I only prayed that Wesley Dale would be brave enough and far enough outside of our social circle to hold true to our deal. Without fake IDs and plane tickets, we would be royally fucked. I didn’t have my cell anymore to contact him, either. We’d just have to turn up at the meeting point tomorrow and hope he’d make it.
Elaine let out a moan as I left her side after stroking her back for an age as she lay against me. She was wrapped up in her friend’s dressing gown when she followed me through to the living room.
It was an awestriking relief to see her bandage had held firm. Chest accepting the wound and making its roads to fix it.
Still, I’d never forget it.
I’d never forget how dangerously close I’d come to losing her, and watching them hurt her beyond recovery.
I was also perfectly aware of the fact that we were only at the beginning of our travels and struggles. They’d be coming for us again, and at some point they’d find us.
At some point I’d have to win the fights all over again.
“Does your friend have a laptop or a tablet here?” I asked her, and she nodded.
“Yeah, I think so.”
She disappeared back into the bedroom with barely more than a wince and a hand on her ribs this time, then reappeared with a tablet and charger. I plugged it in, glad that it connected straight up with her internet.
My finances hadn’t been seized by my father, not yet, so I used the opportunity to transfer my current balance through three different bank accounts, obscuring it from view to anyone looking. I made sure to safeguard my personal investments and cash reserves, protecting my personal wealth as well as I possibly could, even though I was soon to be removed from the Morelli business empire.
I smashed the tablet to pieces after I’d used it, just like I’d done with my cell.
Elaine stared at the cases in front of us as I opened one of them up to check the contents. Plenty of cash, just a shame we wouldn’t be able to use the bulk of it.
“We won’t be able to take that cash with us on the plane, will we?” she asked, reading my mind. “Not without people asking some serious questions.”
“No,” I said. “We won’t. Not the guns, either. Once we enter the airport, we’re as vulnerable as it gets.”
She nodded, and then she managed to smile a pretty little smile.
“In that case, can I leave some of the cash here with a note for Jemma? I can’t even imagine how happy that would make her.”
I loved her generosity, despite the absolute insanity of what was going on around us.
“Yes,” I told her. “You can leave some of the cash here with a note for Jemma. Be my guest. Maybe she’ll use it to save a bunch of whales and plant some more trees in a rainforest.”
“That’s not so much of a joke as you think it is,” she said. “She’ll likely use the whole load of it to save a bunch of whales and plant some more trees in a rainforest. She wouldn’t accept any money from me usually, but if it’s here with a note, I think she’ll take it. I mean, she can’t not, right? I’ll say I’m paying her for the clothes I’ve stolen and the tablet you just smashed up. She’ll at least likely buy some more jeans before she devotes her money to saving the planet.”
I adored the happiness in her eyes and her sweet little giggle.
“Speaking of more jeans,” she added. “I’d better get picking some clothes.”
She was still looking through her friend’s wardrobe once I’d finished scanning through my suitcases and headed on through to join her. She was holding up clothes hangers and pressing the clothes against herself in front of the mirror in the corner. The outfits were nothing I’d expect Elaine Constantine to ever be dressed up in. Cheap twenty-buck dresses, like some eco warrior would be twirling around a campfire in. Cheap jeans and underwear which would never be seen anywhere in our world. Still, they all looked just fine against the goddess.
It was also a good thing she’d be wearing them. She would stand far less chance of being recognized in the airport with that shit on.
“I’ll tie my hair up in one of her bands,” my sweetheart told me and fastened one in her curls to demonstrate.
Yes, she looked anything like Elaine Constantine with her hair bound up messily like that.
“If we make it through to the UK, things will get a little bit easier, but it’ll still be tight,” I said to her. “It’ll still be one hell of a mission to survive this chaos, but we’ll stand a much better chance at least.”