by Jade Powers
“Minneapolis. We’re still a ways out, but my ride will take me to the airport. Can we meet there?,” Hannah asked.
I’ll make the arrangements. Call on your next stop. If I’m already on the way, I’ll leave the details with Shelly.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Love you Honey. Be careful.”
Hannah hung up the receiver. The night air blew cold against her neck. She stepped back and tilted her head up toward the stars. Something about the mountain air and the sparkling jewels in the sky calmed her spirits. Or maybe it was speaking with her dad again that made her feel as if the world had finally snapped back into place.
After a brief walk around and taking care of business, she and Nell got back on the road. While in the bathroom alone, she had pulled two fifty dollar bills out of her sock.
As they were driving the flat straight Dakota road, Nell yawned endlessly.
Finally Hannah said, “Let’s make a hotel stop. I’ll pay for the room.”
They stayed at the Western Retreat, a hotel chain known for cheap rates and clean rooms. Hannah had only the clothes on her back. She should have packed some of the used clothing from Drake’s house, but she wanted to travel light. Seeing her dilemma, Nell said, “Would you like to borrow one of my t-shirts? I think we’re around the same size.”
Hannah had been wearing other people’s clothes for a few months now, so the scent of new fabric softener in the form of Nell’s wash didn’t bother her too much. It would have bugged the old Hannah to borrow someone else’s clothes. Everyone carried their own scent, their own brand of detergent.
Careful to slide the money off with the socks, Hannah tucked them into her shoes. Crawling into bed, Hannah yawned. Her legs were still sore from walking, and she had blisters on the bottom of her feet. For the first time in months, she allowed herself to think of home, the pink and purple quilt that covered her twin-sized bed, the teddy bear lineup on top of her dresser. Home.
Chapter 10
DRAKE STOOD LIKE A sentinel and watched the ‘clean-up’ of the Spokane branch, the place where mercenaries had attacked and taken Hannah. He’d searched the company for breaches, tried to figure out what was taken. He kept coming up empty-handed. The bastards had killed a janitor for God’s sakes. They’d killed a bunch of people and taken Hannah. Why? The damn sphere hadn’t even been in Spokane at the time of the attack, nor would it have been in the barracks. Drake had been spinning his wheels for three days. He was missing something.
At least Sven and Minka were clear of it. And Lauren.
Next to him stood one of the alphabet soup agencies cleaners. Douglas Frye. He had spun the story for the public, something more acceptable than a fight to the death between two private corporations over a piece of technology that would change the world. They had done this a few times. Drake even considered him a friend.
“I’ve debriefed the crew. And we’ve got one in custody.” The spin involved Drake. That was the price of power. He knew more than anyone about the hidden atrocities of life.
Drake nodded, “What about justice? The ones that got away...”
“General McFarland contacted me this morning. He’s got a team tracking them down. After so many months, the trail is getting cold. He sends his regrets.”
Drake didn’t speak his thoughts aloud. There were very few people with enough power to pull off this kind of attack without warning. A whole convoy of vehicles would need some kind of official representation. McFarland was one of the people who could make that happen. Drake said, “This doesn’t make sense. The computer security wasn’t breached. No research was taken.”
“We may not have found it yet,” Doug said. He wore a three-piece suit, tie, and dress shoes. Drake wondered that the man didn’t find a pair of sunglasses just to complete the costume.
THE HARDEST PART OF his trip lay ahead. After a night of restless sleep that left him feeling lonely and out of sorts, Drake drove to the building that had been home to one of his corporate offices. Of all the offices, this had been the most troublesome of late.
His HR rep met him in the conference room. Drake exchanged a grim smile. “Thank you for coming out here.”
Only the corporate headquarters employed an HR department. The Houston branch handled the time sheets, complaints, and the layoffs. Cindy carried the severance package bundles they would be handing out. It was all very formal, all very proper.
Drake hated that it had come to this. But the mind control experiment caused too much suffering. He should have turned it down from the first, should have run from it.
