Hey guys after this, I won't be posting for a bit due to my exam period starting. All I want to do every day is continue writing this but lol it's distracting me from my studies! But don't worry I'll come back around mid-April. (: Again and as always thanks for reading PG. I'm having so much fun writing this!
Ho Chi Minh City slums, 3:29am
A black boot splashed in a rooftop puddle before the shadowy figure vanished behind a cover of homes.
When it reappeared, it was freerunning four roofs away , silent and fluid like a ghost. The pants didn't trip the person or rustle around their boots because it was expertly designed to fit in and around their longs legs.
The figure gave a quick burst of speed at the end of the fifth house then flipped over the ledge.
As they were falling, a familiar steel bar came into view and they caught it in a tight grip. Then swinging for momentum, the figure let go, and landed on the second floor enclave of a rundown apartment's patio.
Not a sound was made as the soles hit the concrete.
Jack smirked. For kicks, he did a silent cat vault over the giant electrical generator box. When he landed on the other side he rolled his shoulders and kept on walking until he reached what he was looking for.
Glancing around quickly, Jack lifted a small column of concrete away from a broken part of the building's wall and was slightly relieved when he saw his gear still there. He didn't risk bringing anything that he essentially needed when he went did break-ins, especially when it came to criminals like Pitch Black.
Jack grabbed for his stolen police duty belt and latched it on around his waist.
Then after checking that everything was still there, Jack pulled out his small black, backpack hidden deeper inside the large crack and opened it. He threw his baton and his only glove in, but he glared as he stared down at the rest of the contents.
"Shit."
He shouldn't have ditched the two guns that he'd used back at Pitch's warehouse.
If Pitch was as smart as Jack knew, he might sample all the weapons left at the scenes for DNA prints. He was usually so careful not to leave traces, to stay invisible. This was his first mistake in so long...and it had to be with Pitch Black!
But what went wrong?
Jack had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.
What the hell kind of question was that? Of course he knew.
Princess Thia.
He realised all his spy skills practically went out the window as he rewound the memory. He had been messy. His kills were obvious and their escape was everything but stealthy. But he decided it was partially her fault with her loud mouth and all her hysteria.
Jack clenched his jaw and zipped the black bag shut.
The girl wasn't easy.
Then after he slung the bag over his shoulder, Jack stared up at the stars. The nightly breeze caressed his skin and blew into his hair.
Jack huffed softly.
And now he had to go back to her again.
...
"GOSH!"
When Jack appeared next to Tooth she nearly went into cardiac arrest.
She had ran about three blocks away from where he had left her but she was loud when she panted and he caught up to her easy. He didn't comment and walked around her, but she was already turning on him, wide eyes impossibly wider and with a hand on her chest.
"Don't do that!"
"It's three in the morning," he muttered. "Be quiet."
After a couple more breaths she walked beside him, a frown on her face.
"Where were you? You threaten me not to run off but the second I turn, you vanish."
"I was testing you," he lied. "And you failed."
But he knew she was smart.
He could feel her gaze on his newly-acquired backpack and black duty belt.
Thankfully the princess didn't comment on it.
...
To Jack's relief, they stumbled upon the only internet cafe open twenty-hours, two blocks ahead.
No one was inside except for two guys on their laptops and the sleepy cashier who was dozing at the counter. When the older man eyed their clothes funny, Jack shot him a cold glare and he instantly snapped up and pretended he hadn't been looking. Jack missed Tooth's impressed (yet nervous) glance as he paid with the money he stole from the drunk clubgoers who destroyed Pitch's car for him.
They then found two computers in the farthest corner and Tooth immediately sighed at the sight of technology.
'Wow I'm pathetic,' she thought in her head as she and Jack sat down. When she booted up the internet browser, Tooth went to open her Hotmail but Jack noticed.
He shot his hand out to cover hers on the mouse.
"Don't open it."
"Why not?"
