"Art of Trouble" 8

Thomas gathered up the new phone box and accessories from the counter while Jade familiarized herself with her new model iPhone. She scrolled down the regenerated contact list until she found the first number she needed to call.

The call went to voice mail. “Hi mom, just wanted to let you know I'll be out of touch for a few days,” she began the message in a chipper tone and gave the new phone number saying she’d had to change it because she was having trouble with the old one. She kept her fingers crossed as she continued with the lie, "I've taken time off work for a long weekend trip to see the leaves change upstate and I'll call you when I'm back." Jade knew her mom would believe it because she did take that kind of trip every year.

When she ended the message to her mom she immediately called her friend Ann to leave a similar message for her. Her last call was to her job, and this was her biggest lie yet.

Jade made her voice sound weak, feigning illness, and told her boss she was feeling under the weather and needed to take a few days off. Mr. Baldone was a kind and fair minded boss and she hated to lie to him and of course he’d believed her; he had no reason not to. When he told her to feel better she felt overwhelming guilt.

“All done,” she told Thomas as she powered down the phone.

“Good and with the extra security measures installed on your phone, those men following us won’t be able to hack into it anytime soon.”

Jade gave him a surprised look. “But you think they still can?”

“I wouldn’t rule it out. The caliber of characters they might be working with could have a way to break into that security, eventually. So we can’t take any chances. You should leave your phone off unless it’s absolutely necessary to use it.”

“Okay,” Jade agreed and slipped her pretty, new phone into her purse, “but now that I have this new phone with a great pixel count, shouldn’t we study those pictures of the paintings on it?”

“We will once we’re away from here and we find a safe place to stop. But right now, we should head back to the repair shop. It’s been three hours and the motorcycle should be ready for us to ride out of here.” Thomas said as he walked out of the phone store expecting Jade to follow him.

Jade hesitated. She’d been mulling over a plan on getting them out of here and she’d wanted to tell him about it.

She caught up to Thomas as he stepped outside and tapped his arm to get his attention. “I don't think we should go back to the repair shop to get the bike.”

Thomas’s brow rose in question. “But it’s ready and we need to leave.”

“Even if it’s ready, we shouldn’t go back there.”

“Wait, you’re not thinking of going home are you? Jade, it’s too risky and-”

“No, I’m not going home.”

“Then why don’t you want to get our transportation out of here?”

“Because, think about it…those men tampered with that bike and they know we had to take it to a repair shop. They’ll be looking for us or the bike in all the local repair shops, since they didn’t find us wiped out on the road.”

“That’s true. We’ll have to be extra cautious.” Thomas agreed, knowing her theory had weight. Those two men would be searching for them everywhere.

“And that's why we shouldn't risk going back to get the motorcycle.”

“That means we’ll need another mode of transportation.”

“Yes and I was thinking…”

Thomas chuckled, “You have an idea?” 

“I do,” she nodded, “We should go backwards.”

“Backwards?”

“Yes, backtrack to the last town we passed through and take the train to Quebec from there.”

Thomas stared at her for a long moment then repeated her words. “Go backwards?”

“Absolutely,” she said with a nod of conviction.

“Why would we do that? We'd lose more time.”

“But we’d be safe and we’d get to our destination undetected. Don’t you see, those men will be looking for us in every station, bus or train, from here up to Canada. But they won’t consider us backing up.”

Thomas’s doubtful expression changed to one of astonishment.

“How are you so good at this? Have you been chased by thieves before?” he teased her but regretted it when Jade’s eyes grew sad. 

“I told you,” she sighed with resignation, “ I’ve had to stay one step ahead of trouble most of my life so it stands to reason I’d be pretty good at looking for the escape route away from it.”

Thomas wanted to reassure Jade that she wasn’t a jinx but they didn’t have time for that deep and intense a discussion, which it would be and once this was over, he intended to have that conversation. But right now, they needed to implement her plan if they were to have a prayer of getting to Quebec in time for the exchange.

