Chapter 637 Chapter 637
The first hour of the drive had been in tense silence. Asher glanced in the mirror again. He had planned to go over his starting route with Jesse, but instead, he was told to get on the road and get out of the province as fast as he could. He checked the side mirrors and then looked over to see Journee had a death grip on the door handle. “Are you doing okay?”
She nodded in a stiff motion. “I understand we have to get far away right now.” She jerked her head and looked at him. “Can we stop once we’re far enough?” She looked back out the windshield. “I’m scared, Asher.”
He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Nothing is going to happen to you.”
“They got to the King. Doesn’t he have guards or something?”
Asher nodded. “Don’t worry about the king; he is a very capable man.” He wanted to reach over and take her hand that was gripping the front of the seat belt like she was afraid she would fall out of the SUV, but he didn’t because the roads weren’t the best, and he needed both hands at times to keep them out of the ditch. “They’ll find him.” He nodded and realized he needed to say it out loud because then maybe he’d believe it too. “The best are looking for him.”
“I don’t—” She sucked in a breath when they slid going around a corner. “I don’t understand the objective of keeping it quiet.”
Asher wasn’t sure how much to tell her. He stared out the windshield for a moment and then sighed. “There are traitors in the Alliance that are working for the family that’s been taking our kind.” When she didn’t say anything, he glanced at her. She sat there looking at him, her expression was one of confusion.
“If they are helping that Tomas family, then they’re going to know he’s missing, so why hide it from everyone?”
She had a point he’d thought of briefly when people had been running around after they’d found out. “I believe it’s so everyone isn’t panicking.” He checked the rearview mirror. “Devin, Griffin—everyone believes that Tomas is trying to create chaos so he can move captives while we’re scrambling around to figure out what to do…”
“So, by not sharing this with all the clans, he will be busy watching for reactions instead of moving those he’s taken?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
She was quiet again for a few moments, and it reminded him of the girl that used to sit off by herself and always look like she was in deep thought. Her mind, he realized, had always worked differently than the rest of the kids. “It makes sense.”
Asher glanced over to see she still had a death grip on the door handle.
“And—” She braced her hand on the dash when he took a corner a little faster than he should have, “And we are trying to get as far as possible before he realizes that we know, but his plan of panic isn’t happening.”
He nodded. She was a very smart woman. “Yes.”
“Okay. It makes sense.” He could hear her breathing out slow breaths. “I may need you to stop for a moment, Asher. My stomach isn’t happy with car travel.”
He jerked his head to look at her and saw that her face was pale, and she had a stressed look on her face. “Just let me find a spot where I can see both directions, okay? Couple minutes.”
“Mmhmm.”
He felt like a worm. Driving like a maniac when she wasn’t used to car travel. Surely, they could go at a slower pace without issue. No one knew where the factory was or even about it, so the chances of someone tailing them had to be at least a number in the minuses. He rounded the next bend and saw that it was a long straight stretch. “I’ll pull over up here.” He checked to see that she clearly trying not to throw up in the SUV. Slowing down, he pulled over as quickly as he could.
She had the seatbelt undone and the door open before he could put it into park. Asher grabbed a bottle of water and opened his door to go help her. The seatbelt he didn’t undo caught him across the throat. Cursing his stupidity, he undid it and got out. He checked both directions, and there wasn’t anything either way.
Going around to the other side, he saw that Journee was bent over, her hands braced on her knees. She was taking deep breaths.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
“Hey—” He went closer. “It’s fine. You’re not used to being in a car, and I’m sliding around corners.” He felt bad, but he just wanted to get clear of the area that so many of the team members and Prince—King were in. He hoped they found Shepard Addison. He really did, but Devin was the King right now and Asher didn’t want to be the reason they found out where he was.
Journee straightened up. “I think I’m okay.” She used both hands to brush her hair back from her face. “It just hit me all of a sudden.”
He held out the bottle of water. “That can happen to anyone.”
She took it, opened it, and took a few small sips. “I think I ate too much,” she gave him a bashful look, “I’m not used to so much food.”
What she’d been through came back to him. She’d probably come close to starving more than once in her years away. He checked both directions again and then studied the snowy field. He could see no signs of life. Glancing up, he checked for clouds. Getting stuck in a snowstorm wasn’t something he wanted to do. He still hadn’t come up with a viable plan for what they were doing when it was time for him to rest. Right now, he was wired and could probably put in a good eight hours of driving, so that was his only plan at this point.
“I think I’m okay.” She nodded.
“Try putting the window down a bit, it might help.” He jammed his hands in his pockets, he was faking it. Totally. He had no idea what to do about motion sickness. Since he was old enough to drive, that’s what he’d been doing.
“Okay.” She took a deep breath and opened the door.
“When we get a few hours driving in, we’ll find somewhere to stop and get you some clothes.”
She glanced at him and looked excited. He didn’t blame her. As far as he could tell, she’d never had new clothing in her time gone. He’d considered stopping in a small town, but strangers in a close-knit community would have them noticed, and he didn’t want that. The other option was taking her to a city on the way by, but he had no idea how she would deal with all the people and buildings. Blowing out a breath, he looked in both directions once more and went around to get back in.