"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," Joey hissed as she returned from her walk. She'd woken and decided she needed fresh air and time to think and now that she'd had both of those things, she realised how dumb it was to have left that money behind. Sure, breaking in and stealing petrol wasn't something that was going to be ignored any way, but leaving behind that money as payment would be more likely to point toward it being them, since anyone looking for them would probably know that Miss Snr Const. Prim and Proper would object to flat out stealing. It was such a dumb fucking move and they'd likely just painted a big, bright red arrow in their direction, should someone get word of what happened at the servo.

Joey shook her head in frustration. What the hell was going on with her? This recklessness wasn't like her, nor was this waffling. A clear plan was needed. But what? Her options were limited and then there was her travelling companion to consider. She'd move much quicker on her own and it would certainly be less work on her nerves in not to having to listen to the constant complaints or watch her back around that cop. While Charlie had appeared to have accepted her position in this, Joey didn't trust her. Not only was she a cop, Charlie didn't come across as someone who would be happy to stay a virtual prisoner forever and was no doubt going over different plans for escape in her head. That made her dangerous and unpredictable, and that was the last thing Joey needed. She had no idea how many were after them, but she did know with absolute certainty, that she wasn't going to be allowed to just walk away from this mess, so opening herself to further danger by keeping Charlie around, probably wasn't the smartest of moves.

"Ditch her," she told herself. It really would be easier, yet the part of her that had insisted on dragging her passenger along for the ride this far, said differently. "She's insurance and until I figure a way out of this mess, she sticks with me."

Joey sighed. She was already regretting her choices from that fateful night and had she chosen differently, her life would definitely be a lot easier right now. What's done was done though, so there was no point dealing with what ifs, when the only thing she should be dealing with, was what the fuck did they do now? Go by the back roads? Joey had purposely chosen main roads out of the city, as taking the back road route seemed the most obvious choice to their pursuers, but after the servo last night, it might be an idea to mix it up a bit.

"Shit," she muttered. Joey hated back roads, or more to the point, she hated back roads when she had no fucking idea where they led. She knew the city, the streets where she could disappear into, but this out here, was a whole new frontier for her, which made it all the more dangerous and while she'd studied the map they'd taken from the servo last night and noted some of the smaller roads, that didn't mean all the roads were even on the map in the first place. What if she took a wrong turn? The last thing they needed was to get lost out here, especially as she had no clue as to where they were going. Then it popped into her head. A place that had been a small part of her childhood. She'd only been there once, but the memories had remained of a beautiful little seaside town. Joey racked her brain. Had she ever mentioned it to anyone? She didn't think so. She had no idea what the place was like these days, but at the very least, they could stay there for a few days and give themselves some time to work out their next move. Decision made, Joey went back inside the B&B to inform her companion.

"Where is this place that you're taking us to?" Charlie asked as the trees whipped by the passenger side window in a haze. They weren't going that fast, but the wind was strong today and she could feel it tugging on the car.

"Down the coast," replied Joey.

"How far down?"

"It's a couple of hours from the city," she said.

"Oh great, then we've been going in completely the wrong direction for the past day and a bit," Charlie said.

"Think of it as taking the more scenic and circular route," Joey said.

"Scenic as in taking days, instead of hours to get there?" Charlie said. "'cos if it's all the same, I'd rather not be stuck in a car for days on end."

"It won't hurt to take a couple of days to get there," Joey said, and by doing so, they'd hopefully lose any tails along the way. "Don't worry, Charlie, I know this town well," she lied to her. "We'll be safe there." She hoped.

"For how long?"

"Until we figure out how to get out of this situation."

"We could call the cops."

"I can't believe you just suggested that when one of your buddies just tried to kill us the other night."

"Watson was just one cop," Charlie said. "And there is more than one police department," she said. "What about the Federal Police?"

"Do you know anyone there?"

"Well, no."

"Then how do you know who to trust?"

"We're going to have to trust someone eventually," Charlie reasoned.

"Fine," Joey said and she handed Charlie a mobile she'd swiped from the back pocket of an unsuspecting woman in the bathroom at one of their pit stops yesterday. She'd made sure any tracking apps had been removed, along with the sim card.

"Where did that come from?"

"My pocket," she replied, since that's exactly where she'd just taken it from.

"You stole it!" Charlie said incredulously.

"You know, you really are going to have to get over your constant outrage at my propensity for the five fingered discount."

"I'm a cop and you're a thief, it's not something I can just get over."

"You're not a cop right now," Joey told her. "You're a target, just like me and if we're going to get through this alive, you're going to have to do some things that insult your precious sensibilities, so just get the fuck over it and deal with it," she snapped. "Go on, take the phone."