"Pitch is an industrial espionage terrorist. He uses a special unit of hackers to electronically steal encrypted information from servers and corporate databases. If he's still looking for you, he–"
"–might check to see if I activate my account...Right," she slowly finished for him and Jack nodded. He heard her huff but she closed the login page.
'Wow, he's smart,' Tooth mentally noted and decided to check other sites instead that didn't require her opening up personal info.
As she did, Jack was busy with his own computer, quickly opening to some travel agencies and the page for the Tan Son Nhat International Airport.
Tooth peeked over and saw him scrolling through plane departure times from Vietnam.
"What ya looking at?"
He saw her lean over and tilt her head. Jack suddenly felt like they were two students studying late at night in a library.
But it had been a long time since he'd finished school.
Jack's brown eyes flit across the page tirelessly, his fingers flying.
"I heard Pitch talking about a plane leaving from here...A man they were tracking to Moscow on flight 7."
Tooth scrunched her eyebrows together thoughtfully.
"...7...it's sooner gone than..."
"That plane...I NEED...! And if it is NOT delivered—"
She frowned.
"I think I heard him mention it too," she mumbled to herself before she talked again to him. "Do you...do you think my handmaiden will be on that flight?"
Jack stopped typing and turned to face fully her. His face was grim.
"Princess, Pitch wanted her so she's probably with him, not his men."
He watched her bite her lower lip, round pink-hue eyes blinking tiredly his way before she looked down. He bit the inside of his cheek but turned back to the screen.
What more could he say? Jack didn't want to talk to begin with.
The minutes passed in silence as the two avoided each other's presence. Then suddenly Jack bent down and opened his backpack. He addressed Tooth as he was looking for his credentials.
"I found a number 7 non-stop from here to Moscow. That's gotta be the one Pitch wanted."
Tooth eyed the screen briefly, her heart suddenly racing in her chest.
"When does it leave?"
"Seven hours from now. Ten thirty-five in the morning."
He saw her nod out of the corner of his eye and swivel in her chair back to her computer.
With his keen eye, he noted how her arms tensed and her hand gripped the chair.
She wasn't ready for this.
But he couldn't blame her – what normal person would?
They were following a man who was following another man into unknown territory. Shit was going to go down.
As Jack booked whatever two tickets they had left for the flight, Tooth tried to distract herself with her internet surfing.
She wasn't thrilled about the idea of taking a plane somewhere other than home but if staying alive and getting Tatiana back was only possible with him then she'd take it! She didn't want to jeopardize any other 'sisters' too by running home in hysterics, otherwise Pitch would just send his goons after her again.
Tooth pulled up the homepage of Punjam's national newspaper, 'The Hummingbird'. It told her everything she needed to know about what was going on her island when she was at school in the States and it always came in handy because it mentioned people in the palace too.
But she didn't have to search long for any information on the palace this time. It was the first story blown up on the homepage.
(Thai)
BELOVED PRINCESS TOOTHIANA KIDNAPPED FROM BANGKOK HOTEL
She bit her lip as she scrolled down and read the article.
"Just twelve hours ago, the locals discovered from royal officials that Her Royal Highness The Princess Toothiana and handmaiden Tatiana (commonly known as Baby Tooth) were both taken during a development gala which the Princess and our Prime Minister, PM Ty Bangkot, were invited to attend."
"Princess Toothiana was taken at approximately 10:53pm after shooting went off in the middle of the dance portion of the party. Her handmaiden Tatiana was discovered to have been missing around the same time from where she was staying up in the hotel's fifth floor ensuite. Her royal guard was found dead at the scene."
"I'll be upstairs waiting for you!...Remember I want that list."
Tooth almost couldn't continue reading but she took a shaky breath and kept rolling the mouse wheel. She glared back the sting in her eyes.
