Capítulo 2: Chapter 2: An Alpha at Midnight
“I can buy you some time,” she said. “You need to go now.”
Julie left my side to rummage under her bed and pulled out a ruck sack. She strapped it to my back.
“How much cash do you have?”
“About a thousand in my room,” I told her.
“There is another thousand in the rucksack, that should be enough.”
Twenty minutes later, we were in the backyard. Julie flipped the attacker’s burner phone open and sent a text saying ‘It’s done’.
We waited for the reply.
‘Get rid of the body.’
Julie exhaled in relief.
“You’re gonna have to go on your own to your uncle’s house.”
She flashed a business card in front of my face and then shoved it in my pocket. I only barely registered that I had no idea who this uncle was.
“It is not safe to contact him so he won’t be expecting you. You have to stay off the grid. Keep your hood up and head down. No credit cards or phone. Do not call here again. I will contact you when it is safe.”
“Julie, I don’t understand,” I said, still shaky.
“I know.” She sighed and gave me a fierce hug. “You are not ‘just a rogue’,” she whispered and then let me go. “Stay off the grid and get to your uncle’s. I’ll clean up here and buy you time. You can do this.”
I began to jog through the woods behind our house. I memorized the map Julie showed me. The bus station was a five mile hike. I was to buy a ticket to wherever the next bus was going and sit on it for two stops before getting off and buying another ticket to my uncle’s house.
I can’t begin to explain the whirlwind of emotions and jumbled thoughts I had along the way. I wasn’t scared of the dark or the woods. Julie had taken us survival camping every winter and spring since I was 5 years old. I knew how to find north and track my pacing.
Julie said ‘our cover’ was blown. Our cover from who or what?
The adrenaline in my blood kept my legs moving. How could my life be in danger? Why would someone pay to have me killed?
I took a break halfway to my destination and rested against a tree. I grabbed some water from the rucksack and took the time to rummage through its contents. There were changes of clothes, bottles of water, and packages of food.
In the pockets, I found tools such as a lighter, flashlight, pocket knife, flare stick and an unopened burner phone. There was also a wallet with cash and a false ID for me. My picture and the right first name but a bogus address and a birthdate that would make me 21 instead of 19.
The ID came along with a passport as well as credit cards.
She told me not to call home or to use cards, so why had she sent them with me? I closed up the rucksack and took another two minutes to rest. I continued hiking, making it to the outside of the bus station just before 10 at night. The next bus was heading to Tennessee but I had another hour to wait for it.
She told me to keep my hood up and my head down. So that’s what I did. I took a seat and tried not to think about the fact that someone wanted me dead.
Yeah, right.
It was all I could think about. I still felt that creep’s hands on the back of my head and his body pinning me in place. I remembered the struggle and the feeling of my face submerged in the dirty dishwater. And my life flashing in my mind.
And new memories…
I tried to bring those memories back. There was me in the arms of a woman… My mother? My real mother? She had dark curly hair like mine and hazel eyes like mine too. She was lovely and beautiful and that honeysuckle and vanilla scent…
I suppressed a sob and sniffed back a tear.
Julie… I wondered what she was doing now. I tried not to be angry that it was apparent she’d kept a few things from me. I just wanted to know how much. I wondered if this ‘uncle’ of mine would have answers.
I tried not to fidget as the time went by. My eyes flashed up to the TV screen from time to time. And then I remembered that I was supposed to keep my head down. But I lifted it up again and my heart nearly stopped when I saw Julie on the screen crying and frantic as she stood in front of our home which was now up in flames.
There was a circus of Emergency vehicles and TV crews. The camera scanned my foster brothers and sisters as they sat in a van. The volume was on mute so I had to read the closed caption as it scrolled by.
Julie was saying that there was an explosion. She was able to get everyone out except for her daughter, Kayleigh – me.
A scruffy picture of me flashed on the screen and I quickly looked around to see if anyone could tell it was me. It wasn’t a great picture. Taken from a weird angle so my features were somewhat obscured.
I put my head down and imagined that my assassin’s body would be found and mistaken for me. How long before they would be able to get the blaze under control and retrieve the body? How long before they realized it wasn’t me?
Hopefully, long enough for me to take the next bus two stops before getting on another one heading in the right direction.
When my bus was called, I hurried on and found a seat by a window close to the back. The next two stops took an hour. When I got off, I really needed to use the bathroom.
I relieved myself and took the time to wash my hands before going to find a ticket heading to my uncle. It was a town near Alexandria Virginia, not far from the Alpha Academy’s campus.
I looked at the bus schedule and there was nothing going that direction until dawn. There was a motel and small diner across the street that was open. It was nearly midnight and I was hungry. I sifted money from my rucksack and headed over to the motel. There was a room. I got it for the night and shoved my key into my pocket.
Before going to the room, I headed next door with my rucksack to the diner, took a seat, and gave my order to a less than enthused waitress.
I tried to sit casually while remaining on alert. My attention was out the window when the door to the diner swung open ringing the bell. My attention went to the door and time seemed to stand still as I locked eyes with a young man that towered tall enough to have to duck to come inside.
I took a slow breath in as his deep chocolate eyes took me in, scanning my face briefly and forcing my heart to skip several beats. His movements were steady and deliberate as he swung the backpack from his shoulders and sat it at the booth in front of mine.
He smiled and the flash of white and dancing dimples nearly did me in. I was on the run for my life and all I could do was give a weak stupid smile in return.
Who was this god-like stranger standing across from me in the middle of nowhere at midnight?
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