Trapped (16 page)

I
knew I was forgetting something, but it didn't sink in until we
were in South Carolina. The Express had a maximum ride length policy.
It was probably designed to let them replenish the cars, that or
something mandated by the Feds. Josef had warned me against it, but
lost as I'd been in concern over Ash, I hadn't kept track
of everything I should have been keeping track of.

Ash
had started waking for a few minutes at a time, just long enough to
get some food and water into his system, but not long enough to
really carry on any kind of conversation. I could see that even the
effort of eating and drinking was almost more than he could handle.

My
options were pretty limited. I curved our course back around to the
west and picked a station in the corner of Alabama as the location
where we'd physically change cars. By the time we arrived it
was night again, which was less than optimal, but it was the only
station I'd been able to find that was fairly out of the way
and had another train coming by relatively soon after ours left.

A
few minutes before we were due to arrive, I worked Ash off of the bed
and into his wheelchair. I thought that maybe my grunting would pull
him back to consciousness but he remained completely dead to the
world. Remembering that Ash had said there were more vampires east of
the Mississippi, I pulled my gun out of my shoulder holster and
racked the slide.

I
felt a little better knowing that it was ready to go, but ultimately
if it came down to gunfire, I already knew that we were screwed. We
didn't have any kind of vehicle or other means of making a
quick getaway. I debated for a second and then pulled one of the
knives out of Josef's case and slipped it down the back of my
pants.

Disembarking
from the train went smoothly. I pushed Ash's wheelchair out
into the central area of the station and then walked over to a
lighted area that looked like it probably held some of the automated
ticket stands that I needed.

We
passed a trio of older teenage boys and for the first time I saw the
downside to all of the automation. There wasn't anyone else
around, or rather there probably was someone else around, but the
station was so big that we were the only ones visible.

I
felt my shoulder blades crawl as we walked past the three boys. They
all looked rough in ways that made me think they weren't just a
bunch of posers who dressed like toughs because it was fashionable.

Fifteen
seconds or so after we passed them I heard them start walking. They
were obviously following us. I took a deep breath and tried to
remember everything that Ash had taught me in our brief stay at his
cabin.

I
was still working myself up when they moved. The first guy, a skinny
blond, grabbed my left arm as his friends grabbed Ash's
wheelchair. My knife cleared its sheath in one smooth motion and then
I slashed his face. It wasn't the right strike, but he let go
of me, backing away with his hand on the cut.

The
next guy was at least twice my size. He moved forward and immobilized
my knife hand, but I didn't fight for control of the knife.
Instead I slammed my heel into his instep and then brought him down
with a combination leg sweep and corner throw.

The
third guy's hoodie obscured most of his features, but he'd
already started moving in to help his friends before he realized that
they'd bitten off more than they'd meant to. My kick
caught him in the stomach hard enough to fold him around it before he
hit the ground.

I
rode the momentum of the impact backwards as my right hand whipped my
pistol out.

"If
any of you move, I'll kill all three of you."

The
words came out calmer than I'd expected them to, but they
apparently did the trick. All three boys froze in place.

"You're
all going to go into that bathroom and stay there for at least the
next hour. If you come out before then I'll shoot you."

They
all slowly backed away and then filed into the bathroom. I watched
until the door closed and then went back to Ash and recovered my
knife. I punched our new destination into the kiosk with one hand and
then fed in one of the prepaid credit cards and hit the 'accept
charges' button.

Our
magnetic cards were dispensed a few seconds later and one of the
doors further down the terminal started flashing. I debated for a
couple of seconds and then slid my pistol back into my shoulder
harness. It was risky, but there was no telling when someone else
would come into view and I didn't want to create any more
problems than I already had.

My
breathing had remained more or less even during the confrontation,
but after I'd swiped our cards and passed the first checkpoint
I found that my hands were shaking. Even a minute or two later, after
we'd made it to the boarding point for our car it was still
almost more than I could do to pull my burner phone out and dial
Anya's number.

"What
the helicopter?"

I
had to clear my throat a couple of times to get my part out.

"Shut
the front door."

Anya
paused for several seconds before continuing. "Dear…Jane,
what happened?"

"We
just ran into some problems. I need the security footage from this
terminal to disappear. It would be good if you can do something with
regards to the records showing which car we jumped onto as well."

Anya
sighed. "I see you've already picked up
his
habit
of calling up with difficult requests at short notice. I don't
think I can have anything done about the latter bit, but I should be
able to at least do something about the cameras. You're going
to want to change cars at the first available opportunity and then
we'll just have to hope for the best."

I
nodded even though I knew she couldn't see the action. "OK.
Thank you. I'll try not to get into any more trouble for a
little while."

**

The
next switch went smoothly, and then Ash really came to for the first
time a few minutes after our third car started into motion.

"Where
are we?"

"Louisiana.
On one of The Express trains. For the most part I've managed to
keep us in motion and off of the radar."

"Most
part?"

"Three
guys grabbed me the first time I had to change cars. I slashed one of
them and held a gun on all of them. Anya is supposed to have taken
care of the camera footage by now and hopefully the fact that we've
changed cars again since then will help throw the police off of our
scent."

Ash
thought for a second before nodding. "Anya and her family have
arranged for transportation when we get off of the train?"

"Yes,
they'll have an SUV with all of your gear waiting for us in
Colorado."

Ash
sighed but then he offered me a smile that I couldn't seem to
categorize.

"Thank
you for saving me yet again."

I
bit back a chuckle when I realized he was serious.

