Chapter 16: Racing

"Get up and move quickly, you two. Now!" Panthea's whispering voice was harsh and urgent. Finch shot out of bed, fully clothed, his brother following him. Sleep shot away as fear took over. He followed the woman into the kitchen where Lauren was crouched down, clearly nervous. Panthea ducked below the windows and motioned the boys to do likewise.

She drew the children close to her, said quickly, "something's not right. Stay down."

Finch leaned against the counter next to his sister while the woman peered over the sink and looked out into the early-morning light. Whatever was wrong had Panthea very nervous as well.

The woman looked around, grabbed a heavy sack from the counter. "Take this." She thrust the bag into Finch's hands. "Food. Supplies. We'll need it. We may need to make a run quickly. Be ready!"

Finch was nearly overcome with fright, his hand shaking, nearly fumbling the bag. Panthea wrapped her fingers around a long automatic rifle, kept it pointed out into the yard through the window. He heard the woman mumble, "don't think that's the help we expected."

An explosion rocked the front yard, the house shuddering, pictures shattering as they fell from the walls. Panthea swore, "Goddammit!" She eyed Lauren, said firmly, "when I say run, you all run hard to the car. It's parked out the back door. Get in and be ready." She pushed a pistol into Lauren's hand, twitched the safety off.

Another explosion knocked Finch onto the floor, his ears muffled and burning. He saw Panthea writhing in pain as the kitchen seemed to collapse around them. The woman was stunned only a moment, her rifle sputtering to life as she shot through the gaping hole in the house. Blood streamed from her shoulder and leg.

The kids pushed back together, huddled in the edge of the hallway as gunfire erupted somewhere outside. Finch heard impacts all around hm. Panthea coughed and wrenched, forgot her rifle a moment as she pressed a hand to neck. Blood sputtered through her fingers. The woman looked panicked, pale, and Finch was frozen with terror.

Panthea seemed to regain focus, again fired out into the yard, then turned quickly to the kids. "Go! Get to the car and go!"

Finch screamed, "go where?!"

"Map, in the glovebox, follow it. When you get there, give him the ring inside. He'll know what to do."

Lauren was aghast. "You're coming, aren't you?"

Panthea let out another burst of fire, called back, "not like this ... No." She was clearly in pain, and blood continued to flow from her wounds. "No. Go! Run! I'll keep them off you as long as I can. Run!"

Finch's legs responded after what felt like hours. He led the way as Logan and Lauren ran behind him. They piled into the car, Finch up front in the passenger seat. Logan flew into the back while Lauren fired up the ignition.

"I don't know where to go!" Lauren looked stricken with fear.

Finch looked around, heard and felt another explosion, saw fire building along one corner of Panthea's house, splatters of gunfire pinging all around. He spotted overgrown ruts running down the back of the hill and pointed, "there!"

Lauren slammed the car into gear and punched the accelerator, angling the car toward the descending drive. Behind them, more explosions, and the fire was quickly gaining toward where Finch knew Panthea was probably dying. As the three kids fled into the morning, Finch was sure they would all be dead within minutes.

"We can't wait much longer. Hurry. Please." Hannigan's voice was stressed as he stood watch near where Tamara attempted to void her bowels. Her stomach was in knots, her guts unwilling to move despite the discomfort.

She gave up after a few moments and pulled up her pants, let out an uncomfortable sigh. "Ok. Let's go."

They moved on the small car parked alone near a dingy cafe. Hannigan was inside immediately and a few twisting motions below the dash had the crappy vehicle sputtering to life. Tamara slid into the passenger seat and they were in motion again.

It was the third time they'd changed vehicles already. Hannigan was paranoid about staying in the same one too long. It had been hours since they'd left the compound, and they'd made reasonably good time through Italy and most of Slovenia. The man had said they'd be approaching the border with Croatia soon, and he expected they'd need to ditch the car before they got there. A long walk would follow.

Tamara ached. Everywhere. Her body was cramping, dehydrated, fear and uncertainty made everything want to shut down. Thoughts of her family festered in her mind, and it took all of her remaining willpower to keep from crying.

"Well look at that. Lucky strike, this one." Hannigan motioned toward the back seat. Tamara glanced and saw bottles of juice and two loaves of bread. "Eat, drink something. Could use some myself."