They met as a group, Drake and the remaining employees. Drake gave the speech. We appreciate your hard work. We’re sorry it’s come to this. Some of his employees didn’t mind much. One of the women started crying. Lauren glared at him. He wasn’t going to escape his ex-girlfriend this time. One more heart-to-heart and he would never see her again. At one time that would have hurt. He hadn’t thought of Lauren once since Hannah’s kiss.
Employees filtered out, a few of them shaking his hand, a few ducking out, and several more clustered together like survivors on a raft after the sinking of a ship. Lauren sat in one of the executive chairs carefully flipping through the terms of her severance, the Cobra letter, information on signing up for unemployment. Drake knew she was waiting for an empty room. As much as he wanted to duck out, he said goodbye to employees he’d known in passing and girded himself for Lauren’s anger.
When the last employee was gone, Cindy glanced from Drake to Lauren. Lauren barely acknowledged Cindy when she said, “Can you give us a minute?”
It was her super-pissed look, the one that kept Drake on his toes those last few days of their relationship.
Once Cindy was gone, Drake took the chair across from Lauren. If they were going to have it out, he was going to do it with calm.
“How the hell could you do this to us? We’ve been yours from the beginning. The prototype, all of the work. And now you have it and you just dump everyone else?” Lauren’s hands shook, rattling the papers. Drake had the feeling that she really wanted to punch him, that was the kind of adrenaline running through Lauren at the moment.
“To date, we’ve lost twenty-two men and women, and are under threat for our lives. I’m closing shop. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but it’s safer for my employees” Drake folded his hands on the table, forcing a calm he didn’t feel. His relationship with Lauren had festered from the boyfriend-girlfriend pair they had been to a screaming mess.
He wasn’t ever going to go back to that, even if it cost him pride now. He would sit and take her criticisms and false assumptions and let it wash over him, because the alternative would be an ugly fight that would bleed out to Cindy who was waiting in the hall or to other employees who wanted to say a last goodbye. As the boss he owed it to the rest to maintain dignity. Years of practice made it easier.
“And you spring it on me with everyone else? I worked my ass off to get to this point in my career. You just took it for granted, all of the years I gave you, and I get this in return.” Lauren flipped the folder in her hands, slamming it down on the table. She always liked to make noise, throw things, really raise the tension so that people knew she was angry. Her passion was the thing that attracted Drake in the first place. Now that he could compare it to Hannah’s quiet spirit, he realized that he had spent weeks with Hannah, and they had never fought with raised voices, not once. When they disagreed, it was with respect.
“You have been well-paid for your employment. I doubt you could have found a better job around here,” Drake realized that this argument could go on forever and he would always be the loser. He stood, “I’m sorry, Lauren. I wish things were different. It was never my intention to sell the company. That’s where I find myself. I’m sorry it’s affected you like this.”
As Drake opened the door, he wondered if Lauren would throw her folder at him. His shoulders twitched a little, but he held his head high as he stepped into the hall. As
expected Cindy was waiting.
He said, “She’ll need a few moments.”
“We’ll take care of this, Sir.”
Drake left the last part of closing in Cindy’s hands. He needed to get home, to talk to Hannah, to make things right. Life had shrunk to only one problem, only one need, Hannah.
One of Drake’s men stepped up. “Boss, you got a call from Johnson.”
Drake took the call with foreboding. “Drake here.”
Johnson spoke. “Hannah took off sometime last night. I sent out a team to search the surrounding areas. She’s long gone.”
Drake blew out a breath. Apparently Hannah had decided to finish the argument. Somehow Drake had thought he would come back with a clear head, and they would both calm down and start over.
“She left on her own? I mean, she wasn’t kidnapped?” Drake didn’t want to think about the mass grave the attackers left. Someone like that wouldn’t think twice about killing Hannah. They sure were willing to experiment on her even while she carried a baby.
