Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all the basics.

Rated M for several reasons.

Part Two

Chapter 16 Bismark

APOV

With the tranquilliser still making me drowsy I zoned in and out as I curled up in the dark foot well of the pickup and waited for the others to return with Bella and Em. And the longer I waited the more solid the vision became of us leaving without Em, and the aftermath. This isn't a gift, it's a curse and I wish it would just stop. But I have to find a way to use it if we're going to survive this, I have to.

Grinding my teeth together I give up on trying to see a future where we all get out of Saskatoon together and instead concentrate on how to get the rest of us out of Canada . . . .

RPOV

I could have gone into shock any number of times in the last couple of months but I think the sight of two ninja clad goons, and yeah it took two, grappling Em to the ground has finally finished me off. And if you want to know what's really fucking depressing, it's not that I didn't think some shit like this wouldn't happen just that after we'd been through so much together I assumed, and I think we all did, that we'd all go down together.

As we drove away into the night, with Pete, Edward and I rattling around in the truck bed I kept replaying in my head how our doomed rescue attempt went down. Not that it changed at all. Every time it ended with a barely conscious Em turning back to distract them so the rest of us could get away.

I knew it was a bad idea, we all knew it was a bad idea. But what could we do? What sort of people would that make us if we'd left Bella and Em behind, even to regroup and come up with a proper plan? We're in this together. Except now we're not. Not all of us anyway.

Right now we're heading south. I don't know where we're going and I don't care, maybe I will later . . . .

BPOV

We finally stopped in Bismark, North Dakota. Alice directed us here, and through the border, the last things she insisted on before she'd let Edward sedate her again.

We crowded into one of the motel rooms we'd paid for and ordered pizza.

Exhausted from driving Jasper crashed out on the bed with Alice and the rest of us picked at our pizza and avoided making eye contact.

Thanks to Edward's medical kit the blazing pain in my arm has long since given way to the vague sensation of it being relentlessly gnawed on by a really big dog.

Rose is staring at the TV. Pete is clicking away on his laptop and Edward is frowning into space, although the fingers of his left hand are idling brushing the underside of my thigh in a gesture of comfort as I sit crossed legged beside him.

They know this is my fault. Getting hit by that cruiser was bound to happen since I was strolling along lost in my thoughts as I often am, if Em hadn't been there to pull me back I'd have had more than a broken arm. And my carelessness exposed us, cost us Em.

A sob escapes me and Edward wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into his side.

"For fuck's sake!" Rose snarls, jumping to her feet and storming out.

I try to get up and go after her but Edward won't release me and Pete shakes his head as the door to the room next door bangs against its hinges and things start thudding into the walls.

"Leave her be." He advises. "She knows it's not your fault, she'll feel better when she's broken some shit."

"It is my fault." I remind him as the tears stream down.

"Nah." He chuckles. "One of ya parents must have been as clumsy as fuck, blame them."

"Hey!" Edward objects but I manage a laugh between my sobs. Charlie, Renee used to call him the original bull in the china shop, and not always fondly.

The memory brings on a fresh round of sobs which has Edward rubbing my back and kissing the top of my head.

"Bella, Bella, shush, it's okay."

I turn my head into his chest, gripping his shirt automatically as my eyes empty themselves into it because it's not okay. Nothing is okay.

After a few minutes I pull back realising that I've soaked the object of my affections in salt water and snot.

"Nice." Pete snickers when he sees the front of Edward's shirt.

"Pete . . . ." Edward warns but I stop him with a shake of my head.

"Go get a shower and a change of clothes." I tell him. "I need to help Pete."

"Are you sure?" He asks, green eyes boring into mine.

"I'm sure, the pity party is over. But thank you."

His hand comes up, thumb gently caressing the tears away from my cheeks. And then he presses his lips softly to mine. They linger. Mine don't object, in fact they're just about to consider some movement when Pete clears his throat, effectively ending our moment.

"Here." He says, handing me a laptop as Edward stand up, stretching his long legs. "You know what to do . . . ."

"Is that safe?" Edward asks, gesturing to the laptop.

"Do I ask you about medical matters?" Pete asks, raising an eyebrow.

"You can if you want." Edward shrugs. "Can they trace us through those?"

"No." Pete is firm. "Now go and get changed, you're goin' crusty."

"Pete . . . ." Now it's my turn to warn him as Edward stomps off.

I take the laptop which he's already logged on and start typing the email straight away.

To: Tanya Denali

From: Experiment Me This

Subject: Re: Jessica Stanley Murder Investigation

Jessica Stanley is dead and Mike Newton killed her. Check his Facebook alibi instead of making assumptions.

Denali isn't a very common name, are you related to Irina Denali?

Check our site again, properly this time, and you'll see.

Experiment Me This

After I hit send I start checking the comments left against the 'news' stories on our site and it isn't long before my blood runs cold.

Lost something? Guest

"Pete!"

"Mm?"

"Check out the comments on the site! The last one."

"Shit. Do you think it's them?" He growls, tapping furiously on his keyboard.

"I don't know but who else could it be?"

More furious tapping.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to trace it."

