Happy New Year!! So pleased I could update for you guys; sorry it took so long, I’ve been so busy, I had a 13-page history project due…okay, that’s a lie, I’ve been lazy and I haven’t even started the history project still haha. But let’s face it, it’s Christmas, it’s the time to be lazy. So yeah. Here’s chapter ten– weird how I started Delta in 2011 and now it’s 2013…hard to keep track, since I have to make sure they’re still in December 2011. Sorry, I’m rambling. So! Please – fan/vote/comment loads for a fast update, I’m SOOO happy with the reception I’ve gotten so far and Delta’s support is making me cry – BIG thanks! All right, bye!

Gracias! <3 vb123321

Chapter Ten



♣ Josh ♣



I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all.



Joel Nicholson was barely fourteen years old – what the hell was I thinking, letting him on this trip? Astrid was kidding herself; anything involving Delta and G7 and possibly Pierre’s agency was not going to end well. I needed to talk to her, needed to find a way to talk to his aunt and uncle, needed to find a while out of all of this…wasn’t going after Jay enough for her? Did she have to drag along his little brother? She was definitely unprepared for any interaction between them; she hadn’t fooled me.



All this was running through my mind as Astrid began to drive again, even though we didn’t really have a destination in mind. Joel looked happy enough, piping up with a question regarding Delta every now and then, which I studiously ignored. I was tapping my fingers on the dashboard, receiving annoyed glances from Astrid, but my brain was too upset to comply. We needed to stop somewhere – we needed to get a plan.



“Let’s find a motel,” I said suddenly, breaking through one of Joel’s inquiries.



“We don’t exactly have an excessive budget right now,” Astrid reminded me with a frown. “That’s going to be a problem.”



A grin spread over my face; now was the one time I could win an argument with Astrid. I turned to Joel. “Hand me my backpack, please – it’s the dark blue one right there. Yeah, that one. Thank you.” Holding it in my lap, I dug around in the front small pocket until I found my extra wallet, extracting from it a silver credit card. “Look familiar?”



Astrid raised an eyebrow. “A Delta credit card? Isn’t that a little risky? I mean, they’ll be able to track everything we buy from it.”



I shook my head, pleased to be right for once. “Nope. I swiped its memory on the card and their computers – it’ll still pay our bills, but it won’t show up on their records as by us, simply by different agents every time. A bit here, a bit there. Doesn’t look suspicious in the slightest. They’ll never know.”



She stared at it for so long that I was forced to reach over and grab the wheel. Her eyes shot back to the road, but there was plenty of admiration in her voice. “You have got to be kidding me. No, I don’t even want to know how you did that.”



“I do.” Joel looked at me with wide eyes. “Is it possible for me to do that to my uncle’s?”



I laughed. “No, I wouldn’t recommend it, kid. It can get you in loads of trouble. I happen to be…talented in that area. Electronics,” I clarified as he frowned. “Security, especially. Good at hacking, code-breaking…you name it.”



“Making lasagna?” Joel’s face was dead-serious.



“All right, that’s going a little far.”



Astrid rolled her eyes. “Of course. Let’s get down to the priorities, huh?”



“She can’t cook,” I explained to Joel in a loud whisper, laughing as Astrid punched me in the arm. “But, seriously, she can’t. It tastes like burnt crap.”



“Because you can,” she muttered. “Now, get serious and start Googling motels around here, please. What do we do in the meantime?”



“The meantime?” I repeated, already pulling out my phone.



“We can hardly go to sleep at one in the afternoon!”



“True.” I paused in my scrolling. “What interesting places can we go to around here? Any sightseeing?”



“Yes, because we’re on this trip for sightseeing,” said Astrid in exasperation, and I gave her a flat look.



“You’re the one who said this wasn’t going to be a dangerous thing. We could go find a rifle range to practice if you want.”



She paused, sending me an apologetic look; I shrugged, rolling my finger across the screen of my phone once more. Joel was quiet for a long moment, and then piped up with a meek-sounding, “I have to use the restroom.”



I looked over at Astrid; she pulled a wry face, muttering, “Don’t say ‘I told you so,’ please.” She sighed. “Okay, Joel, we’ll stop somewhere soon. Do you know any places around here that we can stop at?”



He shrugged. “Oh, I dunno. University of Michigan?”



