“I can handle them.”

“I know. That’s why you’re staying instead of Peter.” Well, that and the fact that Nikolas and Chris were more suspicious of Roland after our little escapade. I was pretty sure that my cease-fire with Nikolas was going to come to a fiery end after this. But it wasn’t like I had promised never to run off again. In fact, I assumed that was just a foregone conclusion by now.

I pushed away from the dock and followed Peter a short ways onto the lake. We lined up side by side and waited for Roland to play his part.

“Okay, guys, to the other side and back,” Roland shouted at us. “Kick his ass, Sara,” he added for good measure.

We shot forward like we were in a real race. Opening our throttles, we sailed across the wide expanse of water with water spraying up around us.  I still remembered my icy dip in the harbor, making me doubly glad for the sun and the layer of neoprene protecting my body from the cold lake water.

According to my research, the lake was a mile across at this point and fourteen miles from Dylan’s to the opposite side of the lake if you followed the shoreline. I hoped that was enough distance to allow us to get away before Chris realized what we were up to. The Mohiri were super fast so I had come up with a plan to outsmart them since I couldn’t outrun them.

I slowed my jet ski as I neared the far shore and eased into a small shady cove with an old dock. Nudging the jet ski against the dock, I clipped it to one of the posts and leapt off, knowing that Peter was right behind me. Our feet pounded the boards as we ran up the short dock to the shed at the edge of the property and found Peter’s backpack right where he had stashed it last night. So far, so good, I thought as we peeled off our wetsuits and dressed in the clothes Peter pulled out of the backpack.

We had picked this particular spot for several reasons. First, it was a summer cottage, and like many of the houses on this side of the lake, it was closed up now for the fall. Second, it was strategically located directly across from Dylan’s. And third, it wasn’t far from the home of an old friend of mine – more like one of Greg’s old buddies but I knew him well enough. I hadn’t seen Phil since Greg went away but Greg told me before he left that if I ever needed anything to call Phil. It turned out Phil was more than happy to help me out today.

“I feel like Ethan Hunt,” Peter said with a silly grin as we rolled up our wetsuits and hid them with the backpack.

“Who?”

“From Mission Impossible. We’re like spies on a covert mission.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “I hope not. Doesn’t he get shot at a lot?”

Less than five minutes after the reaching the dock, we ran across the yard and emerged on the street. I wondered if Chris had figured out that something was up yet and decided I didn’t want to wait around to find out.

“This way,” I said, setting off down the road with Peter beside me.

“Are you sure this guy is okay?” he asked cautiously. “He’s not like that guy Malloy, is he?”

I let out a laugh. “Phil is a teddy bear. I told you he’s one of Greg’s friends.”

“Yeah, because those guys were all angels,” Peter said with a snort.

It took us five minutes to reach Phil’s little white bungalow. A few years older than Greg, Phil worked at a dockyard in Portland and lived alone in the house inherited from his grandmother.

He threw open the door as soon as I rang the bell. “Little Grey!” boomed the hefty redhead before he grabbed me in a beefy hug. He smelled of sweat and beer and his arms were covered in tattoos. “You’ve grown up since last time I saw you.”

I grinned as I stepped back. “It’s only been four months.”

“Really? Seems longer than that,” he said, leading us inside. “Not the same here since the boys went away. I remember when you were younger and you used to have the biggest crush on Greg.” He let out a whoop. “Ha! I bet the tables will be turned next time he comes home and gets a load of the beauty you grew into. Not that I’m surprised, mind you.”

I couldn’t help the blush that crept up my cheeks when I thought of the crush I had on Greg in grade eight. “Ugh, don’t remind me about that.”

Phil laughed again. “I gotta say I was surprised to hear from you last night but I’m glad you called me. I promised Greg I’d check in on you and to be honest, I’ve done a piss poor job of that. So you two need a ride somewhere?”

“Phil, this is my friend Peter. And yes, we need to get to the rest stop up by exit 75. You know where that is?”

They shook hands and Phil frowned. “You guys are not running away, are you?”

“No, we’re meeting someone there. It’s kind of hard to explain, but I promise we’re not running away.” I pulled out my cell phone which I’d snuck inside my wetsuit and looked at the time. If Chris was looking for us, it probably wouldn’t take them long to start searching this area. “And we need to go now if that’s possible.”

“Okay, no problem.” He grabbed a set of keys off the kitchen counter. “Let’s go.”

Phil drove a black Pontiac Trans-Am just like the one Burt Reynolds drove in Smoky and the Bandit, except Phil’s was rusted in places and in desperate need of a paint job. But it ran well, which was all we needed. We left the lake area and headed toward the nearest on ramp to the interstate. Once we were safely away I sent Roland a smiley face text to let him know things were going as planned. He replied with a ‘thumbs down’ to let me know Chris was onto us. I bit the inside of my cheek. That meant Nikolas knew and they were both looking for us right now. I hoped I had enough time before they managed to track us down.