Dark Matter [Completed]

Twenty-Nine

My luck continues to hold and I reach Moscow undetected, but I'm not taking any chances. Even if Boris can't track me, he can definitely track this car. I abandon it in a parking garage and take off on foot. All I want to is sleep for a week. Now that the adrenaline is wearing off, I'm realizing just how much energy I've used.

I'm still not even sure what happened. The scientists who trained Alex and I never told us about this. Perhaps they didn't know themselves. The look of shock on Boris' face makes that seem like a very likely possibility. I have no doubt they would lie to us, but they would have told him the truth. It could be an asset, if only I knew how I did it.

Maybe it was just a reflex... People do strange things when they are scared or angry. I pause for a moment and stare at my gloved hands; regardless of whether or not I can repeat what happened in Boris' office, I have to disappear. Get off the grid. Find Luke... before Boris' men do.

I have cash and fake ID's from the escape package, but if any of Boris' registered identities show up it will only be hours before I have an entire army on my tail. Unfortunately, I am woefully short on contacts who aren't loyal to Boris. But I do know how to find them. There are dozens of individuals who would do a little tampering for the right price.

Usually, I would be a little more cautious in dealing with the criminal underworld, but I don't have the luxury of time. An hour on an unidentified teenager's computer gives me all the information I need. Hopefully no one will ever go digging through his search history. I leave the apartment and head straight for my rendezvous with the forger. Naturally, he is indignant at my request for the new documents to be finished by the next morning. That is, until I flash some very crisp, American dollars at him.

Then I finally allow myself to collapse. It is almost too easy to slip into an empty hotel room and borrow the bed for the night. I'm gone long before sunrise, leaving no trace of my presence. I collect my brand new passport and borrow another computer, this one belonging to a middle-aged man who has a drinking problem, and purchase my plane tickets.

I thought it might be difficult to track Luke down, but my answer as to his location came with the morning news. The memorial service for Alastair Orion will be held at St. Mary's Cathedral in New York City on December the twenty-fourth. That gives me four days to reach New York, and to work out a plan to get Luke out of Boris' clutches. If only I knew who he was sending after him, but I'm working blind. I can only follow Luke and hope I can identify the assassin, before he has a chance to strike.

I wish I had Alex watching my back. He always seemed to have an answer when I was backed into a corner. But he's not here... I'm on my own now. I don't dare let myself dwell on that now, though; I can't afford to fall apart just yet. I spend another night in a hotel, which I actually pay for this time, before catching my flight first thing next morning.

My new identity works like a charm, and I make it through security without any problems. I can't help but look over my shoulder, though. Moscow is a big city, yes, but Boris doesn't like to lose, and I've just handed him a big one. I force myself to act cool, though. I know I will only ever truly be safe when Boris is dead, and his empire with him. Just do the job, I tell myself, just do it one last time.

And so I keep telling myself that until I land in New York. It is like an anthem in my mind as I step out of the airport and hail a taxi. I only stop at the hotel long enough to drop off the luggage I acquired in Moscow. If I still had access to the resources I had under Boris, it would only take me moments to locate Luke, but, as it is, I have to do this the old-fashioned way. I do know his phone number, though.

A brief stop to purchase a laptop later, I'm back in my hotel room. It takes me some time to set up my makeshift tracking station and, while it's not CIA worthy, it will do the job. It's only when I flick on the burn phone to call Luke's number that I pause. This will be the first time we will have spoken since that night at the Orion estate. Of course, he won't know who I am, and I only have to keep him on the phone long enough to narrow down his location. Still... I have to gather my courage before I can dial the number.

The line rings for some time and I'm beginning to think I'm going to have to figure out plan be when Luke's voice say, "Hello? Who is this?"

His voice is exhausted and annoyed, but it is his voice. For a moment I forget everything I planned to say, but training kicks in quickly. I launch into a hysterical tirade about how I've been trying to get ahold of him forever, and I was so scared because I didn't know where he was. And he promised to come back soon. And blah, blah, blah. It's a bunch of nonsense, but I don't need him to believe me; I just need him to not hang up the phone.

Again, my luck holds. Instead of immediately hanging up, Luke says in a surprisingly calm voice that I must have the wrong number. I insist that I do have the right number, and that's it so cruel of him to play with a poor girl like this. Of course, Luke says that he has no idea what I'm talking about, and that I really do have the wrong number.

This goes on for a couple more minutes before Luke finally looses patience with me. "Look, I don't know who you are!" he snaps. "But I'm not your boyfriend, or whoever you think I am! I sincerely hope you find him, but I. Am. Not. Him!" Then he hangs up the phone.

I can't help but smile just a little bit as I toss the phone aside. I have Luke's location, which is very conveniently a hotel only a few blocks from mine. My smile fades quickly, though. I can only assume the assassin knows his location as well. I don't have any time to lose.