She glanced over at me, biting her lip. “What do you think? It’s a bit risky…but there are loads of people to blend in with…”



“We’re over-thinking this,” I said in irritation. “Let’s go to the university, then; heck, I always wanted to visit. Joel can go potty–”



“Hey!”



“–and we can hang out for a while, tour the campus, eat lunch. I don’t know. We still have to call his aunt and uncle,” I reminded her, and her face began to move in a very familiar gesture. “Um, no. I’m not doing the calling. This was your dumb idea; you’ve got to carry through with it.” She looked irritated but didn’t react, which I found mildly surprising, as I had been prepared to fight for it.



Astrid left the expressway a few exits later, signs for the University of Michigan greeting us as we drove into Ann Arbor. Feeling nervous for unknown reasons, I made sure Astrid parked near where we would enter campus. Once safely parked, I stepped out, hoisting my backpack over my shoulder, and double-clicked the lock button as Joel toppled out of the backseat and slammed his door.



“Paranoid or what?” muttered Astrid as we began walking towards campus, Joel practically hopping. I shrugged uneasily, sticking my hands in my pockets to keep them warm.



“Who in their right mind walks around a campus in the middle of winter?” I grumbled, scanning the surrounding buildings. Even though I was kind of chilly, I had to admit the architecture was beautiful. It reminded me a bit of Hogwarts, with its yellow-brown stone and little crests above the dorm doors.



“Loads of people, actually.” Astrid glanced around at the many jogging, walking, or biking students, as well as several couples that strolled hand in hand. “Maybe if you wore more layers, you wouldn’t freeze. Come on, Josh, cheer up. It’s not everyday we get to act like college kids, huh?”



“We wouldn’t even be in college,” I pointed out, making a face. “I guess we could pretend we’re visiting to see if we want to go here…”



She laughed, punching my arm good-naturedly, and I smiled as well. It was good to see her cheerful again; her condition had really scared me when I had first returned from France. Maybe letting Joel go along on this crazy expedition wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all, although I definitely had my doubts.



“Guys.” Joel was shifting from foot to foot. “I wasn’t joking, you know.”



“Um, right.” Astrid looked around, twirling the end of her French braid. She was developing a bad habit of doing that when she was nervous; I’d have to point it out to her before it got her in trouble one day. “Well, if my memory is correct, then I think there’s a food court somewhere around here that we could go to. There’s bound to be a bathroom, and I’m starving anyway. Josh – do you have any cash on you?”



“We have the credit card, remember?” I was still gloating about my genius.



“Yeah, well…” She didn’t look too enthusiastic. “You know how I feel about relying on credit alone. We really should find an ATM somewhere, cash up…” Joel let out a loud cough, glaring at her emphatically. “What? Oh yeah, sorry, Joel. Let’s go find that food court.”



We traipsed through the pavement paths, trying to look as casual as possible as Joel began to look more and more desperate, until at last we found the building that Astrid recognized as the place that held the food court. It was bustling with students, laughter and chatter and the smell of fast food filling the air as we stepped through the doors. Joel spotted the restroom side and rapidly disappeared.



“Let’s sit,” said Astrid in a tense voice. “Wait for him.”



Crashing down in a nearby booth, I pulled out my phone as Astrid sank down across from me, glancing around and then tugging hers out as well. She frowned at her screen, tapping it and biting her lip. For a moment, I just looked at the text that was on my screen. Wulf. But how had he known…? And if he said it wasn’t Delta…?



“Who was that text from?” Astrid’s voice was abrupt. I met her eyes. “The one you got right before we left the gym?”



I took a deep breath, sliding my phone across the table to her. “Look. Wulf texted me – he said something about the agents in the gym, that they were closing in on us and we needed to get lost. I don’t know how he knew…he didn’t make it sound like they were Delta agents, but he wouldn’t say when I asked him.”



Her eyes looked worried as she scrolled through the texts. “I don’t like it, Josh. I don’t like it at all.” She glanced up at me, shoving my phone back across the table. “What does this mean? Who are they if they’re not Delta, and why would Wulf know about them and their location? Or are they Delta, and Wulf’s on our side?”



I shrugged, running a hand through my hair. “I don’t even know. What were your texts about?”