“You’re plan it is Jade, but we’ll need a way to get to the last town over,” he said and as she scrunched up her face in thought he had an idea. “Never mind, I know the exact kind of transportation we need and it will get us there without detection. Come on,” he took her arm and began walking.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

*

Brutus sneered at the repair shop sign.

“This is the last repair shop in the five mile radius from that hiking trail and this is the last one I’m checking. I need a rest.” Brutus huffed.

Ted shoved Brutus’s shoulder to move him along. “We can’t give up. But since it is the last one, maybe this time we’ll be lucky.”

Brutus gave him a hard look as he opened the door to the repair shop and Ted shoved past him to walk inside ahead of him.

 

Mac had just hung up the phone with Thomas who’d told him they’d decided to complete their trip without the motorcycle and would pick it up on their way back through town in a few days.

Mac heard the tiny bell over his front office door ring telling him someone had stepped inside so he covered up the repaired motorcycle before he walked into his office.

 

Mac’s eyes widened at the sight of the two frighteningly, unfriendly looking men standing there.

“May I help you?” Mac asked amicably enough but his body was alert and ready to defend if they’d intended to rob him.

 

“Uh yeah, we’re looking for our friends uhh…we got separated on the trail,” Ted said with a forced smile.

“Yeah that’s good…uh, I mean that’s right-” Brutus corrected then grunted when Ted elbowed him.

Ted tried to cover up Brutus’s stupid response. “Forgive my friend, we’re a little tired. You see we’ve been biking through the trails together for hours and….”

“Yeah,” Brutus perked up, sure he could add something to the lie, “And then I got a call from ‘em, said their bike broke down. They said they were taking it to a repair shop close by and we should meet ‘em there but the phone went dead…

“Yeah, before they gave us the name of the shop,” Ted nodded like a bobble head doll, “so we’ve been going around to every repair shop in the area looking for them.”

 

“Huh, is that so? Well I haven’t had a motorcycle come in here today,” Mac shrugged, making a mental note of the men’s description, incase he needed it for the police. “Where are your bikes? Do you need gas? I have a pump out back,” he offered as he made a point of looking out the office window. There weren’t any motorbikes out there.

“Uh, no, we uh…uh...” Brutus lost all ability to speak.

“Parked at the café down the street,” Ted spoke up, “We needed coffee and decided to walk over from there. And to your offer, we’ve got full tanks of gas so…thanks anyways.”

“Alright then, is there anything else I can do for you?” Mac asked with a professional but cold smile.

“Nah, guess not,” Ted backed out the front door grabbing Brutus by the arm and tugging him out the door with him.

 

On the street Ted’s eyes narrowed on the store’s front door. “Okay let’s investigate this guy’s repair shop and see if he’s lying to us.”

“You think the bike is in his shop?”

“I don’t know but it wasn’t in any of the others so, this being the last one and unless those two are walking that broken bike to Canada, I’d say it’s a good chance that bike is in there."

"And if it is. Those two will be coming back for it?”

"Yup, and we'll be waiting."

*

Thomas had seen the store they needed in town, and he was walking Jade to it.

 

The
store was called ‘Quality Cycles’ and they’d picked out two shiny new
bicycles, a deep-blue hue for him and muted gold and forest green one
for her.

Thomas paid with cash so there’d be no way to detect the purchase and in minutes of the transaction they were on the open road.

“You were right, this is perfect,” Jade smiled at Thomas riding next to her.

"And your plan is brilliant, backtrack to avoid our tails," Thomas smiled at her, "I think we're going to make it to the exchange without incident now."

"Yeah, without incident," she whispered, hoping trouble hadn't heard him and taken up the gauntlet because she was loving cycling through the hilly roads and backstreets as they wound
their way to the previous town. She wished she could abandon all fear and ride like the wind but with trouble forever nipping at her heels....she’d probably die.

*