Something bad,” Jessica answered vaguely. “I can’t go into it. We’re being watched. You have to listen to me. You have to trust me.”
“Of course I trust you, Jess,” Shea whispered, “I just don’t understand. First, they come over to the house and interrogate us for hours, then, we can’t get you on the phone, and now, here you are, in what I’m assuming is a disguise, telling us not to react to you.”
“There are reasons for all of it, I just can’t go into it now. There’s no time.”
‘Stop talking! Look away! They’re watching you!’
‘What do I do?’
‘Don’t panic!’
But it was too late for that. She hissed at Shea, letting him know that he needed to stop talking to her, and then turned away from him, her body rigid as she stared at the floor, awaiting further instructions. They were so close; their stop was only a minute or less away.
“What’s going on?” Stacy asked Shea, who shrugged, gripping her hand tighter.
“I’m not sure, but when the time comes, we’re supposed to follow her out the doors and up onto the street, fast.”
‘Shit, baby, they’re walking towards you.’
‘Oh God. What do I do? Craddock?’
The fear was so extreme, it was all-consuming. Jessica sat frozen, watching the two men approach out of her peripheral vision; right before they reached her, she closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. When, after several long seconds, she hadn’t been yanked from her seat by two angry sets of hands, she peeked an eye open to see why.
It all happened so fast after that, like a blur of movements seen in action movies.
In response to Jessica’s emotional distress, Craddock stood and marched up the aisle, unwilling to sit and do nothing, even though that was precisely what Wade had demanded of him. Consequences be damned, he would do whatever necessary to keep his wife from harm.
Almost toe to toe with the first agent, the second one behind him, Craddock stopped, clenched his fist, and brought his arm up and back. The swing was already in progress, too late to take it back, when Wade’s order of “Don’t hit him!” rang out.
There was no time given for the man to react, not that he seemed aware of anything beyond Jessica. His stare had remained locked on her, which just further fueled Craddock’s protective nature and desire to inflict injury. It was only after the blow had landed against the agent’s left cheek, sending him crashing to the ground, that he took any notice of Craddock at all.
His knuckles throbbing from the impact, Craddock shook out his hand as he glared at the body now sprawled out on the floor. Wade, coming up behind him, had his eye on the agent who was still standing, who was stepping over the fallen one and advancing, obviously set to retaliate.
Scared and surprised, Stacy screamed, which brought Shea out of his confused daze. Pulling both his wife and his sister up by the arm, he stood and pushed them behind him, just as Craddock was preparing to hit the second agent.
As the train began to slow, readying to stop at the upcoming station, Wade grasped at the bar above him; the agent who was now confronting Craddock, fortunately, didn’t have the foresight to do the same, though neither did Craddock.
The harsh stop caused the second agent to stumble and trip over his partner, landing on the ground beside him. To prevent Craddock from joining them
, the abrupt halt disturbing his equilibrium as well, Wade reached out, grabbed Craddock’s coat at the collar, and pulled him back.
The doors swished open a second later, and Wade, by way of the material he still fisted, urgently directed Craddock towards them. “Out!” he ordered, giving him a push before making a rapid gesture at Shea, Stacy, and Jessica, demanding the same of them.
With the exception of Craddock glancing back to make sure Jessica was behind him, and Jessica doing the same to check on Shea and Stacy, everyone bolted for and up the stairs without hesitation. It was only after they had all gotten to street level that anyone noticed.
‘Wade.’ “Where’s Wade?” Jessica’s eyes grew wide when looking back produced no sign of him.
“I don’t know.” Craddock was trying to locate him as well. When he couldn’t, he turned to Jessica. “Go to the van. I’ll find him.” He moved to step past her, but she reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. As they locked eyes, he knew why she had. “I’ll be right back,” he promised her, touching her cheek gently but quickly. “Go to the van.”
Feeling helpless, Jessica watched as he turned away and began descending the steps. After everything, to lose him now…
Her breath hitched with a tiny squeak, but she was otherwise able to rein in her emotions. She then faced Shea and Stacy. She wanted to hug them, explain things, feel the relief that they were standing right in front of her, but she knew she couldn’t do any of that; they were not out of danger quite yet.
Gesturing for them to follow her, leading the way, she headed up the street, increasing her pace to a near run when she spotted the van seconds later. Her mental focus remained on Craddock, even as their connection weakened due to distance. Still, she could sense he was not in any distress, which helped keep her out of it, though just barely.
The moment Jessica yanked open the sliding door, Bibi questioned her worriedly. “Where’s Wade and Craddock?”
As Shea and Stacy climbed in, Jessica answered. “Wade never made it up the steps, so Craddock went back to look for him.” Her attempt at a calm tone did nothing to ease Bibi’s.
“Did something happen?”
Before Jessica could respond, Josiah’s hand shot out, pointing. “There they are!”
They were seconds away, at a full run and closing in fast. If not for that – if not for their strengthening connection as he neared – Jessica might have raced to meet him. She was about to, wanting to hold him, to be held by him, but then she heard his reassuring words, which effectively stopped her.
‘I’m okay, baby. I’m right here.’
‘Thank God. Where was he?’
‘I didn’t even make it halfway down the stairs! He was on his way up!’
“In!” Wade ordered. He sounded upset, though he may have just been tired from the running.
Either way, both Jessica and Craddock complied, with Wade following directly behind them. As soon as the sliding door was slammed shut, Josiah hit the gas, pulled away from the curb, and merged hastily into traffic. Wigs and hats were yanked off and thrown aside.
“What happened?” While Bibi was relieved that Wade was okay, she was still concerned enough to pose the question.
“I just hung back for a few seconds longer, to make sure one or both of the agents didn’t follow us out before the subway doors closed. If they had, if they had seen the van, we would’ve had to ditch it, and we have no way to do that.”
