Please remember, this is unedited and unfinished, but will hopefully fill in the holes that were left and answer some questions without leaving too many others. HOWEVER I will answer all and any questions if you want to leave me a comment.
Next update - Friday 25/06/2021
The room was dark and dingy, and a wall of unexpected heat hit Sarah as she stepped inside. It smelt musty, as if no one had entered it in months and the windows hadn’t been opened in even longer. The setting sun’s light filtered through the partly open curtains and highlighted the dust dancing lazily in the evening air. It was probably a far cry from the suites Luc usually stayed in while he was away on shoots, even more from his LA penthouse. Hell, she’d stayed in better travel hostels when she’d been backpacking across Europe during her gap year.
‘Huh,’ Sarah said as she threw the keys on the small table by the door; a cloud of dust erupted in the air and made her frown as she watched it resettle. ‘I thought motels like this only existed in TV shows.’
Luc stopped in the doorway, the other two bags over his shoulder as he paused and took a look. ‘They have to get their inspiration from somewhere,’ he said, but his tone told her he was just as underwhelmed as she was by the décor. With a thud, Sarah dropped her bags by the table and immediately began rifling through her handbag for the phone and charger she was still itching to use.
Turning in a circle, she spied a spare socket near the bed which had made her stomach turn. It was an old crappy divan, with a sagging mattress and stained duvet cover; she didn’t want to even imagine sitting on it, never mind picturing happy-fun-times in such a thing. She turned to say exactly that to Luc but his face told her he’d already thought the same thing.
‘Anyway,’ she said just to break the silence, before she finally plugged the phone in. She heard Luc cross the floor—how the hell did carpet sound sticky?—and glanced over her shoulder just in time to see him gingerly taking a seat on the mattress, TV remote in hand. He was far braver than she.
‘…The children from Garston Middle School, in Nevada were aged between eleven and fourteen.’
Sarah’s body snapped upright and she turned in horror to the screen where two news-anchors sat behind a desk, sombre expressions on their overly made up faces. The female anchor glanced down at her desk as her male counterpart cleared his throat before continuing.
‘The bodies of five—two boys and three girls—have already been recovered and identified by family members. Twelve others remain missing. Police are appealing for any witnesses or anyone who may have any additional information on the missing children—’
‘It’s him,’ she whispered, eyes still on the blank screen. Her feet wouldn’t move, she couldn’t lift her arms. She felt frozen right down to her core at the all too familiar story. Luc stepped in front of her, making her blink, as he bent down slightly to catch her eye and forced her to focus on him.
‘He must have struck right after we escaped.’ As the words left her mouth, her stomach rolled and she wanted to be sick. They’d been fleeing across the country, running for safety, while he’d been doing one of his rounds.
And it was all her fault.
‘Hey,’ he said softly, his voice was warm and low. ‘There was nothing you could do. You didn’t know—’
‘I should have pulled that fucking trigger!’ she shouted, pushing past him so she could pace the room. She couldn’t look at him. She didn’t deserve understanding, didn’t deserve warm and kind words. This was her fault. Another seventeen names to add to her ticket to hell because she hadn’t been strong enough, because she hadn’t been able to press a button.
‘He would be dead and those kids would be alive, safe, playing with their friends, having dinner with their families,’ she bit out; self-hatred bubbled within her, frothed up her stomach and made her want to vomit. ‘If I’d just had the balls to pull that friggin’ trigger sooner than I did!’
A lump rose in her throat. She ground the heels of her hands into her eyes to stop the sting of tears threatening to fall, and swallowed down the sick feeling that churned her stomach; she couldn’t afford to be weak anymore. She had to be strong, had to be the person they’d trained her to be, who they’d expected.
She wouldn’t let them down again. If she came face to face with that bastard once more, she wouldn’t waste time with chit-chat, the bullet would be in him before he could say her name.
‘Hey, hey,’ Luc’s strong hands were soft when he grasped hers and gently pulled them from her face to stop her doing damage to herself.
‘Sarah, you can’t blame yourself for this. You weren’t to know that Agent whats-his-face was going to turn on you.’
‘Twice, now, I’ve had the chance to kill that evil son of a bitch,’ she whispered. Her eyes stared at the ground, but her hands held Luc’s tightly, stopping herself from reaching up and clawing at her own face, to make something else hurt so she didn’t have to feel the heavy lump in her chest. ‘And both times I hesitated. That’s on me.’
