Kindred Intentions (13 page)

The humming became closer. She heard a
gunshot. She lowered her head. Another gunshot.

“The car is armour-plated, their bullets can’t
enter.”

A sense of relief pervaded her, as she
straightened on her seat. They were in a bigger vehicle, impenetrable. The
others could chase them, but couldn’t take them. All of a sudden the car
swerved.

“And so they’re aiming at the tyres.” Mike had
started zigzagging, but that was slowing them down. The lights in the rear-view
mirrors were becoming closer and more menacing.

A bullet lodged on the window beside Amelia,
who moved back in surprise. A web of cracks branched out from the impact point,
but the glass didn’t break. She turned backward. A motorbike was coming up
beside them. She could see the figure of the man riding it. He was wearing a
helmet. Another man without a face trying to put an end to her life.

Their vehicle braked. She was projected
forward, but her safety belt did its job once more. Then Mike steered to the
left. The car’s side hit the motorbike. Amelia’s gaze followed the fall of the
other vehicle as long as she could. “One down!” she exclaimed triumphantly.

Her partner looked much less enthusiastic. “He
will stand up again; I haven’t hit him hard enough.”

Another bang, this time from the opposite side
of the car. The latter started to pull to the right. Mike accelerated again,
making it move once more in a straight line. The engine struggled to fight
against the resistance of the terrain and the slight slope. The lights were
moving away again.

All at once the vehicle turned to the left and
then he steered in the opposite direction, making a ninety degree curve, which
brought them out of the path and into the middle of the trees again, where they
were thicker.

After a few seconds he counter-steered in the
opposite direction and turned off the headlights. Then he came to a grinding
halt.

Dazed by all those changes of directions,
Amelia placed a hand on her head. “What …?”

“Ssshhh!” he commanded her, putting a finger
on his own mouth.

As she looked out, she noticed they were
surrounded by bushes; they had squeezed in between them. Everything around them
was dark. She could still hear the humming from the motorbikes, but couldn’t
see the lights anymore. They were hiding. How long could they succeed?

The familiar noise of the winder motor made
her turn to Mike. He had opened the window, perhaps to hear better. The
motorbikes sounded as if they were moving away. Why wouldn’t they take
advantage of that to get out of there?

A spasm at her right hand reminded Amelia that
she was still holding her gun tightly. She loosened her grip and put it on her
lap, then she turned to him as if she wanted to say something, but she didn’t
dare speak. He had gestured her to be quiet and perhaps it was a good idea to
obey him. Not because she had resigned herself to do whatever he said. Definitely
not. Maybe just for a while. Well, she had better not displease him.

She couldn’t stand authoritarian people. She
was used to keeping as far away as possible from those who wanted to impose
something on her. The social position of her family had allowed her to do it
easily, but when she’d had to face the real world, after Joseph’s death, she
had discovered that she just wasn’t able to avoid those kinds of people. They
were everywhere and almost always they were more important than her, or at
least had a real power over her, like
Monroe
. Okay, sometimes she ignored him and didn’t follow his orders.
Actually the situation she was in now had been caused by one of those times.
And that highlighted another truth: listening to authoritarian people could be
a good idea. Even more now that an unspecified number of other people were
trying to wipe her from the face of the Earth and the authoritarian person on
duty seemed to always have the situation under control. Well, in that case, you
had to add that Mike was definitely more interesting than
Monroe
. Although he had been extremely
rude with her, Amelia tended to forget about that aspect and focused on the
positive ones: self-confident, charming, a former spy. Moreover, he had saved
her life. There was also the irrelevant
detail
that she had been to bed
with him, which, even if she kept denying it to herself, dramatically changed
the perspective from which she judged him. There we go, she was doing it again,
she was sweetening things. Poor, silly little girl who let herself being
conquered by the first one who saved her life! But in the end, she had to admit
that his being authoritarian made her feel safe, in these particular
circumstances. Even when he called her a bitch.

How sad.

Her mind kept going round and round from one
thought to another and she hadn’t noticed that he was studying her. And it
appeared he was even having fun. “A penny for your thoughts.” There was no more
noises out there.

“What?” It was the standard reply that allowed
her to think about a real answer.

“I had the impression that you were about to
ask me something, then your gaze got lost.” He was smiling.

How he could make out her gaze with such
little light was a mystery, but Amelia decided it was better not to break the
spell with an irritating remark. “I was thinking that …” What? That he was a hottie
and, in spite of everything, she would go to bed with him again right now? No,
that wasn’t a suitable answer. “It’s kind of nice here.” Which was exactly the
opposite of her previous desire to go away.

An expression between amusement and perplexity
met her words. “Really?”

“Well … I mean …” She unfastened her safety
belt so that she could turn completely toward him. Oh, to hell! “I like you an
awful lot, Mike Connor … or whatever your name is.” She started shaking her
hands, nipping in the bud any attempt at a reply from him. “Yes, I know that,
said like this, it sounds so teenage, and anyway you already knew that, and
that … well, I know.” She stopped to breathe, but then she noticed that he was
about to say something so she decided to blow the whistle. “What I mean is that
I really don’t like the idea that you are going to disappear from my life after
all this. And even if you’ve decided that it’ll be so, I’d like to have a say
in it or at least have a chance to make you change your mind.” Mike started
opening his mouth, but she anticipated him again. “And I know that I’m a police
officer and you are … what you are … and this poses some problems, but at the
moment I don’t give a fuck, because I’ve never met anyone like you. And not
because you’re a former spy and kill people like they are flies or the like.”
She shook her head hard. “No, actually, these things creep me out, but I like
you all the same. That’s it.” At last she shut up.

