Jia did as he said.
* * *
We got to Park Valley two hours later and saw Frankie’s contact.
I said a silent prayer of thanks that we didn’t get any more surprises on the damn way. I didn’t know if I could take it. The worry over Jia would get me and probably give me a heart attack.
We got into a Range Rover and I decided to take over driving.
With the new truck I had more assurance that we would be able to get to Idaho without any more hassle. Unless Giovanni had some wicked bad high tech satellite imaging recognition that could pick out our faces if we got caught driving by one of the cameras on the highway.
It was some sort of NASA tech I’d heard about and I really hoped that was just my imagination running wild and not reality.
I could see it happening though. He was crazy enough and powerful enough to have that type of asset. Jia was what he wanted. His daughter.
The shootout earlier made me wonder though if he didn’t care whether he got her back dead or alive. The men shooting weren’t exactly careful, but then you couldn’t really be careful in a scenario like that, you could only be as careful as you could be.
As soon as we left Park Valley we diverted towards Salt Lake City.
I thought it would be a good place to stop for a while. By the time we reached it, we’d already been on the road for ten hours with the delay in stopping over at Park Valley and of course the shootout. I’d been hoping that we would have gotten closer to our destination but it was okay.
While we were there we got some bandages for Frankie. I would have preferred to have gone to the walk-in medical center but it would be a little difficult to explain a bullet wound.
My plan was Jack. He’d be able to look at it.
We stopped in Salt Lake City for about six hours and we all just slept in the truck.
Frankie and I alternated between keeping watch for two hours each while the other got some sleep. We set off early morning again and headed to Boise, Idaho.
Just like in my younger days, the air was the first thing I noticed to change. It was fresh and had that mountain spring cleanliness to it.
That was the first thing that I’d noticed when Jack brought me here to live. Living in Chicago for most of my life I tended to notice things like that. City to Country.
Jack was originally from Montana; his family had a farm there so he knew exactly what I meant when I’d commented on it, he really did. I thought at the time that he appreciated that I noticed.
It was here that I’d decided I wanted to become a marine and go on some of the types of adventures he went on.
As I drove over the State line and saw the Welcome to Idaho sign, memories came flooding back into my mind.
All of it from start to finish. Or rather where I’d decided it should end.
I could have come back before now. I should have. It would have been right. I just couldn’t face Jack. I promised I’d take care of Claire and I wasn’t able to stop her from dying.
From being killed.
I felt like a failure and a failure of the worst kind. The kind that was seeking justice and hadn’t found it. Five long years and I hadn’t been able to bring Balthazar down to his knees and chop off his damn head for what he’d done.
Jia reached across and tapped my hand, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I’d almost forgotten she was next to me. Frankie was in the back watching the scenery change as we rode by.
“You okay?” she asked. “You look worried.”
“I am.”
She knew why I’d be worried. “Don’t be, I think he’ll be more than happy to see you.”
“I really hope so.”
