"How are you doing?" Bob asked as they hit the highway. Casey shrugged.

"I'm good. It was a nice couple of days, and I got to see Lizzie smile. I know it's going to be slow going for her, I mean she still can't stay awake for longer than ten minutes, but to see her eyes open and her mouth smile…" She gave a small smile of her own.

"A good birthday then?" Bob said, flicking his eyes away from the road to look at her.

"Er…yes. On the whole."

Bob said nothing even though he had seen the way she had wrung her hands in her lap.

"Derek will be pleased to hear about Lizzie, I guess." He eventually commented.

Casey flinched at Derek's name.

"And he'll be pleased to have company again." Bob hammered another nail in the coffin.

"I wonder what state the apartment will be in." Casey tried to lighten her own mood.

"They ganged up on you, didn't they?" Bob cut to the chase.

Casey sighed. "What did you expect? They just found out that the two step-siblings got married even though they hate each other. That's crazy even by my and Derek's standards."

"What's the damage?"
"Derek sleeps on the couch and we have to stop spending too much time together."
Bob laughed. "Like being sixteen again? You must not hold hands. You must not be alone together. No kissing unless it is on the cheek…"

Casey nodded. "The irony of it all is glaring. We don't feel like that about each other."
"Really?" Bob didn't seem convinced. "Oh well then, it will be easy."

"Yes." Casey said firmly. "It will be."

They drove in silence for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts until Casey noticed a sign whizz past them.

"Erm…Bob? Isn't the airfield that way?" She pointed in the direction of the exit ramp they had just passed.
"Yup." Bob was calm as he stared straight ahead.

"Why have you driven straight past it?" Casey asked, shifting in her seat.
"We aren't going to the airfield." Bob announced, and Casey saw a tiny drop of sweat appear on his forehead.

"We aren't?" A dread started to settle in the pit of her stomach.

"Nope. Casey. Are you buckled up?"

"Yes."

The car jerked forwards as Bob hit the gas.

"Good. Hold on. We're being followed."


Casey was a good driver, a careful driver who stuck to the speed limits – or rarely very slightly above them and was consistent with her mirror-signal-manoeuvre. By contrast, Derek, although improved since he had taken his test, was more aggressive and drove faster. Journeys home with the pair of them in his car had been a trial and the long journey from Las Vegas was…torture. She had also been driven at speed before, but it was in an ambulance or a car and both had their blue lights flashing so other road users knew to get out of their way.

Bob's driving was currently alarming. He weaved in and out of the traffic: over-taking, under-taking, cutting people up. Casey tried to reassure herself that he was experienced in defensive driving but it wasn't calming her down any. She glanced in the side mirror and after watching for a couple of minutes, saw a second car some distance back also driving erratically.

"Oh my god! He's gaining on us. Do something Bob!" She forgot herself and grabbed at his arm.

"Shit! Casey. Shut the fuck up! What do you think I'm trying to do?" It was so uncharacteristically not like Bob that she let go quickly and grasped at the edges of her seat.

She was going to die. She wasn't sure how exactly. It might be in a wreck or it might be that their pursuer caught up with them, but one way or the other, they were going to die. She started to shake.

Bob eased into a line of traffic for a moment satisfied that the other car was stuck and he looked across at his passenger.

"Don't freak out on me honey. I need you to stay calm so that I can get us out of this mess."

"I'm scared."

"I know. But this is what I do for a living, Casey. Trust me. Please?"

She nodded. The traffic queue started to clear and then Bob needed to concentrate again.

.

The chase seemed to go on for hours, but it had probably been only ten minutes, when Casey looked out of her side window and found herself staring into the barrel of a gun.

"Bob!" She managed to squeal.

Derek's godfather didn't hesitate. He slammed on the brakes, and jerked hard on the steering wheel. Their car, now behind that of their surprised pursuers veered off to the right, bumped up a grass verge and onto the tight bend of the tight exit ramp they had almost passed. Bob accelerated as they turned out of the bend and onto the minor road.

"How long till the next highway exit?" Casey asked breathlessly.

"Ten miles." Grinned Bob across the car. "It'll take them half an hour to get back here at least." And Casey realised he had deliberately let the pursers get so close.

.

Despite the knowledge that the traffic and distance to the next exit would keep the danger at bay for a while, Bob didn't slow down and he didn't say anything else. He weaved through the normal roads, losing them in traffic until he came to the main highway going west, and joined it.

Casey left him to concentrate, but after they had travelled more than thirty miles and were still heading west, she couldn't resist.

