The trail had gone cold.
They had chased leads all across the European continent but the last few had apparently been ghosts. And now nothing. Sources had dried up and it seemed a dead end was all they faced.
Alex lay awake in the large hotel room and stared up through the darkness, any chance of sleep long out of reach. She then heard again the sound that had awoken her and felt the bed shudder as he flinched in his sleep, murmuring at whatever filled his dream.
Rolling her head towards him, she could just make out his back turned to her and wanted to reach out to him. But too many times her contact had caused a sudden lash out at her. And it was taking longer to break him out of the spell, his attacks becoming harsher and more frightening.
Alex kept her distance and closed her eyes, tears stinging as she listened to his disturbed slumber. And then came the gentle weeping. Her heart aching and adrenaline building, she weighed up the options and rolled slowly onto her side. Moving up close behind him and wrapping her arm around his chest, she buried her face into his neck and held her breath.
John whimpered softly into the quiet room and his tense shoulders relaxed. He leaned back into her embrace and slowly calmed, his rapid breaths easing as he sank into peaceful sleep.
Alex sighed in relief and pulled him close as she then also succumbed to her weariness.
XXXXX
It was light when she then awoke and she blinked her heavy eyes open. Aware of the space in the large bed, she lifted her head in confusion and then heard the gentle rush of the shower. She relaxed back against the soft pillows and closed her eyes.
The shower ceased and she heard the bathroom door open a few moments later. Hearing him chuckling softly, Alex pushed herself up onto her elbows and watched him hurry into the bedroom.
"Ugh!" John slammed the bathroom door shut and groaned. "I had company in the shower, babe." He explained, "God, those ugly bastards are hard to drown!"
Alex laughed and shook her head slowly. "Roach or spider?"
John shuddered and leapt away from the bathroom.
Alex smiled. Spider. "Well, at least we have a shower." She offered.
John shrugged and pulled his towel tighter round his waist before using another to rub at his dripping hair.
"What?" Alex laughed, "You'd rather scuzz out for a few more days? Or take another bath with inquisitive fish in cold rivers?"
Laughing at the memory, John perched on the end of the bed. "I guess."
Alex watched him finish drying himself, her eyes resting on the gradually fading scars that were etched into his torso. Her throat tightened and she found herself wishing that the emotional wounds would be as quick to heal.
Deciding to chance the unwanted guests that might be lurking in the bathroom, Alex sat up swung her legs over the side of the bed. The room suddenly did a merry dance around her and she groaned softly. Covering her mouth against the nausea, she paused at the edge of the bed.
John was at her side in an instant. He sank beside her and placed his hand on her forehead. "God, you're hot!" He frowned in concern and watched her close her eyes. "I guess it's all the trash we've been eating." He surmised, remembering snatching snacks from sparse gas stations and going for ages between meals.
"And freezing nights camped out in the car." Alex managed a thin smile and lay back down on the bed.
John grabbed his watch from the bedside table and sighed as he read the time. "It's too late for hotel breakfast. And I dread to think what food service might bring us." He reached out and stroked Alex's hair back from her face. "I'll go get us something decent to eat." He grabbed his jeans and glanced outside to check on the weather. "There must be a little café or something. If not, I'm sure I saw a MacDonalds as we drove through last night."
Alex laughed, "Yeah, that's really healthy food!"
"Better than damned spicy sausage or that cabbage thing we had the other week!" John retorted merrily. "I don't think we'd survive another attack of gas poisoning."
Alex chuckled in agreement and watched him hurriedly pulling on his clothes. He dried the last of the dampness from his hair and then returned to lean down and place a kiss on her forehead.
He smiled at her fondly and then headed out of the room. "Back in a mo', Mrs Tracy."
Alex watched him leave and swallowed back the lump in her throat. He kept calling her that. She lifted her hand and looked at the shiny titanium wedding band that encircled her finger. Tears blurred her vision and she yearned for the union to be real, not simply the illusion they had adopted. It was Mr and Mrs Fraser this time. Young, harmless, typical Americans. Nothing more. One of their many aliases.
Penny's friend in New York had been a real find. He had fabricated a whole host of creative names and the appropriate IDs. Since then they had travelled across the States as FBI or Homeland Security agents, crossed over to France as newlyweds and used Interpol or news agency aliases to head gradually further East. Now they were honeymooning in Kiev.
John had wanted to make it real. He had asked her in New York. And bought her a diamond in Zurich. But they just could not risk it. Registering would flag up their location to International Rescue. And others.
Penny had left the links open and John had commented on how much he owed her for this. He was sure that she was keeping tabs and was grateful for her seemingly omnipotent presence. But where she could look for him, others might follow and so he tried to cover their tracks as best he could. Including destroying the lab where their IDs had been made.
Alex shuddered, remembering the explosion and the heat. And her tearful apology to the poor agent whose livelihood went up in flames.
That had then led to their first and only argument on their little crusade. She had been upset and frightened but trying to get some sort of clarity from John was impossible and she had almost turned away and left him to it.
He had panicked then, begging her to stay and trying to make her understand. But that was just the problem; she understood all too well. She saw his pain and she knew what was driving him. And it terrified her. But the thought of what he might do alone haunted her and she had no choice but to stay.
It was a slow process. With just the two of them on the case, each new lead took time to find and tracking some of them down was hard. But finding the accountant in Switzerland had been a triumphant moment.
The poor guy hadn't seen it coming. With no idea who many of his clients were and caring only for the huge commission he was stockpiling, being faced with a furious John had been something of a shock. But he had gladly handed over the solution to a whole list of puzzles – as well as creating many more questions.
John had then been able to map out all that they had discovered, drawing up a plan of who was where and each persons role in what was becoming a scarily vast organisation. The size of the problem was daunting. And each new lead could either take them to a small subsidiary at the bottom of one of the chains or move them further up towards the top of the tree.
So now they were here. Lost and unsure where to head next and hanging at the end of a line of clues. She had called Henry a few times and resources at MI5 had helped them out of a few corners but John had become paranoid about even contacting her uncle. He had insisted that her call the previous week was the last one and said they just could not take the risk. They had to do this themselves.
And Alex had never felt so alone.
Alex again chanced sitting up and was glad to find the vertical position not as dizzying. She stood from the bed and paused for a moment. The nausea then flooded back urgently and she fled to the bathroom to be violently sick.
XXXXX
John was pleased with himself. He was smiling and humming merrily as he ambled along the street in the midday sunshine. He had found an American-style coffee store and gathered all manner of goodies. As cosmopolitan as he was happy to be, sometimes nothing could match home comforts. And on this occasion, that was a brunch of muffins, sandwiches, decaf Lattes and a pack of Alex's favourite fresh pineapple.
Clutching the valuable find to his chest, he hurried back to the hotel, checking and double-checking the area. He doubled back a few times to ensure he wasn't followed and his eyes darted about, ever alert to his surroundings.
With a spring in his step and a welcome lightness to his mood, he greeted the porter at the door to the hotel and thanked him for the tip, pulling a paper one of his own from his pocket and giving it to the cheerful man.
He breathed a sigh of relief and hurried inside, never once noticing the silver Mercedes that hung in the shadows opposite the hotel or the driver that lifted his camera and snapped a few shots of him.
Tbc …