"The following immediate action was declared by our Prince Regent and the Princess' uncle, Tanvir Hypunjam, following the Princess' disappearance:
'After an emergency decision of the royal council advisories, is as prescribed, the rest of the princess' handmaidens are being split up and will remain in unknown locations for an indeterminate amount of time until further investigation has been made as to find those responsible.'
"As well, the Princess' private tutor and caregiver since her young age, Mr. S Sanderson, left Punjam Hy Loo just hours ago and is now heading for Massachusetts, United States to inform the administration at Fay University, the Princess' school, of her disappearance."
"The country has taken a moment of silence for our beloved princess and her handmaiden. Everyone here prays for her security and remains confident that the Princess will return."
"What is it saying?"
Jack didn't react when Tooth jumped in her chair at his abrupt question.
He'd finished booking the flight about a minute ago and was going to mention it to her until he saw her face. Whatever she was reading in the Thai script was making her emotions dance wildly across her face.
Tooth gulped and narrowed her eyes, fighting the wetness down.
"It's from Punjam's national newspaper...All my handmaidens are going into hiding, and my nanny left for States."
Jack's brown eyes widened briefly.
"Security protocol?"
"It must be...with Tatiana gone, the rest are in jeopardy if Pitch isn't done."
Jack heard the crack in her voice and looked at her.
The princess' eyes were glued to the screen but he could tell she wasn't really seeing anything. Jack watched her open and close her mouth, like she wanted to say something but wasn't sure if she could.
His brows knitted together.
"Hey," he said softly and she turned to meet his steady gaze. He nodded. "Look at me."
A moment passed until her face softened slightly.
Then Tooth spoke.
"When I was little, I had eight younger girls chosen to look after me. They were specifically picked for their eyes, hair, and face to stand in as my double and because we looked so much alike, most people mistook us for being all related, but I'm an only child," she explained and closed her eyes. "It was considered the highest honor for them since I don't...look like most girls."
Jack said nothing and watched as she looked down at the keyboard. Her hand fisted into the janitor suit.
"But I'm nobody! People bump into me in the halls at school and I...I never, never thought a day would come like this when we'd actually have to..." she then turned to face him.
"Until day, only the people of Punjam Hy Loo knew about my handmaidens. They were kept secret, and Tatiana always hid whenever she had to accompany me overseas, so I don't know how Pitch knew."
When she finished, Jack saw her bite her lower lip and put her head in her hands.
To confirm her words, he realised the newspaper homepage didn't have any pictures of Tooth or her handmaidens – he only remembered the one on the tv bulletin.
He gave the cafe a quick look over but no one was paying attention them. Jack's brown eyes moved back to Tooth.
"Are your palace guards with them?" he asked.
She looked back up bravely. "Only the best."
"So don't stress yourself," he said in a low voice to calm her subconscious. "They're being looked after. And it's better that they aren't all together. If this goes beyond just you and potentially involves them, they're better off disappearing into the night separately."
Tooth nodded weakly.
"Yeah, you're right," she mumbled and tried to push her hair behind one ear. Jack stuck his gaze on her for a few more seconds before he nudged his head at her computer.
Tooth understood and sighed heavily. Then she went back to internet surfing.
"I hope they're all okay..." he heard her whisper to herself.
Jack turned back to his computer. When he was sure that she was too busy poring over her own stuff to sneak at his (and that the rest of the cafe wasn't either), he narrowed his eyes and opened a search engine.
In it, he typed his full name.
After he filtered through all the ridiculous holiday crap, folklore, pictures, and movie links, he found something he'd hoped not to pop up.
Biting his lower lip, Jack opened a link to the national French inquirer. On it was all the national news the French government was busy handling, both federal and municipal.
In the security section (which took up a large section of the page) there was his name.
He pulled to control his breathing as he translated the French article, about three weeks old.
WANTED FUGITIVE SEEN AT GARE DU NORD STATION, STILL AT LARGE
The international fugitive who goes by the name 'Jack Frost' was captured on camera leaving the Gare du Nord (The North Gate) terminal late this morning. He was seen heading east across the platform before disappearing in the morning crowd. Police have no clues as to where his destination could lead but they suspect he traveled east with the Eurostar to London.
