"No!"
The sound of his own scream startled both of them back to reality, Paige nearly leapt a foot off the ground, turned quickly and slammed her arm against the railing. Nathan blinked and realized it had all been in his mind. He saw the fear in Paige's eyes as she looked at him and rubbed at her elbow.
"Sorry, Paige, really sorry. I...I." He tossed up his hands, unsure how to explain.
She followed his eye-line and saw he was looking out over the balcony. He didn't know whether or not she guessed what he'd been thinking, but she came inside and slid the door to the balcony closed.
"Sorry," he said again.
She nodded and sat back down on the edge of the bed.
"Now what?"
It was a simple question and his answer was just as simple.
"We leave. We get out of here."
"But go where? This is insane."
"I don't know. But I think we need to leave quickly. Linda may come after us here."
"So? I mean this is insane."
"You said that already."
"Well it is true," she said. "This entire thing is totally insane."
"I can't argue that, but I still think we need to go."
"No. We need to stop. I need to stop and think. Besides, Linda doesn't even know where we are staying."
He opened his mouth to argue, but knew from her expression that he wouldn't be able to coax her to move on until she was good and ready.
"Okay, then let's talk it out a little."
Paige stood back up and began pacing the room. She was silent for a very long time. After ten minutes, Nathan stopped looking at his watch. He knew it was only making her more nervous and she needed to work through it in her own way, in her own time.
"On one hand I seem to be running away from a woman I have known and trusted for years."
"And yet she..."
Paige shot him a glance and he fell silent. He understood immediately, she was driving this car. He just needed to be quiet and sit in the passenger's seat.
"And yet," she continued, picking up on his thought, "Linda has for some reason made a fake photograph of me and her. Why? Doesn't make any sense. We took plenty of pictures together during our time at college. I'm sure of it. So why would she have to make a fake one?"
Nathan wanted to answer. He didn't know if he was right or not, but half a dozen theories were rattling around in his head, all of them shed Linda in a bad light.
"On the other hand there is you. Someone else with photographs of me. Me with you to be exact. Someone I do not know, but you claim to know me quite well. To the point of marriage in fact. I looked at all those photos you had and they looked real. I don't remember looking for shadows, but..." She shrugged her shoulders.
"So I have one person who I know and yet for some reason don't trust, though I should. And I have one person who I don't know and yet for some unknown reason seem to trust. I feel like someone has taken my life and put it in a blender."
Nathan's eyes were locked on her. She had started to tremble a little again, though he could understand why this time. She balled her hands into fists at her side. He could see tears threatening at the corners of her eyes. She swung around and kicked out in frustration. Foot met wall and wall won. She leapt back, hopping on one foot while grabbing at the other. She lost her balance and before Nathan could make it to her, she fell to the floor, landing with a solid thud on her backside.
Nathan stood over her, looking down. She sat cradling her injured foot, tears rolling down her cheeks and laughing.
"And now I think I broke a toe," she said through her laughter.
He knelt down next to her and she allowed him to take her injured foot in his hand. He slid the sandal off her foot and gently touched each toe, she winced when he reached her middle toe.
"I'm afraid its the little piggy that had roast beef," he whispered and was rewarded with a genuine smile and giggle.
"Well I guess its a good thing it wasn't the one that went to market, because I am guessing we need to get out of here. Don't we?"
Nathan looked into her eyes. He wanted so much to be able to say something that would explain all this. To say something that would comfort her, but he couldn't.
"I'm afraid so."
Paige nodded and allowed Nathan to help her up. He remained silent while she quickly got her stuff together. She winced a bit with each step. He wasn't sure if she had actually broken her toe or not, but she had certainly hurt herself.
"Okay, so where to?" she asked.
"The airport."
"And then where?"
She wasn't surprised when he said, "I don't know."
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
He knocked once but didn't wait for a response, it was more to announce his presence than to ask permission. He opened his mouth to begin an assault of questions, but shut it when he found he was facing an empty desk.