Thank you for all the love on the second chapter of Unlocking the Key! Like I mentioned earlier, this fanfic is going to be a lot darker than Falling for You and On the Run, with darker themes (including more medical themes) and more swearing. As a result, the first of many, many F-bombs scattered throughout this fanfic, as well as some mild medical themes, will be appearing in this chapter. You have been warned. Read on to find out which fan-favourite scene is coming up next! ;)
Gonna reply to reviews on the previous chapter, thanks so much to everyone who reviewed!
NightOwlSarcasmQueen: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed that chapter! The chapter where they kiss for the first time won't be out for a while but I'm also looking forward to it XD
Tessa Jane: Thank you, I'm glad you've been enjoying it so far and think it's moving along at a decent pace! Read on to see if the diner scene is indeed next ;)
idk1918: Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it!
alilcutea: Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it! And I've heard a lot from other readers about how my fanfics have been making them want to re-read the original series so you're not alone there.
TheBookWorm563: Thank you for your patience, this fanfic has been a long time coming but I'm glad you've been enjoying it so far!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Embassy Row series and all the characters (except for Tanner and Jordan and Alexei's Moscow friends, who are my own creations). They belong to Ally Carter. I am merely using her characters and plotline to create this fanfiction. I have no intention of profiting off the Embassy Row series in any way. This fanfiction is purely for entertainment purposes and would not exist without Ally Carter's wonderful works.
The events that happen in this fanfiction are not meant to be representative of real life. Any similarities to any real-life events or fictional works is purely coincidental and not intentional (with the exception of the original Embassy Row books by Ally Carter since this fanfiction is literally Take the Key and Lock Her Up but from Alexei's, not Grace's, perspective). The character's actions may not always reflect my own opinions or views. Based on what happens in this chapter (spoiler alert), I do not condone running away or illegal border crossings.
Content warning: mild to moderate
This fanfiction is rated T, for suggestive themes, language, and violence. This chapter contains moderate to strong language, mild physical violence, and slightly graphic medical descriptions. Please read at your own discretion.
Chapter Three: And It All Falls Apart
After a few more hours of much-needed sleep, I found myself in a small diner a few kilometres from the motel. Dominic had checked us out and packed all our belongings in the car, forcing us to continue on our way to Mexico. I imagined Grace and Jamie would have liked to stay a bit longer, given that this is where they were supposed to settle and live a normal life. However, the longer we stayed, the more likely we were to be found, something I had learned from my experience in the caves.
It took everything I had in me not to inhale my massive plate of pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausages, and hash browns. Even though this was only marginally better than fast food, it was the closest thing I had eaten to a home-cooked meal in a very long time.
The four of us ate in silence, wanting to get in and out as fast as possible so we could continue on to Mexico. It was only when Dominic got up to pay that Grace finally spoke.
"You have admirers," Grace said, looking at me.
"Excuse me?" I replied. What on Earth was she talking about?
"You didn't notice your fan club?" Grace jerked her head towards three girls standing at the booth across from us. Of course I had seen them. How could I miss those bright blue outfits with clashing pink backpacks? What an eyesore.
"You notice everything," Grace continued. "Do you really expect me to believe that you didn't see three girls in cheerleading uniforms checking you out?"
I looked up, glancing intently at Grace. "I do not notice girls. I notice girl." Why would I pay any attention to three heavily-made up divas when I had a natural beauty sitting right in front of me? Having spent six weeks away from civilization with her, which only intensified my feelings for her, and having seen her at her best and her worst, not to mention our years of shared history, I had been through it all with Grace. No other girl could possibly compare, with her resilience and strength.
Jamie coughed. "Well, I think that's my cue to excuse myself." He slid out of the booth, slowly heading toward the bathroom. It was a sad sight to behold, watching him struggle to walk the short distance. He had to keep holding onto the barstools to steady himself. I wanted to get up and help him but I knew that would just make the situation worse. He'd knock me aside, insisting he was fine.
"He's not getting better, is he?" Grace asked. I finished the last of my food, pushing my empty plate away before pulling Grace's half-eaten plate, which she had stopped picking at, in front of me, digging into her pancakes. It almost felt like a waste to leave that food behind, especially since we wouldn't have time for another sit-down meal anytime soon.
"He has the strongest heart of anyone I have ever known. He will recover," I said. Overall, Jamie had been making pretty good progress, despite these last few days. He was young and healthy, with plenty of resilience. He would recover. He had to, if not for my sake, then for Grace's.
