Chapter 13
The truck carrying them back to another part of Russia was silent, for the most part. Kai sat in his own spot towards the front, far from the other members of the team, who had found a huge spot in the back to set up a game of cards, though he didn't know which one. At first it sounded like Poker, but it turned to…you guessed it: Slap Jack.
Mr. Dickenson, being the important man he was, stayed in Moscow to aid with the apprehension of Voltaire. Though he would have liked to, he couldn't just hitch them a ride back to Japan. It would've been too risky. Kai's grandfather would've immediately gotten wind of it, and the repetition of the last time they tried to hide out in Japan would've made the whole escapade pointless. So…he decided to secretly send them to the most remote (but still somewhat civilized) part of Russia.
Kai watched them subtly for a while. It was strange how naïve they were, yet so much more…adapted to the world around them. He? His heart was as frozen as the ice blanketing his home country. Or was it?
Thud, slap, slap. "OW!" It looked like Ray had won once again. He had the majority of the cards, Max in a close second. Tyson? He was barely staying in there, but he had enough to survive.
Slap. "OW!" Max won this round.
"OW!" Ray.
"OW!" Tyson.
"OW!" Max again.
"OW!" Ray this time.
"OW!" Ray.
"OW!" Tyson.
A shadow loomed over the cards as the team leader crawled over. "Hey. Can I play?"
Everyone stared for a moment. Kai? Willingly coming into their company?
"Of course!" Tyson answered, handing him a few cards from his pile. The others did the same.
Sht, sht, sht, sht, sht, sht, sht…They laid their cards down alternately, concentration heavy on their faces. The Jack of Spades!
Thud, thud, thud, thud, "OW!" Four hands clapped down upon the card almost simultaneously. Tyson's hand was at the top. On the bottom, as the winner, was…
"Good job, Kai!" Max complimented, taking his hand off of Ray's. Both were slightly red (THE HANDS!).
"Man!" Tyson complained.
"What's it like to win?" Ray asked.
"Painful," Kai answered, extracting a laugh from the others. He was having fun. He was actually having fun… When was the last time he had experienced that outside the beydish?
"Wanna go again?" Max challenged. They all began to lay down their cards…
They finally reached their destination. Tex unlocked the van's back sliding door, letting the others rush out. 6 hours on the…road?…can have that 'gottagetoutgottagetoutgottagetoutNOW!' effect on people. Tyson puked into some nearby bushes.
"Come on!" Tex urged. "Gotta get into the safehouse. Don't want nobody finding out yer here, or there'll be trouble!"
They scrambled inside. For a safehouse, it wasn't much of a…safe house. It was a normal, but old, local government building, reminding them of the Anne Frank story during the Holocaust. This was a similar case. No going outside or making a lot of noise, no looking out of windows until the coast was clear. Disobeying that law of survival meant…death. After all, they weren't sure what Voltaire would do to them once he got a hold of them.
"Listen," Tex briefed them on the plan. "Don't fret, cuz you won't be staying here long. We're gonna get ya out the country."
"Where're we going?" Tyson asked, predictably.
"Well, Mr. D was thinking – SH!" Tex was cut off. There was cacophony going about outside. "Don't move!"
They all remained silent. The sound of voices reached their ears. Commands of capture. The voices of Voltaire's mercenaries.
One of the doors nearest them was smashed in, revealing some uniformed soldiers.
"How'd they find us?!" Tex exclaimed.
"I dunno, but we gotta get out NOW!" Kai responded, not concerned with who, what, how, and all those other details. Right now, he was concerned with the safety of those around him.
They all retracted their blades from their pockets, launching them at the guards and knocking them out.
"Let's go!" Kai commanded, and led the way back to the truck. Tex started the thing up and they hauled tail out of there, raising dust into the eyes of their assailants. They didn't stop until the original driver of the van woke up and started doing his job again (Tex had been driving until then.). Tex then joined them in the back.
"What happened back there?" Max asked.
"Dunno. There must've been a leak," Tex whispered back, an angry tone in his voice (he's a good actor…).
"What're we gonna do?" Ray wondered.
"We're gonna go ahead and go to the next location. We'll be a few days earlier than expected, but, hey, it's better'n sticking around here, waiting for another attack, eh?" Tex pointed out.
"So where're we headed?" (Tyson)
"Stockholm," came the answer.
"Isn't that-?" Kai began.
"In Sweden," Tex finished for him. (He interrupted Kai. So impolite.)