"Come on," Nathan said, once again taking her by the hand. They rushed across the street and piled into the back of the taxi.
"I'm waiting for..." the woman driver began.
"For us," Nathan finished. "Thanks for being so quick."
"Okay, so where to?"
Nathan told her to take them back to their hotel.
"So?" Paige asked once they were underway. "What is it? I know its not just the name thing."
"Here," he said, pulling the photograph out of his pocket.
Paige took the photo and looked at it, a sad smile upon her face. What had she done? The smiling face in the photograph looked back at her. Why the heck had she just run away from her old friend? Why was she acting so crazy? Why did she trust this man she had just met?
"And I am supposed to see what exactly? I mean, what am I supposed to see besides myself and my friend I just foolishly ditched?"
"For starters, how about her shadow?"
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
She caught up with the bus just as it was pulling away from its next stop. Linda scanned the people milling about on the sidewalk. She didn't see Paige or that man she had been with.
"Nathan. His name was Nathan," she said to herself. Had she already reported that? She was pretty sure she had. Hadn't she?
She gave the people one more quick glance and slipped the car back into drive and slammed her foot on the gas pedal, peeling out and startling the people on the sidewalk. Her heart was hammering in her chest. Where was the bus? Had it turned? Her right eyelid began to twitch and she swore aloud. She wanted to reach out and stop the tick, but was too afraid to take her hands off the wheel.
What would she do if she caught up with Paige? What could she do? Something had definitely spooked them and set them running. If she caught up, how would she convince them that things were fine? How would she convince Paige to come with her?
"There!"
She spotted the bus pulling to a stop ahead. How the heck could she have not seen that?
She swung around the bus and slammed her car into park. She leapt out of her car, leaving it running, the door wide open and sticking into the next lane of traffic. She rushed to the side of the bus, the door had just closed. She slammed the palm of her hand against the door repeatedly.
"What the hell?" the driver demanded as he flipped open the door.
Linda ignored him and ran up the steps of the bus. Her eyes scanned the rows of seats. There were less than a dozen people seated inside, neither Paige nor Nathan among them.
"Lady, what the hell? Is that your car blocking me? What are you doing?"
The driver looked at the woman who was ignoring his questions. Her eyes were wild, the right one was twitching like crazy. His left hand began to reach toward the baseball bat he kept on the side of his seat. The world was going more and more nuts everyday.
Linda scanned the faces for a third time. They were definitely not here and there was nowhere for them to hide on the bus. She glanced to her right and noticed the driver was reaching for something.
Oh crap!
"My...my..."
The driver stopped reaching. "What?"
Think damn it!
"My daughter! She is fifteen. Blue dress. Ponytail. Did she get on? We were at lunch and had a fight. I went to the bathroom and when I came back she was gone. I couldn't find her in the restaurant and someone there said they thought she got on this bus. It was two stops back, did you see her?"
Lost daughter. Sure, now he understood why she was acting so stressed.
"Nah. Sorry lady, no one got on back there."
"Are you sure? No one got on?"
"Nope, just drop offs. Last guy I picked up was four stops ago, that dude." The driver indicated a man wearing a black T-shirt in the middle of the bus.
"Oh, okay. Well, thanks," she said as she reached up and touched her twitching eyelid.
"Good luck, lady," the driver said sincerely as she exited the bus.
Linda got back into her car and pulled back into traffic.
"Now I am really screwed," she muttered to herself.
She decided the best thing she could do would be to report in as soon as possible, so she quickly returned to her apartment. She snapped up the phone as soon as she entered, tossing her purse on the couch. She flipped on the computer as she waited for him to pick up.
"Kassar."
"We have a problem," she blurted.
Silence.
"I lost her."
Continued silence.
"When I came back from phoning you they were gone."
Her eye began to twitch again and her bladder suddenly felt very full.
"Kassar are you there? Are you hearing this?"
Oh say something before I wet myself!
"I hear you and I see you,"
She looked over at the computer and saw Kassar's face in a small box on the screen. She hated that damn remote access.