She looked down at her phone. “I’m not sure. I haven’t really looked at them. Darcy sent me one – you remember, the little Canadian agent who’s like my freaking shadow – actually, this is kind of weird…” Her eyebrow cocked as she read through the text. “Josh. You should look at this. She’s saying something similar to what Wulf said. Here: Young’s been talking about something, don’t know what, but it sounds pretty odd and I don’t understand it. Someone’s after you and then a couple question marks. She doesn’t know what’s going on either.”



Blowing out slowly through my mouth, I glanced around the packed cafeteria, noticing what everyone was doing. I was being paranoid, I knew; we had thrown our attackers off ages before, so why did I feel that we were still being watched?



“Should I try calling Wulf, or is that too risky?”



“The thing is…” Astrid sighed. “Well, why would it be Delta? I mean, we haven’t done anything. Not yet. So why is it risky?”



Groaning, I put my phone back in my pocket. “This is killing my brain. Later, okay? The kid’s coming back. Which,” I added, frowning at her, “is another thing we really need to discuss.”



She sighed, but at that point Joel had plopped down in the seat to my right, looking at me with those huge blue eyes. Boy, did he look like Jay. Which was why I worried about Astrid.



“So?” This kid was far too cheerful for me. “What’s the plan? Are we getting food? I’m starved; I feel like it’s been, like, ten hours since I ate…do you smell Burger King, because I feel like I do but I can’t see one around…”



I covered his mouth with my hand, regretting it almost instantly. “Okay, okay, calm yourself. First we have to attend to the general issue at hand…Astrid?”



She winced, already typing in the number on her phone. “This is not going to be pleasant. Joel, you may have to back me up; be prepared.”



“What’s she doing?” asked Joel in a stage whisper as Astrid lifted her phone to her ear, placing her finger over her mouth and glaring to indicate silence.



“Calling your aunt and uncle,” I replied grimly, and he shut up, looking at her with wide, worried eyes.



“Yes, hello, Angie. This is Astrid. Yes, we’re fine. Joel won his game, he’s all happy. Um, actually, we need to talk about something…can Dan come to the phone? Thanks.” She paused for a long moment, tapping her fingers on the tabletop as she shrugged at me. “Oh, hey. Using the extension? Okay, well, this is kind of a long story, but we ran into some trouble after the game…”



I grimaced; not exactly the best word choice. She glared at me as she outlined the situation to Joel’s aunt and uncle, who were apparently either listening avidly or shocked into silence, because she didn’t pause once. Once finished, it was clear that there was a long, awkward pause as they digested all of this. Astrid was chewing her lip anxiously, waiting for them to respond.



“Hello?” she said finally, coughing as someone answered. “Yeah, we understand that. But think about his family. And we’re not doing anything dangerous – we were on vacation right now. Yes, well…” She glanced at Joel, who was listening with interest, and stood up to walk a few feet away from our table, explaining about Jay in a low voice.



Joel looked a little put-out, giving me an annoyed look. “Why can’t I hear?”



“It’s rude to eavesdrop,” I said distractedly, watching Astrid as she paced back and forth, waving one hand for emphasis though they couldn’t see. Her face was becoming more and more worried, but a few long minutes later, she finally returned to the table, relief stamped across her face.



“All right. Your aunt wants to talk to you, Joel, here.” She handed him the phone, which he took with some trepidation. “Don’t mess with anything on there, please… Josh.” I met her eyes across the table. “They bought it,” she said quietly as Joel stepped back a little to talk to his aunt.



I sighed. “I still don’t like lying to them.”



Astrid reached for the end of her French braid. “What else was I going to say?”



“Make him go home?” I tugged her hair out of her hand. “Stop doing that. You’re making it into a nervous habit, you realize that?”



“What?” She looked at the end of the braid as if seeing it for the first time. “Oh. Thanks.” Taking a deep breath, she watched Joel’s face for a moment. “He looks so much like Jay. Do you think so?”



I frowned. “Astrid.”



Her eyes narrowed slightly. “It’s not the reason, I swear, okay? Calm down. I was just stating a fact.” But as Joel walked back over to us, handing Astrid back her phone with an announcement that everything was worked out, I couldn’t help but notice how she was watching those eyes, those sky-blue eyes exactly the same shade as Jay’s.



“Well, that’s good.” I rose to my feet. “I’m starved – do you guys want me to order for you, or what?”



“I’m coming with you.” Joel bounced up, knocking his chair over. Blushing, he righted it. “I don’t trust other people ordering for me.”



“What about you, Astrid? Astrid?”