Grace looked at me, a storm brewing in her eyes. She took a deep, ragged breath as she spoke. "Not if we keep dragging him all over creation. Not if we keep giving him fluids in the back of a car and not taking him to a doctor when his fever spikes, and … he won't get better like this."
"Yes," I stated, staring intently at Grace. "He will. He has to."
"He needs to rest," Grace argued, a hard edge to her voice. "He needs to stay in one place and rest." I pushed away Grace's plate, her food no longer appetizing, not with the pit of guilt and emotions brewing in my stomach.
"We can't stop running, Gracie. You know that. We can never stop running." Running was the only thing we could do. It was a rhetorical question really. We both knew that Jamie wasn't going to get better, not with all the driving we were doing, and that he would fare much better if we let him rest in one place, even though we increased our chances of getting caught the longer we stayed somewhere. We had to keep going to Mexico, for everyone's safety. Surely, she had to know that.
"Jamie could stop running, you know …"
"Gracie, we—" I started.
"He could," Grace interrupted, forcing me to look into her eyes. "He could stop if they had something—if they had someone—else to chase." No. She couldn't possibly do that. I would never let Grace run off on her own, not if I could help it, so that Jamie could stay in one place and recover. Knowing what the Society members were capable of, I would not let Grace turn herself into a target, just for her brother's sake. We were in this together and I would keep running with her until we were safe. I would run to the ends of the earth, to the other side of the world, if it meant she wasn't running alone.
I leaned closer to her, trying to make her see reason. "Gracie, if you think you can—"
"Hey!" I turned towards the high-pitched voice with a strong Southern accent that had interrupted me. Sure enough, it was the diva squad, in all their heavily made-up and clashing outfit glory. What on earth were they doing here? Grace and I were in the middle of a very important life-or-death conversation. I turned my attention back to Grace, only to find her turning towards the girls.
"Hi," Grace said, addressing the middle girl, who appeared to be the ringleader of the group. She regarded Grace with disgust and turned back towards me.
"So my friends and I were wondering … do we know you?" The ringleader ran her hands along her backpack straps in a poor show of seduction, pushing her chest closer to me. Like shoving her breasts in my face were going to attract me. If anything, it further worsened my opinion of these girls, these divas who thought they were entitled to everything.
"Sorry," Grace said. "We're not from around here." It was brave of her to stand up for me but she really didn't have to do that. I was perfectly capable of that myself.
"It's just that … you look super familiar, and we thought we'd come say hi. So … hi." the ringleader said. Of course I was super familiar. After all, my picture was still plastered on news stations around the world. Surely, this vapid girl must have seen some kind of news story about me at some point.
The ringleader's gaze was unsettling, like I was to be her next conquest or like she was still trying to figure out where she knew me from. I kept my eyes on Grace, hoping this conversation wouldn't end in flames. So far, I hadn't needed to open my mouth. If I spoke, then they might notice my Russian accent, if they hadn't already heard it earlier. I didn't know if she'd be intelligent enough to put two and two together but hopefully Grace would be able to dissuade them away from our table, so I could get back to discussing more important things with her.
"He says hi back," Grace said. The diva squad turned towards her, looking at her with contempt.
"I'm Lura," the ringleader said. Her eyes were still on me, as if she were memorizing every detail of my face. "Lura McCraw." Was she practically giving me an invitation to look her up on social media by providing her full name? Damn, she sure was desperate. I wondered how she would feel if she realized she was talking to a fugitive. For all I knew, she could have had a thing for boys with criminal records. "You really do look familiar, you know." Was she really that clueless to not have figured it out by now?
"He knows," Grace said pointedly. I wondered if this was how girls felt when random guys gave them unwanted attention. I was starting to get more annoyed with them, especially this Lura chick, by the second.
"Lura!" one of the other divas whined in a god-awful high-pitched voice. "We're going to be late."
"Okay." Lura turned back to me. "Well, bye, then. I guess I'll see you around. Nice talking to you." I knew I sure as hell wouldn't be seeing her again. Was she really that thick-headed to think a one-sided conversation counted as talking?
We waited in silence, the tension finally dissolving as the diner door dinged, signalling their departure.
"Ignore them," I said. "They know nothing." Although 'talking' to me would be the highlight of their day, it was just a small annoyance to me, something I'd never think of again, not when I had more pressing life-or-death issues to deal with. I hoped Grace would see that too and not get caught up by three heavily-made up fakes. They had nothing over her, not with everything she had gone through and the strength she developed because of it. Nonetheless, Grace still looked like she was lost in a daydream, although about what, I wasn't sure. I could only hope that our conversation wasn't entirely lost on her.
