“What?! Then why are we drowning my car?!”
“Because it’s safer that way. And it feels amazing.”
“Speak for yourself,” I mumble.
We watch until the car disappears under the dark surface of the water, until the bubbles have stopped coming up.
“You owe me a car,” I say with a scowl.
“Does it also have to look like it’ll fall apart if we go above sixty miles per hour?”
The humor in his tone, as well as the underlying glee of finally getting rid of my car, has me struggling to hold back a grin. It was a very shitty car indeed.
“Come on, grumpy,” Lex encourages, resting a soft hand on my lower back. “We still have a long drive ahead of us.”
“How long?”
“About seven hours.”
“Jesus Christ, Lex. We could have been sipping margaritas in the Bahamas by then.”
“I promise you’ll like our destination, freckles.”
Still somewhat reluctant, I follow him to the Jeep. He helps me get in, adjusts the seat to my preference as he did before, and then hops into the driver’s seat. Before he can start the engine, his phone rings. A reminder of some sort.
He quickly checks it out and says, “Time for you to take another pill.”
“Oh… right.” The pain in my shoulder has been increasing insidiously for a moment now, and I know that if I don’t take my painkillers, it’ll become unbearable within the next hour. Lex twists around to find the pills, a bottle of water, and hands them to me one after the other.
“I also have pills that can help you sleep, if you want,” he says.
“Good idea. It’ll help make thoseseven hoursmore tolerable.” He hands me a tablet, which I promptly swallow with a gulp of water. I then watch as he returns the pills to the bag and sets the water in the holder between us, on my side. “If you’re ever tired of programming, you’d make a fantastic nurse,” I tease.
“Wait until I’ve changed your bandage and say that again,” he says with a slight grimace.
“You’ll be the one doing it?”
“I’ve been… educating myself on the matter. Watching the nurses at the hospital do it, and online videos, as well as medical textbooks. We’ll be too remote to have a nurse come in and do it. Plus, I don’t want anyone to know we’re there. That way, there are fewer chances we get recognized.”
“Smart. What if it gets infected, though?”
“With your antibiotics, it shouldn’t. But of course, we’d seek professional help in that case.”
Lex starts the car and drives, soon arriving at the farm’s dirt road. We pass a couple of hundred yards from the farm, and I observe it with attention, wondering if they’re watching us.
“Aren’t you worried they’ll denounce you?” I wonder, suddenly anxious.
“They never met me. I acquired their farm through one of my shell companies, so they never knew my name. And all our communications have been via encrypted calls with my voice slightly altered.”
The small space is silent for a moment before I say, “You’ve thought this whole thing through, haven’t you?”
“Down to the most minute detail. Adding you to the plan required some adjustments, but nothing I couldn’t work out. Originally, I was meant to cross the border, lie low for a month or two, and then book a private jet to take me somewhere that doesn’t extradite to the US.”
“We can still do that,” I try. “I’m not sure if Belize extradites or not…”
“You’re relentless,” he chuckles.
“I thought I was getting a sandy and sunny vacation. I took a bullet for you, that’s the least you could do.”