She was staring at her phone, her face suddenly tensed, and I placed a hand under her chin, bringing it up to meet her eyes. A swallow moved down her throat visibly, and I caught enough of a glimpse of her screen before she covered it with her hand to know someone had just texted her. From her reaction, there was only three people that could be, and I had a suspicion I knew who.



“Go ahead and grab something for me.” Her voice came out calm, but her eyes gave her away. “That Chinese fast food place looked good.”



“Astrid.” I held her gaze for a long moment, but she shooed me away.



“I’m fine, really. Let me just answer this text.” She paused. “It’s important.”



Reluctantly, I beckoned to Joel. “Come on, chief. Let’s get some comida.” Casting one last worried glance at Astrid, who didn’t even look at me as she focused on her phone, I found the Panda Express that she had mentioned and stood in line with the antsy Joel. “Did you take your medication this morning?” I asked him, a little more irritably than I needed to, but I was still irked about Astrid’s flash decision about lugging him along.



He looked a little wounded. “Of course I did. Twice a day. I always remember.”



“You didn’t last night,” I muttered, and then smiled in apology as he gave me a reproachful look. “Whatever. What do you want?”



I pulled out my wallet as the guy behind the counter looked at us with a bored expression. Joel stepped up to the glass, inspecting its contents before giving his order of fried rice with the chicken to the guy, who dully placed this in a takeout bowl and looked at me. I gestured for the same and added one for Astrid as well, sliding my credit card and taking our food and the receipt.



Joel was practically bouncing as we made our way back to our seats. I had to wonder about him – even with the whole ADD thing, how was he taking this so lightly? I would have been scared to death if I was in his situation; I was already scared just thinking about the stupid decision we had made to take him along. Astrid and I needed to talk, and soon.



“Thanks,” she murmured as I handed her the bowl of Chinese. She looked distant, taking the lid on and sinking her fork in without any real interest. Her eyes kept flicking around the cafeteria, and I snapped a finger in front of them as I sank down and opened my own food. Blinking, she focused on me, and I raised an interrogative eyebrow. She hooked a finger in Joel’s direction, indicating that she couldn’t talk about it with him there. That only made me more suspicious.



Joel was dipping into the Chinese enthusiastically, his eyes moving around the room as well but in a brighter, non-paranoid sort of way. Looking at him made something in my chest hurt; he still knew nothing, had no idea what he was agreeing to. A flicker of anger towards Astrid rose inside of me at the lies we were telling him, but I had to admit that it was partially my fault and that it was most likely for the best.



Still, I couldn’t keep the abruptness out of my voice as I asked him, “Are you sure you want to do this?”



He looked at me, big blue eyes wide and innocent. “Do what? I like Chinese.”



“No – come with us. I mean, you’ll miss Christmas with your family and everything, most likely. The sleep schedule is terrible. You probably won’t be able to shower everyday, and food could become a problem in certain situations. Not to mention we may have men like the ones from the gym after us twenty-four-seven.”



Astrid winced. “Could you say that any more bluntly?”



Joel frowned briefly, sucking the end of his fork as he looked around the room for a long moment. “I know what you’re getting at,” he said finally in a more serious tone that I hadn’t been expecting. “And I know. I don’t care, either. Christmas with my cousins…” He seemed to struggle for words. “I love them and they’re nice and everything…but Christmas really isn’t the same without – without my real family.”



We were silent for a long moment, in which Joel studied the tabletop with flushing cheeks, and then Astrid said in a surprisingly gentle voice, “Joel, they are your family.”



He jerked his shoulder in what might have been a shrug. “Yeah, well…basically, I don’t mind coming with you. So if you don’t mind having me…” The brilliant smile was back; it nearly hurt to look at it. “I’d be glad to come.”



I met Astrid’s eyes; she shrugged. “What more do you want?”



“We’re still talking about this later,” I warned her, shoveling more rice in my mouth. “I haven’t made up my mind completely.”



We finished eating and then spent most of the afternoon wandering around the campus, peering into the buildings and visiting gift shops nearby. I wondered briefly what it would be like to attend a university, live a normal life, walk with my girlfriend down the paths on my way to class without having one hand on the cold metal handle in my pocket; but only briefly, because I couldn’t really picture it.



