Chapter 3: The Chase
They had been on the road for some hours now. Stopped for petrol ones, and bathroom and food breaks twice. The sun had gone down and Rapunzel's eyes were straining to stay open. Flynn figured they might as well find somewhere to spend the night now as they had made good time, the car doing better than expected.
"So Blondie," Flynn asked and Rapunzel made a small jump as she woke up with a shock. "You have any demands on sleeping arrangement?"
"Um, somewhere with a bed would be nice, maybe running water. Other than that, I'm good" Rapunzel answered while stretching out.
After another half hour they came pass a motel and pulled in. The rain had starting coming down in buckets and Flynn ran inside to check whether they had a vacancy. Getting the cheapest room possible he got back out into the car and got Blondie and Pooch. Even with running, they were both soaked when they got to the room.
"You wanna hit the showers first there Blondie, or should I do the honours?" Flynn asked looking at Rapunzel shaking in her big coat, which was dripping all over the dirty carpet.
"Um, no that's okay, you go ahead" She said looking a bit nervous.
"Don't have to tell me twice" Flynn got some dry clothes out of his bag and went into the bathroom. He made the shower as quickly as possible, as to not use up all the hot water, and he was pretty sure Goldie would be freezing by now. He pulled on a pair of loose sweatpants, but with his hair still dripping he didn't bother with a shirt. "You're up" He said while towelling his hair.
Rapunzel gave a squeak and ran into the bathroom clutching her suitcase. Flynn heard the shower turn on and sat down and turned on the TV. His face was all over the news.
Corona Police are looking for any witnesses who have any information on the whereabouts of the notorious Flynn Rider, well-known cat burglar. Flynn was captured on tape at the Corona Royal Museum stealing a valuable painting from the famous Gustav Klimt. If anyone should have any information, please contact the police on the shown number.
A phone number flashed on the screen over a very grainy image of him stealing the painting. Damnit, he had been so careful not to be seen on any camera! But hold up, that wasn't the people surrounding him, when he was at the museum. There had been a class of children – noisy annoying children – all over the place that day. And on the tape, it only showed adults. This was a setup somehow.
Flynn had been so involved in the TV, he hadn't seen Rapunzel come out of the bathroom. She went to hang up her coat and picked up Pascal.
"Is that you?" She said while sitting down on the bed next to Flynn.
"It's meant to look like me, but it isn't me" Flynn said still looking at the TV. "When I took that painting, the museum was full of kids running around"
"So you did take it then?" Rapunzel said.
"Ahh well I…" Flynn finally looked up and looked at Rapunzel. She had all her long blond hair out, slowly braiding it. She was wearing a pair of pyjama bottoms that had little flowers on them and a white t-shirt. Gothel had absolutely been wrong about the getting fat and ugly part. Holy shit had she been wrong. "Yeah, I took it. The man how told me about you, paid me to take that painting" Flynn had to concentrate to look into Rapunzel's eyes, which shouldn't really be that hard giving they where gorgeous as well especially now devoid of any make-up.
"Okay then" She said and smiled at him.
"Okay then? You're not going to tell me that breaking the law is wrong and I shouldn't steal?" Flynn said incredulous.
"Don't you already know that?" She said back at him while setting Pascal down on the carpet. He sniffed around and found a pillow to sleep on.
"Well yeah, I guess, but…" He didn't really know what else to say. He knew stealing was wrong. It wasn't like he enjoyed it – okay so maybe he loved it, but the thrill was good and the money was even better.
"But what?" Rapunzel said when Flynn didn't finish the sentence.
"I guess but nothing." He finally said when he didn't know what to say in his own defence. He never had anybody ask him why he was doing it, there were never anybody who cared enough. Flynn was worried about the car though. He was smart enough to buy it in cash, as to not leave a paper trail, but if Coronas finest where on the hunt, it wouldn't take them long to find out he bought it. Well, finest was a kind term and they would probably be allright to keep driving. With only 400 km left, they should arrive at the border tomorrow evening. But it was a chance to take and if they got caught he would face a lot of prison time.
"What are you thinking about?" Rapunzel asked, maybe not for the first time, Flynn hadn't really been paying attention.
"I think we need to leave the car. We need to find some other way of getting to the border." He said.
Rapunzel only nodded, she really was taking this well.
"So we get some sleep and tomorrow we figure this thing out. I think we're safe here for the night, but we should really leave first thing." Flynn added.
"Um, where do I sleep?" Rapunzel said, not really being able to look Flynn in the eyes.
"What, you don't wanna sleep on the bed?" Flynn said, not understanding the problem.
"No no, I do, but I thought you would want to sleep on the bed" Rapunzel said moving towards the bed.
"Well yeah. Look it's a big bed we'll both fit just fine. Don't worry so much" Flynn said throwing himself down on the bed.