A wave of panic passed through the crowd when locals claimed he had apprehended a man on the subway fifteen minutes after it went underground but Frost has not been found since and his whereabouts remain unknown. He was not seen on the train when it reached its next stop.
Frost is wanted in connection for past alleged crimes associated with multiple criminal organizations and wanted British terrorist known only as 'Pitch Black'. Frost escaped the Folsom State Prison in California eight months ago where he was serving a lengthy sentence for the murder of three American federal agents, close to one year ago this month.
Jack's pale fingers gripped the mouse so tight, it cracked slightly.
International law enforcement has been warned not to arrest Frost but to kill him on site as he has been listed as a wanted fugitive by multiple governments ranging from Asia, to Europe, and west in the United States.
There was an email address and a helpline that French citizens could call if they spotted him but Jack didn't read the rest.
His heart was actually beating a little faster than he could control and he felt dread creep into his stomach.
They had no picture of him but still...
Everyone was still hunting him.
With another quick glance to the princess and around the cafe, Jack then quickly typed in an encrypted code into the server.
His browser was quickly rerouted to a page that only international law enforcement and federal agents were allowed to see. His senses heightened, Jack flew his brown eyes across the screen, drinking in the new information on global crimes and occurrences. Pitch's name came up on several corporate infiltrations, and warfare smuggling was apparent at every click.
Then he glared when his cursor passed over the international wanted list. Clenching his jaw softly, he risked a look and pressed the button.
Names and faces he knew (and met) blew up the page.
The list was virtually endless, showing men and the occasional women who were wanted by every spy agency and government in the world. They did everything from genocide, drug smuggling, and human trafficking, to white-collar crime, murder, and illegal intelligence work.
They were sick and they were dangerous. Several had never been found and others were just too much handle for one company.
And Jack's face was still there, listed as number 97.
He gritted his teeth but then suddenly, Jack blinked painfully.
"Son, get DOWN on the ground!...Wait who are you? Please, you gotta listen–!...You know how long we've been looking for you?!...But wa...GET DOWN!"
Jack squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed a fist over it.
"You've only got a 14 second window to make that opening before it closes, agent! Jump now!"
He gritted his teeth and growled painfully.
Tooth turned her head and her eyebrows rose.
"Jack?"
"Jack! Where are you?...Come on, this isn't–JAACK!"
Jack abruptly killed the program, pushed away from the computer, and stormed out of the internet cafe.
He didn't realize he'd also forgotten to close the French webpage.
...
The brunette had one hand thrown against the brick wall in front of him as he leaned heavily to catch his breath.
His other fist was rubbing his eye vigorously.
"Dammit, I thought they stopped," he muttered darkly to himself.
The flashes were almost nonexistent a month ago, but ever since he ran into that dead ELF agent, it was like they were starting to come back. And up until he'd met the princess, he'd only had one flash in a setting.
He'd just had three.
Something was very wrong.
Suddenly, a sound behind Jack hit the floor.
He snapped his eyes open and spun, raising his ungloved hands in preparation for a fight.
But he didn't need to.
The princess stood in front of him.
She threw his passport on the floor next to his backpack and backed away from his hunched form.
Her face was full of disgust.
"You're wanted," she growled slowly, shaking her head, "and you wanted me to follow you to Russia."
Jack glared at her and pulled up again to his full height.
"I don't need this right now–"
"You son of a bitch, you lied to me this entire time!"
Jack looked passed her loathing and raised his hands slowly. He was mildly surprised that the princess could read French...but more surprised that he hadn't prepared for that when he was reading the article. He gritted his teeth.
"You don't even know me," he said darkly and Tooth balled her hands at her side.