After four o’clock, the sun began going down and the sky began to dim. The heavy clouds overhead hinted coming snowstorms and I wanted to get on the road and find a motel as soon as possible. It was growing dark by the time we walked out of the restaurant we ate dinner in and began moving several blocks down to where we had parked the car. In doing so, we moved through a grungier part of the city – Michigan cities were notorious for switching social classes every few blocks – and down a few alleys.



Joel was still as jumpy as ever, even though I had expected him to be exhausted by this point. He spotted an old-looking basketball lying on the side of the alley we were walking through and scooped it up, dribbling it and tossing it through his legs and over his head without really concentrating on what he was doing. I had to admire his skill; watching him play had been amazing. The way the ball moved effortlessly through his hands blew my mind – he was the kind of good I had always wanted to be as a kid.



Astrid was smiling as she watched him, a small, affectionate smile that I wasn’t accustomed to seeing. She wasn’t one to go in for affection. Her eyes were thoughtful but wary, darting around the alleyway from time to time as she stuck her hands in her pockets. I pulled the hood of my sweatshirt over my head, wishing I hadn’t left my jacket in the car. Astrid and Joel looked warm enough, she with Jay’s jacket and he with the jacket his aunt had packed him.



It was strangely calming, walking with the two of them, only the sound of Joel’s dribbling echoing through the alley. The clouds opened up, as I had feared, and the first few snowflakes drifted down on us. Astrid laughed aloud, opening her mouth to catch some on her tongue, and she smiled as she looked over at me, looking truly happy for the first time since I had found her on the bridge. Even Joel had his face upturned to the sky, crinkling his nose as the snowflakes fell and melted on his cheeks.



The bullet that flew out of the darkness ahead and slammed into the wall behind Astrid caught us completely by surprise. Immediately I threw myself on top of Joel, sending him crashing to the ground as I yanked my gun out of my pocket. Astrid had also flattened herself on the pavement, her gun in her hand. Dimly, I could see the outline of a man in front of us, gun pointed in our direction. He must have had a silencer, because the bullet had made no noise, and I cursed myself for not bringing my own, as the last thing I wanted was to attract attention.



Astrid was thinking the same, her eyes darting to me as the man made no move to fire again. Joel wiggled out from underneath me, still clutching his basketball, and suddenly the man fired again, the bullet spitting out of his gun and hurtling towards us. I reached for Joel again as Astrid’s gun barked in retaliation, but he had ducked the bullet.



And then, so rapidly and crazily that I almost didn’t believe it, he raised the basketball above his head and, with a throw worthy of a professional, hurled it in the direction of the man.



The ball rammed the attacker square in his head, so that he swayed slightly for a long moment before slowly toppling over. Joel was left kneeling in the middle of the road, his eyes huge and his hand covering his mouth. Astrid stared at him, her mouth hanging open, and then she scrambled to her feet, moving towards the fallen man with her gun held cautiously out in front of her.



“Stay here,” I told Joel, still looking at him in shock, and then I darted after her, reaching her side as she kicked the man’s gun away from his prone figure. The basketball rolled to one side as I gingerly placed my foot under his ribs and flipped him over with a grunt of effort. His eyes were rolled up in his skull, unconscious only, and dark hair fell into a pale face. The snow drifted down serenely onto Astrid’s dark hair, standing out starkly, as she moved away from him.



We stood looking at each other for a long moment, her eyes troubled, and then she turned away and said to Joel, “Nice shot. We’ll make a pro out of you yet.” Rumpling his hair with that affectionate smile, she extended her hand to help him to his feet. He staggered upright, looking shaky, the snow gathering in his hair as it began to fall more heavily.



“Did I – kill him?” he asked in a hushed voice, peering at the lifeless outline of his attacker. I shook my head, to his relief, and Astrid put a reassuring hand on his shoulder as he looked nervously down at the man. “Why did he shoot at me?”



“I don’t know.” I found my voice at last, crouching down next to the man and studying him. Snatching up his gun, I turned it over in my hands for a moment before letting loose a rude exclamation of surprise. Astrid looked over at me, one dark eyebrow arched, and I gestured her over, holding out the gun. “Look at it.”



She gave it a cursory glance, frowning. “What?”



“It’s a tranq gun.” And as she looked confused, “You know, tranquilizer; to knock out, not kill the target. Look at these bullets: They’re shaped so that they come out of the barrel round but then open up into a dart…ingenious. And I’ve only ever heard of a few agencies using them.” I looked at her meaningfully.



