Chapter 6

"Welcome to Topeka." He'd never been so happy to see a sign like that before. Sam whistled a little tune through his teeth, tapped his hand on the steering wheel in time to the music on the radio, and kept his eyes peeled for his exit. Then he had to find an Irish pub on 8th. An Irish pub in the middle of Kansas! Sure enough, there it is. Who'd ever think of such a thing? He parked his truck in back and wondered if any of the few cars in the lot belonged to Mike and Fi. Maybe they didn't make it. How long should I wait? Please God, let them be here! I'd hate to have come all this way for nothing.

He entered through a side door and let his eyes adjust to the dimness. He heard a soft thud and a shout. A small group at the bar played a dice game. A couple sat at a table near the front windows. It wasn't Michael and Fiona. Sam quickly scanned the rest of the establishment, and he was just about ready to give up when he heard a distinctive accent delivered by a soft female voice.

"Aye, ye almost beat me there, Sean!"

Sam turned to the right and saw two people standing behind a line on the wood floor. The woman with long red hair, longer than he remembered it, aimed for the dart board. The man who stood at an angle that showed his profile had auburn hair and familiar blue eyes, and he drank from a short glass.

Sam stepped up until he was only a couple of feet away and spoke softly. "'Tis a fine day to be playin' among the green," he said with the correct inflection. It was their signal, and at the sound of his voice, Michael and Fiona turned to him.

"My, my, look at ya! Jacob, ya've gotten scrawny," Fiona remarked with a twinkle in her eye as she gave Sam a hug.

"You've gotten... complicated." Sam felt the slight bump when she pressed close. As he pulled back, he asked, "How far along are you?"

"Almost four months." She looked at Michael and smiled.

"Fi, don't tell me..."

"It's his," Fiona responded softly.

"When..." Sam turned to Michael with a puzzled expression on his face. "Are you happy about this?"

Michael shrugged. He spoke softly. "Not much we can do now, Sam. It just happened, and we'll have to deal with the consequences later."

"Hopefully we won't be on the run anymore by the time the kid is born," Sam muttered. He felt the presence of someone behind him and he turned and smiled at the server.

"Was this who you were waiting for?"

"Yes, we're all here now," Michael answered in a brogue.

Interestingly enough, the server didn't look at all Irish and she didn't talk as if she were. It kind of ruined the ambiance, but Sam didn't come here for atmosphere. It was a quiet place in the middle of the day where he could meet with his friends, if only for a little while. She led them to a table near the dartboards where it was cool, dim, and quiet. After giving them menus she announced the specials and then hurried off to the bar to help another customer.

"Have you been taking care of yourself, Sam?" Michael looked at him. "Like Fi said, you look like you've lost weight."

"Yeah, but don't worry, I'm fine." He gave them a brief rundown of what happened in his travels. They all had four months of catching up to do. "So what about you guys? When we separated, you were apart. Weren't you?" He recalled pulling away from the loft and seeing the two of them in his rear view mirror with separate vehicles, the Charger abandoned for the time being.

"We were separate," Michael answered and a smile grew on his face. "But Fi and I managed to cross paths outside of Macon, Georgia. Her car broke down, and I just picked her up."

"Yea, we figured 'twas a sign that we were supposed to stay together," Fiona added with a smile of her own. "Twasn't long after that, I discovered that I was havin' the wee one."

Michael's brow furrowed as he addressed him. "I'm sorry, Sam, that you've had to fend for yourself all this time."

"No, Mike, it's okay. Yeah, it's been lonely, but knowing you guys are safe, that's the important thing." He stopped talking when he sensed the server coming back. After they ordered and she went away, they continued their conversation. "What are your plans now?"

"Not sure. I got a tip on some work in Iowa. We may go there."

"Just as long as we're somewhere safe when the baby comes," Fiona said.

"Oregon."

Michael raised his eyebrow at Sam. "Oregon?"

"Yeah, I hear it's remote in some places, but they have big cities, too. You could get lost in Portland somewhere until Fi has the baby, and then sneak off into the woods." He paused. "That's where I'm heading. I thought I'd go to California first, look up a couple of buddies who are still in intelligence, but they're guys I can trust to keep their mouths shut."

"What would you want them to do?"

"Find out what the CIA is up to." He cocked a grin. "They have the ability to do it, Mike. And maybe we can have them funnel in some info that'll clear us."

"Such as..."

"You're the guy with the intel, Mike. You got something you want me to pass along, I'll do it."

Michael leaned forward, his voice low and raspy. "No, Sam, it's too dangerous!"

Sam wouldn't back down. He leaned in close and replied, "Too dangerous for you with a family, but me, I've got nobody to be accountable to. I'm willing to take the risk if it gets us back home."

"What about Elsa?"

Sam frowned. "She's not part of the equation right now."

Laying a hand on Sam's shoulder, Michael wordlessly told him that he understood how his friend felt. After all, he had to leave Fiona back in Ireland without warning, and it took years for them to reunite and get past the hurt his abandonment caused. For Sam to pretend that Elsa didn't matter, that spoke volumes to him because he knew she mattered very much and he would do anything to protect her from the fallout of their actions.

"Michael," Fiona whispered and put her hand over his. "It's risky, yes, but like Sam says, if there's a chance that we can be cleared and return to Miami, don't you want to take it?" She blinked, tears filling up her eyes. She pulled back and swiped at them. "I'm sorry, I've been getting like this a lot lately."

"I understand." Sam gave her a smile. "You haven't had any morning sickness or anything, have you?"

"Thankfully, no!"

"Whew, good. That would have made things worse, I'm sure!" He took a sip of the iced tea he ordered. "So, what happened after you two hitched up? Besides the, um..." He made a motion with his hand.

