Chapter Fourteen
"Don't depend too much on anyone in this world, because even your shadow leaves you when you're in darkness."
Ibn Taymiyyah
"Domino?" Delia hated how fragile and fearful her voice sounded in her own ears.
The younger woman had been following her just a moment ago, but now the space behind her was ominously empty. Delia backtracked a few steps and peeked around the corner. The alley was deserted. It was as though Domino had simply vanished into thin air. She eyed the shadowy doorways they had passed, wondering if it was possible for someone to drag Domino inside so quickly and so silently that she hadn't noticed.
Delia broke out in a cold sweat. Domino was a highly skilled Team Rocket officer. If the Gold Rockets could make her disappear, Delia knew she wouldn't stand a chance against them on her own. She turned and ran toward the end of the alley.
With every step, Delia expected to feel someone grab her and pull her into one of the buildings that lined the narrow corridor. Despite her shaky legs making it difficult to run, she burst out of the alleyway into the sunshine. She rounded the corner and immediately collided with a figure who seemed to have been waiting for her.
"Well, well, thought you could get away from us that easily, did you?"
Delia's heart sank as she recognized the woman from the Surly Sharpedo. A Spinarak perched on the woman's shoulder, and amusement danced in her cool green eyes. Delia tried to run, but she didn't get far. The woman gave a command to her Pokemon, and moments later the sticky strands from a string shot attack tangled around her knees. Delia lost her balance and toppled to the ground. As she frantically tore at the webbing, she heard tires squeal to a stop behind her.
"Nice catch, Val." The man who had tried to abduct her earlier stepped out of the vehicle.
"Thanks," the woman replied, now standing directly over Delia. "It was one of the easier ones."
Delia managed to get her legs free, but it was too late. The man seized her arms and shoved her into the waiting van. He roughly pushed her across the center bench seat and climbed in beside her while the woman, Val, got into the front passenger's seat.
"Are you sure about this?" the driver, a stocky woman with frizzy dark hair asked. "She's not on the list."
"Trust me, she's one of them," Val said. "She was having lunch with Giovanni and the executive, and we caught her trying to sneak off with another officer."
The driver eyed Delia critically in the rearview mirror. "She doesn't look like one of them. Didn't even put up much of a fight when you grabbed her."
The man sitting beside Delia gave a derisive snort. "Well, what do you expect? We all know Giovanni's scraping the bottom of the barrel for people these days."
That seemed to be good enough for the driver. With a shrug, she pulled away from the curb. Delia tried to fight down the growing panic as the van wove through the maze of side streets before turning back out onto the main boulevard. They were heading south, the exact opposite direction Delia needed to go if she had any hope of making it to safety. She was outnumbered and essentially defenseless. The van took a sharp corner, and Delia nearly toppled out of her seat. She reflexively reached up and fastened her seatbelt.
"Any others we need to pick up?" The driver was talking to someone on a handheld radio.
"Negative. Proceed to the rendezvous point to arrange transport." A voice crackled over the radio in response.
"Copy. Unit six out." The driver dropped her handset and stared straight ahead out the windshield.
Delia watched as the town passed in a blur out the window. They were merging toward the highway that would take them to the south end of the island. Even as she tried to hang onto hope that she might still be rescued, Delia knew the chances of that happening were minuscule. They were moving too fast. By the time Team Rocket regrouped at the airfield and sent anyone to search for her, she would be well withing Manieri's clutches. She didn't want to resign herself to becoming that monster's prisoner, but what else could she do? Get herself out of this?
Well, why not? Delia asked herself. She couldn't expect someone to swoop in and rescue her every time she got into trouble. She might fail, but that was better than giving up. Besides, she had gotten away from them once at the Surly Sharpedo, Delia reminded herself, trying to push aside her fear. That was more than some seasoned Team Rocket officers had managed. If she could escape from them once, maybe she could do it again.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to focus. The Gold Rockets had to have made some mistake she could use to her advantage. She covertly studied her kidnappers. None of them were paying her the least bit of attention. They had completely underestimated her, and that would be their undoing, Delia decided. They had thought she was so harmless they hadn't even bothered to restrain her. She still had full use of her hands and arms, and aside from the sticky fibers clinging to her clothes, she had worked her legs free from Spinarak's string shot. And speaking of restraints, Delia noticed she was the only one wearing a seatbelt. It the van were to crash, it would be much worse for her captors than it would be for her…
A rough plan formed in Delia's mind. It was desperate, it was crazy, and it was probably stupid, but it was her only hope. They had reached the very southern edge of town. She had to act soon, or there would be nowhere to run. They were approaching a curve in the road with a guardrail overlooking the ocean on one side and a sheer rock wall on the other. It was now or never.
