Chapter 5
Luke drove us in his electric minivan to the airport.
I’d made fun of his van once but subsequent events had forced me to the see the error of my ways.
It was a wonderful van, very useful, good for the environment and had the plus of a locker full of weapons in the rear behind the last row of seats.
Plus, it was Luke’s. Making fun of anything of Luke’s was never a good idea.
We wouldn’t need the weapons. We were dropping Rose off for her flight to New York City.
I actually wished I was going with her, but I couldn’t take the chance.
I suppose I could drive there, paying cash for gas, avoiding toll roads, staying off the grid, but that would be a major pain in the ass.
Plus, once I was there, I’d have to avoid all the CCTVs.
Most people have no idea how pervasive the technology has gotten and in places like New York City, which had suffered several terrorist attacks, facial recognition was used extensively, constantly scanning, identifying, cataloguing.
Every bridge and tunnel had it. An invasion of privacy but a necessary one for a target-rich environment such as the Big Apple.
For someone like me, staying off the cameras would be a nightmare. I’d have to swim the Hudson.
“Are you going to be all right?” Rose asked for the third time since we’d left the hotel.
I was sitting with her in the row behind Luke. Jackie was in the front passenger seat. Both of them acting like they couldn’t hear us. We’d left Maggs back at the hotel.
“I’ll be fine,” I said.
“’Fine’,” Rose repeated. “You always say that.”
I didn’t want to get in a fight. We’d had a discussion, more a one way talk from Rose to me, about what Jackie had suggested. Talking to someone new every day. Expanding my social horizon. Honestly, I’d kind of deep-sixed the idea once we’d bought Rose’s plane tickets.
Rose had not. She had a memory like an elephant. A female elephant. I’m sure male elephants forgot where they put things in the fridge too.
“Maybe text me when you can about who you meet, Max,” Rose said.
It was not a question nor a ‘maybe’.
“This is sounding more and more like a punishment,” I said.
Rose shook her head. “No, Max. The fact you think that is exactly why you have to do it.”
Luke and Jackie were no longer pretending they didn’t hear. Jackie was half turned in her seat toward us. Luke was glancing in the rear-view mirror. I felt cornered. And out numbered.
“Sure,” I said. “Okay. But there’s a lot of places along the trail that don’t have cell service and—”
Luke cut me off. “You have Pike’s satphone.”
Whose side was he on?
I noticed the sign for the airport exit. Thank God. I looked out the window, trying to figure out why this upset me so much. Trying not to focus on the fact Rose was leaving, and I wouldn’t see her for a while.
“How long will it take you to get to where you left off?” Rose asked.
I’d stopped my last attempt after leaving Rocky Start when I was attacked by two mercenaries trying to kill me. As good a reason as any.
“It’s around 196 from Springer Mountain to what used to be Clingman’s Dome,” I said. “It’s called Kuwohi now. I got ambushed just past the mountaintop along the trail.”
Luke chuckled. “That’s pretty specific, Max. Sounds like you’ve done your homework.”
“Let’s make a deal,” Rose said. “You keep walking, and meeting people, until you get there. I’ll come and get you.”
I didn’t see how that was a deal. “Sure.”
Rose sighed. “Max.”
“Yes?”
“I’m excited about going to New York and seeing Poppy. Are you excited about the trail? Walking it. Not about finishing it.”
“Of course.”
She met Jackie’s eyes and they both shook their head.
Luke laughed. “Mad Max. Don’t kill anyone.”
“I’ll try,” I said.
We pulled up to departures. “This is it,” Luke announced.
I got out and went around, helping Rose grab her bag. She didn’t have much, since we’d had to evacuate. Pretty much the stuff she’d bought in Asheville. And a bunch of cash from Oz’s stash he’d left for her.
Luke and Jackie remained in the minivan.
I faced Rose. “I’m going to miss you.”
Rose smiled. “I’m going to miss you too, Max.”
We hugged and she whispered in my ear. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said.
As we stepped apart, her parting words were, “You’re good at reading situations, Max. Try reading the people.”
I watched her walk through the doors into the airport and wondered if this was going to be the opposite of one of those Hallmark movies.
In this case a small-town gal goes to the big city and falls in love with some slick Wall Street guy in a fancy suit leaving behind a poorly dressed, ex-covert-operative in the wilderness talking to trees.
She must have sensed something because she turned and blew me kiss.