Chapter 10

Myka is only staring at the man, she refuses to speak, refuses to give anything away. For she has gathered he is sounding her out. He is waiting for her reaction. And she isn't sure just yet how she is going to play this. He has leaned in close, whispering to her, and she refuses to pull away from him, refuses to let him know she is intimidated. And so she remains still, only inches from him, staring boldly into his eyes.

As it turns out, she doesn't have to worry, as their meeting is interrupted. Neither of them see the girl approaching their table, not until she is directly upon them, slamming her palms down with enough force to send the coffee cups flying.

"Myka, what the hell?" Claudia is demanding to know, as Myka and her companion jump in shock.

The man takes this as his cue to leave. "I can see you're busy, we'll talk another time." He tells her.

Myka watches him leave, she wants to tell him to wait. She needs to find out so much more, what are his plans, how she can stop him. But he has gone, and she can hardly continue the conversation in front of Claudia in any case. Reluctantly she turns her attention in Claudia's direction.

Claudia has invited herself to sit. "Well?" She is demanding. "Are you going to answer my question?"

Myka does not take too kindly to being interrupted at her meeting, nor to the tone of Claudia's voice. "Your question?" Myka asks. "Claudia, 'What the hell?' is not a complete question. If you can't construct a proper sentence, then how do you expect me to answer you?" Her tone is irritated, and as with Artie, Myka finds it so much easier to fall into anger with Claudia than to have a genuine discussion.

"Oh, let me clarify it for you- What the hell is going on? What the hell are you doing here? Pete is in the hospital, you know? You shot him, remember? He is asking for you." Claudia own irritation is rising by the second.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Myka dismisses her. "Go away, Claudia." With those words, Myka stands from the table, leaving the bewildered girl sitting alone.

It's only seconds before Claudia is on her feet, following Myka out into the night, calling out after her. "Perhaps you could explain it to me. Pete is lying there injured, you know from the bullet tearing through his flesh, and he is worried sick about you, and you're just...having coffee at some diner in the middle of nowhere with a really cute guy...Nice Myka. "

Myka flinches at the image of Pete, injured at her hand. She can think of nothing to say to Claudia's words, and so she keeps walking silently.

"Are you mad at him or what?" Claudia asks, after she has caught up with Myka in the car park.

As they walk side by side, Myka answers honestly "No, I'm not mad at Pete."

"Well you did smash a plate over his head this morning. I'm just trying to put it all together here." Claudia continues.

"I was mad, now I'm over it." Myka answers. Had it only been that morning she had been having breakfast with Claudia and Pete, that things had been normal, and the only thing on her mind was her self pitying sense of anger at Pete for not recognizing Alice as an imposter? It seems like a lifetime ago.

"Got that out of your system when you shot him, did you?" Claudia asks bitterly. She was angry with Myka before she even laid eyes on her, that was true. Not so much for shooting Pete, but for running out on him, on all of them. But the lack of satisfying explanation combined with the fact Claudia can see that Myka has no intention of coming with her to see Pete, only fuels the fire of her rage.

"It was an accident Claudia, I didn't mean for Pete to get hurt." The anger is gone from Myka's voice as she utters those words. There is only sincerity and regret in her tone. That was the whole reason she was leaving the Warehouse, because Pete couldn't count on her. Because she let him down, she hurt him. She knew all too well her shortcomings, didn't need Claudia throwing them in her face.

The look in Myka's eyes, and the way her voice is shaking, is almost enough to make Claudia stop. But she can't. She can't bare to think of going back to that hospital without Myka, of failing Pete. She is finally getting somewhere, and so after a brief hesitation, she continues.

"You abandoned him. Left him for dead." Claudia accuses her.

"The paramedics were there, he was in good hands." Myka defends herself.

"You left him injured in the hospital, all alone." Claudia continues.

"He's not alone, he has you, he has Artie." Myka reminds her. I am the one who is alone, Claudia. That is what she wants to say.

"And yet, Pete is only asking for you. And if you don't come with me right now, he is gonna get up and come looking himself. Is that what you want?"

"Stop him." Myka tells her. As if it were that simple. As if there were anything Claudia could actually do to prevent Pete from finding Myka.

"Just come with me, just to see him, what's the big deal, what's it going to cost you to just come and see him?" Claudia genuinely wants to know.

"Forget it Claudia." Myka tells her, but her voice is wavering. Her resolve is crumbling right in front of Claudia's eyes.

"Forget it?" Claudia asks. "Pete is lying there injured. A couple of inches to the left and he would be lying dead in the morgue right now, but just forget it Claudia, nevermind." Her voice is dripping with sarcasm, with disdain. And she had deliberately made up that part about the bullet being only a few inches shy of fatal.

"Stop." Myka tells her. Myka almost begs her. She quickens her pace, she already knows the things Claudia says are true. It was a lousy thing to do, running out on Pete while he was injured. She doesn't need Claudia to tell her.

But Claudia won't stop. She only twists the knife of guilt a little deeper into Myka's heart. "Oh that's great Myka, just run away, from me, from Pete, that's just perfect. You don't even care, do you? You don't even want to see that he is ok? I used to look up to you, did you know that? I used to wish I could be just like you. Not anymore. I just don't get you." Claudia stops walking at that point. Almost defeated. There isn't much more she can say, she doesn't recognize this person as the Myka she knows, she is lost as to how to communicate with her. She stops following her, but she keeps talking, raising her voice so that Myka will hear her as she walks away into the night. " You know, if things were the other way round, if you were lying there injured, there isn't anything in the world that would keep Pete from your side. And you know it."

The angry desperate words carry across the still night air, reaching deep inside Myka and seizing her heart.

And finally, she stops running.