We spent the rest of the day on the road, continuing towards Mexico. It was late in the evening when Dominic directed us towards a motel in Laredo, a small border town in Texas, only minutes from the Mexican-American border. Maybe he was heeding Grace's words, about stopping, so Jamie would be able to rest up. However, I think he was mainly doing it to avoid angering Grace further. Whether she knew it or not, she had all three of us men wrapped around her finger.
Grace had volunteered to keep watch, claiming she wanted both me and Dominic to rest up so we'd be able to drive for as long as possible tomorrow. Dominic and I had looked at each other, not quite sure what to make of Grace's offer. Nonetheless, we decided to take it, mainly because we didn't want to know what would happen if we didn't.
Unfortunately, this motel didn't have any adjoining rooms so we got two adjacent rooms. Dominic and I shared one room, while Grace and Jamie shared the other room. Dominic made for a good roommate, as he kept his distance and gave me personal space, as best as he could in cramped quarters. It was definitely better than dealing with Roman and Eugene during our trip to Dubrovnia. Roman literally wouldn't shut up, which kept me from sleeping. Meanwhile, Dominic and I had agreed to go to bed as early as possible, so we'd be well-rested for the next day of driving. I fell asleep almost instantly and slept like a baby for the rest of the night. That was, until frantic knocking on our door woke us up. Dominic and I groggily looked at each other. Dominic sat up, pushing his hair out of his face. He opened the door, revealing a very distraught Jamie.
"Grace is gone," Jamie gasped. No. She couldn't be.
"She can't be," Dominic echoed, a look of denial on his face.
"She's gone. Her backpack and everything is gone from the room. It's like she vanished without a trace." Dominic motioned for me to follow him, as the three of us walked into Jamie's room. Sure enough, only Jamie's shoes were sitting by the door. Jamie's backpack was tossed on the armchair; Grace's backpack was nowhere in sight. The bathroom was filled with just Jamie's toiletries.
"Is the car still here?" Dominic asked.
"I thought you had the keys," I said, recalling how Dominic had placed the keys on the bedside table as soon as we entered our room.
Dominic practically ripped the curtain from the window, revealing the earliest hints of the sun rising and the car parked just where we left it. He swore, the reality of the situation setting in. Grace was truly gone.
"Where did she go?" Dominic barked, his eyes furious.
"I-I don't know," Jamie replied, cowering. "One moment I was fast asleep, the next, I woke up and Grace was gone."
"I should have known this was going to happen," Dominic muttered, as he pulled out his iPhone. He furiously started clicking around on it, no doubt trying to track down Grace.
As Jamie and I watched Dominic, I couldn't help the pit of guilt growing in my stomach, feeling like this was entirely my fault. Grace had talked about running in the diner. I should have known she was going to do something, especially since running was what she did best. I should have tried harder to talk her out of it at the diner, maybe even brushing aside the diva squad entirely so Grace and I wouldn't have been distracted from our conversation.
"She's a smart girl," Dominic muttered. "The only thing showing up on her credit cards is the motel rooms from yesterday." Before boarding the plane to the American army base, Dominic had given each of us an identical envelope with four fake passports, two credit cards with fake names, a burner cell phone, and one-thousand dollars cash in each of American dollars and euros. The credit cards were connected to banking apps on his iPhone, allowing all purchases made on them to be viewed, but the cash was untraceable. Once it was spent, there was no way of telling what it had been used to buy and where it had gone.
"Where could she possibly have gone?" Jamie asked. "She couldn't have gone far without a credit card."
"That cash isn't enough for a used car," Dominic said. "But it is enough for a plane or bus ticket." I picked up a map of the motel and the surrounding area on the desk. Sure enough, there was a bus station two miles away.
"I'm going to find Grace," I announced, sprinting out of the room without a second thought. Almost immediately, Dominic came after me.
"You are not going to find Grace!" he yelled, as he ran out of the motel. I pushed myself to run faster, to make it to the bus station before Dominic. Yes, it was two miles away and Dominic was a fast runner. But I wasn't going to let Dominic hold me back.
Unfortunately, I only made it half a mile down the road before Dominic caught up to me, grabbing me by the back of my shirt. I lurched forward, trying to free myself. A strong hand wrapped itself around my arm, preventing me from moving.
"I will not let you board a bus to search for Grace. I already have one teenager unaccounted for. I don't need two." Dominic's seething voice came from behind me.