‘You’re not a trained killer, Sarah,’ he returned softly, releasing one of her hands and tucking her hair behind her ear. He tipped her head up to look at him, his eyes firm and sure. ‘You were just a teacher in a tough spot—a spot you should never have even been in. You did your best—better than anyone probably would have thought—and you saved so many. And if you want to talk about failures—I hid behind a fucking door the moment things went nuts and ran for it the first chance I got. That’s not exactly an action hero, more a coward’s tale.’
She gazed into his eyes, their green so warm and kind. It was surreal being here with him. She’d accepted, months back, that her life was never going to be the same, that she was going to live some other life until the Demon was brought down. But that life being entangled with Luc Truman? She glanced down at their still joined hand as she felt his warm fingers trace her jaw.
Luc was supposed to be just a fantasy, someone she could dream about at night, sigh over while she watched the television, ogle on a calendar, and the such. She was never supposed to actually meet him, talk to him, or screw up his life—
‘I’m so sorry I dragged you into this.’ The words tumbled from her mouth before she could stop them. ‘You had such a good life and I’ve fucked it all up for you. You’ve lost your home, your friends, your wife for God’s sake! I’m so fucking sorry!’
‘Yes, well,’ he cleared this throat as his hands dropped away and she lamented the loss. The lump in her chest grew as she realised what she’d done, weighing her down so much she felt her knees wanting to buckle. She heaved in a deep, shaky breath as she watched Luc’s feet turn and walk away from her and she reached out for the wall to steady herself, feeling the loss far deeper than she’d have ever believed possible.
She couldn’t loose Luc. Couldn’t have him walk away from her. He was the only thread she had to life. To being someone. To still existing.
‘I’ll get you back,’ she told him, raising her head and gazing towards him. His back was to her and at her words his shoulders straightened. ‘I promise you right now, I’ll get you back to them, to Linda and your friends.’
She licked her lips as she waited for a response. Bit her tongue and held her breath as she watched the rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathed in and out, his breaths deep as if he were building up the courage to do something.
‘I don’t want to go back.’ The words were quiet, and Sarah almost didn’t catch them.’
He took another deep breath and held his head higher before turning around to face her. He met her eyes as he said, ‘I don’t want to go back, not to her.’
Another deep breath. ‘Linda. I don’t want to go back to her. We’re not in love. We make out we are, but we’re not—’ He made a frustrated sound. ‘She wants the money and the fame I provide, wants the lifestyle I can give her. She craves the attention— Hell, this is probably a dream come true for her right now! The world actually focusing on her rather than second hand via me.’
‘I— I see,’ Sarah said, carefully, but not really having the foggiest what he was trying to tell her. And he was trying to tell her something. He was trying to get something across to her without speaking it, but as much as she wanted to get it, she had no clue what he was trying to say. She approached him slowly, reaching out for the hand that held hers just moments ago.
She slipped her fingers in his and he grabbed them, holding onto them for dear life. They were two lost souls, she recognised. Both trying to figure out the world, trying to make things right in their lives.
‘And what do you get from her?’ she asked, holding his gaze. ‘What does she give you to keep up the charade?’
She watched that tongue of his peek out, wetting his lips, making them glisten. He’d done that many times in shows, particularly when he was about to kiss his co-star. It was such a well known trait that directors ensured there was always a camera focused on his mouth.
She licked her own lips, sipping the air through them as Luc’s green gaze dropped to her parted mouth.
God, the world could be ending, the devil could be standing at her side, demons clawing at her legs as they tried to pull her down into his pit of damnation and she’d still wonder what those lips would feel like on hers.
‘What aren’t you getting?’ she whispered at him, as she took a step closer, drawn like a moth to a flame. His head lowered fractionally towards her as his other hand slipped around her waist.
She could give it to him. What it was he needed, she was here, she was willing and she—
Sarah jumped, ripping herself from his embrace at the noise. Her free hand reached to the small of her back for her gun as she turned 180 degrees to scan the room, looking for the perpetrator. Her heart raced as she searched for the interruption, her eyes darting first to the door, then the windows, before glancing to the back of the room where the bathroom was situated.