Tamara handed him a bottle of what looked like pineapple juice and a broke off two hunks of bread. They ate and drank in silence as Hannigan raced across the mountains of Slovenia.

Tamara paused a moment to ask, "tell me again why we can't just drive through the border like we did coming into Slovenia?"

"Like I said, too much risk there. Unlike the last border, I know Playa has agents planted there. They've been looking for someone for weeks, not really certain who. They think the person is in Slovenia and expected them to head East. By now, they'll know about me. About us. And I don't expect they'd just wave us through. We'll have to ditch the car soon and hoof it for a few hours. I know a spot that should work. Let's hope they don't expect us there."

Tamara nodded, accepted that answer as she returned to her bread. Her stomach stirred again, her bowels clenching and she found herself unable to finish the bite. She groaned and doubled over as pains racked her guts.

Hannigan was sympathetic. "Sorry, Tam. You'll get a chance to try again once we're on foot, I promise. Right now ... we just gotta ignore it and push on."

Her stomach gurgled and she felt swollen and raw. Tamara hoped the miles would pass by before her bowels decided they were ready to move. She groaned again and tried her best not to throw up.

Anna stood on the deck as the boat idled off the coast of Tunisia. She scanned ahead with a pair of thin binoculars. Gene could just make out the hint of a sandy rise above the shimmering water. "Looks like a good spot. Tell him to fire it up and beach us."

Sofija set off toward the steerage, and Gene asked, "beach us?"

"Fastest way to get us where we need to be. We don't want to hang out long. This boat is hot, and by now, we're on more than a few radars. There is nothing we can do to hide our trail into Tunisia, but from there, we'll do everything we can to obscure our tracks."

Holly squeezed Gene's hand, actually giggled. "Exciting! Never beached a pleasure boat before. This should be fun!"

Gene groaned, pushed Holly away from him. "You have serious adrenaline issues, Holly."

"Oh, this is nothing. One time, I was parachuting with this guy from Russia. Tandem, you know, and we fucked in free fall. That was some serious adrenaline. Almost forgot to pull the cord I came so hard."

Gene groaned again and walked to where the young Spanish girl was huddled against the bow. He stroked her hair, tried to make her feel calm. She looked quite pale despite her brown skin. Gene called back, "what are we going to do with her?"

Holly replied, "blindfold her and leave her."

"Blindfold? Why?"

"The less she knows about where we go from here ... the better for everyone, including her."

Gene nodded and tried to smile at the girl. The resulting smirk certainly did nothing to help the frightened teen calm down.

Anna drew everyone but Wistin onto the deck and shouted over the racing engines and pounding spray, "This might get a bit rough, but we're going to punch the boat up the shore and get the fuck off it." She eyed the teen. "Blindfold her now. Tie her hands so she can't take it off. When we stop, we run inland and quick! We're somewhere just south of Kelibia. We need to secure some wheels and move West. From there ... we'll figure it out." Anna glanced out toward the rapidly approaching shore. "Grab the gear and get set against the bow. Like I said, this might be a bit rough."

"Why are we stopping?"

Lauren pulled the car over to the side of the narrow road. It took several seconds before she could loosen her tight grip on the steering wheel and put the car in park. Finch's question hung a moment before she answered. "I need to pee."

She leaned back and opened the bag Panthea had given them before they'd left in the middle of the firefight. Logan had rummaged through it already, found bread, cheese, and bottles of water. There were some other supplies as well, including toilet paper. Lauren grabbed the roll and headed down the back a few feet before unzipping her pants and squatting down.

She'd just started relieving herself when splatters to her left drew her attention. Logan had his small penis out, urine streaming out and onto the grass. "Jesus, Logan. You could have gone down that way a bit."

The fourteen-year old shrugged and continued to pee. Her eyes continued to dart to where his young cock sprayed urine, unable to avoid looking at her brother's dick. Lauren sighed, finished her piss, and wiped quickly. She pulled her soiled panties up, cringed, wished she had a clean pair, then returned her pants to her waist and got back to the car.

Finch had the trunk open, said, "look at all this!"