“She left on her own.” Johnson sounded uncomfortable. Drake couldn’t very well berate him. He had left Hannah in anger and without a word.
“Thanks for letting me know.” Drake disconnected the call. He had to finish the job in Spokane before he could hunt for Hannah. As he visited two of his employees, he wondered where she had fled, how far she had gotten, if she was safe. He persuaded himself that he didn’t really care about Hannah, he was just thinking of the unborn baby.
No matter where he went, his heart was consumed with Hannah.
It was Sven who pulled him aside, “Drake, go find Hannah.”
“I need to be here with my crew.”
“You love her. You’ve actually said her name three times in the past half hour.”
“I have not.”
“Go find her. You’ve done what you could here. I’ll handle the rest. It’s just paperwork and bureaucracy from here.”
“I want to see to closing the building...” Drake’s voice trailed off.
“I’ll take care of it. Make sure Hannah is safe.” Sven practically pushed Drake out the door.
Drake brooded all the way to Sun Valley. Where would Hannah go? The town wasn’t exactly a hub of excitement. Someone would have seen her walking along that lonesome road.
NELL STARED AT THE ceiling listening to Hannah’s light snore. What a drag. She couldn’t believe Hannah bought that dopey story. What are the chances? Two women pregnant in the same situation. There weren’t any huge colleges in the area. How did Hannah actually believe that she was just driving through?
The worse she made the stories, the more people believed them.
Over seven thousand dollars deposited into her bank account last night. Nell checked the balance using the hotel’s computer. She carried a pen and notepad to the lobby. Now for the rest of it.
Nell used the pay phone. She pulled a business card out of her pocket. It wasn’t something she would leave lying around. She fingered the edge of her pocket. Nell said, “Yeah, she’s fast asleep. I’m supposed to drop her at the Minneapolis airport.”
“Can you pretend to be lost? I’ve got an address for you,”
Nell held the phone between ear and shoulder. “Ready.”
Scribbling the address, Nell asked, “Anyone else you want after this one?”
“Not immediately. I’ll be in contact. Get her to the safe house before dark if possible. My guys will be ready to help as soon as you pull up.”
Hanging up the phone, Nell once again used the hotel computer to print a map to the location. It was miles from the airport. Shouldn’t be a problem, though. The spy game was getting boring. She’d just pretend to be lost and deliver Hannah to her uncle’s contact. Nepotism paid off, especially in the black market. Nell spent an hour memorizing the map before returning to the room.
Not wanting to wake Hannah, Nell quietly crawled back into bed. Not a bad night’s work. She lay back thinking of what she was going to do with the money. It might be nice to visit Florida. Hannah sure did talk about Miami a lot. Maybe she could get into the University of Miami and take that drawing course. Wouldn’t that be a hoot? Almost like living Hannah’s best moments for her.
The morning couldn’t come quick enough for Nell.
HANNAH WATCHED THE exit to the airport pass while Nell talked a mile a minute about her ex-boyfriend, how much she loathed him, how she missed him. She hardly looked at the road.
Interrupting Nell, Hannah said, “Hey, you just passed the airport.”
“Say what? I’m sure I have another hour of driving first.” Nell grabbed another stick of gum from the console, purposefully missing the next exit as a turn-around.
“Yeah, it’s back two exits now,” Hannah said. She tried to stay calm. They still had plenty of time to arrive.
Nell took her time changing lanes. That was what set off Hannah’s subconscious. Hannah’s experience last night was Nell driving like a mad woman, changing lanes quickly and smoothly as if she’d driven in sixty-mile-an-hour rush hour traffic all her life. Now, she was doddling.
At another time in her life, Hannah might have ignored the warning in her gut, the tight feeling that something was wrong. Not now. Looking at Nell, she knew that Nell was up to something, and she had learned to trust that twitchy feeling the hard way.
When Nell missed the next exit, Hannah decided on a bit of subterfuge of her own. She said, “It’s okay. Dad’s flight won’t be in for a few hours. Let’s pull off on the next exit and get something to eat. I’m starving.”
