Listen (Muted Trilogy Book 2) (20 page)

“We’re coming up on Montgomery.” He yawned silently, sitting back again. “We need to stay out of sight while we’re going this slow.”

“No hanging off the car, then?” Jemma couldn’t quite resist, and she was rewarded by a wide grin. Jack put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against him again, loosening his grip in case she wanted to move away.

“I guess that was a little on the obvious side,” Jack sent. “Why does this guy live where he does, anyway? Why not the capitol, either state or country?”

“He stayed where he was before he got elected. I guess he has a little place closer to DC, too.”

“But he’s in his home state right now?”

“It looks like it. He had some event in town this week, and he’s usually here on weekends.” Jemma stretched out her legs, then pulled her knees back up to her chest. “I guess he’s got a reputation for being a bit of a homebody, considering his status. Some of the bigger players find him quaint.”

“Meanwhile, he’s easier for us to find.”

“Should be. We have to make it back off the train in one piece first, though.” Peering out around the barrels, she did feel a little better; the train seemed to be moving more slowly than it had back home.

“We’ve got a while longer still, and I’m hoping we’ll get a head’s up just outside of the city, like we did here. More room to land.” Jemma sent cautious agreement, and Jack squeezed her shoulder before releasing her. “Tell me again what you found out about Senator Pratt.”

It took longer than they’d expected for the train to make its way through the city, and by the time they were finally approaching their destination a few hours later, they’d moved past Senator Pratt and on to both lighter topics and heavier ones, the things they used to discuss: favorite television shows, family, regrets, dreams.

“I still think you should get a cat,” sent Jack when they discussed family pets or lack thereof. “If I stay at home with it during the day, that’s half your problem gone, right there. No way Jilly could call you a crazy cat lady.”

“You like cats enough to be at home with one all day?” Jemma decided to skip past the part where he seemed to be assuming that they were either sharing a place or that he’d be working from her house. After the past few months, neither sounded particularly repulsive, and she knew him well enough by now to know that he wouldn’t push the idea for a second if she decided she didn’t like it.

“Well, sure, I mean—” The train’s whistle sounded, and again Jemma felt the significant slowing that had happened before they’d gotten into city limits last time. Jack leaned forward once more, then nodded back at her. “We’re here.” They donned their backpacks and approached the doorway, the wind whipping at Jemma’s hair, reminding her that it was a lot longer than she usually let it grow. She tried tucking it behind her ears several times before finally giving up, watching Jack instead. They were passing sporadic housing that was growing ever more dense, and the train was getting slower. “It’s time. I’ll go first. Ready?” She nodded, and he gave her a lopsided grin before jumping from the train, aiming for a grassy area.

Jemma took a deep breath, her father’s advice about never jumping just because a friend did inopportunely running through her mind, and jumped after him.

TWENTY-ONE

Lost

Jemma felt her feet slam into the ground before her hands followed, then the rest of her, the air knocked out of her as she landed. By the time she caught her breath, the train had passed. She struggled to her feet, brushing the grass from her arms, wincing when she reached her elbows. A cursory examination revealed she’d taken off a bit of the skin at her right elbow, nothing too deep, but cleaning it wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.

Jack was walking toward her, shaking out his limbs. “Okay?”

Jemma nodded. “We did it.”

A smile crept across his face. “We did. Should we see about whether we can get cell phones first? Or maybe something to eat?”

“Cell phones,” sent Jemma, ignoring the rumble of her stomach. “We’ve got a few things to snack on in our bags, anyway, and if we can get even limited data, that will make everything a lot easier.” She looked at her elbow again. “Maybe a basic first aid kit while we’re at it.”

“It shouldn’t be too hard to find somewhere that sells both of those, right? That might’ve been good to look up ahead of time.” Jack slid his backpack off one shoulder, letting it swing around so he could reach inside for a box of crackers, then he resettled the bag. Jemma noted a few bruises from their earlier trek through the woods, and it looked like he had some more still forming, but he seemed otherwise okay.

They had train tracks on their left, with thick woods beyond. The trees to the right of their grassy landing area seemed a bit more evenly spaced, and though they couldn’t see any at the moment, most of the buildings they’d passed had been on that side.

Jemma took a few of the crackers Jack was offering, then gestured in what she thought was the more promising direction. “Let’s try this way.” Jack nodded his agreement, and they started walking.

“Remind me not to make it a habit to jump out of trains,” sent Jack, bending enough to rub his thighs without slowing. “I’m not so sure it agrees with me.”

She ran her fingertips over her elbow. “It wasn’t actually as bad as I was afraid it was going to be.”

“How bad
did
you think it was going to be?” Jack peered over at her.

Jemma sorted through some of the worst-case scenarios she’d discarded, things like being recaptured, being severely injured, being run over. “It wasn’t like we had a lot of other options to choose from. You seemed pretty sure about this one, and I wasn’t sure about any of them.”

Jack was quiet for several seconds, and they’d almost reached the trees before he took Jemma’s free hand. “Thank you for trusting me.”

She went through a few possible responses before deciding to stick with her first and most honest. “You make it easier than most.” She squeezed his hand, and they resumed normal speed, quickly finding that the trees were merely a decorative barrier for a road.

There were four lanes of traffic, but not too many cars. On the other side of the road, and further down the road as well, there were businesses, mostly gas stations and fast food.

“Let’s try the gas station,” Jack sent, pointing to the closest one, which was across the street. They crossed easily enough, the breaks in traffic longer than the lines of cars. The gas station had just one other customer present, browsing the candy section while Jack and Jemma approached the counter. Jack let go of Jemma’s hand so he could better type on the provided tablet. “You wouldn’t happen to sell any prepaid phones here, would you?” it asked in the stilted female voice that had been the norm several months ago, one that was much too reminiscent of the phone Jemma had been using in the lab. She rubbed her arm as the man behind the counter shook his head.

