Forever by Janie Crouch

Chapter Fifteen

Ethan

Time passed slowly.I held myself still next to Jess for what must have been more than an hour. She was sleeping, but I had no plans to. I needed to keep watch, be ready to make a move if we were discovered.

But even if that weren’t the case, the chance to lie next to her and hold her hand wasn’t something I was going to miss for something as mundane as sleeping.

She’d been about to lose it earlier. I had felt it on a level that was attuned to only her. All I could offer her was my hand, but I’d been glad when she’d taken it. Glad that the connection between us had been reestablished.

Jess’s hand curled tighter into mine in sleep, and I held on. One hand on her, the other on my weapon. I was listening for any kind of movement outside the shed that would tell me that we’d been found, but there was nothing. It was strangely peaceful here.

Until there was movement, but not outside.

Alena rose from where she had been sleeping and crept toward the door. I didn’t move. Not until she had slipped out the door behind me, and then I gently eased myself away from Jess.

Odds were that Alena was going to the bathroom, but I was still going to watch her back. She shouldn’t have gone out alone, but maybe she was embarrassed to ask one of us to come with her. But with Radu and his men combing the woods, we couldn’t be too careful.

Alena was standing outside the door, and I was about to let her know I was there, when she started to run. My instincts screamed. This wasn’t the kind of run that spoke of embarrassment or needing to relieve yourself. This was the kind of run you used to get distance.

She was running away from us.

I didn’t want to leave Jess alone, but I couldn’t let Alena leave like this. Something was very wrong. I’d seen the girl limping with every step we’d traveled. She’d been clumsy and loud, clearly injured. And now she was sprinting at full speed? That didn’t add up. And given what was at stake, we couldn’t take any chances.

Shutting the door behind me, I followed Alena in the direction that she’d gone, cutting wide so there was less chance she would detect me. I moved silently through the trees until I spotted her. She hadn’t gone far. Far enough that neither Jess nor I would be able to see or hear her, but no farther.

A light appeared, illuminating her face. She had a working cell phone. Not only that, but one that worked in Moldova—not something a broke Vandercroft student would have. I crept closer as she lifted the phone to her ear. Whoever she was calling, I needed to know what she telling them.

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” she said in English. “There hasn’t been any time for me to get away before now. We’ve split into two groups, five and three. The group of five already has a vehicle and is heading to their backup rendezvous. Should be about twenty miles northwest of the farm. Don’t know the exact location, but should get you close enough. They’re going to wait for us.”

She listened for a minute. “You should have some time. We don’t have a vehicle yet, and I’m faking an injury. I can slow them down to buy you more.”

A brief silence, and then a laugh. “Neither Russell nor Susan had it. You’re not going to believe this. Jess had it the entire time. I never suspected the sneaky bitch. She’s honestly better than I gave her credit for.”

Anger burned in my chest, but I held myself still. Jess considered Alena one of her closest friends. Hadn’t suspected her at all. This would hurt Jess.

What was Alena’s motivation here? She was a part of one of the most prestigious biotech research teams in the world. Everyone who was a part of it, including Alena, was a certified genius. I didn’t pretend to understand why she would give up a bright future like that.

“I don’t know where it is,” Alena said. “But I’ll find out. Then you’ll have to get to it immediately.”

Whatever instinct had made Jess not say where she was hiding the research out loud, I thanked the universe for it. It might have saved both of our lives. If Alena was hiding a phone, was she also hiding a weapon? If she was willing to betray her best friend, was she willing to kill?

I wasn’t going to wait to find definitive answers.

“We’re just outside the town, five miles from the farm,” she said. “Oh, you’re that close? Damn, yeah. We’re in a little shed on the south side, shouldn’t be too hard to find.” Alena laughed. “All right, see you in ten minutes.”

Ten minutes? Fuck. We had to move. Ten minutes was far too close if Jess and I had any chance of getting away from whoever was on the other end of the phone.

I didn’t hesitate. In one smooth movement, I pulled my tranquilizer gun and fired. Alena never saw the dart coming as it buried itself in her neck. I only stayed long enough to see that she hit the ground and was fully unconscious, and then I ran.

My only goal now was to get Jess out of here. When I’d told her that I would do anything to keep her safe, I’d been telling the truth.

But ten minutes wasn’t much time, and the enemy knew our exact location. I tried to keep myself quiet so I didn’t draw any extra attention and scare Jess, but that was weighed against my need for speed at all costs.

I pushed into the shed and dropped to my knees beside Jess. The movement had her opening her eyes, like always. Our entire lives Jess had been the kind of person to wake up quickly, fully awake. I’d always been jealous of that ability, but I was desperately grateful for it now.

“What’s going on?”

“We have to go,” I said, pulling her to her feet and grabbing the backpack from where Alena had left it. “Now. They know where we are, and they’ll be here in minutes.”

I took her hand and pulled her out the door. “Wait,” she yanked me back, “Where’s Alena?”

“Jess, I’m sorry. She’s the traitor.”

The pain that flooded her features gutted me. “What?”

“I know,” I said, taking her face in my hands. “I know, and I’m sorry. I’ll tell you everything. But right now, we have to move because she called her bad guy friends, and they’re incoming.”

She nodded, and I pulled her forward again, running toward the town. We needed cover, and right now, buildings were a good bet. Plus, the two of us together were far less conspicuous. We could maybe blend in, or pretend to be two lovers out late.