“Great idea. Me too.” After a nice meal, Nell could get them even more lost. She had to get back on the freeway going in the same direction. She had at least two more exits until the exit that would get them to the safe house. Good thing she was good at memorization with the number of twists and turns on map directions.
Hannah ordered bacon and scrambled eggs, Nell the Denver omelet. Now that she was looking for it, Hannah asked Nell a few questions. Not invasive ones, just natural normal friendly questions.
“And then there was Jake. He was a wild cat, I tell you. I was in Seattle at the time,” Nell daintily cut her omelet into squares while she talked.
In her questioning Hannah caught a slip, a minor crossing of dates, but with her suspicions already raised, she dug a little deeper, leaning forward. When the bill came, Hannah picked it up, “I need to use the restroom. I’ll take care of this on the way.”
It had been a thing for her to pay for Nell’s gas, her hotel fare, breakfast. Hannah couldn’t imagine what might have happened otherwise. No doubt Johnson would have sent someone after her, Jana must be Drake’s baby-sitter.
Hannah hated to leave Jana like this. She was probably paranoid and reading too much into tiny things, but she was also two hours from her father. She stood in line without looking once at Nell. That would show guilt. After paying, Hannah turned away from the table where she and Nell shared breakfast and walked toward the bathrooms.
There was a second exit near the back of the restaurant. Hannah pushed through the door. She hit the pavement running. Typical of freeway exits across the country, there were a few gas stations nearby. Hannah ran for the nearest one, ducking into the convenience store.
She would call a taxi to take her to the airport. She asked the guy at the counter, “Do you have a phone I can use?”
“Outside on the corner.”
In view of the restaurant. Hannah pulled out a pair of twenties and handed them to the cashier. She said, “Look, I’m in trouble. Please just call a taxi and have him come here to pick me up.”
She watched Nell walk out of the restaurant, look around, look across the street. Hannah stepped back, out of sight. She said, “Can you look out the window? Tell me what the girl across the street in front of the restaurant is doing?”
“The girl with the short hair?”
“Yeah,”
“She’s pacing back and forth in front of the restaurant. Now she’s ta
lking to some guy that is smoking outside. He’s pointing at us.”
“Shit.” Hannah put a hand to her mouth.
“Hide in the restrooms. I’ll tell her a woman ran down the street.”
“And when she leaves, can you call the taxi?”
“Sure thing. Hey, the bathrooms are single occupancy. Use the man’s bathroom and lock the door. I’ll knock when it’s safe.” The kid behind the counter was Hannah’s age. He seemed to really be getting into this hide-and-seek thing. Hannah thanked him and ran to the back.
The men’s bathroom smelled with the unpleasant tang of urine and hand soap. She locked the door and waited, hovering at the door, trying to hear past the murmuring voices to catch the exact words they were saying. Was that Nell? Hannah didn’t know. She thought so.
She heard footsteps growing louder. Grateful that the kid had foresight enough to put her in the men’s bathroom, Hannah waited.
With her ear to the door, she caught the sweeping sound of the woman’s door opening. A few minutes later, the door opened again and the footsteps receded down the hall. Hannah felt like an idiot with her hand on the doorknob. Nell had saved Hannah. She’d stopped to pick up a stranger without knowing anything about her. It was a terrible way to repay someone.
Hannah almost ditched the bathroom then and ran out to see if Nell was still there. What stopped her was a tiny obtrusive thought, What was Nell doing in Sun Valley. The town was seriously out of the way.
Wow. Paranoid.
Still, Hannah didn’t budge.
The minutes ticked by and still the kid didn’t come to knock on the door. Hannah thought maybe he’d forgotten her. She counted to one hundred and then tried counting backward from one-hundred. Then she tried remembering the Hamlet soliloquy she had memorized in high school. Back then the bare bodkin and fardels always tripped her up.
Finally the guy knocked.
Hannah unlocked the door. “Thanks, man.”