"Let me go!" I shouted, trying to wrestle my way out of Dominic's grip. My feet were suddenly knocked out from under me. I tried to regain my footing but flew backwards, landing roughly on the pavement. Dominic's figure was on top of me, pinning me down.
"It's too dangerous to search for Grace. Let her go," Dominic argued, his voice firm.
"I can't! She told me she was going to run and I didn't try hard enough to talk her out of it. It's my fault she's gone!" I shouted, not caring about the unwanted attention I was attracting. An odd look washed over Dominic's features, a hint of regret and longing flashing in his eyes.
"No. It's my fault she ran." Did he regret letting Grace's mother run, only to have her end up dead? Did he fear having the same thing happen to Grace?
"Then why don't we find her?!" I pushed against Dominic, trying to free myself. We had to find Grace. Otherwise, she could end up dead in a remote part of the world. Dominic immediately pushed me back down, applying a hard pressure on each of my limbs.
"There's nothing we can do right now. It's safer to let her go and wait for her to reappear. I have an idea of what she might have done. But we can't chase after her now, not yet. I need to get in touch with my contacts, to ensure that Grace can be found. Once we have an idea of her location, then we can find her. But before we do that, we need to get James to Mexico."
"How much longer will it take us to get there?" I couldn't stop myself from squirming. Every precious second we wasted was another second that Grace could take a wrong turn and end up dead. We didn't have any time to waste.
"We can be in Mexico City tonight if we get moving. We can drop James off with my contact there then find Grace. Hopefully, my contacts will have replied by then so we can start the search for Grace right away."
"Two questions. You mentioned that you had an idea of what Grace had done. Where did she run to? And who are your contacts who can supposedly find her?"
"I can't tell you the where, since that is still unknown. But I'm sure you can figure out the who." Dominic looked at me intently, almost challenging me. Who had been trying to chase us, after our departure from Adria?
"The Adrian prime minister," I said. It was hard to miss the way she had ceremoniously flown to the army base, begging to see Jamie.
"And by extension of her…?" Dominic prompted, raising an eyebrow.
"The Society," I breathed, the realization washing over me. I had my suspicions as to why the Society would be after us but didn't know the full reasons, only that it couldn't be for any good.
"Precisely," Dominic said, nodding. "Grace is better equipped to handle the Society than either of us men. If I'm correct in thinking she'll run to them, then my contacts can alert me to her reappearance, at which point we can find her." Dominic's words made sense, although it didn't make me feel any better about Grace being on the loose. She could be literally anywhere in the world right now and I was powerless to find her. I hated this lack of control. If it were up to me, then I would have taken the next bus or plane out to find her. But this wasn't up to me and for now, I had to play by Dominic's rules. Maybe I could take a cue from Grace and pull a surprise disappearance. However, if I tried that, I knew it would not end well. So I had to give in, letting Grace get away even though every part of me wanted to run after her.
"Do we have an agreement?" Dominic asked, staring down at me.
"Yes," I said, trying to keep my voice firm. Dominic nodded, easing off me. He held out a hand to help me up, which I graciously took. My entire body ached from being thrown onto the pavement. I didn't even want to think about the scrapes and bruises I'd be covered in.
"One last question, about your contacts. I'm now assuming they're in the Society. Who are they?" I asked.
Dominic just gave me a sly look and a knowing smile. "You said yourself they were in the Society. I'm sure you can figure out who they are."
And so it was, that the three of us men continued on the road towards Mexico. It had taken us almost an hour to get through the border, as Dominic argued with the border guards in Spanish. The three of us had been searched and our belongings had all been dug through. I had been on edge the whole time, terrified my true identity as the Russian fugitive would be discovered, despite the fake passports I carried with me. Dominic was on edge too, as he grudgingly complied with the border guards' demands. When we had finally been let go, the tension in the car visibly melted. Dominic let out a sigh of relief as he started the car, muttering to himself.
"Was it that bad?" I asked, settling into the passenger seat beside him. I had never taken Spanish in school, always opting for French since it was more widely spoken in Russia and served me better there. Thus, I hadn't been able to follow much of the conversation for the past hour.
"Absolutely hellish," Dominic muttered, as he pulled back onto the highway. "I thought you were going to be detained, leading to a nightmare on our hands. It's a wonder we made it out alive." Instinctively, we both looked at the rearview mirror, to where Jamie was lying in the backseat. Now that Grace was gone, he was able to spread out, perhaps the only good thing to come out of her disappearance. He looked half-asleep, as he tossed and turned.