"There was no picture but yeah! Clearly I don't!" she cried and he stared her down coldly. Tooth was the first to break from the stare off and he watched something inside her twist and make her frown.
"I thought I...I thought about trusting you after, you know, everything you..." she mumbled but when Jack leaned his neck out to hear her better, her face snapped back with abhorrence.
"But I was right. You're just like him. You even have a ridiculous name like Pitch Black!"
Jack took a step forward with his jaw clenched.
"Okay stop it."
"Or what? You're gonna call for backup?" she spit and backed away further. Her eyes were livid but her fingers had begun shaking.
"The French police are looking for you, so are the American, and the Russian, and everyone else! You expect me to believe a stranger who took out fifty guys with his bare hands over an international security report?!"
Jack kept advancing. "I'm telling you, princess. Stop it!" But she kept shaking her head.
"I bet this was all a lie. You just pretended to save me while Pitch grabbed my handmaiden, then planned to keep me in hiding so all my other sisters could separate and get picked off one by one. You're sick. You and your partner Pi–"
Jack held her against the wall and towered over her menacingly. He shouted furiously down at her face but she would yell right back up into his.
"I DON'T WORK FOR PITCH!"
"BULLCRAP, JACK FROST!" she spat. "YOU'RE A MONSTER!"
"NO I'M NOT!"
"OH SO YOU GET YOUR CONTRACTS FROM SOME OTHER TERRORIST HANDLER!?"
"I'M NOT A TERRORIST!"
"BUT YOU'RE STILL A FUGITIVE!"
"ONLY BECAUSE I WAS FRAMED!"
Tooth paused.
"I-I mean..." he stopped and his eyes widened.
Jack never stuttered, but now he was strangely struggling to formulate.
Tooth didn't realize how out of breath she was.
She also didn't want him touching her so she yanked his cold hand off her shoulder and he backed away from her form immediately.
He ran a hand through his hair. "I mean okay, I admit. I killed three operatives–"
"I knew it–"
"–BUT I DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE AT THE TIME! I JUST...reacted. They scared me alright?! I wasn't...myself."
Tooth kept gasping softly for air but her hard gaze didn't crack.
"But they were FEDERAL," she bit out, "as in spies. You KILLED other spies. Only hitmen and assassins would do that!"
Jack turned away. Something kept gnawing at his insides the more she accused him.
"Don't lie to me," she whispered. She shook her head and somehow she began wringing her wrists. "I've seen you fight. Seen you drive. Seen you walk. You were trained."
Jack blinked. He then stared back at her with adrenaline racing beneath his chest, more than he could control.
"I was...but I can't remember where–AND THAT'S THE GOD HONEST TRUTH, PRINCESS!"
His face severe but his eyes alight with energy and Tooth frowned.
She wasn't sure but...somewhere under all that emotionless face and cold fury in his voice, she heard a tweak of panic.
Seeing the opening, Tooth bravely walked forward.
"No, you know! Stop lying!" Her angry desperation piquing again. "STOP LYING!"
"I'M TELLING YOU, I DON'T KNOW! SO JUST–JUST...ARGH!"
Jack tried to find an answer but his usually quick mind just...stopped. Her cerise-coloured eyes shone purple against the night and for once, Jack found himself stuck. And it pissed him off to no end.
When flitting his brown eyes around the alley didn't work, he exhaled sharply through his nose.
He spoke slow.
"Princess, please. I'm trying to get you to understand. Stop looking through me and listen! Would I tell you any of this...if I didn't think I needed to?"
He spoke slowly and deeply, even a little more softly and somehow Tooth's blind fury began to rationalize itself out.
She had to think, and as she watched him, anxiety bubbling beneath his blank facade, the memories danced around her head.
Tooth frowned as her tense shoulders slowly began to slump down.
"You..." She looked around the alley quickly, looking anywhere at his face. "You could've killed me at any point, called in a buddy, or left me for dead..."
"But I didn't," he finished for her. "And I don't plan to because I promised you that. I would protect you."