"Where are we going?"
"A safe house."
"Where?"
"Vancouver."


Bob didn't try and make it all the way to Vancouver on his own. He pulled over and called someone from his cell.

"Hey Suse! How's the vacation? Cool. Listen babe…Change of plan…I know, I know…I promised. Remember my special case? It just got complicated." He told the voice on the other end. "We have a leak. Someone is trying to kill her and they damn nearly just succeeded in catching up with us. If I try and take her back to New York now, they'll find us…Yeah. I know. Look I need you to meet me somewhere. I can't drive without sleep, and I can't sleep without knowing someone's keeping a look out. You're in a good position. You can fly up and join me…Just…do me a favour and don't use your company card. Use your own one…I'm good for it. Thanks Babe! You're an angel. Call me when you know where you'll land."

Bob hung up and looked at the girl beside him.

"I'm sorry Casey. I know you were hoping to be home tonight."
She shrugged. "Not a lot I can do about it." She said, softly. "I suppose the "no phone calls" rule applies for me?"

Bob looked pained. Casey sighed. "Never mind. What's going to happen?"

"Susie will join us. She's in the States on vacation right now, but she's agreed to meet us and help with the driving and look-out shifts. We're going to drive to Vancouver and hole up there for a while."
"A while?"

Bob looked uneasy. "It might be a while before you can go home to Derek." He said, honestly.

"A day or so?" Casey asked, knowing that the journey was more than that.

Bob sighed. "Casey. I'll take you back to New York, only when I know it is safe. That could be a long time. I'd think weeks rather than days."

"And no calls?"
"No calls."

Casey closed her eyes and her fingers rubbed at her wedding ring.

Well George. You at least will be pleased with that. She thought and swallowed hard against the tears.


Susie was a bottle blonde of about forty. She was leaning against a pillar at the rest stop the following morning, dressed in skinny jeans and a gingham shirt tied off around her middle, a denim jacket hung from her shoulders. There was a pink wheeled case beside her and coupled with the large dark sunglasses she looked like she was still on vacation – until she turned and Casey caught the sight of a brown handle carefully hidden against the small of her back.

"Hi Dad!" She chirped. Casey looked up in surprise as she greeted Bob. There was no way she was his daughter.

"Cheeky!" Bob greeted her, and playfully patted her backside. "You trying to get me arrested?"
Susie smirked. "You mean I'm not your little girl?" She said and pressed herself close to him. Bob rolled his eyes and jerked his head towards Casey.

"Not now. Casey doesn't need to bear witness to your complete lack of restraint."
"I have restraint." Susie said. "You like my restraint."

Bob coughed embarrassed.

"Clearly, you can tell Susie and I have a…erm…history." He said, looking sheepish. "And she's not frightened to tell every one."
Casey smiled a weak smile, and Bob was reminded that Casey was his godson's wife, and that he had no idea when he was going to be able to get her back to him.

"Suse. Let's go. We're gonna start getting attention. We can catch up on the way."

"No problems. I'll drive, you two talk."
.

They stopped for the night in a motel but Bob left Casey in the car when he checked in making it look as though he and Susie were there to share a room together. Once he had the key, he released Casey from the car and led her to the room. It had twin beds which Bob and Casey took because Susie was going to take the first watch.

"I'm gonna go get some food." Bob said. "Behave yourselves." He winked at Susie.

"What's that supposed to me?" Susie asked.

"It means, this is my god-son's wife. Don't tell her all my secrets because they'll get straight back to Derek."

Casey frowned. "When you eventually let me talk to him."

Bob scratched his head. "You want to be safe?"

"Yes."

"You want Derek to be safe?"

"Yes."
"Then until I know who let slip about your whereabouts, you can't communicate with each other. Derek and the apartment are still safe. You aren't. I'm not compromising your or Derek's safety just so that you two can have your hallmark moment. Okay?"
Casey nodded.

Susie was nice but she was chatty. She was also quite the skilled interrogator because before long Casey had found herself telling Susie about Derek, how they had met and eventually how things had changed over the past few months.

"That's a beautiful locket." Susie said simply, and Casey hid a watery smile.

.

They travelled at a leisurely speed to Vancouver, not wanting to draw attention to themselves, staying a couple of times in motels. It was normally Susie who slept in the other bed, her back to Casey and her blonde hair lying on the pillow. The echo of the trip from Las Vegas to New York struck a chord deep and painful.

Every night, Casey lie awake till exhaustion took over, wishing more than anything that the hair on the pillow on the other bed was rusty brown rather than yellow.

They reached Vancouver.