Delia lunged forward in her seat, reaching as far as the seatbelt would allow. She grabbed hold of the emergency brake in the center console and pulled as hard as she could. An unpleasant squealing noise filled the air as the brake fought against the forward momentum of the van. The driver gave a startled cry as the vehicle suddenly fishtailed and spun violently. There were screams and shouts all around Delia as the van careened out of control. She closed her eyes and braced herself as the van hit the curb with a big bump. A deafening crash accompanied an impact that seemed to rattle every bone in Delia's body as the van collided with the rock wall.
Delia opened her eyes and unbuckled her seatbelt with shaking hands. The driver was slumped over the steering wheel, apparently unconscious. Val doubled over in a sort of daze, clutching at a large gash on her forehead. The crash had thrown the man beside Delia from his seat, and he lay on the floor groaning in pain. Delia stepped on him to reached the sliding door and flipped the lock. Then she ran.
She didn't know where she was going. All she knew was she had to put as much distance between herself and the Gold Rockets as possible. There was a break in the traffic, and Delia sprinted across the road before continuing down the sidewalk. She rushed back around the curve and spotted a taxi pulled over a couple of blocks away. Delia ran up to the passenger's side. The driver was leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed, so she knocked on the half-open window.
"Excuse me!" she gasped, trying to catch her breath. "I need to get to Ascorbia Airfield."
The driver opened his eyes and scowled. "Can't you read, lady?" he snapped, pointing upward to the sign on the roof. "I'm out of service."
A horn blared across the street. Delia glanced up and saw that Val had recovered enough to chase after her. Fortunately, a fresh wave of traffic had trapped the Gold Rocket on the other side of the road, but it was only a temporary delay.
"Please, it's an emergency. I'll pay you double whatever you usually charge."
That caught the driver's attention. "Make it triple."
"Fine, it's a deal."
Delia jerked the back door open the moment the driver unlocked it. She breathed a sigh of relief as the taxi pulled out into traffic. Val was still running down the sidewalk, but she soon faded away into the distance. Once they turned the corner, Delia leaned back in the seat and tried to calm her frazzled nerves. It was still a long way to the airfield, but she'd bought herself a little breathing room.
"You late for a flight or something?" the driver glanced back at Delia as they approached a red light.
"Yes, silly me. I lost track of the time," Delia replied. It was as good an excuse as any.
"Huh. You don't have any luggage," the driver said with a note of suspicion in his voice.
"It's already at the airfield," Delia said, not bothering to elaborate. She didn't owe him an explanation.
"You sure you're not in some kind of trouble? You're not running from the police or something, are you?"
Delia met his eyes in the rearview mirror. "I'm not a criminal, if that's what you're asking."
"Good. I don't need any trouble," the driver grumbled.
Delia felt a slight pang of guilt. The driver could very well be dragged into trouble on her account. Still, she was paying him quite a bit of extra money, so Delia shoved her guilt aside and occupied herself by staring out the window. She felt better the closer they got to the north end of town. Maybe she would make it back to the airfield in one piece after all.
As they passed the plaza where the initial problem had started and continued up the main boulevard, traffic slowed to a crawl. Delia looked up ahead and saw that one lane had been closed for some sort of construction project. As they crept down the street, something didn't feel right to Delia.
She took a closer look as they neared the construction site and realized what was wrong. A few workers were milling around in orange vests, but they didn't seem to be accomplishing much. The flagger standing at the head of the line of traffic peered into each passing vehicle a little too intently, almost as though he were searching for someone.
"Actually, this is far enough," Delia told the driver. "You can drop me off at the corner here."
What if Manieri's henchmen had set up a fake construction zone to watch for Team Rocket members trying to sneak back to the north side of the island? If these people were working for Manieri, Delia wasn't about to be recognized, not when she was so close to escaping from their clutches. Val had seen her leave in the taxi and could have called ahead to alert them.
"I thought you were late for your flight," the driver protested.
"I just realized I've probably already missed it. I'll have to rebook it, and I need a few things from the shops in the meantime."
"Whatever, lady." The driver pulled off a block short of the construction zone. "You still owe me a triple fare."
He put the taxi into park and read off the total cost multiplied by three. Delia cringed inwardly at the price, but she didn't complain as she handed over the cash.