‘I think its the phone,’ Luc said, his voice low and gruff. ‘Must have been charged more than you thought.’
She shook her head, as she slipped her gun back in place, a humourless gurgle of laughter escaped her when she saw the device sat on the bed, the bar on the screen finally a full green.
‘So are you gonna use it?’ Luc asked, stepping beside her, gazing over her shoulder to the bed, his arm slipping around her waist. She leaned back against him for support as she stared at the device.
This was what she’d been waiting for. This was it. Everything was going to be okay after she used this thing…
She licked her lips, her teeth dragging over the bottom one as she steeled herself for whatever was about to happen. She said nothing as she took Luc’s hand in hers and tentatively moved towards the phone. She pulled him with her as she tugged the necklace over her head with her free hand. Whatever it was about to reveal, they would face it together.
The last resort Edwards had called it. The only instruction he had specifically given her regarding it was that it was only to be used if she was ever out in the wild.
Sarah took a breath and gently squeezed the sides of the locket where the two cleverly disguised pressure buttons were and the tiny port popped out. Luc gave her hand a squeeze before letting it go so that she could take the charger out of the phone and switch it on. When it picked up the signal, showing her some American provider she didn’t recognise, she plugged in the locket. The screen flickered and then went white.
‘Shit,’ she cursed on a breath, and rolled her head back, looking to the ceiling and praying for patience.
Maybe the thing had gotten damaged when—
‘What’s it doing?’ Luc asked with baited breath as a series of black numbers began scrolling down the screen, locking in place from left to right until what Sarah recognised as being a UK phone number appeared. When the final number was secured the speaker on the phone switched on and the ringing of a phone in some unknown location could be heard.
‘Sarah?’ It was Edwards voice. Her whole body relaxed with relief at hearing his stern, clipped tone, and she sank against Luc for support. They were safe; Edwards would send a new team out to rescue them. Maybe lock them down in an American base for now until the special forces teams could get over here…
No. No Americans. One had already betrayed her.
‘Prime minister?’ Luc’s eyes went wide as he leaned in closer, trying to get a better view of the phone as if he could see the other man. ‘As in the president of the UK?’
Sarah rolled her eyes and shoved at him gently.
‘Who is that, Sarah? Have you been compromised?’
‘What? No. Hang on a second, sir,’ she told the man on the phone. ‘The UK doesn’t have a president, dickhead,’ she said to Luc with an amused smile. ‘Hence the title Prime Minister. He’s in charge, but kind of reports to the Queen, our Head of State.’
‘And neither of us are happy chaps right now,’ Edwards clarified down the phone. ‘I’m guessing that Luc is the kidnapped TV star?’
‘Kidnapped?’ Sarah and Luc both spoke at the same time.
‘Well, that’s what’s being reported all over the news. Sarah, you took one of the biggest stars in the western world. Your daring escape was captured on the hotel CCTV cameras; between the hotel being destroyed by your escapades and stealing that bloke away with you, you haven’t been off the air all week.’
‘Who’s the dickhead now?’ Luc said.
Sarah glared at him as she said to the device, ‘I didn’t do it on purpose! David was dirty. The Demon was there. Luc opened the door and saw the bastard’s face, I couldn’t just leave him.’
‘So now there are two people in the world who know what that evil git looks like. Is Luc willing to work with us?’
Sarah looked at the star who huffed, ‘Not like I have much of a choice.’
Thank you, she mouthed before she turned back to the phone. She asked the question that had been driving her mad all this time, ‘How the fuck did David get onto my team? He had a niece, sir, a five year old niece that I’m assuming was taken when his sister was killed by the bastard.’
‘We don’t know. I’ve spoken to Renée and she’s looking into it.’
‘Hey!’ Luc protested down her ear. She pulled away from the star for a moment and wiggled her finger in her ear as she glared at him. ‘We’re not all idiots.’
‘You just called our prime minister, a bloody president.’ The star said nothing in reply. ‘Yeah. Exactly. Sir,’ she turned her attention back to Edwards. ‘I need to know what to do, my identities are compromised.’
‘First things first, if your covers are blown then we need to use them as part of our advantage. I want you to create a false trail; take one of your alias’ and make yourself seen. Be memorable. Make people say, Oh, I remember her, tell people where you’re going.’
