Lone Girl (The Wolfling Saga) (7 page)

“Rose?”

Tom had woken up. I heard him jump out of the driver’s side and hurry around the car. He knelt by my side as I gasped and coughed. When I’d finally emptied my stomach of what little content it had, I sat on the grass and leaned against the car, panting.

“
Jesus, Rose. Are you all right?” Tom asked, brushing my hair out of my eyes.

I nodded feebly, my mind still reeling from the message I’d just read.

“What happened?” he asked. “Was it something we ate?”

“N-no,” I wheezed, covering my mouth. I didn’t want Tom to smell my breath after I’d just vomited.

“What then? Are you ill?” he placed his hand over my forehead. “You’re not burning up.”

“I’m okay,” I said, using the car as leverage to get to my feet. I was a little shaky
.

“Do you want to go to hospital?” he asked, helping me stand.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I said I’m fine,” I snapped. “I’m capable of standing on my own.”

“All right, all right.” He frowned, clearly confused by
my sudden temper.

Still shaking, I clambered back into the passenger seat and closed the door as Tom walked around the car. Once seated, he glanced at me nervously but said nothing.

“Goodnight,” I said, in what I hoped was a normal voice.

“Night, love,” he replied.

Of course I wouldn’t be able to sleep – not after what I’d read. Thoughts whizzed around my mind like buzzing flies. It was relentless. This woman – Anya Kelly – had been Tom’s fiancé and he’d left her weeks before their wedding.

The words I read had been burned into my skull
and blinded me as I closed my eyes.

What reason would this woman have for telling me this? Was she jealous that I had Tom and she didn’t? Perhaps she wanted revenge.

Yeah, I’m sure she’d like that – me leaving Tom.

He wasn’t about to leave me. After all, we were on the run together. He wouldn’t have asked me unless he was serious about us.

Right?

Tom is excellent at reverse psychology.

Thursday – 25 days to go

We crossed into Washington State later in the day. It marked a large milestone for us. Finally, it felt like we were making progress. Our plan was to drive to the coast and find a fishing boat willing to take us across the waters to Alaska. It was a long shot, but it was worth a try.  Today it was my turn to drive, something I didn’t mind. I’d probably need all the practice I could get. Tom was always teasing me about my poor skills.

“
Do you want to stop at a payphone today?” he asked late that evening. The sky was shot with pink and gold as the sun began to set.

“No,” I replied. “Not yet.”

I hadn’t told Tom about the message I’d received from his ex-fiancé Anya. Instead I dwelled upon it, letting it poison my mind.
He’d be mad if he found out that I still had the phone.

Stop it
, I kept telling myself.
Everything she said was absolute rubbish and you know that. Tom is a great guy.

I had to talk to him about it – ask him what it meant.

I was about to open my mouth to speak when Tom interrupted. “I’m thinking of sleeping in a bed tonight.”

“Oh?”

He turned to me and smiled. “We’ve got a bit of cash. Maybe we should find a motel and uh-” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

I glanced his way momentarily before looking back at the road. “
Oh
.”

Perhaps a motel would be an appropriate place to strike up a conversation about his ex. On the road was probably not a good idea.

“Okay,” I agreed with a nod.

“You all right?” Tom asked, glancing my way.

“Yeah, fine.”

“You still feeling sick after last night?” he asked.

My stomach squirmed at the memory and another wave of dizziness washed over me. I ignored it. “I’m fine. Why?”

“It’s nothing. I mean, well, you’re just acting-” he paused, trying to find the right word. “-distant,” he finished.

It was true. My mind had been on that message from Anya all day. I just couldn’t get it out of my head.

“We’ll talk at the motel,” I said with a reassuring smile.

This didn’t seem to ease Tom’s nerves. “Oh, that doesn’t sound good,” he said with raised eyebrows.

I reached over and squeezed his thigh in what I hoped was a comforting gesture. “Don’t worry.”

But the crease in his brow told me that he was worrying. 

~

Tom dropped the sports-bag of stolen thrift-store clothes onto the cheap motel bed and turned to face me with his hands on his hips. “Home sweet home,” he said with a roll of his eyes.

I placed my backpack upon the vanity table and looked around. “It’s only for another night. It beats sleeping in the car, anyway.”

“Hey, wait here for a second, will you?” said Tom, quickly dashing out the door again.