“Nah, but you might want to try Wal-Mart,” the man typed. “They’ve always got plenty to pick from, and it’s probably closest. Just up the street a ways.”

“Is it close enough to walk? We don’t have our car with us today.”

Jemma jumped as the customer who’d been looking at the candy, a man who was probably in his sixties, tapped on Jack’s shoulder; she hadn’t seen him approach. He gestured at the tablet, and Jack gave him room to type.

“I can give y’all a ride if you want. Headed that way anyway. It’s about a mile or two up the interstate, so you don’t really wanna try walking it if you don’t have to. Drivers around here ain’t always the best.”

Jack looked at Jemma. “What feels safer,” he sent, “letting this guy give us a ride or trying to walk along the interstate?”

Jemma rubbed at her elbow again, then looked at the man offering the ride, then at the cashier. The employee seemed unconcerned by the man’s offer; surely if it was a terrible idea, he’d be warning them against it. “Let’s take the ride. It worked out well enough last time.” Jack nodded and turned back to the tablet.

“We’d appreciate a ride. Thank you.”

They waited while the man paid for his gas and chocolate, then climbed into the back of his sedan. Jack tapped along to the beat of the classic rock, grinning at Jemma as they merged on to the highway. The trip was as short as promised, and just minutes later, they were out of the car again, waving at the man who’d given them a ride.

“Let’s get the first aid kit first,” sent Jemma, “so we can check out in electronics.”

“Efficient.” He grinned at her again as they made their way toward the health section of the store.

“You’re in a good mood.”

Jack bumped gently into the shoulder of her uninjured arm. “We’re out. We’re together. We’re closer to finding a solution. We hopped a train without getting caught. We hitched a ride with a total stranger, twice, without being killed or kidnapped.” He shrugged. “I guess it just seems like our luck has changed. Why wouldn’t I be enjoying it?”

Jemma sent tentative agreement, then turned down an aisle and studied her options, choosing a compact kit that included bandages and various topical ointments. “Okay. Cell phones next.”

They walked back to the electronics, approaching the employee behind the cell phone counter, a woman name Carole. “Hi, Carole,” Jack typed on one of several available tablets. “I was hoping to get a prepaid smartphone. What are my options, and what do I need for activation?”

Carole led them to a display with just three phones. “Here are your choices. You can go online to activate and set up an account, or you can buy a card here and just call the number it gives you and follow the instructions. It’s all pretty easy. Do you have any questions about any of these?” She glanced toward another customer who was eying some of the higher-end devices, and she left when Jack shook his head.

“The most basic of these will be fine,” sent Jack, pointing. “It’ll do what we need, and then maybe we could buy a cheap change of clothes. These aren’t as expensive as I thought, so we’ll still have money for food and emergencies.”

Jemma looked at the phone and at the prepaid cards hanging under the display, mentally tallying them along with the cost of some cheap outfits, wincing at how quickly what had been a decent amount of money could dwindle, even with the cheaper phone. It was worth it, though, to have the phone in case they needed to stay off the grid, in case they couldn’t rely on libraries and public places like they hoped. “All right. Let’s do that.”

“Clothes first so we can pay all at once?” Jack asked. Jemma nodded, and they made their way to the clothing section. Jemma quickly chose a pair of jeans from the clearance rack and a pack of two plain, dark gray t-shirts, passing over the white ones she’d worn at the facility. Jack’s choices were nearly identical and almost as quickly acquired. They returned to the cell phone counter, adding a phone card to their first aid kit and clothing, then indicating the phone they wanted. When that had been added as well and everything totaled, Jemma handed over the money, trying not to cringe.

It was less the total and more the awareness that they might not be able to get more money once the cash ran out. If everything went according to plan, they wouldn’t need it to last much longer, at least.

Purchases in hand, they started for the exit. “Should we stop for food?” sent Jack. “They’ve got a place to eat. We could activate the phone, try to figure out where to find our good senator at this time of day on a Friday.”

“As long as we keep it cheap, that sounds like a good idea.”

They ordered and got settled, Jack working on activating the phone while they ate. It took just a few minutes. “I guess they’ve taken out some of the information they used to ask for, at least if you activate over the phone. There’s not a great way to give them an email address or anything of that sort. I had to give them the prepaid card and a zip code, and it got some information off the phone itself. It recommended I make an account for ease of refilling minutes, then disconnected. And it looks like… Yep, there we go. Signal, and data.” He offered her the phone. “Would you like the honors?”

After putting the last bite of her sandwich in her mouth, Jemma accepted the phone, opening the browser and bringing up information about Senator Pratt again. “Not too much of a surprise, I guess. It looks like he has an office downtown here, with the city government. He helps them out in some capacity when he can, and he uses it as his local base for what work he doesn’t need to be in D.C. to complete. He doesn’t really have office hours listed, so we might need to catch him on his way out, but we still need to get there.”

“Are we anywhere near public transport, or do we try our luck with asking for rides again?”

“We’re right on one of the routes.” Jemma studied the transit map as best she could on the small screen. “There’s a stop maybe a quarter mile from here, on this side of the interstate. We’ve got about half an hour.” She frowned at the different colored lines; public transport wasn’t something she’d ever had to deal with, but it did seem straightforward enough. “We’ll have to change buses once, but they should all take cash, and I think we have enough change.” She put her backpack on the table in front of her, letting Jack check the map while she checked their money, which looked manageable. She took her clothing from the shopping bags and found places for them to fit, then watched Jack do the same with his. The first aid kit wouldn’t quite fit in Jemma’s bag, but Jack found room where the box of crackers had previously resided.