"He doesn't look too good," I said quietly.
Out of the corner of my eye, Dominic shook his head. "No, he doesn't."
"Do you think he'll make it to Mexico City?" I asked tentatively, almost afraid to know the answer.
The car sped up as Dominic stepped hard on the gas, the speedometer creeping past 100 km/h, getting closer to 120 km/h, as if trying to get to Mexico City before it was too late. "He has to."
Aside from our interaction with the border guards this morning, the rest of our drive to Mexico City was uneventful. Dominic and I took turns driving, never stopping for more than a few minutes to get gas, use the washroom, or pick up food. We ate on the road whenever it wasn't our turn to drive.
Driving in Mexico reminded me of driving in Moscow, where road signs and traffic signals were merely a suggestion and there was no such thing as a speed limit. Thankfully, Dominic hadn't complained about my driving, compared to Roman, Eugene, and Josef, but I could tell he was on edge whenever I was driving. There was a foreboding pressure, like the clock was ticking, to get to Mexico City before it was too late, before some unfortunate event, whatever that could possibly be, occurred. I drove as fast as I could, speeding like never before. Dominic drove even more recklessly than me, speeding like an absolute demon and cutting off cars with no mercy. I held on for dear life, fearing that we'd get into an accident or get caught by police. Yet, nothing happened, as we raced against the clock towards Mexico City.
Night had fallen and the sun had set long ago by the time we reached the outskirts of Mexico City. Dominic let out a sigh of relief as he marginally slowed down. A moan from the backseat interrupted the quite reverie of our drive. I turned to find Jamie shaking, as he frantically tossed and turned. He looked like he was shivering; yet, I could see the sweat beading on his forehead.
"He doesn't look so good," I commented.
"It'll be another hour at most to get to my contact's place," Dominic said, eyes narrowed as he concentrated on navigating the road and the nighttime traffic. "He'll be taken care of once we get there." I gave Jamie another skeptical look, as he started coughing. He had gradually been getting worse all day. I imagined the altitude increase wasn't helping either, if his heavy, laboured breaths were any indication.
"Should we pull over or something?" I asked hesitantly, as Jamie kept coughing, each cough making his entire body shake.
"He'll be fine," Dominic said through gritted teeth, brows furrowed in concentration, or maybe it was anger. Jamie did not look fine to me but I wasn't going to argue that with Dominic. He was in charge of all this and things were already tense enough as it was, especially with Grace's recent disappearance. I didn't want to upset him further.
Just then, a horrible retching noise filled the car. I whipped around, finding Jamie vomiting into one of the leftover take-out bags. He looked like he could barely keep his head up. But that wasn't the most frightening thing about him.
"Is he… is he turning purple?" I eeked out. Dominic took a look in the rearview mirror. In an instant, his facial expression changed, as he pulled over onto the shoulder of the road. He immediately got out of the car, ripping open the back door, rushing to Jamie's side. I got out too, rushing to Jamie's other side.
Dominic's hands flew all over Jamie's body as he quickly assessed him, muttering to himself. "Febrile but acrocyanotic, bordering on full cyanosis. Tachycardic and tachypneic. BP has got to be in the boots." I didn't understand much of what Dominic was saying, thanks to all the medical jargon, but none of it sounded good.
"James, can you hear me?" Dominic shouted, as he tapped Jamie's shoulders. Jamie just moaned, seemingly oblivious to the world around him.
"James!" Dominic shouted again, desperation in his voice, as if fearing that Jamie wouldn't make it after all. I watched frightfully as Dominic assessed Jamie again. The cars were speeding by us on the road, an indication of the time passing by around us, even though we seemed to be frozen in this one life-or-death moment. So much was at stake here, with every second being crucial.
Jamie's countenance changed, as he let out one last moan. I frantically grabbed his hand, only to feel his body giving one last shake before suddenly going limp. Dominic looked at Jamie in fear, as if finally realizing just how bad the situation had gotten. "Fuck, he's gone into shock."
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter will be up between Nov. 12 and Nov. 22.
And there I go, leaving you on a cliffhanger ending, with a medical emergency nonetheless. What do you think will happen to Jamie? Do you think he'll be okay?
Also, I hope I did the diner scene justice since I know it's a favourite for many readers. I found it particularly difficult to write and make realistic during edits so I hope it's okay. And the 'Lura' character was based off someone's real name (since it was a contest to have their name featured in the book) so if the IRL Lura is reading this, I hope I don't offend you with how I've portrayed Alexei's interpretation of your character :P