Chapter 6 #3
Just when she thought they would never stop, Hayden turned onto a side street and then another side street, and then one that looked to be a long dirt driveway. There’d been no mention about changing course, nothing.
As they pulled up to a large barn, the door opened, and, sure enough, there was Trent with the other car, waiting for them.
They pulled in and parked in the barn beside him, while Trent shut the door again.
She got out and stretched, kicking her arms and legs around a little bit, trying to stretch and loosen up.
When she finished, she smiled at Trent and said, “I’m glad you got out of there. ”
He nodded. “Not an issue.” The men greeted each other very briefly. “The house is empty,” Trent shared, turning to look at the others. “So come on in. I’ve got some food started, and we can all have showers, get some sleep, then head out in the morning.”
She winced at that last bit. It was hard to even think about doing another long day’s drive again, but, for all she knew, they were driving her all the way back across the continent to some safe zone, then hop a plane to Switzerland.
So she obediently followed them into the house.
*
Rubin walked behind Tricia, stopping to take a quick look around to ensure he saw no signs of anybody hanging around outside.
As he turned back, she stood there, waiting for him.
He reached up a hand and rubbed her shoulders, careful to avoid her healing back, and her gaze dropped under his touch.
She didn’t jerk or even try to move. “How are you doing?” he asked her.
“I’m fine,” she said, with a soft laugh, “at least as fine as I can be at this point in time.”
He smiled and nodded. “That’s better than where you were a few days ago.”
“I know, and I keep reminding myself of that.” She touched his face. “You need a shave.”
He winced. “I agree. The stubble’s pretty bad,” he noted, as he scratched his chin. “Maybe tonight.”
“Maybe if you’re not fussing with dyeing my hair, you could look after yourself for a change.”
He nudged her forward. “I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s just a beard. And we have way too many problems to be worried about my stubble.”
“Indeed,” Trent agreed, moving past him into the house, giving him a meaningful look.
Then again, Rubin was always focused on the mission and looking ahead. They needed that because something was off in the air, and they had to be alert to ensure they got out of this place, safe and alive.
Tricia moved into the house but stayed close to Rubin, and he didn’t object. He looped an arm around her shoulders, and she wrapped her arm around his waist, and they walked in that way.
She sighed when she sniffed the air, and her whole face lit up. “Is that spaghetti sauce?” she asked, turning to Trent.
Trent’s gaze took in the two of them. He bit the corner of his mouth as he nodded. “You okay with pasta for dinner?”
“I am always okay with pasta for dinner,” she declared, chuckling. “Can I do anything to help?”
He nodded. “Yep, you can sit down and get out of the way. Oakley’s got the pasta on, and he gets cranky if someone interferes.”
Rubin laughed. “So true.”
Oakley was touchy when it came to cooking and hacking. He was excellent at both, no matter how much they bugged him about it.
“Actually,” Oakley added, “you can do nothing here just yet. Instead of sitting down, go get a bedroom picked out, and I can get dinner ready for you.”
Rubin reminded him, “She doesn’t have much in the way of clothes.”
“I have a couple other essentials that you might need,” Trent shared, pointing to a small duffel bag on the side. “That bag is yours.” He pointed to the two gray cases beside the duffel bag. “And those cases are ours.”
“Why do I get a duffel, and you get suitcases?”
Rubin knew exactly why and had no doubts about what those heavy suitcases carried. They needed lots of tech equipment, weapons, and everything in between. But no one thought of correcting her or of explaining anything. She had no need to be made aware of it.
She walked over to the duffel bag, opened it, and squealed in delight, “Oh my gosh, clothes!”
“Yes,” Trent said, rolling his eyes. “And a sweater, some real shoes.” He smiled at her, while she grinned broadly. “And we’ll need to give some attention to the wounds on your back and your feet.”
Rubin saw a blush creeping up her cheeks. She stole a glance at him, and, as soon as she saw him looking back, she looked away. Rubin asked, “You want to do that now or after we eat?”
She winced. “I don’t want to do it at all, but I guess now would be better. If we do it afterward, I’ll just be hurting and hating it because I’ll be worried all through dinner.”