He could have said something now, but kept
looking at her as if he was waiting.

“Oh, fuck, I’m blabbering,” she said, shaking
a hand to show he ought to ignore her, and turned to the other side. Her
brain-mouth filter had completely failed. Better stay quiet and avoid making
herself even more of a laughing-stock.

“For sure
I
have never met someone like
you, Amelia Jennings.”

She felt floored by that velvet voice, but
still couldn’t find the courage to look at him.

He sighed, before continuing. “And I like you
an
awful lot
, too.”

Amelia let a laugh escape at the way he had
stressed those three words, and she risked a glance in his direction.

“And the last thing I would like to do is not
to see you anymore.”

She found herself turning to him. She hadn’t
realised she’d done it.

“But …” Mike’s expression hinted at a sort of
melancholy. “I know full well that if I stay beside you I’ll end up putting you
in danger.” He extended his hands. “Like what’s happening now. I don’t want you
risking your life uselessly for someone like me.”

“Why do you say so?” she objected. “What does
that mean, someone like you? It seems just an … excuse.”

“I’m damaged goods, Amelia.” He was looking
her straight in the eye. “We both know that full well.”

If only he had known. Maybe she should have
told him. “I am, too.”

“Oh, no, you don’t know what you’re talking
about.” There again, his sarcasm was back.

“Oh, yes, indeed,” she replied, raising her
voice. “You are the one who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” She felt her
eyes becoming wet. “Perhaps I wasn’t kidnapped and tortured in the
Middle East
. You beat me with that, okay,
I’ll give you that one!” She cracked a smiled amongst her tears, which
reflected on his face. “But I have my own demons persecuting me.” Her smile
died, she bit her lip, whilst she tried to go on. “It’s like I’m just looking
for a way to dodge them and get on with my life, only that …” Her voice
betrayed her for a moment. “I can’t. I can’t, not all alone.” Her tears were rolling
down uncontrollably and she lowered her gaze. It was then that she felt her
hand being taken. “I know it’s folly, because we’ve just met, but I have the
feeling, or maybe it’s just an illusion, that you and I could reach our common
goal, together.”

“It’s a risk.” Mike was stroking her knuckles
with his thumb.

“Are you going to tell me that you’re afraid
to take a risk?”

“Yes, a bit.”

“So you are human.” She scrutinised him,
tilting her head so that she could watch him from below in the crepuscular
light.

He nodded. “Yes, a bit.”

They started laughing in unison. Oh God, what
a great sensation. In spite of the tiredness, fear, and cold that was
penetrating her clothes, Amelia hadn’t felt so close to the idea of happiness
for years. It was the kind of satisfaction that hits you unexpectedly, when you
realise that something you desired is actually already yours, and you wonder
how it happened. And at the same time you’re afraid that just like it arrived,
before you can feel it belonging to you, it will be taken away from you.

“I think we can try to go,” Mike says, still
holding her hand. “The main road isn’t far from here, but we have to be
careful. I’m afraid we have a flat tyre.”

She reached out with her other arm and placed
her fingers on his face. “It’s a problem, it’ll slow us down.” She was speaking
in a serious tone, as if she was really pondering the matter, but meanwhile she
had slipped a hand into his hair.

“It’s a serious problem over such bumpy
terrain,” he remarked. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment.
“We can’t hope to leave them behind, if they find us.” He placed a hand on her
hip and pulled her to him. Her gun fell from her legs to the foot well. A last
close glance, then he kissed her, pushing his mouth hard on hers, with rhythmical
and avid movements.

Amelia held him tight and let herself be
guided, forgetting her own identity for a moment, and wishing that she didn’t
have to remember who she was anymore.

His vigour turned into sweetness, until Mike
moved his lips away from her. “You’re distracting me and right now this isn’t a
good thing at all,” he whispered to her in a low voice. “Do you realise that?”

“Sorry,” she replied in a sigh.

He smiled and gave her a last little kiss on
her nose. “Recover your weapon, officer.”

Reluctantly Amelia had to renounce the embrace
and bent down to take her gun.

When she straightened herself again, Mike had
one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the ignition key. He sighed
noisily. “We can’t stay here forever.” His face was concentrating again, but he
was still short of breath. He activated the dashboard, and was about to turn
the key, but then he stopped. “You’re putting me in a difficult situation.” He
was staring at an indefinite point in front of him. “The more I stay with you,
the more I can’t help but worry that something will happen to you. And this
stops me thinking in a lucid way.”

“So let me help you to think. There are two of
us in this situation, so let’s try to solve it together.”

Mike cracked a nervous smile and started the
engine.

The off-road vehicle moved off, making its way
through low bushes, whose thin branches fell as it advanced. The terrain was
full of dips and holes and the car proceeded slowly. There was something wrong
with the traction. It struggled at times. At least one tyre had to be flat. It
had probably completely deflated during their stop.

“Why don’t we replace it?”

“We should, but we need a level surface and
light, and we don’t have the former available, and we must avoid the latter.”
He cast a glance at the internal rear-view mirror. “The fact we don’t hear and
see them doesn’t necessarily mean they have gone. They could hide in the
shadows as well and wait for us to make the first move.”

They went beyond the shelter offered by the
vegetation and found themselves in an open space surrounded by trees. Mike made
for turning to the left, but then he stopped and pointed the vehicle in the
opposite direction. Oh, yeah, the most logical thing would be to return to the
beaten track, but perhaps it was exactly there that their pursuers were
waiting.