‘Okay?’ Sarah said hesitantly. That didn’t sound too clever in her opinion. What if someone caught them too soon? How could they know their story had been bought? What would happen if—
‘I get it,’ Luc murmured. ‘One of my characters did something similar.’
‘Really?’ she asked with a frown. The star nodded.
‘One of you identities,’ Edwards cut in. ‘Is quite a wealthy woman. Hillary Metcalf has over two and a half million dollars in her account—’
‘Holy shit!’ Sarah exclaimed.
‘Elegantly put as always.’ She could hear Edwards’ eye roll down the line and she glared back at him. The guy was brilliant, young for a prime minister, but well respected as a politician—which was very rare—but Sarah swore he had a stick up his arse.
‘Anyway,’ the Prime Minister continued, ‘Go to Utah and close the account—’
‘Utah?’ Sarah and Luc glanced at one another at the coincidence. They’d arrived in Salt Lake City after three days of hard driving and two nights of sleeping in cars.
Another sigh down the phone. ‘Yes, Miss Whiston, Utah. Provo, Utah to be exact, that is where Hillary’s home is located, so that is where you need to go.’ She bit her lip to stop the comment that was on the tip of her tongue. She didn’t want him to know where they were exactly. Strangely, after all the anticipation she’d had over this call saving her arse, she now felt hesitant in following Edwards’ advice. What if he couldn’t be trusted after all? What if he’d been in on it too?
‘So go there and close the account; make sure that you have a story ready as to why you need to close the account—you’re going somewhere, buying something, or whatever. Make sure that people remember you being there and where you say you’re heading. Then go somewhere else. Keep your head low when you’re there and call me back.’
‘So,’ she started slowly, her mind was whirling, trying to put everything together. It just didn’t make sense. ‘I get the cash, then you’ll send in my team to get us out?’
‘I’m afraid that’s not possible.’
‘What!’ She practically screamed down the phone. That was not what was supposed to happen. ‘Why not?’
‘Because we don’t know how much they’ve been compromised, perhaps they’ve all been on the take—we can’t risk it after David.’
‘Jack wasn’t dirty,’ she began. ‘And they were his men, not David’s. They didn’t even like David!’
‘How the hell do I know that you’re not on the take?’
She heard the hiss of Luc’s breath between his teeth as he sucked in a lungful of air beside her, his whole body going rigid at her words. Silence fell on the other end of the line and Sarah felt a blanket of tension falling over the room.
‘I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,’ Edwards said, his voice tight, a moment later.
‘No, you’re not,’ Sarah replied. ‘I need to know, it’s my life that’s on the line. It’s just a little too prefect that you give me the only lifeline, a direct line to you should anything happen. Then the moment I’m off the plane, not more than two hours on US soil, the bastard tracks me down and takes out my British agent. Now, you’re telling me to be seen, be remembered…’
Luc’s hand reached for hers, his fingers gripped them tight, a squeeze of understanding at what she was saying. He was on her side and she felt the strain in her shoulders loosen a little.
When Edwards didn’t speak, she tried again. ‘Put yourself in my shoes, would you trust you?’
Edwards sighed and Sarah knew she’d won. She wanted to whoop at the thought, but kept her tongue firmly between her teeth. She wasn’t stupid enough to forget his threat all those months ago…
‘How can I prove it, Sarah?’ the Prime Minister asked. ‘I’m here in England and you’re over there. I can’t tell anyone you’re alive, any hint I knew that would put you, me, and my family in danger.’
Sarah frowned. How could his family be in danger? Aside from the royal family, they were the most protected people in the whole of the United Kingdom. If anything he should have huge balls in dealing with this considering—
Considering the Demon was seemingly able to get to anyone… Shit. What if someone on his protection team was compromised? Was that what he was trying to tell her?
‘Okay.’ She finally agreed, nodding her head despite the fact he couldn’t see her. ‘I’ll trust you, but if anything goes wrong, we’ll know who the leak is won’t we.’ It wasn’t a question.
‘Indeed. Now repeat the plan for me, Sarah.’
‘Utah, cash, story, be seen, fake trail, get safe, call you.’
‘Excellent. Good night, Sarah, Luc. I wish you both well.’ Edwards disconnected the call.
The phone made a fzzst sound and died.
Any questions, please drop them in the comments. Next update on Friday!