“So, let’s do it now while they finish cooking.” He led the way to the main bathroom, which he had to look for because he hadn’t been in this house before. In fact, they had never done a mission in this part of the world.
He sat her down on the toilet seat. She turned her back to him, removing her shirt, then held it in front of her while he cleaned her back and applied the ointment.
He turned her to face him, and he saw the relief washing over her.
He knew the ointment had a cooling effect on the wounds.
And no matter how much he wanted to forget, he knew it from experience.
“Keep the shirt off for a bit. You need to let some of that soak in. I don’t want it to get infected. ”
“Can it get infected?”
“Not likely but better to be safe. I don’t want to bandage it and have bandages sticking to the wounds. It’s looking pretty good, considering, but it’s still rough at this point.”
He now carefully removed her socks. One had been blood-soaked, and he had to use water to help get the sock off as painlessly as possible.
Afterward, he proceeded to wash her feet and to put ointment all over them and then added a big bandage.
“It won’t stay on for long,” he noted, “but it’ll give you some extra padding to walk on, and you won’t be leaving behind fresh blood. ”
She looked down at her feet and winced to see that they were bleeding now. “I didn’t realize they were that bad.”
He finished bandaging them and then pulled out a fresh pair of socks from her duffel bag. “A change of clothes is in here, if you want,” he shared.
She shook her head. “I’ll get through today with these and change into new clothes tomorrow, after I have a shower.” She managed to get her shirt back over her head while he cleaned up. Then she stood and washed her hands.
He collected all the garbage in a small plastic bag, then wiped the counters and the floor to ensure they left no blood trace. He pointed to the door. “Come on. Let’s go get some food, and then you can rest for the evening.” He checked his watch. “It’s already 8:30 p.m.”
“Wow,” she muttered, “it feels as if all I’ve done is sleep all day as we drove, and now I’m just so tired that I can’t wait to crash in a real bed.”
“Food first,” Rubin reminded her, as he led the way back to the kitchen, carefully putting the garbage into a trash bag the others already had going.
She sat down, and a decent-sized plate of spaghetti with Bolognese sauce landed in front of her, topped with grated Parmesan. She sniffed the air and groaned. “Oh my,” she muttered. “This smells amazing.” She looked up at Oakley and smiled. “Thank you so much.”
“Hey, what about me?” Trent asked. “I’m the one who got things going here.”
She laughed. “And I appreciate that very much,” she added. “It seems as if you got here in time to get us set up and to get us some home-cooked food going. Thank you.” She picked up her fork and dug in.
Trent and Oakley had satisfied smiles on their faces. “Nothing better than somebody who enjoys food and actually eats,” Oakley pointed out. “I was afraid you would be one of those picky eaters who pushes food around on your plate, trying to stay thin.”
Her mouth full, she rolled her eyes at him. When she could speak, she replied, “That’s not me. I like my groceries, and I eat whatever I can eat.” She savored every bite. “I feel as if I’m still making up for all the days of no food.”
“What did he give you to eat?”
“A crust of bread every once in a while,” she replied. “If he was eating an apple, he would eat half or three-quarters of it, then throw the core at me. You know, that kind of stuff.”
He shook his head.
“He gave me half a tomato because it was going bad. He basically treated me like a dog,” she shared.
“Way worse than most dogs I know. I slept on a blanket on the floor in the corner, where he could keep an eye on me. I made him coffee, cooked breakfast, looked after him, and all that.” She scrunched up her nose, remembering all the nastiness.
“And he sat around and pretty much only moved to beat me with his freaking belt. It was all about power for him.” She added, “An experience I’ll not soon forget. ”
At that, Rubin softly squeezed her arm. “And you won’t need to revisit it anymore. You’re out of that hut, and, even though we’re on the road getting farther away from his buddies, Rick is gone forever, and we’re safe, and this will soon become a distant memory.”
“One more day on the road, right?”
“In theory, yes,” Rubin clarified, “but I say, in theory, because I can’t be sure, and I don’t want to give you false hope or to make empty promises.”
She winced and nodded. “Got it. In other words, probably not even close.”
“I’m not saying that either,” he corrected, his tone gentle. “All I can say right now is, this is where we’re at, and this is what we must deal with. So, let’s tuck in and eat while we can.”