Chapter Eighteen

David I carefully planned it all. We took my car from the garage and called Calico. Then we parked when she answered and played a recording of me talking to her, followed by another recording of a dial tone. Meanwhile, we got on a bus while she might have been trying to trace the call. We took it to another bus station, not train, and got another ride. Then, in case we were being followed, we doubled back and passed my car again, to find that one door had been broken open and my cell phone was on the ground smashed. Apparently, Calico didn't like our little trick. Next, we took a cab to the edge of the city, and from there bought tickets on the train for Chicago. It would be a long trip, but I had a feeling it would go uninterrupted. On the train, we settled in the back, but left our disguises on. I had a fake goatee. Anya had a long brunette wig and blue contacts in, and Nicole had on a black wig and fake glasses. "Where the hell did you get these things?" I asked Anya, who'd remarkably had them in her coat pocket. "They're not mine. I.borrowed them from Calico. You wouldn't believe some of the crap she has in that closet of hers. I'm serious, she's gotta have a wig for every day of the year! She has fake noses too, and two-foot-tall platform shoes, and.so on and so forth. I mean, it looks like she's had this stuff her whole life, and just keeps getting more and more." "Anya, she's a hired assassin. What would you expect, a sunhat and sunglasses?" She frowned at me past Nicole. "Not quite, but still." "Uh huh.Nicole, could you excuse us a second?" I got up and shuffled past her toward the aisle. "Come on" I grabbed Anya by the right hand. "Anya." "What?" Anya asked as I stopped walking when we were in the back of the cabin, by the restrooms and turned to glower at her. I sighed.I'd been doing that a lot lately. "Nicole has almost been killed twice so could you please stop talking about the hired assassin? She's a nervous enough wreck as it is." Motioning at the shivering Nicole, my point was made. "Okay, okay.So what am I supposed to talk about, the weather?" "Exactly." She was frustrated; I could tell. And it was my own fault that she was such. "I'm sorry, I just don't wanna blow this thing, okay?" Anya only nodded. She acted like a child that had been yelled at. "Hey," I spoke again, trying to make her feel better. "I'll make it all up you. Do you believe me?" No reply was granted. I snaked an arm about her waist, holding her, while my opposite hand gently cupped one cheek and turned her head so that we were eye to eye.and lip to lip. Taking a miniscule step frontward, I kissed Anya for the second time, surprising, I suppose, both of us at the same time. My right arm twisted around her slim waist, as my left hand cupped the side of her face gently and my eyes fluttered shut for a moment. For that one moment, there were no problems. I had no troubles, for there was nothing threatening to worry about. There was only Anya; there was only us. "Do you believe me?" I inquired once more, after our lips had parted. My voice had softened, and I gazed admirably into her wondrous eyes. We were so close; I could feel the heat of my own breath between us. With a small smile and diffused anger in her eyes, Anya finally paid me a murmured answer. "Yes." 'Good.' I smiled, pleased