“You ran into trouble, I take it?” Bibi surmised, but it wasn’t Wade, who the question was asked of, who answered.
“A little,” Jessica said. “Craddock hit one of the agents.” ‘My great protector.’
She was already in his arms – they had automatically fallen into the position after scrambling into the van – but she still wasn’t close enough.
Now out of immediate danger, Craddock’s sense of calm collapsed. Shaking from the adrenalin comedown, his hold on her had an almost desperate quality to it, which she responded to by stroking her fingers soothingly through his hair. Her mothering instincts kicking in, she ignored her own need for comfort.
‘You were amazing,’ she praised.
‘I was stupid. I could just feel how scared you were. I acted off pure instinct.’
“After I told him not to,” Wade groused.
The harshness to his tone took Craddock by surprise. Shifting out of Jessica’s embrace, he snapped defensively, “They were heading right for her! I didn’t know what was going to happen when they got to her! And I wasn’t willing to risk it to find out!”
“Please don’t be upset,” Jessica requested, mostly of Wade. “It all ended okay.” He only scoffed in response. “It didn’t end okay?” she asked, and he scoffed again.
“A little too okay. They only had two guards! Instead of three minimum, four standard! They broke protocol! It was too easy!”
“You call that easy?” Shea asked from the far back, involving himself and speaking up for the first time. Stacy nodded in agreement with his question.
“Yeah, I do!” Wade shot back. He then began muttering to himself. “It’s almost as if they wanted us to escape.”
Craddock and Jessica shared looks of incredulity. “Why would they want that?” she asked.
He didn’t answer; his expression of concerned concentration remained. In less than a minute’s time, however, it slowly changed. “Shit. Josiah, pull over!”
“Why?” Josiah asked, but Wade only repeated himself.
“Just pull over!”
As soon as Josiah found an available space to do so and did, Wade pulled open the sliding door, hopped out, and then called to the back of the van, “Shea! Stacy! Out!”
Chapter Nine
An opinion was starting to form, and it wasn’t a good one. Shea glared back at the man he didn’t know, making no move to comply, irritated over his harsh quality and equally harsh demands.
“Why?”
Exasperated, Wade snapped, “We don’t have time for this! Get out! Now! Stacy, too! And bring everything you own with you! Briefcase, purse… Everything.”
To Stacy, it sounded as if they were about to be kicked out and left abandoned. “Did we do something wrong?”
“We seriously don’t have time for this!” Wade looked to Jessica, almost pleading for her assistance.
She didn’t know why Wade was agitated, but she knew him well enough to know that there was a reason. There was something comforting in the way he had taken charge, and the fact that he had meant following his lead, even when there was a lack of understanding.
Keeping her tone soft, trying to ease tensions, she turned to her brother and friend. “Just do what he says, okay?”
“Why?” Since the question was directed at his sister, Shea’s anger wasn’t quite as acute, but he continued to show his unwillingness to yield by remaining exactly where he was.
“It doesn’t matter why right now!” When Wade began to manically search the road and traffic in both directions, Craddock caught on.
‘Jess! They’re tracking us through them!’
Panic welled, her eyes wide and on Craddock’s before turning again to the back of the van. “Guys! Out! Please! Shit!”
The urgency and terror in her voice reached Shea, and shot through Stacy like a bolt of electricity. They scrambled out of the vehicle, facing Wade; the uncertainty they felt over what would be happening next was apparent within their expressions. With nary a pause and without an explanation, Wade yanked Shea’s briefcase from his hand and threw it into a nearby trashcan, as if it were nothing more than an old newspaper.
“Hey!” Shea protested, his irritation resurfacing. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? That was expensive!”
“Worth your life?” Wade then snatched Stacy’s purse from her. “Any money?” He started digging through the off-designer bag before she even had a chance to answer.
“Um, a little,” she said shakily, watching with a mixture of concern and offense as the man she didn’t
know violated her belongings.
Indifferent to the amount, Wade extracted and pocketed several bills from her wallet, then tossed both it and the purse into the trashcan. “Shea? Wallet?”
“No! Who in the hell do you think you are?”
Wade matched Shea’s confrontational stance. “I’m the man who’s trying to save your life! And my own! And everyone else’s here! Now give me your wallet! And any kind of watch, or cell phone, or keys—”
Still refusing, anger remaining, Shea glared harder. “Why?”
Time was short, and Wade was at his limit. “What are you, four years old?” he asked, criticizing him with the rhetorical question. He then looked to Jessica. “If he won’t cooperate, we’ll have to leave him behind!”
Irrational as his behavior was, Wade obviously felt strongly about keeping Shea from knowing any details, however small. There was a part of Jessica that just wanted to tell her brother what Wade – what all of them – suspected, but concern over the ramifications prevented her. Wade would certainly be angry with her if she did, but that aside, the implied subsequent problems from doing so could likely be catastrophic.
“It’s really going to kill you to explain this to me?” Shea asked defiantly. “You can’t even give me one sentence of explanation?”
Wade knew they didn’t have time for questions and answers, or delays. He knew what these people were capable of, and any word said, however seemingly innocent, could give them the upper hand. And that was something he wasn’t willing to give. “No, I can’t. And yes, it might.”
“Shea, stop!” Jessica blurted out, panicking. “Do what he says…” Her tone turned pleading, almost helpless. “Before it’s too late.”
The direness of the situation could not be ignored. It was reminiscent of how things were a year ago. The level of tension and fear certainly indicated a similar scenario. Without knowing the details, Stacy was quick to tug off her watch, and then she dug into her pocket to retrieve her cell phone. Reluctantly, only because of Stacy’s compliance, Shea surrendered his belongings as well, a hint of obvious dislike in his gaze when it would occasionally meet Wade’s.