Charlie found her uncuffed hand was immobile. There was a phone within reach, a phone to call for help on, yet her hand made no move toward it.

"There's no sim card, but emergency calls can still be made, so go ahead, call in the cavalry," Joey told her. "Ask to speak to your Sergeant buddy, you know, the one who assigned that traitorous cow to your detail at the last minute," she taunted her. "Or perhaps you could just ask the nice 000 operator to connect you to the first honest cop on the list."

Charlie sighed and turned to stare out the window.

"You can't trust anyone Charlie," Joey said.

"Not even you," Charlie muttered and tuned the other woman out. It was a testament to her newly acquired level of mistrust, that she hadn't been able to take that phone and call a man she'd trusted and admired for so long. "Damn you, Nick," she whispered. "Damn you all."

After two hours on the road, Joey glanced once more into the rear vision mirror. She'd been keeping an even closer eye on it more recently when she'd noticed a troubling development. At first Joey had been hoping she was just being paranoid, but with each subsequent turn they took, her paranoia had turned toward certainty.

"Shit," Joey murmured, more than convinced now that the black sedan which had been tailing them for the past twenty minutes, was definitely following them when they took yet another turn with them.

"Are we being followed?" asked Charlie when she caught Joey glancing in the mirror again.

"Two cars back," Joey said.

Charlie looked over her shoulder. "The black sedan?"

"Yeah, could be an unmarked cop car."

"Nah, too expensive for one of ours," Charlie said.

"Then it's one of Braxtons," Joey decided.

"Looks like a driver and a passenger."

"Do you recognise them?"

Charlie shook her head. "Not from this distance and with the way the sun is glaring on their windscreen," she said. "I'm not even sure if they're men or women or one of each."

"I'm going to try and lose them."

"Don't make it obvious."

"I'm not a rookie at this you know," she replied, "I have done this before."

It was yet another reminder for Charlie, that Joey wasn't quite the woman she'd made out to be.

"Yes, I'm sure you're very capable of losing a tail," Charlie said, before snidely adding. "No doubt you've had to run from a lot of cops, what with your penchant for five fingered discounting and all," she said, while she wondered why none of this had shown up in even a cursory background check. The woman knew what she was doing, which meant she was experienced, so how had she managed to get away with it for so long? Charlie sat back in the seat. She really wanted to be anywhere but here and it had nothing to do with the danger tailing them.

"What do you think they're waiting for?" Charlie asked as another ten minutes passed by without any action from the car behind them.

"A more secluded area with less witnesses around, would be my guess," replied Joey.

Charlie stared at her. The woman's knowledge and actions definitely suggested she had history in this area, but just how extensive was that history.

"Or maybe they're not really after us," Charlie said, though she didn't really buy into that.

"You're right, maybe they're just a couple of horny guys trailing a couple of babes just for kicks," Joey sarcastically said. Joey slowed the car down and took another left. The car followed. "There, satisfied now that they're after us?"

Charlie just scowled at her.

"They're still there," Charlie pointed out five minutes later.

"That's because I haven't tried to lose them yet."

"When do you intend to make your move?" asked Charlie. "When the car is right on top of us?"

Joey glanced at her, a small smile tugging at her lips. In her current mood, Charlie had frown lines around her eyes and an angry tilt to her mouth, but it did nothing to mar her beauty.

"What are you looking at?" snapped Charlie.

"The beautiful woman sitting next to me," Joey spoke the words before she could stop them.

"Don't go getting any ideas," Charlie told her, though she felt an odd thrill rush through her at Joey finding her attractive, which pissed her off even more. She didn't want to feel anything for any woman after that bitch Watson's betrayal.

"You're even more beautiful when you're angry."

"Fuck off," muttered Charlie and Joey chuckled.

"Just enjoy the ride Charlie."

"Just lose the tail, Joey."

They were hitting less traffic the furtherer away from the centre of town they drove. The streets were also becoming narrower.

"I hate the fucking country," muttered Charlie as the car hit a large pothole and she nearly hit her head on the side window.

"The fresh air is wonderful though."

"Fresh air?" scoffed Charlie. "There is cow shit everywhere, it's dusty and there's barely anyone in sight, it's just plain depressing."

"You're really not the adventurous type, are you?"

Charlie just fumed in her seat. "By the way, that car is still behind us," she mumbled petulantly.

"All in good time."

"Well you might not have that time," Charlie pointed out. "He's put his foot down on the accelerator."

"Shit," Joey muttered, as the distance between them and the car behind was shortening with great speed when she peered into the rear vision mirror.

"What are you going to do now?" Charlie snidely asked, while being silently terrified they were about to die.

There was a collective cheer in various cars as word spread. Their objective had been spotted and cars turned around or veered left or right and sped off, all with the same intent - to converge on that one car.