Jess had no problem keeping up, following my lead and obeying the signals that I gave her. The town was quiet, most everyone sleeping but us. It was a relief, but it was also nerve-wracking because any sound could give us away.

We needed to get enough distance to hide and call Isaac and Landon. They needed to know about Alena, if only because they could stop keeping as close an eye on MacQueen and the others.

My mind traced the thought, and I had to admit that it was still possible that Nigel Kramer was behind all of it. Maybe he’d thought it would be easier to use someone in the fellowship program who couldn’t be connected to him. It would be smart, since everyone would assume that if he was involved, Russell would be as well. If Russell was proven innocent, Nigel would look innocent by association.

Jess and I didn’t stop moving until we were on the far side of the town and once again in the trees. We stopped in a small clearing and listened. The night was entirely silent. We were far enough to risk it, and we didn’t have much of a choice.

I pulled out the phone I had on me. It was for emergencies only, and this qualified. We weren’t authorized to be in the country, and the first thing we’d learned on missions was never to assume people wouldn’t be listening.

Given the research and the kind of people who would be after it, we would be foolish to assume that whoever wanted it didn’t have resources.

The phone signal was weak, but I got enough to make the call. Isaac answered on the third ring. “Bollinger. Everything all right?”

“No. If you’re at the rendezvous point, leave. Alena is the traitor. She was faking her injuries.”

“Fuck,” Isaac said. “Does she have the research?”

“No. It’s safe for now. But Alena called people in on both of our locations. Jess and I made it away, but they will be coming for you.”

A violent curse came from the other end of the line. “We never made it. Radu has the local police in his pocket. There are roadblocks everywhere. We’ve already had to switch cars. But we were still trying to make it to the point.”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s burned. What’s the plan?”

He sighed, and I waited as he relayed the information to Landon. They discussed for a moment, and I took a breath. My instincts were telling me to move. But we needed a plan first.

“He expects us to be heading north,” Isaac said. “So we’ll double back and head south to Romania. We can meet you on the way.”

My mind went into overdrive, rifling through maps in my head and judging distances. There was more at play here now, knowing that Radu had contacts with law enforcement and that Jess had the research on her person—something that I wasn’t going to tell them over a phone in hostile territory.

“We’ll still have trouble getting a vehicle for seven,” I said, “and we’re still conspicuous. Jess and I can travel faster together. It’s better to stay split.” Yes. This was the right call. I would keep Jess safe.

“Are you sure?”

“I am. We’ll get to Kishinev, and I’ll have Ian arrange an extraction there.” The capital city would provide a lot more options.

Isaac made a sound of hesitation. “That’s a long way to go, Ethan. Can Jess handle that kind of trip?”

“Absolutely.” I wasn’t going to elaborate, but my Jess could handle anything thrown at her. They hadn’t seen her ready to take down the kidnapper who was entering her room in order to save her friend. Her friend who had betrayed her.

“Okay,” Isaac said. “Get moving. Check in if you need to.”

“Will do.”

I hung up and looked at Jess.

“Kishinev?” she asked.

“Yeah. The others will head to the Romanian border.”

Now that I had a goal, I could think my way through. I didn’t want to go back toward the town and the danger, but we needed clothes that would help us blend in better. I’d seen some hanging behind one of the houses we’d passed, and in several other yards. Maybe something there would fit us.

“Clothes,” I whispered before leading her back the way we came.

It didn’t take long to find things. Luck was on our side for once. Plain jeans and a T-shirt for me, and the same for Jess, along with a sweater.

But her hair would be a dead giveaway for the people looking for us. That white blonde could be seen a long way off. As we were moving away from the town again, I grabbed a scarf for her to cover it. It was way too cold out here, but we had no choice but to change as quickly as possible in the darkness.

I grabbed the map I’d stuffed into the pack earlier. My memory was good, but I wasn’t taking chances. I needed to get Jess as far away from here as possible as fast as possible.

And it was a distraction from the fact that Jess was changing just feet from me. Now wasn’t the time to think about how badly I wanted her, but it was Jess. And I was aching to touch her.

I was focused on the map, looking for the fastest path to Kishinev, when Jess and I both froze. The low sound of a train horn echoed through the air. It was a mournful sound, and the best damn thing that I’d ever heard in my life. The horn sounded again, and a third time. All in the same general direction.

That meant it wasn’t moving quickly. Could be a freight train, which would be perfect, if it was going our way.

Using the light from my phone screen at its lowest brightness, I found the tracks on the map. Jess pointed to the paper. “There.”

She’d found where the tracks bent closest to us. Not far. Maybe a mile. “We’ll have to run.”

“I’m ready.”

I shoved the map back into the backpack and lifted it onto my shoulders. “Let’s go.”

We didn’t bother with silence, running through the trees as fast as we could go. Adrenaline pumped in my veins, and it drove me faster. I knew it drove Jess too. We had to catch that train.

We came to the edge of the tree line as the train passed us slowly on the tracks. We hadn’t missed it, but the end was coming.

Together, we ran for the nearest car. I pushed for one more burst of speed, leaping onto the car so that I could turn and reach for Jess. She jumped for my hand, and I caught her, lifting her into my arms and to safety.

We pulled open the door on the train car and tumbled inside together before closing it behind us. And somehow, Jess was in my arms again, just like I wanted her to be. We were safe.

For now.