Chapter 85 Nico
NICO
Sleep didn’t come easily. My irritation at what was going on between Abi, Sebastian, and Luis had me tossing and turning for over an hour.
Once I finally did fall asleep, my dreams were feverish and filled with awful visions—my friends dead, Maddy bleeding out and the husk of her body turning into some type of weapon, a wave of fire washing over my entire pack and every shifter on the planet.
By the time my alarm went off at three in the morning, I’d barely gotten two hours of sleep.
A quick shake at Maddy’s shoulder had her rolling over, eyes bright and awake.
It proved that I hadn’t been the only one who’d found it difficult to sleep.
We got up and dressed before I sent a text to the rest of the team.
Javi was on his way with the decoy van. We were going to do things exactly how we’d done them before.
Hopefully, anyone following wouldn’t know which van to go after and either follow the wrong one or hesitate and wait too long, letting us get away.
Sebastian, Tiago, and Felipe were waiting in the driveway when we came out with our small carry-on bags. Sebastian still looked pissed and didn’t say a word to any of us as we all exchanged greetings. Moments later, Javi pulled up into the cul-de-sac.
Javi got out of the van and walked over to shake my hand. “We have a tail.”
“Already?” It didn’t surprise me, but I’d thought they’d only be on us sometime after we left.
He nodded. “Big black sedan sitting in a driveway about three miles up the road. As soon as I turned onto your road, they followed. I think they pulled into a pull-off a hundred or so yards from the gate.”
“Well, that’s not what we planned, but maybe it’ll work out better. You said you only saw one car?” I asked.
“Yup.”
I looked at the others. “Okay, let’s go. If we leave now, they won’t have a chance to call for a second pursuit vehicle. Move.”
The next several seconds were spent in a frenzy.
Bags were shoved in the matching white van.
It was the work van we used at my shop, and it looked almost exactly the same as the one Javi had brought.
I slid in behind the wheel, then leaned out the window and called out to Javi.
“Stay safe and keep those fuckers off our tail.”
Javi gave a thumbs up, got into his own van, and started down the drive.
I followed and waved to the guard at the gate.
It only took a few seconds for me to see the car Javi had been talking about.
It sat high up in an old driveway of a house that had long since been torn down.
Weeds and bamboo grew rampant in the ancient lot.
“There the fuckers are,” Felipe whispered as we passed.
I glanced in the rearview and watched as they pulled out and began to follow us. They didn’t bother turning on their headlights until we were a few hundred yards up the road. I leaned over to Maddy. “Text Javi with my phone. Tell him they’re following us. Stick to the plan.”
“Okay,” Maddy said and pulled my phone out of the cupholder to start typing.
Javi confirmed. Once we were on the interstate, he hit the gas, pushing his van up past eighty.
We did the same. Since it was so early, there were almost no cars on the road.
Most of the vehicles were semis cruising through at over ninety miles an hour.
The two headlights following us never multiplied, which was a good sign that they hadn’t called in backup.
Javi and I did a dance with the vans. Exactly like last time, I sped up and passed him, then he passed me a few moments later.
We drove side by side before I dropped back behind him.
We did that at least a dozen times, making sure whoever was following had no idea which van was which.
The final part of our plan was the airports.
They had to know we were going overseas again to find the vial.
We weren’t going private this time. With the IDs Donatello had arranged for us, we were clear to fly commercial.
Javi would be going to go to Tampa International.
The plan was for us to head on out to Lakeland International.
It was almost an hour farther away than Tampa.
Our thought was that they’d assume we’d be going for the closest airport and not risk the extra driving time.
We were playing a dangerous game, as they might still follow us instead of Javi.
Out on the highway, alone, in the early morning, we’d be easy prey if they decided to try to force us off the road.
Or worse, continue following and figure out where we were going.
I wanted the possibility of us meeting up with royal agents as low as possible when we got to Croatia.
The exit for Tampa was up ahead. This was when we’d know for sure how our plan was going.