Fiona grinned. "Michael and I, after meeting up in Macon, ditched my car and we kept going north. We were all the way up to Buffalo, weren't we?"

"Yeah, but Fi didn't like the idea of staying there when it got colder, so we're trying to find a happy medium. And Sam, I'm sorry about this, but... we got married in Buffalo."

"Hey, nothing to be sorry for! Congratulations, you two!"

"Thanks. Hey,what have you been doing for money?" As he spoke, Michael leaned closer to Fiona, put his arm around her shoulders, and rubbed her arm. It made Sam glad to see such behavior from his friend, as if he'd gotten used to just giving and receiving love without calculating whether it was right or not.

"I find a mechanic job here and there, or some home improvement project that a homeowner can't finish," he replied. "The last job I worked to pay off some major repairs to my truck, and when I decided I had to blow town, my boss gave me a nice chunk of cash. But I haven't had to use it yet, because I spent the last week laid up on that ranch."

"You were lucky you weren't killed in the accident," Fiona exclaimed.

"Yeah." Sam let out a long breath, then looked up at his friends. "You know, that's the thing that scares me the most about this running business. What if something happens to one of us and the others never find out?"

"That's why we have these meeting points," Michael replied. "Next, we'll meet in Fort Collins, Colorado in four months. If, say, something happened to you in that time and you didn't show up, if you can give us a rough estimate now of where you're going, we can backtrack and maybe find you or determine what happened."

"I see. But if I'm still able to communicate, I could leave a message at the location where we intend to meet again." Sam nodded. "It's not completely safe, but I suppose it's the best we can do under the circumstances."

"Agreed."

"Well, I know there's a little diner in Fort Collins. I had a friend in the service who was from there and said it was the best little place in town for biscuits. It's called the Mountain View Diner, near downtown."

"Okay, that's where we'll meet," Michael said.

"After that, I think you guys better head to Oregon and dig in until Fi gives birth." Sam paused and looked around. The other patrons were on the opposite end of the bar. "Maybe we can all meet up in Portland and disappear together."

"I'd like that," Fiona said before Michael could respond. She gave him a pleading smile. "Think about it, Michael. That would be over nine months on the run. If we make it that far, the CIA will probably have given up on finding us."

"I wouldn't count on it," Michael said. "However, we could at least give it a try. But I'm not going to contact my mom and have her come out. That's a sure-fire way to ruin our cover. I love my mom, but you know it's true, Fi."

Fiona closed her mouth, and her lips formed a pout. "We'll just have to figure out a way to send her pictures of her grandchild, then."

The time seemed to fly as the three talked while they ate. Soon their meals were finished and it was time to part again. An intense stab of loneliness and sorrow hit Sam. Spending time with Michael and Fiona was so good. He didn't want it to end, because it took him back to what used to be, instead of reminding him of what was now. He'd almost forgotten that he was supposed to be on the run.

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys in four months. That'll be November 1st, right? Fort Collins, at the Mountain View Diner, at one. In the meantime, I'm heading west through New Mexico, Arizona, and into Cali. See if I can get a hold of my friends."

"We're going to Iowa, and eventually get over to Colorado in time to meet up again," Michael replied. "Good luck, Sam."

"Same to you, Mike." He grinned. "Or should I say, Sean and Shannon?"

"Yes, see you soon... Jake." They shook hands, hugged, and with a sigh of regret, Sam walked toward his truck. He got in and saw that Michael and Fiona stopped beside the little crossover. With one more wave, he was out of the parking lot and heading back to the freeway.

As he drove, an idea formed in his head. What if I send Elsa a letter from a post office somewhere, just to let her know I'm okay? No return address, and by the time anyone tries to trace me through the postmark, I'll be long gone. Yeah, that would work! He came up to the freeway and saw a sign that directed him south, which is where he intended to go. Almost 300 miles, and he would be in Oklahoma City. From there, he could go several different directions, so it seemed a logical place to put his plan in motion.

It was dark when he pulled into the motel parking lot. He stopped at a dollar store along the way to pick up some stationery, and after he checked into his room, he sat at the desk and wrote the letter.

My dearest Elsa,

I love you and miss you so much, I can't come up with the words to tell you how bad it hurts to have left you the way I did. You know that Mike, Fi, Jesse, and I are in trouble with the CIA because of what we did to Anson. I can't explain it in a letter, and I don't want to, because I'm afraid this may never even reach you. If it does, just know that I regret having to leave you, and if there had been any way at all to make it work, I would have taken you with me.

I promise that if I find a way, I will either come back to you, or give you the means to find me. You remember that story I told you, the one about my time in East Germany? If not, look for it. You know where it is, and there you'll find a key to what I'm saying.

There are mountains and valleys to cross, deserts and rivers to ford, but the miles between us will be as nothing when I am with you again. Take care, my love, and in confidence believe that I will see you again in a few months.

Love, Sammy

At the bottom of the letter he wrote some sentences that, to anyone reading the letter who shouldn't have been, appeared to be either nonsense or something extremely personal. Sam counted on Elsa finding his code book and using it to decipher his message that began with the last paragraph and ended on the last line of the page. If she figured it out, he knew that in November he would see her in Fort Collins. If not... he didn't even want to think about it.

The next morning he found the nearest post office, bought a stamp, and sent the letter. As he pushed it through the slot, he almost couldn't let it go. He had cold feet. Not because of his feelings for Elsa: he was worried that someone would intercept the letter, discover what he wrote, and somehow he would be captured. He released it from his fingertips. He loved her so deeply, it was worth the risk.

Sam used to think that prayers in foxholes were a bad battle plan, but over the past few months, he resorted to them now and again. Sometimes they even worked, enough that he decided it wouldn't hurt to send up a prayer and hope for the best. God, please let this letter get to Elsa, and help her to decipher it. I desperately need to see her again.