"Can you?"

"I can if I can fuckin' concentrate."

"Should we reply?"

He grunts and performs a motion that looks slightly like a nod so I tap my own keyboard.

Maybe? EmT

I wasn't expecting an instant response so I gasp when it comes.

Want it back? Guest

Of course EmT

There will have to be a trade Guest

"Pete . . . ."

"Keep goin', I'm nearly there . . . ."

What do you want? EmT

Scarlett Greene and Rob Peterson Guest

"Shit!" I gasp as Edward wanders out of the bathroom. "They know our aliases!"

"FUCK!" Pete howls at the same time, slamming his laptop shut. "We've been conned! Get Rosalie, now! GI Joe! Wake the fuck up we got company comin' . . . ."

RPOV

I don't blame Bella. No more than I can blame Em for being a heroic idiot. But I'm so fucking angry right now!

Even so I manage to restrain myself from wrecking the whole room, no sense leaving another trail for those evil fucking cunts to follow.

With my rage nowhere near spent I'm full of pent up energy and I'm just wondering if it's worth ringing reception to see if there's a gym open in this shithole when Bella stumbles in, her face flushed. The ever present fear spikes over the anger before she even opens her mouth.

"They found us! We gotta go!"

We'd barely peeled out of the motel lot when two dark SUVs careened through the junction at the top of the road, squealing into the motel almost on two wheels.

"Floor it!" Bella screams as soon as they're out of sight.

The truck leaps forward immediately when my foot crushes the pedal but it's too late, someone must have noticed the figures huddled in the back of the truck because one of the SUVs comes blasting back out heading our way. I'm a sports car driver, Daddy and my uncles adored their sports cars, I learned to drive in an F40, so it's all down to the truck manufacturer that we don't get totalled as I swing it abruptly right at the next junction, heading for the interstate. Bella throws me a look as she eases Alice's unconscious form down into the foot well before twisting in her seat to open the back window. The SUV takes the junction comparatively more sedately, but with its friend hot on its heels.

We left Saskatoon in a hurry and we lost our own SUV but the one things Jasper insisted that we bring were the guns, which he is now yelling at the others to unpack.

The SUVs are gaining on us, BMW X5s, of course they are. But I already know the drivers don't have quite my 'devil may care' attitude to cornering so I pull ahead again as I swing dangerously onto the interstate ramp. Thank god it's the middle of the night and there's not another soul on the roads.

"Fuck this thing!" I screech as it reaches maximum power way before the top of the ramp.

"They're gaining on us again."

Even if there isn't anyone around I wonder if it's a good idea to start a shooting war but our pursuers have no such qualms, as soon as they start to gain on us figures lean out of the windows and to start shooting at our tires.

"Shit." I hiss, zig zagging as much as I dare.

They're closing us down quickly when the boys open fire from the truck bed.

I have to look away from the mirrors as muzzle flashes light up the view.

"What's happening?" I demand.

"One down and one to go." Bella rasps, kneeling on her seat.

The firing gradually stops and I risk the mirrors again.

Only one SUV is chasing us now and it's dropped back considerably, I can't see the other one, maybe it went off the road . . . .

BPOV

"Did we get it?" Jasper shouts.

"I dunno, its not following anymore, I think it veered off to the right." Pete yells back, leaning dangerous over the tailgate for a better look.

The car behind us has dropped back and stopped taking pot shots at us, but its still following though and Jasper orders Edward and Pete to conserve our ammo. A high speed standoff.

"What do we do?" Rose hollers.

"We have to get off this fucking road." Jasper shouts back. "We're sittin' ducks out here and I can hear sirens."

"Tell them to hold on." Rose growls to me. "And put your seatbelt on. We're going off road!"

"Hold on!" I shout against the rushing wind.

A few seconds later Rose yanks the wheel and we whip left, bouncing crazily over the grassy dip, skidding across the other lanes and then launching into the air as we leave the road completely.

I didn't put my seat belt on and it's a few seconds before I can balance myself against the terrifying gymnastics of the pickup. Thank fuck the others are still in the back, even if they are being tossed around like socks in a dryer.

"Are they still following?" Rose demands, too busy trying to navigate a field in the dark to bother with her mirrors.

"Yes, but they're a long way back."

"Excellent." She grinds out as we swerve to avoid a big puddle / small pond. "What now?"

"Slow the fuck down." Jasper suggests, finally managing to get his head through the window. "We don't need you tryin' to kill us too!"

Rose just rolls her eyes and continues to handle the truck like a pro off road racer.

After another few minutes she floors it straight through a fence and left onto blacktop. The relief is instantaneous.

"I can't see 'em anymore." Pete confirms after a few minutes and Rose smirks.

"Nicely done Rosalie." Jasper concedes. "Keep us heading south and look for a place to hole up."

I tense up as a set of headlights approach us but they belong to a little convertible and pass us by without incident. And again for the next set a few minutes later, and again, the tension never really easing off again afterward. I know Rose feels the same because her hands are gripped tightly around the steering wheel and her teeth are grinding together. We're not lucky enough to have escaped, they're going to find us, they always fucking find us . . . .