Lauren peered in, saw blankets, towels, a tent, cases of canned food and gallons of water, boxes of unknown items. And a gun. A compact automatic rifle sat on a blanket next to a heavy, dark-green canister of ammunition. Finch started to take the gun. Lauren stopped him. "No! Leave it ... jeez, Finch. That's dangerous. Just leave it..." She hesitated. "No ... on second thought. Ok. We might need it ... Promise me Finch ... promise me you'll be careful. Here." She took the gun from where he slowly drew it out of the trunk.

Finch watched as she turned it over in her hands. Lauren found the safety, showed him how to turn it on and off. She eyed the ammo can, opened it, pulled out a clip and slammed it into the gun. "Safety's on right now. Only turn that off when I tell you, ok? Only then ... Bring the rest of the ammo too."

Finch nodded and cradled the gun, picked up the canister and got into the passenger seat.

Logan was already inside when Lauren sat down. She assured herself that the pistol was still next to her, gripped it a moment before turning the engine over and starting back down the road.

Though the map was in French, Finch had been a decent navigator and managed to get them going on the lined route Panthea had drawn on. They were roughly halfway to their destination, a town near the Swiss border called Laufenburg. An address there was in the nearby margin, along with a name, "Dr. Henderson."

Lauren hoped that whatever awaited them was more help than that which had arrived that morning at Panthea's house.

"Goddammit!" Gene growled as the boat's motor hung too low to easily power over the shallow water, again and again churning through the sandy bottom.

He heard Anna scream, "hang on!" before the sounds of crunching met his body being forced against the forward railing. It was over in seconds, but the impact left Gene without breath a moment.

Holly was already moving, slinging a rope ladder over the side and hustling over, gear slung over her shoulder. Sofija followed. Anna motioned Gene to move and he forced his aching body to rise and follow. He cast one look back at the frightened bound and blindfolded teen before slipping over the side and hustling up the beach.

There were many people on the beach watching with concern and interest as the five of them sprinted up the sand and into the dunes. Anna took the lead and within minutes they had gotten inland a half-mile or so, pausing a moment to get their bearings.

Anna had a small map out, her mind forming a quick plan. "There's a lot over there. We get a car now, head West. We'll swap vehicles once we get into Manzil Tamim. Ok, move!"

Holly sprinted ahead, and by the time the rest made the small, poorly maintained parking lot, she had a large truck waiting, tailpipe spewing thick, dark smoke. Wistin and Sofija slid into the cab while Anna and Gene jumped into the bed. Holly was laughing when she called out the window, "hang on, Gene! Let's see how fast this thing can move!"

Tamara's feet were quite sore by the time Hannigan signaled that they'd walked far enough. She'd managed to relieve herself, finally, a couple of hours earlier, but the lack of toilet paper had made each step leave her feeling more and more raw. The shoes she wore didn't fit well, and after the miles of walking through the heavy trees, well away from the vehicle border crossings, blisters were making each step more and more painful.

Hannigan sat down the bag of supplies he'd kept slung over his shoulder and settled his back against a tree, suggested that she do the same. Tamara sunk down and took off her shoes, massaged her feet through the thick wool socks which did little to cushion the discomfort.

The man eyed her a moment before leaning closer and pushing her hands away. Hannigan's fingers were magic on her ankles and soles. Tamara leaned back and relaxed as he massaged her, seemed to know how to avoid the blisters, working away days of tension and pain which had threatened to overwhelm her.

As he worked over her feet, he said, "we'll stop here tonight. Dark soon, don't want to chance getting lost. No fire, so it's going to get chilly. I've got a couple of blankets, hopefully that will help."

Tamara groaned, half from the pleasure of the massage, half from the thought of spending the night out in the dark, cold mountains.

Hannigan raised his head, listened a moment. Tamara grew concerned, "what is it? What's out there?"

"I hear a stream. That's good, we're running low on water. Could use a wash, how about you?"

Tamara nodded.

"Let's clean up. Gonna be cold water, but better than nothing, eh?"

He led the way after she put her shoes back on over her tender feet. The massage had helped a lot, but it did nothing to ease the swelling blisters. Hannigan found the stream easily and despite the chilly air, quickly removed his clothes and stood naked, shivering as he used a cloth to clean his body.

He'd tossed Tamara a second rag, but she hesitated, watching him wipe away hours of filth and sweat. She watched his cock, shriveled in the cold air and water, remembered how much she'd enjoyed the man cumming inside her.