Jack watched the princess stare at him through her round jewel-like eyes, when the wind picked up in the alley, it blew around them and soothed his features.
He rubbed his eyes when the fringe of his brown bangs got into his eyelashes.
When he blinked them open again, he softly clenched his teeth and frowned.
At least she didn't run away this time.
So he spoke.
"JACK FROST was a codename. But they...they did something to me, the people I worked for, and I haven't been able to remember anything else since."
Tooth's mouth kept opening and closing like a fish and goosebumps formed all over her skin, but Jack continued.
"I don't know why or for what...but I keep coming back to the conclusion that...that they wanted me to forget something."
Tooth's eyebrows knitted together.
"Why do you say that?" she asked, her voice tiny and afraid to shatter his unraveling state.
"Because I get flashes," he looked up at her firmly, his brown eyes sticking hers and grasping onto bitter hope that she was really looking at him not through him this time. "I keep seeing...hearing things that I know I experienced but I can't remember..."
He stopped abruptly to rub an eye and a look of irritation passed across his face.
Tooth leaned forward slightly, her features slowly lacing with concern.
Her trust for him wasn't there yet, but the dreading curiosity was.
"And you think the memories...are from your past?"
When Jack stopped he looked at her again. "They have to be. Otherwise I can't explain why I can do what I do or work the way I do...I've been wandering around for a year, looking for clues or answers."
"A year?" Tooth's eyes squinted. "You don't...You don't even know your real name?"
Jack looked up at the dark sky. His irises flit across the sky and searched for something in the stars that he knew he wouldn't find.
"I...I knew I had a codename but not who I was, so I just walked around...and then three operatives suddenly cornered me in California and said that I'd been involved in a huge series of crimes that I'd never committed...When they tried to take me down, I...didn't know how but my instincts just kicked in and before I knew it...they were all dead."
Tooth swallowed a dry lump in her throat. She knew this part of the story from the webpage.
"And still..." her heart raced, "You don't have any clue as to who did this to you?"
"Just one. Only one that the memory gave me...All I remember is that I used to work in some kind of espionage company and...something called the GUARDIAN Program I don't kn–"
Tooth suddenly burst out laughing.
It made Jack's skin crawl since he wasn't expecting it at all but he otherwise didn't show any sign of jumping nerves.
He shot her a death glare.
"What?"
Tooth eyed him accusingly.
"Okay now I know you're just making all this up."
"No I'm not." But Tooth waved a hand dismissively and looked away.
All her scared sympathy for him began to wash away.
"The GUARDIAN Program isn't real. It's just an urban myth."
He didn't say anything but Tooth caught a weird flash of confusion through his eyes.
The princess blinked back and gave him a nervous look.
"What, you've never heard of it? It's like a modern fairytale that parents tell their kids as a bedtime story."
When Jack didn't answer, Tooth bit her lip and looked around.
She felt weird telling a guy a children's story without any children around to make it fun.
But she ended up starting anyway.
"It's a story my caregiver Mr. Sanderson used to tell me as a bedtime story. The GUARDIAN program was the story about a group of elite spies that were so secret, the rest of the world's spy agencies didn't know they existed."
Jack pulled back slightly and gave her a deep frown, but she rambled on, her jewel-like eyes wide with the story.
"Their company would pick the best agents in the field and secretly had experiments done on them to enhance their physical strengths and...and they developed weird control over the earth and sometimes even people. But they only used it for good, to protect people and stop the criminals that the normal spies and police couldn't catch."
When she finished, Jack watched her curl back in on herself and twiddle her thumbs.
"He always made them sound so amazing. He used to tell it to me to help me get to sleep when I was little and I almost always dreamed about flying and having superpowers."
After a while Jack opened his mouth, his eyes slightly wider than she'd ever seen him.
"Where...did he hear that story?"
Tooth just shrugged and looked away.
"He said he made it up."
