They reached Taupo by crossing over a small, fast-running river whose waters were a deep jade green, just like Reese's toki. He steered the car down Tongariro Street, which ran directly towards the lake and Mount Tongariro beyond. They used their old trick of pulling up a side street to find parking and eventually found some. It was peak tourist season, and the place was pretty busy.

Only busy by New Zealand's standards, though. Compared to the crowded sidewalks of New York, the place was practically deserted. They began to look for a good place for lunch. "How about this one?" asked Joss as they passed something which called itself "Danny's Diner". Inside, the back wall was a huge mural of the Manhattan skyline, the Chrysler Building prominent in the middle.

"Uh, maybe not," murmured Reese. They were on vacation, after all. They kept walking towards the main drag. The place ran mostly to cafés and hole-in-the-wall takeout places selling kebabs, Thai and other ethnic cuisines. Reese wasn't really in the mood. It was a while since breakfast, and he hadn't been completely joking when he'd said he was hungry. He felt like something substantial: an old fashioned pub lunch for preference.

They got back to Tongariro Street. There were more food joints here among the tourist shops, so it was only another few minutes before they found a place on the corner of the street where it bent to follow the lake shore. It was a bar and restaurant offering steak and such like, looking right out onto the lake. With a dark green sedan parked outside.

Carter eyed the car a little nervously. "Are you sure we should go in, John? That's the vehicle which nearly ran us off the road."

"Why shouldn't we, Carter? It wasn't us that was doing something wrong."

"That's not what I meant, and I think you know it." She pulled him to a halt, one hand grasping his arm just above the elbow. "Promise me you won't do anything that might get us in trouble, John."

He gazed down at her innocently. "Look, I just want to get lunch. I won't start anything. I promise."

Her lips tightened and she looked unconvinced. He sighed. "Carter, I'm not going to get arrested. No-one got hurt, with luck the local law enforcement will catch up with this idiot sooner or later. And I really want lunch. Okay?"

She still didn't look all that convinced, but this time she was the one who sighed. Her fingers on his arm relaxed, and they walked into the restaurant.

POI*POI*POI*POI*

They collected menus from the bar and retreated to a table by the window. John courteously pulled out a chair for her, and they sat and looked through the food on offer. Joss's stomach was starting to complain, too. They seemed to be past the bulk of the lunch rush, and the restaurant was emptying out. It wasn't long before a young man wearing a back shirt and a white apron approached and took their orders: local pork and fennel sausages with gravy, mashed potatoes and a side salad for him, Thai beef salad for her. As they sat and ate, Joss couldn't help noticing the way John's eyes strayed to the bar off to their side. Eventually she twisted in her seat to follow his gaze. A Caucasian male, medium height, brown hair, no distinguishing marks, wearing jeans and leather jacket, was seated at the bar.

"Don't tell me. That's our man, huh?" she sighed.

"Yep." He shovelled another mouthful of sausage and potato into his mouth.

"Trust you to be able to take a good look at the guy even when you were braking and swerving to avoid him," she griped. He recognised the note of pride in her voice and smirked in reply.

They continued with their lunch.

Over at the bar their nemesis from the road finished his drink. Joss saw John's ears prick as the man was refused another beer. "Sorry, mate," the bartender said firmly. "You've had enough. I can do you a soft drink if you're still thirsty."

The man said something Joss couldn't quite catch, though she recognised the tone: belligerent bordering on aggressive. John was sitting a little straighter in his seat. She shot him a warning look.

"Not our concern, John," she said quietly.

Unfortunately this didn't seem to have much effect: he continued to watch the scene taking place over at the bar.

Leather Jacket Guy was now on his feet, leaning across the bar and getting in the bartender's face. The bar tender, a stocky guy with grey hair wasn't having, well, a bar of it, and stepped back, folding his arms. "You want me to call the cops?" he said. "Now, get out before I chuck you out."

Leather Jacket Guy sneered at this. "You wanna fuck with me, mate? I'll fuck with you right back," he said loudly.

"I'm so sorry, Joss," said John softly as he got to his feet. He ambled over in the direction of the bar, apparently just looking for extra paper napkins, but his route took him past Leather Jacket Guy and as Joss watched John's tremendous speed in a fight came into play. He hadn't even moved, she could have sworn, but suddenly he was holding Leather Jacket Guy and twisting the man's arm behind his back.

"You gonna make any trouble?" John said – quietly, but easily audible in the sudden quiet of the bar. In response, Leather Jacket Guy tried to break away.

"Bad idea," said John. There was a 'pop' as he dislocated the man's elbow.

"Oops," said John.

Leather Jacket Guy slid to the floor, sobbing in pain.

Joss shot to her feet and hurried across to the tableau: John standing looking unconcerned, the drunk cradling his arm and weeping, the bar man looking in fact rather pleased. "Are you out of your mind?" she hissed. "You just assaulted that guy! In broad daylight! In front of witnesses!"

