"That's fine," Gio said. Oddly, he was relieved. "Just having you no longer hunting us would be enough, even if you can't do anything else for me."
Javic regarded them both with a puzzled frown. "And you'd help me and Elina?"
"It makes more sense than fighting you," Max said. She smiled lopsidedly. "How about a truce? We get your sister, you help us get rid of Gio's lion problem if you can, and then we both go our separate ways."
Javic hesitated. Then he nodded. "Truce."
Max took out her wire cutters. Holding the clippers in one hand, with her other on her gun, she said seriously, "If you double-cross us, I will never stop coming after you. And you'd better be more afraid of me than them."
"I think I am right now," Javic said. "No, I'm not going to betray you; are you kidding? This is the best shot I've had at escaping them in years. I want to help you, I promise."
Max snipped his wrists free. Javic let out a long breath. Gio kept a careful eye on him, but he didn't seem inclined to make any hostile moves.
"What now?" Gio asked Max.
"First let's go back and gather up the rest of our gear," Max said. "Under the cover of darkness it should be relatively safe; we'll just be careful."
"Then?" Javic asked, rubbing his wire-scraped wrists.
"Then we'll find somewhere to spend the night, and make plans."
MAX
It was early morning,the sun starting to rise and Javic half asleep in the back, by the time Max reached a highway and drove until she spotted a motel sign. The place was a one-story L-shaped row of doors with paint so old that it had weathered to gray. There were no other cars in the gravel parking lot. Max would have preferred more vehicles around for camouflage, but otherwise it was exactly the sort of thing she was looking for.
The office was still closed, but there was someone moving around inside. Max waved a twenty at the sleepy clerk and banged on the door until he opened it. It was hard anymore to find even roadside fleabag motels that took cash and didn't check ID, but when she scribbled down a name that was only a passing match for the one on the driver's license she flashed with practiced speed, the clerk obviously didn't care. She rented two rooms side by side.
"Not three?" Gio asked, surprised, when she came back to the Jeep dangling their room keys. A pink flush climbed his neck. "Are there, er—"
"I was thinking you'd share with him to make sure he doesn't sneak off in the night," Max said.
"Ah," Gio said, the flush deepening. "Yes, of course. How sensible."
But Max had doubts as soon as she said it. She was supposed to be guarding Gio, after all. Was it really within her mandate to leave him alone, even for a few hours' sleep?
Don't be ridiculous; you know you just want to get a look at that body.
And anything could happen in a roadside motel.
Including things they didn't want to happen. Max thought about hiding the Jeep, then decided it would be better to have it handy for a fast getaway. To be on the safe side, she parked it a few doors down from their rooms.
"What's the plan?" Javic asked. In the early morning sun, he looked wan and exhausted.
"The plan is, we all get some sleep. Gio and I haven't had much lately, thanks to your crowd. Let's sleep, shower, see if there's anywhere to get a burger around here ..." She looked up and down the dusty stretch of highway. Hmm. They might have to rely on stew warmed in a motel microwave. "Anyway, get some rest and then when we're all up let's figure it out from there."
She let herself into her room. It was exactly what she expected from the outside: TV bolted to the wall, a faint smell of stale cigarette smoke, carpet that made her want to keep her boots on. She tapped lightly on the wall and got a hollow sound that suggested the walls were one step up from cardboard.
But the bathroom was reasonably clean, so were the towels, and there was hot water, although the water pressure was so low it was barely a trickle and it smelled like rusty metal. Max breathed a sigh of relief as she shed her clothes. She hadn't thought to bring shampoo or soap, and this wasn't the sort of motel that supplied nice little shampoos, but she was tired and filthy enough not to care.
The walls were so thin that she clearly heard the shower starting up in the neighboring room.
Gio might be, at this very moment, just a wall away—wet and naked.
Max got a grip on herself, cranked up her own shower to drown it out, and stepped in.
She luxuriated in scrubbing off the dust, and let the water soothe her healing scratches, bruises, and sore muscles from the fight. Normally, she found showers pleasantly mindless. Like sparring and other forms of fight training, it was a good way to let go of her tendency to try to think around every angle of a situation. Instead she could let her mind drift free and experience the physical sensations.
Normally.
