Shaw began to think that it might've been a good idea to join Root in the motel. Not because the truck wasn't exactly the most comfortable place to spend the night, or because she thought she could do with a shower after spending all day in it, or because she was hungry and there might be food inside. All of these were contributing reasons, to be sure, but the primary one was that Root had said that they should be inside.

Shaw might not entirely trust Root, but she was a soldier. If there was a job to do, then she did it. She shouldn't turn her back on it just because of a little thing like someone lying to her. It hadn't stopped her before, although it had led to a rapid change of employer.

Still, Root could take care of herself. She might not be able to fight worth a damn, but she could certainly handle herself in a firefight and she was quick enough with her Taser (Shaw had first-hand knowledge of that) that no one should be able to get close.

Besides, even if Root's manipulation had been entirely aimed at Finch, the fact remained that she had used to Shaw to accomplish it. Shaw didn't appreciate being used. The fact that she understood why Root had done it was irrelevant. Between co-workers, there needed to be trust. Shaw was good, but she couldn't do everything by herself. She trusted Reese and Finch to have her back. She'd trusted Root that far, too, after Anchorage. If she couldn't trust Root, it didn't matter a great deal if Root was trying to take down Decima. Root wasn't doing it because it would prevent Samaritan from essentially taking over the world in a distinctly non-melodramatic way. She was doing it for her own reasons, which were incomprehensible to Shaw. And once those incomprehensible reasons were accomplished, Root would go her separate way.

Better that Root start that early, now that Finch was even now heading to do what Root had been trying to do for years.

Shaw didn't notice when she fell asleep. She only woke up when sun began streaming through the front window.

Shaw woke, and was momentarily baffled by the sight of a pair of legs draped over the windshield. It took her a moment to realise that they were Root's. Shaw suddenly felt glad that Decima wasn't after her, because if she hadn't noticed someone climbing on the truck while she had been inside it, then it wouldn't have been hard for a couple of agents to kill her in her sleep.

Shaw got out, and wasn't unduly surprised to find that Root was sitting on the roof, typing away.

"Morning, Shaw." Root said absently, not looking up. Shaw noticed two things; firstly, that Root had a red mark on her cheek that would almost certainly develop into a spectacular bruise, and secondly that that was the first time that Root hadn't called her Sameen for a long time.

"You alright?" Shaw asked, pointing at her cheek.

Root touched it gently, as though she had forgotten is was there. "Yes, I'm fine."

"So, you dealt with whatever it was?"

Root slid down onto the truck's bonnet. "I did."

"What was it?" Shaw asked curiously.

"A number. Someone who had a remarkable attraction to women. Any woman." Root said. "Let's say that he won't be bothering any more of them."

Shaw left it at that.

"There's a gas station a few miles down the road." Root added. "If you're hungry."

Shaw nodded, and slid back into the truck. Root got in a second later.

However, before they got to the gas station, Root looked up for a second, then put her laptop away. When she was done, she said calmly "Stop the truck."

Shaw thought about ignoring her, but she recognised that tone of voice. Generally, when Root sounded like that it meant that the Machine had just told her something, and she should go along with it because it would end up better for her if she did. So she stopped the truck.

A jeep came roaring out from behind some bushes at the side of the road. Had Shaw not taken Root's advice, it would've slammed right into the truck's cab.

"Well, that was fast." Root said neutrally. She pulled a pistol out of the glove compartment, opened the door and got out. The jeep was busy fishtailing around so that the people in the front had line of sight on the two women. However, shortly after the driver managed this, Root shot him. First through the shoulder, and secondly in the throat. The second man in the passenger seat shot at Root, missed, and then died.

Root got back in the truck.

"So, I take it that those weren't more people that you've hired." Shaw said.

"No. I guess Decima caught up to us a little faster than I'd planned."

"Well, I'd have thought that when I shot someone in broad daylight that would've blown the cover you made for me. I'm surprised they didn't catch up to us sooner. Well, I thought they'd already caught up to me, but that turned out not to be true."

Root waved away the unspoken accusation of negligence. "I'm more careful than that, Shaw. None of the cameras caught anything. I'm guessing that Samaritan figured out what I did and fixed my hack."

