In my heart I knew that to stay blind would not lead to any happy endings, and my fall off the proverbial cliff would not result in a witty barb, but rather an end to everything that mattered to me. No matter how unpleasant the truth, I had to face it and change my life to fix the problems.
Gar studied me as if searching for words he rarely used. I could imagine him opening up the container in his mind that held language, and dusting off all those unnecessary sentences and paragraphs.
Before he could respond, his walkie-talkie blared to life. "Do you need assistance? Our monitors indicate you've stopped."
I sucked in a breath. "Who's that?"
Gar looked around as if we were being watched. "Like you, the car has a tracker, and so do I. They monitor when we leave, to make sure we go straight to the airfield without incident."
Nausea bubbled up in my stomach, and I willed myself to keep my party food down. Between the utter exhaustion of leaving in the middle of the night, the emotional drain of keeping up a fa?ade at the party, and saying goodbye to my friends—and now this—I was surprised I could sit up on my own. I didn't realize they embedded trackers in the guards as well. Did the teachers and all the staff have them?
That could help explain why Mr. K hated it there. He wasn't the type who would like being tracked like a stray dog.
So even just pulling over for thirty seconds triggered a response. We had to respond with something that wouldn't raise their radar. "Tell them I'm sick, that you pulled over so I could throw up."
He nodded and spoke into the walkie-talkie. "The girl got sick. I pulled over so she could puke. Will be at airfield about ten minutes behind schedule."
"You're taking me there? Even knowing what they'll do?"
The car jerked into drive and Gar pulled back onto the street. "If we try to escape now, they'll find us before we reach the highway."
With trackers in our bodies and on the car, we didn't have any chance of making a run for it. There had to be another way. "What about removing our trackers? If they can't track us we could escape, right?"
The movie scene played in my mind. We cut ourselves open and remove the trackers. Gar finds the tracker on the car and disables it, then tosses his cell phone and we drive off like James Bond, never to be heard from again. Easy.
Gar eyed me in the rear view mirror and frowned as though he could read my mind. "I could remove our trackers, but with your pregnancy and without proper medical supplies, I don't want to risk that. They're buried pretty deep, and I could do more harm than good. Besides, there aren't many roads we can hide on. They'd find us."
I grunted in frustration, my James Bond fantasy destroyed by the onslaught of reality. "So what, we give up and you just hand me over as a human breeder?"
His face hardened. "No. We don't give up. We think of a better plan. We'll have a greater chance of escaping once we're in the air. The trackers don't work in flight. I can hijack the plane, which has a stock of medical supplies. I can then remove the trackers and get you somewhere safe. But we need more than just an escape plan. Do you have anyplace to go?"
"Yeah, kind of. But we need to find Drake first. They're keeping him prisoner at another facility—the one they're taking me to. He has friends on the outside who can help us."
Gar shook his head. "Nope. My job is to keep you safe. We can't risk going after your boyfriend right now, not with a half-assed plan and no back up. So, where do you want to go?"
Drake had been listening and chimed in. 'Go to Father Patrick's church. Tell him what's happened. He'll find a way to help.'
"I don't want to leave you there. What if they hurt you when they find out I've escaped?"
'I'll be fine. I heal fast. Just get to the church. Please!'
This plan had too many holes in it, but it was all we had and we were running out of time. "Fine. Can you get me to Venice, California?"
Gar nodded.
I stared out into the dark. "What about you? Where will you go when this is over? Drake's friend can probably help you too."
He turned right and slowed down as much as possible without stopping. "We'll figure that out when and if this works. You have to know, Sam, that the odds are stacked against us. Now, I need to make a call before we get there."
He dialed his cell phone. "Honey, it's me. Yeah, remember what we talked about...? Now would be a good time to visit some family. Keep our girl safe.... I love you too. Bye."
Oh God, how could I let him risk his life and safety for me? He'd told me about his family, but now they seemed more real. "This is a bad idea. You have people depending on you. You need to do your job and forget about me."
'Sam, no!'
"He has a family, Drake. I can't let him do this!"
"My wife knew something like this might happen. She'd want me to help you if she knew everything. I can't walk away and leave you in their hands without at least trying to save you."
"Why?"
"Because... our daughter... she's special. Special like you and your friends. I'd hoped your school could help her, but now I need to make sure she's safe from them."
His mind pulled me in and memories of his daughter filled my vision.