“Yes,” she said irritably, “I realize what a tranq gun is, thank you. Delta uses that kind. But what’s your point? Oh…Delta.” Her eyebrows drew together as she put two and two together. “He wasn’t aiming to kill…and he was shooting at Joel?” She glanced back at the blonde kid, who looked lost in the gathering snow. “What’s…?”



“I know,” I said grimly, standing and thrusting the bulky gun into my waistband under my hoodie. “They do want him, I think.”



“But who’s they?” Astrid looked troubled again. “And why are they after him?” But as she met my eyes reluctantly, I saw that she knew very well why. “Let’s just get back to the car,” she said finally, stamping her feet on the ground. “We can talk about this in the warmth of a motel; it’s freezing out here.”



She turned and began walking out of the alley, her back stiff. I beckoned to Joel, who trotted after me with one last glance at the man. “Are you sure I didn’t–”



“He’ll be fine,” I said shortly, jamming my hands in my pocket, the cold metal of my gun burning my skin. “He was planning to do loads worse to you, don’t worry about him.”



“Why me?”



I glanced at the kid. He was frowning, his blonde shock of hair wilting slightly as he blew on his bare hands before copying me and shoving them in his pockets. His blue eyes kept drifting towards the sky, drinking in the beauty of the falling snow, but there was also an air of uneasiness and bewilderment around him. There was more spy in him than I had thought, I reflected, thinking back to his instincts in throwing the basketball. Hardly surprising, considering his family tree.



“I don’t know,” I said again, avoiding his eyes as he glanced at me. “Come on; let’s catch Astrid before she drives away without us.”



I couldn’t help but notice how circumspectly Joel was scanning the streets around him, paranoid now that he had been shot at for the first time. I couldn’t remember when that had been me – six, seven years ago? A small stab of pity went through me as I imagined what he was going through at that point. He seemed only too happy to escape into the warmth of the car as I slipped into the driver’s side and cranked up the heat.



Astrid, who had settled rather sedately into shotgun, seemed pensive as she watched the snowflakes dot the windshield. I held my hands in front of the vent, rubbing them together until she gave me an impatient look and told me to hit the road already. After ordering her to get out her phone and start looking for motels, I stepped on the gas pedal, swerving out of the parking space and making my way semi-carefully down the already slippery streets.



Joel’s eyes were drooping, his limitless energy finally leaving him, and within ten minutes he was sprawled out on the back seat, his head lolling back. Astrid looked back at him and smiled again, shaking her head. I cracked open my window, wiped the side mirror, and closed it once more, looking over at her.



“Any luck finding anything?”



She shrugged. “I dunno. Not much. I was thinking…”



“Oh, hurray,” I said unenthusiastically, shuddering as she glanced at me. “Always scary when you think.”



“Thanks.” She grinned. “But seriously – I was thinking we could drive clear to Detroit, find somewhere there. It’ll be loads easier to, anyway, and then we’ll be out of the way of these men that are chasing us.” And as I frowned thoughtfully, “Not to mention the airport’s right there if we need to use it…”



“And why would we need to use the airport?” I interjected suspiciously.



“No reason. Just, like, if we found the sudden need to skip the country. That’s pretty normal, isn’t it?”



I gave her a sideways glance that, by the puckering of her lips, she didn’t seem to appreciate. “Does this have anything to do with–”



“No,” she snapped, scowling. “Do you always have to–?”



“–that text you got in the cafeteria?” I finished tolerantly, and she let her mouth form into a little “oh” before falling silent for a long moment. Her eyes fixed on something in front of us that I couldn’t see, a little frown dancing on her brow.



“No. Yes. Sort of.” She hesitated. “I’ll tell you later. It’s hard to explain.”



Shrugging, I swerved onto the expressway. “Whatever. Sure, let’s go to Detroit – the kid’s out anyway. Sit back and nap as well if you feel like it. Actually,” as she began to settle into her chair, “if you don’t mind, I though we might have a talk.”



“Aren’t we already?” she said pointedly.



“No, I meant – the talk.”



Astrid made a face. “Must we?” I nodded. “Oh, fine. Knock your socks off while I try and come up with some good arguments.”



