Chapter 55: On the Run
We left the tower when the last vestiges of light disappeared from the sky. Mickey followed me like a shadow, silent and strangely still. We were too paranoid to use the subway or buses, but a taxi wasn’t something that the Protectors could easily track. Without a second fake passport, there was no point in going to the airport, but a short-distance train ticket could still be bought without providing an ID. The distance didn’t really matter: as soon as we were out of the city, our options would increase tremendously, and at the same time the Agency’s control over the area would diminish. Then it was just a matter of chance. With luck, we would be able to reach the border on foot without being spotted, cross it and continue moving south. There were still places in the world where the Agency could not reach. Crossing half of the continent and getting there in one piece would be a miracle, but it was not impossible -- especially to Mickey and me, who were both high category wraiths. We even had money. There was still hope.
We just had to get out of the city before the PA closed it off completely.
The taxi dropped us off a couple of blocks away from our goal. Soon we were standing in the shadows across the street from the train station. My heart was beating like a beast trapped in a cage. This was it, the moment of truth. We just had to go in, buy tickets, and get on a train. As simple as that.
If no one was waiting for us to come.
The station looked normal. Despite the late hour, there were plenty of people going in and out. They were relaxed and joyful, not at all like someone informed about the murderous wraith hiding somewhere in the city. There were not a lot of policemen around, too. The PA did not announce their manhunt on Mickey yet, which meant that they could not act openly. Maybe they had no time to put people around the station. After all, the Agency was a giant bureaucratic machine, and the wheels of bureaucracy always worked slowly. Closing off an entire city was not an easy task.
Yet, somehow, I doubted that the Protector would be that inefficient.
That’s why hope and fear both burned feverishly in my chest, and I hesitated for so long before approaching the station. I scanned the surroundings a thousand times, making sure that there was no one suspicious lying in wait to ambush us. Mickey was doing the same, his face was exhausted, his eyes lost in shadows.
’Matt...’
I sighed.
’Let’s go. There’s no point in waiting any longer.’
We crossed the street and approached the station. Every step we made sent jolts of adrenalin into my bloodstream. I waited for everything to go wrong. For someone to scream at us. For sirens to howl, tearing the calm evening to pieces. For police cars to dash toward us at high speed. Even for the sound of gunshots.