But Jack couldn't stop himself from squinting down at her. He had this weird feeling in his chest but didn't comment on it.
Then Tooth's snickering brought him back.
As he stared at her chuckling to herself, he frowned darkly and snapped up straight again. All the previous hope he had for her burned away like paper.
It was for this same reason that he didn't trust people in the first place.
They could turn their back on you when you needed them most.
"You know you shouldn't laugh at me just because I thought I came from some kid's made-up fairytale," he snapped coldly. "I still don't know who I worked for so right now, I don't know what side I'm playing for: yours or Pitch."
Jack watched her laugh die instantly but he continued.
"I'm also wanted by every spy agency in the world, remember that? China, Russia, England, France, the United States, more than half of Latin America, nearly all of Europe, oh and let's not forget...here."
That immediately shut her up and he said nothing else to emphasize his severity.
Jack was right.
He might be only sparing her life and protecting her until he figured out what use she could be to him. Knowing now that she was probably walking around with the most lethal man in the world, and a man whose moral compass was completely fair game at the moment, was not a laughing matter.
Rather, it was a deadly one.
Tooth instantly felt bad for pulling a 180 on him when it looked like he was beginning to show the person behind the spy. She fretted but Jack had already moved to grab his things off the ground.
When he slung his pack on, he threw her an incredulous glance and moved ahead.
Tooth spun. "Wait!"
Jack paused and turned silently. His face was stony as ever and he heard her gulp in her throat. She pointed at his gear.
"Is that...all you have?"
"It's all I can afford to carry," he answered. "I can't stay in one place for too long."
And when he turned back around and headed further down the alley, he missed Tooth's look of epiphany.
She stared at his tense shoulders as he stalked away deeper into the shadows and, that's when she knew he was serious.
And she believed him.
She honestly believed, looking at him, that Jack was on the run and that he couldn't remember who he was.
Somehow his martyr march wasn't fake to her...she could tell it was real.
A part of her mind still kept yelling at her, screaming how it was possible to believe a killer, but as she threw a look back at the internet cafe and jogged after Jack's form, she didn't care.
She ignored it.
As they started walking, Jack and her paused in the alley and they both turned.
Nearby, they spotted a small Vietnamese family sitting around a beaten oildrum. The father looked like he was trying to start a fire in it so his wife could cook their early breakfast but it wasn't working.
Tooth used her gift and listened to the children's hungry complaints and his wife's urgency because they both had to leave for work in an hour.
Tooth frowned and when Jack suddenly turned off the alley path toward them, she didn't protest.
"Take off that thing," he mumbled quietly to her behind him and he heard her immediately unzip the janitor's uniform and scramble out of it. Tooth rolled it up into a wad as they approached the tiny family.
The father looked up at the two of them, his face dirty from sweat and exhaustion.
He was about to open his mouth and send them away, but Jack pulled out his lighter from his pocket.
When he sparked a flame and the father saw it, the man paused. Jack looked back at Tooth and nudged his head. She stepped forward and gave the mother and the little ones a kind smile before she slowly placed the fabric in the oildrum.
Jack leaned over and lit a section of the suit and soon the whole cloth caught fire and formed a giant flame.
The smiles on the family's faces erupted immediately. The father turned back to them.
(Vietnamese) "I will need to use a tin smoke filter to block out the dark flames but...thank you both so, so much," he said warmly and Tooth bowed with beautiful grace.
Jack flicked his eyes between them since he hadn't understood a word the guy had said.
That's when Jack's gaze slowed on the princess and he quickly looked her up and down, taking in the wrinkled blue-green sari and her cut-up skirt. In the fire's light, all of her colors, her skin, her dark hair and pink eyes, came to life. He didn't say a word and he turned to the wife and kids instead.
When he did, he didn't miss the big thankful smile the younger son was giving him.
Tooth completely missed the half smile he gave the little kid. Then they turned and left but halfway down the alley, Tooth stopped Jack again.
