Chapter 7

As the days wore on the remaining 14 members' locations were found and now Bret had a lengthy list of their co-ordinates, names, descriptions and habits. It was merely a job of actually getting the cards from them. Within 3 days 4 more cards were captured around the globe but because of that the rest of the remaining 39 with cards had been contacted about the sudden rush of challengers for the small tags. Now their grips on the essential tokens were as tight as ever and their chief urged them to keep the cards with them at all times and if possible a body guard near by.

The fact was for Tyana the first card was easy but from now on things could only get harder. Her mission was becoming dangerous and she had to be aware of that 24/7. So why was it that all she could concentrate on was a wish that she could see that young daredevil again?

***

Jeff packed his bags into the trunk of Amy's newly rented car and then did the same with Amy's. She slipped into the drivers seat while he closed the trunk and joined her in the front. He pulled on his disc Walkman and hit the play button while Amy simply stared at him. After a minute he caught her stare and asked of her,

"You gonna start the car anytime soon? I'd like to get back to the hotel to get some sleep if you don't mind" he said grumpily, pulling the headphones down so that they hung around his neck.

Amy shook her head, getting more and more frustrated with the bitchy nature he'd taken with her and everyone else recently---when he wasn't staring off into space that is.

"What's up with you Jeff?" she asked him simply, beginning to get so sick that the last thing she wanted was an hours drive of silence or worse, irritable chatter where he constantly pushed her away.

He shrugged, "Nothing. I don't know what you're talking about" He dismissed the conversation and slid his headphones back on. Amy pulled them roughly down again, not about to be ignored,

"Bull! What's given you the right to be a complete jerk?"

"I'm not being a jerk!"

"You are! And when you're not bitching you're lost in your own little world. It's not on Jeff. You realise you nearly broke Kurt's arm when you messed that move up earlier—you should have been paying attention"

"Look Amy drop it, I feel bad enough about that already"

"Then f*cking act like it! God, you know if Matt was here right now he'd knock some bloody sense into you" she spouted angrily, sleep the last thing on her mind, unlike Jeff.

"You're right, he probably would but as you're the expert on me then why don't you do it for him. Save him the trouble!" Jeff yelled back at her before jumping out of the car with intentions of storming off. Amy quickly hopped out too, storming off after him.

"Don't walk away from me, I'm talking to you!" she demanded, grabbing his arm.

He whirled back to face her, his teeth gritted, "No, you're not talking to me you're f*cking screaming at me about something you know nothing of!"

"Well maybe I would know something if you would talk to me for once instead of mopping around and expecting me to pick up on it all by myself"

Jeff stared at her for a second as if contemplating whether to explain the situation but he threw his arms out, "You wouldn't understand"

He went to walk away but yet again Amy's hand on his arm stopped him. He turned back to her expecting to see her face as contorted with anger as his but finding it to have softened gently,

"Try me" she looked up at him, her eyes pleading quietly, "Please"

Jeff sighed, nodding, "ok"

***

Tyana checked that the circuit looked exactly like the picture Bret had displayed on her communicator and then nodded.

"Ok, done that, so now I just put the back on?" she asked, picking up her screwdriver and a small screw.

"Yeah" Bret said as he appeared back on the screen. Ty nodded and placed the backing on. She secured it with 4 screws and added the earphones.

"Ok, wish me luck" she told him. Bret did as asked and she switched the small knob. The pocket sized screen lit up in front of her and she put her earphones in. she dialed a code into the buttons below the screen and hoped that it worked. Bret's face became visible and his voice filled her ears.

"Hey, well done Ty" he congratulated as she beamed down at him.

"Thanks, god, took long enough" she admired her handy work in creating a subtle communicator that she could carry with her easily without people noticing with Bret's help. "We make a good team"

"We sure do. What do you say we check this thing out?" Bret suggested.

Tyana agreed to the idea and jumped up from the table in her hotel room. She slipped the main part with the small screen into her pant pocket and it was so flat it barely made a bump. She pulled the earphones out and then threaded them up under her sweater and back into her ears. She clipped the practically invisible microphone onto her collar and turned off the communicator she had originally been assigned.

"Can ya hear me?" she asked him. He replied with a yes and Ty happily set off out of her room. After locking it she took the stairs down to the lobby where she exited the hotel and strolled into the parking lot. Walking towards its entrance/exit Tyana nattered happily to Bret via her new device and she had to admit, she was rather proud of her latest string of accomplishments.

She didn't pay attention to the car that rolled into the lot and parked up until she heard her name being called enthusiastically. Tyana turned in the calls direction and smiled at the man that was closing a car door.

"Bret, gimme a minute" she whispered before unnoticed flipping the switch to turn the communicator off.

"Hey—wow, I'm beginning to think you're stalking me" Tyana said when the guy reached her, her sense of humour really developing now that her confidence was boosted by her successful endeavors.

He laughed, "I was thinking the same thing" he pushed some hair from his eyes, Tyana noticing his cutely painted black nails, "It's getting weird seeing you so often…do you follow the show or something?"

The question flew over Ty's head for a moment but then she remembered exactly what it was he did and so smiled, "Uh, no, I'm just traveling randomly, coincidence I guess"

Jeff nodded, "Well that's cool"

Tyana noticed the movement over his shoulder and looked round him to see Amy waving happily at them. Tyana laughed and waved back. She turned her attention back to Jeff almost instantly,

"I wanna apologise for the other day in then store—I know it must have seemed rude even under the whole 'just meeting' circumstances"

"Oh, hey, no problem" Jeff dismissed with a smile and a flick of his wrist. Tyana smiled at his understanding. They began chatting casually and it suddenly struck Tyana that it was so strange…she felt completely comfortable talking to this man and he was almost a total stranger. Maybe it was the fact that she'd been thinking of him practically none stop for the past 72 hours…maybe it was his easing smile…or maybe it was that her life seemed so rushed and confused recently that she was just seeking the normal things like friendly conversation. Either way she couldn't deny that she was talking openly with someone she'd met twice and only spoken to, briefly, once.

Somewhere along the line they'd managed to swap positions so that Jeff was stood facing the lot and Tyana looked out onto the street. As Jeff spoke to her she noticed a shifty looking guy come into view and looking paranoid continue to walk down the street.

"I'm sorry, uh, I've got to leave."

"Oh" was all Jeff could say.

Before Ty knew what she was doing she pulled out a small crumpled piece of paper from her back pocket that held a long number on it that she'd jotted down the day before as if she knew this time would come and handed it over.

"Here, I got a cell. Call me if you like, bye" with that she ran off down the street, flipping the switch to turn her portable communicator on and trailing several feet behind the familiar man that had only seconds ago caught her eye.