The bartender cracked a smile at her as she delivered this salvo at her unrepentant man. "I wouldn't worry too much about that, ma'am," he said. "This stupid bugger's been on the verge of being banned from this place for months. Personally, I didn't see a thing." He raised his voice. "I really must take better care to keep the floor properly mopped, ay. Poor Shane here has slipped over and hurt himself." There was an appreciative mutter from the few remaining patrons as they turned back to their drinks and meals.

John bent over the weeping man. "If you ask me nicely and then get the hell out of here," he said quietly, "I can pop that elbow back in."

Shane looked up at him, blinking tears of pain away. John held his gaze, his eyebrows rising.

"Please?" quavered the injured man.

"My pleasure," murmured John. He pulled the arm out straight and gave an expert yank. There was another 'pop', accompanied by a yelp from Shane. He seemed to have sobered up quite a lot as he staggered upright. He gave John an extremely daunted glance as he hurried from the bar.

POI*POI*POI*POI*

They strolled arm in arm back up Tongariro Street, crossing the road to walk past the tourist information centre, public library and a wonderfully carved gateway into the park which lay alongside the street. Several long-distance buses were pulled up along the roadside, passengers milling around as their bags were stowed away in the luggage lockers. As they passed, one of the buses closed its doors and pulled away from the curb in a puff of diesel exhaust. One unlucky, or disorganised, traveller pelted along the street after it. Her suitcase bounced over the small unevennesses of the paving as she towed it along, but the bus rumbled on its way, passing out of sight as it rounded a corner.

The beer which had accompanied his meal was just starting to make its presence felt in his bladder when Joss announced that she too needed the toilet facilities they could see just up ahead of them. They made their way along the sidewalk towards them.

After they had finished they began the walk back towards the street where their car was parked. The young woman who had been chasing the bus was still there, sitting disconsolately on her suitcase and checking her phone. As they passed she gave a low moan. "Oh, no. Oh, shit." There were tears in her eyes. Joss glanced up at Reese and then touched the girl on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but are you okay?" she said.

The girl jumped. She was a skinny thing with mousy brown hair and glasses. She swiped her hair out of her eyes as she answered. "I just missed my bus." She glanced down at her phone. "And I've lost my job. And I'm broke."

"Oh." Joss chewed her lip and glanced up at Reese again.

"Where were you headed?" he asked.

"Wellington. At least, I was. Like I said, I'm broke so I guess I'm not headed anywhere now. Not that it matters any more." The young woman glanced again at her phone.

Joss drew Reese aside. "We could give her a lift," she said quietly.

His brows drew down. He wasn't at all sure he wanted a third party with them right now.

"I know, I know," said Joss, seeing his expression. "But… that could be Taylor, sitting there..."

Reese sighed. It would be a cold day in hell when he could resist Carter on something like this. She saw the decision in his face and gave him a quick hug before turning back to the girl sitting on the suitcase. "I'm Joss, and this is John. We're on vacation here, and we were heading for Wellington. Would you like a lift?"

POI*POI*POI*POI*

The girl's name was Cassie, she told Joss. She was nineteen and a student nurse. The job she'd lost was a holiday job in a garden centre. "I asked for leave so I could spend New Year's with my boyfriend," she explained. "They weren't very happy, but they gave it to me, except I had to be back tomorrow. Which was fine, except I had a row with Tony, and his sister too, and they wouldn't give me a lift to the bus stop. So I was late, and..." she shrugged. They reached the car, and there was a few moments of organising it: some things transferred from the back seat to the trunk and room made for Cassie's suitcase. Then they were on their way again, passing along the lake shore past sparkling waters and timeshare resorts and little sailboats out on the blue lake.

"Were you planning to stop much on the way?" asked Cassie.

"We hadn't quite decided," said John.

"Well, I'm truly grateful for the lift. So please don't change your plans on my account." She paused, apparently embarrassment. "Um. It's just that I've got about fifteen bucks in my wallet and about the same in my bank account. So, ah, if you decide to stop for the night I'll just hitch from there."

"You'll do no such thing," said Joss firmly.

"No, really, it'll be fine. I've done it before-"

"Cassie, I'm a cop. I know what can happen to people who hitch-hike alone. If we stop for the night we will pay for your accommodation. You can pay us back when we reach Wellington."

Beside her John added, "Besides, Cassie, Joss and I were sent here by a mysterious billionaire. We have two platinum credit cards to pay for everything, and if there's a credit limit on them we haven't found it yet. So relax." He smirked cheerfully at Joss as he said this.

Cassie sat back with a sigh. "Billionaire. Yeah, right."

Joss smiled back at John as the car headed south along the lake's edge in the afternoon sunlight.

To be continued….