Rapunzel looked terrified for a second, but she seemed to resolve herself and jumped under the sheets. She picked up Pascal who curled himself in between her cheek and the pillow. Flynn fell asleep wondering how on earth he was going to travel 400 km with a chick and a puppy. Goddamn it, now he could get the song "Follow the yellow brick road" out of his head.
The first thing Flynn realised when he woke up was that the sun was streaming in through the windows. He had overslept. Shit. The second thing was how very comfortable he was. For a shitty motel they sure had nice smelling sheets, all warm and comfortable. A bit hairy though. Wait. Ohh right, Rapunzel. In his sleep, Flynn had rolled over completely to her side and was now snuggled up with his head tucked in her neck and his arm slung over Rapunzel. Stupid lovely smelling blond hair.
Flynn got up with a groan. A bunch of kids outside where running around shouting and laughing. Flynn gently shook Rapunzel awake. "Hey Blondie, wake up, it's time to go"
Rapunzel only mumbled and reached around and grabbed Flynn's hand. She dragged in back around her while snuggling back into the pillow mumbling something about talking frogs. Flynn softly laughed and pulled his hand back, which woke her up completely.
"Oh" Rapunzel sat straight up in the bed looking around confused. "Right, yes, leaving" Her hair was a complete birds nest on her head. She jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom.
Flynn got some clothes on and gathered their belongings. He sat on the bed waiting for Rapunzel to come out from the bathroom. Pascal had started jumping at the door and barking.
"Come on Blondie, we're loosing daylight. The fluffball needs to go out as well" Flynn shouted at the closed bathroom door.
"Okay okay okay, don't get your knickers in a twist" she said putting the last stuff in her suitcase and closing it. "Shush Pascal, I'll be right with you"
"Oh Blondie, I'm not wearing any knickers" Flynn winked at her. Pascal was going crazy at the door now barking full on.
"Well, I'm sure if you did, they would be the pretty kind with lace. Pretty things for a pretty gal" Rapunzel said back smiling.
Oh it was on. Flynn liked this new and feistier Rapunzel. He was just about to say something about how he would very much like to see what kind of underwear she had on when he noticed something was wrong. Everything was quite. No kids outside screaming and Pascal was now growling at the door, shackles raised.
He started to turn around towards the door "Wait a mo-"
The bullet blasted through the window with a big noise and Flynn felt his ear sting like crazy. Flee or fight mode kicked in and Flynn was never the fighting kind. His face was way too pretty for that, so he grabbed Rapunzel and forced her down.
"Get the dog, get your stuff and crawl into the bathroom!" he shouted at her. He was sure Rapunzel would be too terrified, but she did what he said as quickly as she could. No more bullets came through and Flynn crawled after Rapunzel into the bathroom, closing the door. He went to check the window, which led out to narrow strip of free space between the next bathroom window. He broke the next one and threw their bags over the edge and through the window.
"Come here, quickly" Flynn said to Rapunzel. He gave her a boost and pushed her and Pascal up and over the edge. Flynn checked the motel room, luckily it was empty.
"How many people are normally sent after you?" Flynn whispered.
"Two. The twins. They are not nice people." Rapunzel whispered back. Flynn noticed she was shaking. Flynn went to the window that overlooked the entrance to their original room. He saw the two huge men hunkered by the door. One of them stood up and began to pick the lock. He got in and walked in the room while the brother stood guard at the door.
"Get ready to run" Flynn whispered, pulling Rapunzel close. "You see that diner on the other side of the road – that's the target. You run over there and don't look back okay? There are bound to be some trucker who can take you with him to the border"
Rapunzel looked at him "You're not coming with me?"
"Ofcourse I am, don't be silly – get ready" Flynn said. He heard the shout from the twin who went into the room. He would have noticed them gone and the broken window. As soon as the other twin went inside, Flynn opened the door as quietly and quickly he could and they ran.
When they were across the car park, Flynn heard a shout from the hotel room. He took Rapunzel in the other hand and change direction. A car window next to them exploded, as the bullet didn't hit its target. They both tumbled down the steep hill with the large highway at the bottom. Cars where flying by and it took careful planning getting across. Once on the other side, Flynn looked back and saw the twins getting into a black sedan. It would take them a bit of time to cross the road and Flynn now needed to make a choice where to go. He had told Rapunzel to go to the diner, but that was only if he could have detained the twins. The twins would expect them to go there. Rapunzel wouldn't like it, but they would have to steal a car at get the hell away from here. Fast.
They ran to the back of the diner and Flynn looked for an older car without an alarm. Luckily they found one and he broke the window to open the door.
"Get in!" Flynn told Rapunzel, as he flung open the passenger door. She jumped in and he sped out of the lot. As they were driving, he kept checking the mirrors, for the moment they seemed to have escaped.