“Okay-” I frowned, staring at the closed door. He’d left before I’d even put two words together. However, he wasn’t gone long. Barely two minutes had passed and he was slipping back inside.

“Where’d you go?” I asked.

“A
cross the road to the gas station,” he said.

“You
what
?” My eyes widened. “Tom, you could have been recognized!”

He laughed. “I’m joking, relax,” he said. “There was a vending machine in the men’s room next to the motel office.”

“What?”

Tom pulled out a couple of condoms from his pocket.

“Oh,” was all I said.

He chuckled, but saw that I was not impressed. “What’s wrong? I thought you wanted to? The other night-”

He stopped speaking when he saw the annoyed look on my face.

“Are you still not feeling well?” he asked.

I sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. “Tom … I have to talk to you about something.”

His face fell. Perhaps he’d been hoping to distract me from ‘the talk’ we needed to have.

“I don’t like where this is going,” he said slowly, standing in front of me. “What have I done? Was it the condoms? I know it’s not classy, but-”

“No, no, it’s not the condoms,” I said with a faint smile. “You haven’t done anything wrong. Just … just sit down, okay?”

He paused, before perching himself on the vanity table’s stool. “What’s up?”

I needed to tell him about the message from Anya, but there was no way to talk about it without revealing that I’d been using my cell phone.

“Last night, while you were sleeping, I-”

But I didn’t get to finish my sentence, because at that moment red and blue lights illuminated the room – reflecting on the walls and ceiling.

Tom and I jumped up in unison and ran to the window, peering through the curtains at the three police cars that had just pulled up outside of the Motel.

“Holy shit,” Tom breathed. “How did they-”

“Oh my god,” I groaned. I ran to my bag which sat on the bed and rummaged through it.

I pulled out the cell phone.

“Rose … what is that?” Tom was at my side in an instant.

I pressed the ‘home’ button on the phone and w
ith horror I realized that I’d left my phone connected to its wireless internet since last night. “Shit.”

“What? What did you do?” said Tom, his eyes wide.

“I’m … I’m so sorry,” I gasped, staring at the phone.

Tom held out his hand for the device and I gave it to him. He took one look at the screen before going pale.

“Rose?” Tom looked at me with wide eyes. “What have you done?”

“I’m sorry,” I said, fighting back the urge to cry. I’d let him down.

“Rose … I asked you not to … I said-” Tom was speechless.

With a shaking hand
he held the smartphone up to me. But I already knew what I’d see.

Battery: 2%

Wifi: Connected

“They tracked us through the phone,”
he said.

“I’m sorry,” I said, my hands shaking violently. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think they could really do that -”

“Of course they can,” he said disbelievingly. “I
told
you.”

“I didn’t think – it was only for a minute –”

“I asked you to
destroy
it, Rose.
This
is why!” he pointed to the window.

“I’m sorry!”

“What do we do?” Tom asked, peering out of the window. Two police officers exited their vehicles.

“I’m not going to let them take you,” I
promised. This was my fault and I was going to make it right.

“We can’t escape – there’s three cop cars out the front.”

I thought quickly. Countless action movies played through my mind.

“The bathroom,” I said. “There’s a window.”

“The bath - what?” Tom followed me as I raced into the bathroom.

There
was a window above the toilet. It was small - too small for Tom to squeeze through. His broad shoulders would never fit.

“Rose, we can’t-” he began.

“Quiet,” I said, putting the toilet seat down and climbing on top of it. I unlatched the window, but it only popped open by a few inches.  However, the screws in the hinge were loose. I grabbed the window by its frame and shook it violently. The hinges snapped from years of rust and I passed the frame to Tom.

“What are you doing?” He stared in awe.

“The car is parked round the back,” I reminded him. I jingled the keys in my pocket. “We’re making a get-away.”

“I’ll never fit through there, Rose –” he began. 

“You won’t need to. Give me a leg up will you?”

Tom did as I asked and hoisted me up. I grappled with the window ledge, wriggling my way through it. It was easier than I thought it would be. However, getting down was another matter now that I was facing the dirt head-first. 

“You’re going to get us killed,” I heard Tom mutter to himself. I could feel his tight grip on my ankles, stopping me from falling. I was bent at the waist, the window ledge digging painfully into my stomach.