Sydney was exhausted. She had booked a room at the hotel the cabbie had told her to and he was right no one in there right mind would go looking for her there. Good thing she wasn't in her right mind. The bar down the street had just closed the front desk clerk told her so the park across the street was going to get loud real soon from all the drunks trying to sing. Right now a train could come flying thru her room and she would still sleep thru it. She tried to put the doctor's words out of her mind and concentrate on her next move. "Shower, sleep and book a flight back home. Hopefully Karen still lives in her apartment." Sydney rubbed her belly to appease the twins who had just woken up an decided to play kickball with her kidneys. She stepped into the hot shower hoping that it would help to relax them and sooth her nerves. She had been concerned since she had crossed the border. Border security in this town was very tight and she was concerned that perhaps in her attempts to avoid detection she may have unwittingly made herself look like someone that had something to hide. Well she did but she didn't need the local police coming to her door, not atleast for the next three days 'cause she was sure that would be how long it would take her to get some good fake documents.
The cabbie had been pretty helpful telling her that his cousin who worked ground crew at the local airport had told her that any outbound flights from Laredo were now being stopped and passenger documents being checked with a fine tooth come. Same went for anyone trying to drive out of the city. Those were her only two options for getting out of town since there was no Amtrak service and she did not have the funds to pay for a private flight out of there. Well tomorrow was going to be here soon enough she may as well get some rest.
Nigel and Samuel had landed in record time. They had been stationed in California and Samuel's had some old connections that owed him favors. True you were supposed to be dead to all your past acquaintances but the organization didn't know Samuel. His friends always knew he was headed for big things concerning protecting his country and the American way of life so when he "died" and no body had been recovered they knew he would pop up sooner or later. His old buddy Hank had a private jet business and he wrangled clearance from San Diego to San Antonio, Texas. From there they would rent their own private plane to Laredo so as not to get Hank into more trouble in case people came looking for him. So now here he was Nigel Bailey ex-teacher's assistant holding on to dear life in his passenger seat while Samuel flew the twin engine aircraft at breakneck speed to Laredo. The flight should take less than 45 minutes but with Samuel driving Nigel was sure they'd make it in thirty. He was unable to locate any connections in the border town, seemed it was a dead zone. It was controlled by THEM so Nigel had to make sure he found Sydney quick and got her out just as fast. It would take THEM about thirty-six hours to discover the ruse so they had to make sure they were on the other side of the country by then.
Sydney was awoken by the sound of thundering steps coming down the hall. She put her shoes and khaki pants on quick, strapped her knife to her right leg and hid next to the dresser. She had a gun but she kept it out of view, no sense in giving them a reason to fire just in case they weren't looking for her. The steps got closer and Sydney tried to control her breathing, the adrenaline rush she felt woke the twins up to and they begin to stir within her. The steps stopped outside her door and Sydney could have kicked herself, she had been found and she was scared. That's when all hell broke loose, the police shouted SWAT and for the person behind the door to open it before it got broken down. Before she could answer she heard bullets being fired she covered her head scared that glass or debris from the wall would rain down on her and hurt the twins. What felt like hours but may have been only minutes before the bullets had stopped and her room was still intact. She ran to the door and opened just a sliver so she could see what was going on and the people across the hall, two men and two women were being paraded out of that room with handcuffs. They were being read their rights in English and Spanish while another police officer held two black duffel bags. They were open and Sydney could see clear bags full of a white substance and some filled with green dead grass. She closed her door so relieved that she had been mistaken, the police wasn't here for her they were here for the drug pushers from across the hall. She went and sat on the bad and cried silently tears of relief and once again wished that Nigel was with her. It took about an hour before the noise outside stopped, she sneaked another peak and it was all clear as if nothing had happened, she absentmindedly thought that this must be such a common occurrence that they have the quick clean-up job down to a science. She decided to try and take another nap, it seemed the twins had already dozed off minutes ago since they had stopped stirring. Rest, rest would really be nice then lots of food.