"Art of Trouble" 5

Settled in separate rooms with the connecting door locked between them, Jade tried to relax but knowing trouble couldn’t be expected to leave her alone. She worried, if by association, Thomas was now a positive magnet for trouble too. Should she tell him about her ever present dark cloud? Most people didn’t believe her when she tried to explain that her bad luck had defined her since birth. Plus, it was always an awkward conversation and the reason she’d stopped explaining. She preferred keeping a casual distance between her and, well…everyone. Still, Thomas had a right to know how the deck was stacked, troublesomely, against them.

Would he believe her? There was only one way to know that answer.

Jade knocked on the connecting door and was about to turn the lock to open it when it turned on its own and the door swung wide revealing the culprit, Thomas.

“How…?

“I have a key. I wouldn’t have used it…but you did knock.”

Jade frowned. “You could have told me that before.

“And jeopardize your sense of security? Couldn’t do that,” he smiled, “Coming in?” he asked, opening the door wider.

Jade stepped into his room and noted the ice bucket filled with rice and his phone buried deep within it. “You think that will work?” she nodded to it.

“I’m hoping. I’ll give it a few hours and then…we’ll see,” he shrugged, “But you knocked so, I’m sure something must be on your mind. What is it?”

 

Jade never knew how to broach the subject of her companionship with trouble and didn't have words at the ready to open that conversation.

“I…wanted to talk.”

“Okay, should we sit?” he asked, nodding to a round table with two chairs set next to the picture window in his room.

“Sure,” she shrugged.

They sat in silence for five minutes and Thomas watched the play of emotions crossing her face.

“What is it Jade?”

“I wanted to uhhh…, you need to…”she chickened out and rerouted her thoughts, “make a decision on our mode of travel for tomorrow?”

Thomas was sure something else was on her mind but answered her question.

“I was considering not leaving tomorrow.”

“Why not?”

“I was hoping if those men can’t find us, they’ll think we’ve left this town and they’ll move on too. If we wait, I think we’ll lose them.”

“I don’t know if that’s smart and without my phone, I’m having a mental block,” she smirked still annoyed he’d dropped it down that sewer.

“Sorry, but I had to get rid of it. I’m positive they’d hacked your account and were tracking your location.”

“How are you so sure it was my phone and not yours they were tracking?”

Thomas gave her a sympathetic smile. “Mine is a company phone, has no location tracker. It’ll be safe to use, if it boots up again.” He eyed the ice bucket with hope.

Jade stood up and walked to the picture window. His room faced the parking lot. The window in her room faced a side street.

“Nice view,” she said staring outside, trying to form a coherent explanation. She didn’t think staying here longer was going to help them escape those men. Trouble wasn’t complacent and wouldn’t remain idle. She had to tell him trouble was a factor in this and any plan because trouble was tracking him too…because of her.

She sighed with frustration and Thomas walked over to stand next to her by the window, thinking her sigh one of boredom.

“I know having to wait here isn’t fun, since we can’t walk around the town but I thought we could share a meal and watch a movie in one of our rooms, to help the time pass…if you like.”

“Dinner and a movie? Is this a date? Aren’t you married Mr. Lightfoot?” she teased hiding her true worry and taking advantage of the delay he’d offered. She still needed to warn him but maybe, she needn’t do it this very minute.

Thomas’s smile was quick and brilliant.

“In point of fact, Mrs. Lightfoot, as we are considered married according to the hotel’s registry, it would be our fifth date.” He touched her hand and smiled.

“Hmmmm….I’d say the train, jumping off to avoid those men was our very eventful fifth date so, as a sixth date…a friendly dinner and a fun movie sounds like a nice way to de-stress.”

*

Thomas had ordered room service and set it out on the table.

Jade had returned to her room earlier to take a shower and now he knocked on her door to tell her their dinner had arrived.

Jade opened the door.  

“Dinner is served.” Thomas waved at the table set with the dishes he’d ordered for them.