"Wait, Jack."
He turned but didn't say anything.
"I just...I wanted to say thank you about...well...you know."
Jack stared at her for the longest time until she felt like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole. And for the second time since they met, she tried giving him a small (apologetic) smile.
But then he turned around and walked away and Tooth bit inside her cheek.
He further confirmed to Tooth that people who were spies had terrible personalities and a lack of social skills but she followed him anyway.
She couldn't pull herself to trust him either just yet.
She believed his story yes, maybe...but he still terrified her.
...
They walked two blocks until they came across some parked cars.
Tooth had to watch guiltily as Jack broke into one and hotwire its engines. In less than three minutes, they were zooming away from Ho Chi Minh's urban center and heading west for the deeper slum suburban.
Jack made sure to drive on all the sketchiest roads until they hit a district that looked virtually untouched since the eighties. When they parked, Tooth got out tiredly. She'd nearly fallen asleep but refused to with Jack around.
She saw where they'd pulled up she blinked.
It was probably the scariest looking motel she'd ever laid eyes on.
"We'll crash then start again in a couple hours," Jack said briskly as he grabbed his pack and closed the door.
"But it has to be here of all places?" she sputtered as she eyed the dirty windows and dead fly-covered lights.
Jack leaned an arm against the car and raised an eyebrow to which Tooth rolled her eyes at.
"Not extravagant enough for you, princess?"
"Shut up. Let's just get a room before I collapse."
Jack crossed his arms.
"The front desk is closed."
When she turned to look, he was right. There were no lights and it looked locked down for the night.
Tooth groaned and rubbed her neck. It was sticky from the heat.
"Well then why did you stop here? When you said 'crash', I didn't think you meant on the parking lot floor."
Jack walked past her usual jumpy self ahead to the windows of each motel room. She sighed then followed and for the next ten minutes or so, the two of them spied for which rooms had guests and which didn't.
Unfortunately, most rooms had people. In fact, they had entire families!
Tooth heard babies crying, women frying food, and men lounging around inside like they owned the place.
"Squatters," Jack muttered as he moved to go up the wooden stairs that lead to the second floor of the motel. "They've probably been here for months, maybe years. So if we find a room, I highly doubt we'll get checked."
He saw her nod absentmindedly but when she placed her hand on the railing and went to take her first step, Jack touched her wrist.
She looked up at him nervously but he pointed at her feet.
"Stay to the edge," he whispered. "Wood doesn't crack near the wall, so it won't squeak."
When he turned and went up silently, she followed his instructions blindly and tiptoed closer to the end of stairs. It didn't squeal once.
But once they got to the top, Tooth's mind went drifting again. Every light they passed or person she heard made her heart beat wildly in her chest.
But she wasn't worried about them catching her and Jack.
No, what Tooth was concerned about, was their living standards.
Tooth had been around motels before to know that she never wanted to sleep in one again. But these impoverished families had no other home to go to so they had no choice but to live in poor conditions like this. Seeing how the urban poverty had decayed in this part of Vietnam made the princess in Tooth come out.
This was the same kind of thing she wanted to avoid for her own people back on Punjam and all around Southeast Asia.
The poor needed better housing policies, more opportunities for employment and advancement, and easier access to the city...and that was only the little bits of it! Seeing all of it around her now made Tooth want to be back at school in the States and continue studying. She wanted to work even harder to come up with development strategies and for the first time since she'd been kidnapped, she was reminded again of how actually glad she was to be a princess.
She had the power to make change so she would get her chance, hopefully one day, when she survived all of this...or rather, IF she survived all this.
Eventually Jack found a dark room all the way around on the other side of the motel. It looked empty but taking their chances, he opened it easy with his lock pick.
When it was clear, Jack beckoned Tooth inside and shut the door, blocking the waking world outside.
He turned on the light.
Chapter's soundtrack: "The Baudelaire Orphans" – Thomas Newman