She left the taxi and hurried into the closest shop. Manieri's people knew what she looked like and what she was wearing. She had to change her appearance if there was any hope of making back to the other side of the island. Delia rifled through the nearest rack and grabbed the first thing in her size, a long white sundress with a teal floral print. Not really her colors, but it would have to do. She turned to the display on the back wall and found a matching wide-brimmed sun hat and an oversize pair of sunglasses to hide her face.
Trying to act naturally, Delia paid for the items and charmed the saleswoman into letting her use the fitting room to change. She stashed her old clothes in the shopping bag and tucked her hair up under the hat. Satisfied with how the sun hat's floppy brim partially obscured her features, Delia headed back out onto the street. It was a long walk back to the airfield, but at least she had improved her chances of not being recognized.
She thought about trying to bypass the construction zone completely, but there was no guarantee that would help her escape the Gold Rockets. If anything, she might look more suspicious avoiding the most efficient route if someone was watching. Manieri's people could be anywhere, and no path back to the airfield was guaranteed to be safe. She just had to hope that her hastily concocted disguise would be enough.
Delia started down the sidewalk and picked up her pace to catch up with a group of tourists. She had a better chance of reaching the airfield if she could blend in with a crowd. As they drew closer to the construction site, Delia thought she was right to have been suspicious. There was an open manhole in the middle of the street to justify closing a lane of traffic, but very little work was taking place. A pair of Machoke were assisting the workers, but the Pokemon were aimlessly moving equipment from one end of the site to the other with no real purpose in mind. As for the humans, they appeared much more interested in the crowds of people and the vehicles passing by rather than getting any work done.
Delia averted her eyes and hurried by them. She half expected to hear someone call out to her or to feel another set of hands grab her from behind, but nothing happened. Once she had passed the construction zone, she breathed a sigh of relief, but she didn't let her guard down. There was no telling how many people Manieri had sent to the island, and they could be lurking anywhere.
She finally reached the north end of town without anyone stopping her and continued up the hill toward the airfield. She was almost halfway there when she heard the sound of an engine behind her, and she tensed as the vehicle started to slow. If these people meant her any harm, she had just about exhausted her supply of ideas when it came to escaping. The driver rolled down the tinted windows.
"Delia? Is that you?"
Delia's shoulders slumped with relief as she recognized the familiar redhead behind the wheel. "Ariana! You have no idea how happy I am to see you."
"Quick, get in." Ariana unlocked the doors.
A Team Rocket officer Delia didn't recognize already occupied the passenger's seat, so she climbed into the back of the car.
"What happened to you?" Ariana demanded as she pulled back out onto the road. "We were looking everywhere for you, and we'd just about given up. I wouldn't have even recognized you in that outfit if it weren't for your sandals."
Delia glanced down at her shoes, the one part of her wardrobe she hadn't bothered to change. "I got into a sticky situation and had to do some emergency shopping."
She quickly filled Ariana in on her escape from Manieri's henchmen and her journey back toward the airfield.
"I'm impressed," Ariana said when Delia finished her story. "If you need a job, you might as well join Team Rocket because it sounds like you already have the basics down."
Despite her lighthearted tone as she made the joke, Delia noticed Ariana's smile was somewhat forced. The officer in the passenger's seat looked like she was trying not to cry.
"What happened to everyone else?" Judging by the solemn mood in the car, Delia was almost afraid to hear the answer.
"About half of us are still unaccounted for." Ariana's voice betrayed little emotion, but her white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel told a different story.
Delia winced. "That many?"
Ariana nodded. "We have no idea where Manieri's people may have taken them. They could still be on the island, or they might already be on boats by now. From what I've heard, Manieri might even have submarines docked somewhere. We still have a few search parties combing the island, but it might be too late. By the time we got everyone organized, most of the Gold Rockets had disappeared."
The officer next to Ariana gave a small sniffle.
"Have you heard anything about Domino?" Delia asked. "She was with me one second, and when I turned around she was gone."
"She was still missing last I heard. There's still hope though. We've been able to find a few people, like Rachel here," Ariana said, gesturing to the officer beside her.
Rachel gave another sniffle. "I didn't get away. They let me go so I could take a message back to the boss."
"Yes, well, that's not the point. The point is they didn't kidnap all of us." Ariana still managed to sound optimistic, and Delia had to wonder how she did it.
"What do we do now?" Delia asked after a few moments of morose silence.
"We don't give up," Ariana replied with a resoluteness that wasn't at all forced. "Giovanni will get our officers back. He always finds a way."