"I
think I'm the one who owes you still. Honestly, I can't
believe you survived that let alone rolled back onto your stomach and
put half a dozen rounds into Anton."

Ash's
shrug was even more minimalist than normal, probably because he was
trying not to tear any stitches.

"I've
got advantages you don't have. If I had even half the speed and
strength of an average wolf I would have managed to kill him rather
than just drive him off after he savaged our entire team."

I
rubbed my eyes and then gave him a very frank, appraising look. He
was absolutely serious and this kind of second-guessing wasn't
at all like him.

"What
gives? You just saved our butts yet again. Sure, you're not as
fast and strong as some, but that didn't stop you from fighting
Anton to a standstill three times. I heard what you said to Anya
back there. Anton isn't your garden variety psychopath. What
happened the last time someone like him came across the border?"

"I
wasn't alive for it, but I'm told we had someone of
similar skill and ability cross into California back in the Fifties.
He tore through the San Diego pack in one engagement and the
survivors had to call in the Coun'hij for help. The equivalent
of three full packs were flown into the area to bring him down."

"OK,
so just surviving is quite the accomplishment in and of itself."

Ash
nodded but didn't seem any less morose. I waited him out and he
finally cracked after ten minutes.

"It's
not that I'm unappreciative of what I've accomplished, of
what we've accomplished. As you say, it's the kind of
thing to be proud of, especially for two such as us. The problem is
that I'm out of good ideas. As Anya said, it's down to a
decision to run or a decision to fight and all of the variations
along those two themes are incredibly unsatisfying."

"What
do you mean?"

"Flight
is just giving up. Nobody can run indefinitely. Eventually we would
tire of moving around and we'd stay for just a little too long
in one place. He's not in any hurry so he would choose the time
and place of the attack and eventually we'd be killed."

I
spent a couple of seconds imaging that kind of life. I'd always
been interested in the idea of travel, but Ash was right. Living
while always looking over one shoulder didn't seem like the way
to go.

"So
running doesn't sound like a great plan. Let's talk about
fighting."

"It's
no better. More ambushes with more people, bigger guns and all they
will end up doing is racking up a higher body count. We could exhaust
the supply of mercenaries in North America and still not manage to
bring him down. He's perfectly capable of just choosing not to
engage us until the odds come down to something he's
comfortable with. We'd be left sitting in a desert somewhere
with dozens of men waiting for him to make an appearance which puts
the initiative squarely in his court."

"Is
that so bad? I mean if we end up with a standoff, I could live with
that I think."

Ash
shook his head.

"No,
there is no such thing as a real standoff. When you see something
that looks like a standoff it's just one or both of the parties
choosing not to engage temporarily while they look for another route
to achieve their goals. He could buy off one of the mercenaries,
bring in a second southerner, hell, he could even just let the
Coun'hij know where we were located and let them come in and
capture me. The only thing that's saving us from an even worse
set of opponents is that he doesn't realize just how much any
one of a half-dozen packs would love to get their hands on me so that
they could attempt to shake loose some of my family's wealth."

I
hadn't forgotten how determined Ash was to make sure that he
didn't end up sucked into pack life again. I didn't want
that for him. As much as I didn't want to spend whatever little
time I had left running, I didn't want to see him forced to do
the thing he'd spent his entire adult life so far avoiding.

"Then
we need to run. I know that means we'll probably never even see
the proverbial bullet coming, but that's what we need to do."

Ash
nodded, but I could tell he didn't have much left in his
reserves. He'd been through too much lately to face the
question of our future yet.

"Let
me get you something to eat. We don't have to decide anything
right now."

Maybe
Ash was right and there wasn't really any hope. Still, a life
spent on the run, even if it was short, couldn't be all bad,
not if it was spent with Ash.

I
woke to find that Ash had opted for more of a direct route to
Colorado than I'd been taking, which meant that we arrived much
faster than I'd expected. He didn't say much and it
didn't feel like the right time to be pushing him, so we spent
the last little bit of our journey to Denver in silence.

The
SUV was exactly where Josef had told me it would be and we were
driving away from the station less than half an hour after the train
pulled in. I took the first shift as a way of letting Ash catch up on
his sleep. He obviously wasn't back to full strength yet, and
even if he had been, I figured that it wouldn't hurt to give
him a little time to think.

I
drove for what seemed like forever, headed north into Wyoming and
then into Idaho, but finally I felt my eyes grow too heavy to
continue so reached over and shook Ash.

"Hey,
Ash. I'm sorry, but I'm almost ready to fall asleep and
we don't dare stop."

Ash
slowly stretched and then looked up at me with a tired smile.

"It's
OK, I've been drifting in and out for a little while now. Means
I'm mostly back to normal."

"That's
great news!"

Ash
shrugged, but he didn't particularly look satisfied with his
recovery.

"Still
worried about Anton?"

He
turned a little so he could look out the window, but I suspected that
he just wanted to avoid meeting my eyes.

"Yeah.
Still no options out there that I really like."

I'd
returned my hand to the steering wheel, but I reached over once again
and pulled him around so I could see his face.

"Ash,
I was serious yesterday before when I said we should just run. I know
it's not ideal, I know we probably won't live for
decades, but I still think it's the best option for us."

He
shook his head. "I don't think you understand what that
means, not really."

"That's
OK. How often in life do any of us really understand what we're
getting into? I know it will be tough, and I'm willing to roll
with the punches even when things get worse than anticipated."

Ash
didn't say anything for several seconds. "What
if I told you that I could come up with a way for you to go back and
live your normal life, but you'd have to do it yourself? I'd
be busy keeping Anton occupied."