Smiling and shifting in my seat to retain some warmth, I kept my eyes on the car lights in front of us as I asked, “So…what’s the real motive in dragging Joel into this? No,” as she made an irritated noise, “I’m not talking about Jay. Or maybe I am; you decide. I just want to know what urged you to take the kid along, beside the whole keeping-him-safe thing…considering we still don’t really know he was in danger.”



“It’s pretty obvious to me.” Astrid sighed. “Look, I don’t really know, okay? Maybe it is Jay; maybe it’s just that I feel like we owe Joel something. I mean, we ignored him for, like, seven years, and I didn’t even think about him until Jay told me he had died when their house was bombed.



“That’s another thing,” she added, glancing at me. “The whole house-bombing thing that Jay told me about and now we heard from Angie and Dan. I don’t get why Delta would do it, really, although – if they could do that, do you think they could be after Joel with a tranq gun? I mean, if you blow up someone’s family…”



“Astrid,” I said quietly, “did it ever occur to you that Jay may have lied about Delta blowing up his house? It could’ve been anyone.”



Her face turned to me, eyebrows drawn together. “Trust me when I say that I know he wasn’t lying about that,” she whispered, and when I chanced a glance at her, her eyes looked damp. “And it makes sense, I guess, if you think about it. Delta was after his blood – he wasn’t even part of G7 at that point, so who else could it be?” She mused over that silently. “No…it doesn’t make sense.”



“I know.” I glanced at Joel in the rearview mirror; he was sound asleep, looking young and naive in the dim light. “I don’t get it either. But let’s talk about Joel. Say this is about him and someone, like Delta or G7, is after him.”



“G7?” Astrid looked alarmed. “I hadn’t thought of that. But wouldn’t Jay–?”



“Jay doesn’t necessarily know,” I pointed out bluntly. “G7 could be after his brother for recruiting purpose – though I doubt it, because why come into the U.S. if they could help it? I bet they’re getting nervous about Jay after you guys came to the manor and they want something to back up his support now that Delta’s on their trail.”



Astrid’s face was pale in the lights of the expressway. “They’re blackmailing him through Joel? But he doesn’t even know Joel’s alive!”



“He could find out very rapidly.”



“But…” She glanced back at the kid. “Crap. This could be my fault, then.”



“How do you figure that out?” I asked with more than a touch of exasperation. “Do you think everything to do with Jay is your fault?”



“No…most of it is his.” She frowned briefly. “But in the manor, when they took me to a cell right after Cloying,” she swallowed, “shot Charlie…I’m not completely sure what happened, because that drug of Cloying’s made me delirious, but I think…I think…”



“Think what?” I prompted patiently, knowing this was a struggle for her. I wasn’t sure exactly what the drug was or what it had done, but I knew it had affected her a fair amount, and Charlie’s death, naturally, had shot her nerves to hell.



“I think it was Jay that got me out of that cell,” she said quietly, looking over at me, her eyes serious. “Someone came in and just stood there – and then dropped a knife at me feet – I didn’t look up – and then they left…”



I was silent for a long moment, digesting this. The whir of the windshield wipers echoed the confused swirling of my mind, my eyes flickering from car to car as the snow continued to dance across the road. “And you think it was Jay?” I asked finally, rhetorically. “I would think so, too…but…”



“I know.” Astrid passed a hand wearily over her eyes. “It doesn’t make sense. He’s been on their side from the moment he left Delta.”



“Okay, but this is about Joel. So your reason is Jay? Think about this, Astrid; we’re tearing the kid away from his family, whether he says he wants to or not, and we have no idea what we’re heading into. Not to mention we don’t even know if we can protect him at all, considering what a crappy job we’ve done already. Maybe we should just go back to Delta and confront Young about it and he can help?”



“No.” Astrid was vehemently adamant in her answer. “Call it paranoia, call it stupidity, call it chicken salad if you want – I don’t trust Young and I don’t know why I trusted him in the first place. Yes,” as I gave her a questioning look, “I’m thinking of the Nicholsons’ house. Can you tell me you haven’t thought about it?” And when I couldn’t, “See? That’s how I feel about this. If you’re strongly against having Joel along…” She shrugged. “I don’t know what to say.”



After her spiel was over, there was silence in the car for a long moment. Finally, I exhaled loudly, shaking my head wearily. “All right; you win. But if things get much crazier, I think I’m just going to hibernate for the winter.”



She smiled. “Thanks, Josh.”



I grimaced. “Just don’t make me regret it.”