Writing It

“Tonight, our ceremony is being one of protection for each of you” said Red

 "We should link hands. Clare should sit opposite me."

 Bigsy and Chuck looked at one another and then at Clare, but Bigsy noticed that Chuck had already linked hands with Tom.  

 “Now it is time for your story” said Red. “But first, you must say goodbye to Tom. 

 Chuck has asked Tom to go back to the desert, to keep an eye on what is happening, and to tell you if there is anything strange.”

Starting a fire

Red started to prepare a fire. He stacked logs in a pyramid shape and outside of this created further logs in a circle. Then he retreated into the hogan and brought out some smaller twigs. 

“These are very dry. They will start the fire” he explained, “We need to light it but one of you should do this. He gestured towards Clare. “Clare, I think you should have the honour to start this fire.”

Homing in on the range

"I should probably tell you something about the ranges as well, "said Chuck. "I expect you have heard of Los Alamos” 

 "Yes," said Clare, "It was used for designing the original atomic bombs." 

"It was," said Chuck," but it is still used as a major weapons development environment. The leading site is tucked away around a town, but there are several locations outside of Los Alamos in the desert where we used to run tests. We also used an area to the south-east of Albuquerque. There's a massive airbase in Albuquerque and it's also a big storage facility run by the DoD."

The noise of them chatting woke Clare.  

"Good morning, Clare," said Bigsy," I see you were up bright and early."

"Yes," replied Clare, "I set the alarm and then Chuck brought me a coffee."

"It didn't work too well," said Bigsy.

"I think yesterday's spa worked a bit too well," replied Clare.

 Bigsy remembered that Chuck had suggested they made an early start the next morning. He realised for Clare this was easy. She’d relaxed in the previous hotel with the added benefit of being pampered in a spa.

 Bigsy considered his condition by comparison. He had been drugged, hauled around the countryside, slept rough, been in hiding plus the worry of finding Clare again. It had taken its toll, so the current bed felt soft and welcoming. 

Clare watched the scenery as Chuck continued to drive north at a steady speed for two hours and then turned east onto the I-40. She could tell that both Chuck and Bigsy were tired and that this drive was their first chance to unwind, maybe since they had left the hotel back in Scottsdale.

 "We will keep going along this road for about a couple of hours," Chuck said, "By then we will be around 250 miles from the Scottsdale hotel. It is far enough away for us to be harder to trace. And it's also in the right direction for us heading towards the ranges. It will be good to take a break then."

Chuck's plan to get a taxi from the shopping mall to the airport worked effortlessly. There was a full cab rank outside the mall, and the journey to the airport was only about 25 minutes.

 The three of them, Chuck, Bigsy and Tom,  had arrived with about two hours to the departure time for the British Airways flight to London and made their way to the area by the check-in desks. Bigsy looked for Clare while Chuck and Tom looked for anyone that may watch them.

Mike had driven the blue car back onto the I-17. 

 They were heading south again, back along the road that Bigsy assumed was the same one they had driven in the other direction the day before. The road was busy with traffic, and Bigsy assumed this would this give them an element of cover.

Clare couldn’t believe it. She’d headed downstairs to check with the front desk in case Bigsy had left a message. 

 That was precisely when he called her room. She had missed him.