“Smells wonderful in there,” she sighed, stepping into the room.

“I thought we could eat first then surf the channels for a movie.

“Sounds like a plan.” She said and sat down. She lifted the cover off one of the dishes and her stomach growled. She was past ready to eat.

 

They’d settled on a comedy and were half way through the movie when Thomas decided to check his phone to see if the rice had worked.

“It worked and the pictures of the other paintings I’d delivered are still intact on it too,” he said holding the phone up with a relieved smile as he walked back to settle in next to her on the small settee in the room. It faced the large screen TV.

“Great, now if I could only remember anyone’s phone numbers I could call and let them know I’m okay,” she told him with a deep worry line creasing her forehead. “What happens when they see my apartment has been broken into and they can’t find me, or call me?”

“I hadn’t thought of that.” Thomas frowned, “But it’s possible the thief closed your door. They’d want to hide the fact they’d broken in. So maybe, no one will be the wiser….yet.”

“Sure, maybe. Only I don’t have a lot of confidence in that,” she sighed, knowing trouble wasn’t going to leave that door closed or no one the wiser that something had happened. “I’m sorry but without my phone, I can’t get my messages or call anyone. I can’t call my mom or my best friend Karen to let them know I’m okay. They might even go to my apartment and investigate why I’m not answering their messages or calls.”

Thomas mulled over her concern. It was plausible someone would look for her if they couldn’t reach her. “Okay, change of plan. We’ll find the nearest location for your phone’s mobile service and get you a new phone. Then you can check your messages and call your family and friends before we change your phone number, and lock your account against outside access, adding triple steps for protection.”

Jade thought that was a good idea but she still worried. When they reactivate her number and made those calls those men tracking them could find her location, even if it was active for only a few minutes.

“That’s a good plan but I have to tell you something. Any plan, even a good one, could backfire for us.”

“Think positive.” Thomas said as he scrolled through his missed messages and found one from the buyer of the current painting.

“I can’t and…Thomas you need to worry because I have a tendency to attract trouble. It finds me everywhere I go and messes up the best thought out plans...” she realized Thomas wasn’t listening. His eyes were focused on his phone.

“Thomas? Did you hear me?”

Thomas looked up and shook his head. “Sorry, I’ve got a new message from the buyer. He wants me to go to Quebec City now, not Montreal, to deliver the painting to him. He sent the directions where to meet.”

“Quebec City? Shouldn’t you tell him you were delayed? You had to jump off the train because you were being followed?”

“I was about to text that to him now.”

Jade felt a shiver of apprehension and placed her hand on his. “Wait…Don’t give him our exact location, just say to avoid those men you got off the train.”

Thomas shrugged. “I’ll be vague if it makes you feel safer, but I assure you my company phone is not being tracked.”

“Maybe not, but what if it was your buyer who sent those men to steal the painting, so he wouldn’t have to pay you?”

Thomas’s hand froze over the phone and he looked at her as he considered the possibility. He felt a shiver of fear run up his spine.

“Okay…new plan. I’ll get a new phone too.”

Jade nodded. “That might be best. So how do we get to Quebec City? We still have no transportation.”

His eyes sparkled with an intriguing light. “I’ve just thought of the perfect way for us to get there.”

“Care to tell me what that is?”

“I’d rather show you and since it’s possible those men were employed by the buyer, we should leave tonight. I believe cover of darkness is our best friend.”

“But how will we leave? Are we hiking?”

Thomas chuckled but didn’t enlighten her on the how, only the when.

“You should take a nap. We’ll be leaving at midnight.”

 

It was ten thirty and darkness hid his movements.

Thomas slipped out a back exit from the hotel and snuck across the parking lot making his way to the road. He had a friend who lived close by and that friend had the means for their transportation sitting in his garage.  If he’d lend it to him, they’d be able to leave at midnight as planned and keep well off the trodden main roads, and keep to a path that wasn’t mapped, or easy to follow.