I stared at the green and white signs as they passed by.
My heart beat a million miles an hour the closer we got to the exit.
The sedan was still in my lane, following behind us.
It made me nervous that they weren’t in Javi’s lane.
At the last second, Javi swung hard right, taking the exit.
It must have been his idea to make them think we were trying to get them to miss the same exit and have to double back.
It worked. The car following slammed on its brakes and nearly did a U-turn to go after Javi’s van.
That last little bit of drama was exactly what we needed to sell the act.
My heart rate slowed as I watched the taillights recede up the exit ramp.
For the next hour, I kept glancing in the rearview mirror.
Any headlights that appeared behind us quickly overtook us.
It looked like we were in the clear. I never let myself completely relax, but things were looking good.
Even the others in the van calmed down and let their nerves ease.
Before long, I could hear Felipe, Sebastian, and Tiago having hushed conversations about sports and other banal subjects.
Maddy reached over and took my hand as I guided the van up the exit ramp to Lakeland airport.
Once we were at the airport, the check-in process was the next most stressful thing.
The identification Donatello had gotten us was good, but what if they had photos of us in advance?
Facial recognition software, maybe? One look at a camera, and they’d have us in handcuffs before we ever got on the plane. Anything could happen.
We’d only brought carry-ons to prevent having to check bags and wait at the baggage claim at our next destination.
We walked straight to the security gate.
Given the early hour, there was no one in line but us.
I pulled off my belt and shoes, did all the little dances they made you do at airports, and within five minutes, I was through.
I looked back at Maddy as she too, made it through security.
I smiled at her, then leaned in close once she was near. “Looking good so far.”
She glanced back at the others as they each made it through. “Yeah, looks like it.”
Maddy and I had booked ourselves on one flight while the three others were on a separate plane, leaving an hour later.
Splitting up would make it more difficult for the royals to track us.
Also, if anything happened to one group, the other would still be able to get away.
That way, our families would know what had happened.
I took Maddy’s hand and walked over to the three men.
I shook Tiago’s hand and hugged Felipe and Sebastian. “I better see you guys in Croatia. Understand?”
“We’ll be there with bells on, bro,” Sebastian said, some of his normal personality finally shining through. “Fuckers aren’t gonna stop this.”
With a nod of assurance, Maddy and I made our way to our gate.
Our three friends headed in the opposite direction.
I’d have been lying if I said I wasn’t worried that it would be the last time I’d see any of them, but I had to push down those thoughts of doom and gloom.
The rest of the flight check-in went flawlessly.
It was actually a little surprising that there were no hiccups at all.
Even on a normal flight, I always felt like something was going to go wrong.
I’d opted for first-class seats. No reason to penny-pinch when we might not survive the trip.
Why not go out in style? It afforded Maddy and me some privacy as we had the only two seats in the row.
The sun had barely crested the eastern sky, and the flight attendant had already come around offering drinks.
I gladly accepted the vodka and Sprite. Maddy took a glass of white wine.
We both needed something to calm our nerves.
The trip from home to the airport had drained both of us more than we’d thought.
We only had one drink, just enough to take the edge off, but I felt much better for it afterward.
Maddy had been quiet for most of the morning and for a good portion of the flight. I didn’t know if she was worried or simply introspective. Now was as good a time as ever to go over the plan one final time. I nudged her. “Do you want to talk it through once more before we get there?”
She had been staring out the window into the morning sky. The morning had come on like someone had hit fast forward as we flew east at almost seven hundred miles an hour. Her eyes fluttered, and she blinked like she was coming out of a dream. “Huh? Oh… yeah, let’s get on the same page.”
I nodded. “Okay.” I pulled out my small tablet.
The original scroll had been too old and brittle to carry around, so I’d taken a photo of it and loaded it onto the device.
I pulled up the message Edemas had left behind.
“Okay. From the location, this scroll shows the vial is in an underwater cave system right off the coast between the modern-day towns of Bakar and Kraljevica.”