"Well, it's good to know that you're careful." Shaw said blandly.

Root looked at Shaw. She had an odd expression on her face. Shaw waited for her to say something, then, when it became clear that she wasn't going to, said impatiently "What are you staring at?"

"Why'd you believe me?" Root asked. "I gave you every reason last night not to believe a single word I say, yet you stopped the truck and accepted that those guys were Decima without question. Why?"

"What? Are you saying they're not Decima?" Shaw asked, surprised. She hadn't even considered that Root had lied (again) although she realised that that should probably have been her first thought. She wondered why it hadn't been.

"No, but that's not the point." Root said. "The point is, why did you believe me?"

Shaw opened her mouth to answer, then shut it again when she realised that she didn't know what to say. Eventually she said "Can we not get into this? We should clear the road. Something like this is as good as a neon sign above our head to Decima."

Root looked away. "We don't need to. Decima will find us, now. It doesn't matter what we do. Our only chance is to get to California before they catch up to us."

"It's still a day and half just to cross the border into the state. It would be less if someone hadn't decided to stay the night in a motel, but I don't think we can stay ahead of them that long. They won't send only two men next time."

"Where's the nearest airport to here?" Root asked.

"I think its-"

"I wasn't talking to you, Shaw." Root interrupted. She paused for second, then said "Okay, Shaw, drive us there."

"Where?"

"The airport you were just about to suggest." Root said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What? The Machine knows what I'm thinking now?"

Root smiled mysteriously. "She knows everything, Shaw. You should know that by now."

Shaw shrugged. "Fair enough." She drove off, absently tapping her thumb against the steering wheel as she did so. As soon as she noticed what she was doing, she stopped. Shaw really wasn't the sort of person to fidget.

Root had instantly retrieved her laptop and was once again typing rapidly. She wondered if Root even read through what she coded, because she only seemed to type. The incessant tapping was beginning to get on her nerves, now. Shaw ran her fingers absently through her hair.

Suddenly Shaw asked "Why did you ask?" Shaw was surprised. She hadn't intended to speak. The words had just kind of slipped out, which wasn't at all like her.

"Why did I ask what?" Root asked mildly.

"Why I believed you."

Root frowned slightly, but didn't stop what she was doing, let alone look up. "I thought we weren't going into that."

Shaw shrugged again. "Let's just say that I don't like puzzles and leave it at that."

The corner of Root's mouth quirked upwards. "Then I think you're in the wrong line of work."

"Probably. But you're avoiding the question."

"You're not the only one who can decide not to talk about things, Shaw." Root said in a tone of voice that suggested that that was as much as she was willing to say in this conversation.

Shaw, however, wasn't the sort of person to let something drop just because the other person didn't want to talk. She wouldn't have gotten very far in her old job if she was. "Look, you've got a sociopath interested in what you're thinking. Do you have any idea how unusual that is? Normally I couldn't care less what other people are doing, let alone why."

"Why, Shaw, I'm flattered." Root said.

Shaw scowled. "Stop avoiding the question."

Root sighed. "You're really not going to let this go, are you?" Shaw shook her head. "I don't know what sort of answer you're fishing for. Perhaps I don't like puzzles either."

Shaw paused for a second. "No, I don't think that's quite it. See, you have some major trust issues. I'm guessing, in your line of work, you can't trust anyone and no one can trust you. So you're surprised when someone who had precisely no reason to trust you still believes you."

Root rubbed the bruise forming on her cheek. "That's basically what I said with a lot of supposition tossed in. That's sloppy thinking, Shaw."

"Yeah, but I'm right, aren't I?"

"I asked because, for the next few days, we're going to be each other's shadows, because if we don't look out for each other, we're not going to get through this alive. So, you trusting me is useful, because I'm going to tell you to do things and you're going to need to do them quickly without questioning me." Root said. "Is that enough of an answer for you, Shaw?"

It made sense. Shaw would have expected anything less. When Root troubled to give an explanation for her actions, they generally did make sense.

However, Shaw still thought that Root was lying. She had avoided the question for too long and come up with too reasonable an excuse for it to be anything other than a lie.