The Viral Chase

Chapter 11: Mystery of Edward

Chapter 11

Mystery of Edward.

I step out of the car immediately spotting Harry's car parking behind us. He steps out and is by my side within seconds taking long strides. He looks at me and then turns to Kevin, "I need your car. Is she alright?" "She is perfectly fine but its time you tell her everything. Things are not going to be the same everytime." Kevin warns Harry and I just stare at them. I am perfectly visible in their vision and yet they talk about me like I am invisible. Guys.

Harry places a bag in the backseat of Kevin's car and hands his car keys to Kevin. "But why are we changing the cars?" Kevin voiced the thoughts spinning in my head. "I had someone on my trail and need to make sure nothing goes wrong." Harry shrugs simply but Kevin seems unconvinced. Harry sighs, gazes for a long minute at Kevin and shakes his head, "Kevin, I want you to know, someone in the agency is being our enemy. We have a traitor amongst us. You have to be careful and alert. Don't contact me from the agency and don't share any information about this operation. You have got to help me here. You are the only one I can trust. I have no clue who the person is but I am sure, its a guy and is probably involved in the operation." "Oh god Edward! I have been feeling the same. Someone amongst us is leaking our reports. And there is a tracker on each of the cars but I don't remember Grayson ordering any trackers. If you want to hide from the agency, pull it out. Its under the driver's seat." "I thought its only in mine." Harry breathes out the words running his hand in his hair. Harry opens the door to the car and detaches a tracker similar to the one I am wearing. He walks to a bus that has passengers inside and climbs in. He sits on a seat and seems to be enquiring about the destination and the route. "Its done", Kevin tells me. I screw up my face in confusion. "What's done?" "Edward is pretending to be a passenger and that is why he is sitting, probably attaching the tracker. Now he will pretend to ask the route to a fellow passenger and look confused. Just like you." Kevin grins at me and the moment I look back, Harry is confused and making his way out of the bus. Woah! he is good at this. Quick thinking. "And he gets off since he took the wrong bus. And this is how you mislead your agency who is tracking you." Kevin's commentary of the events makes me chuckle as Harry stops before us. My smile vanishes when the previous thoughts cloud my mind. Kevin will leave me alone with Harry for who knows how long. I prefer Kevin over Harry anytime. Harry scares me to some extent but at the same time he has always calmed me in times of distress, or atleast he has pretended to.

Harry has been driving since two hours at a stretch since parting our ways with Kevin without showing any signs of sleep, though his eyes look tired. My eyes keep drooping but I refuse to fall asleep, with him near me that too in a car. I won't let it happen like the last time when he brought me to the agency. I try to stifle a yawn but it escapes my lips. "You can sleep. I will wake you up when we..." "No. I want to stay awake. If I sleep, I will probably have a nightmare with all these happening around." I mumble in a low sleep filled voice, making excuses. He, anyways now has a perfect idea of me waking up from nightmare filled sleeps. Talking gets me away from the drowsiness. So I decide to extract all the information I can from Harry. "Why was everyone calling you Edward in there?", I carefully ask him when my voice betrays me and it is barely a whisper. He glances at me for a brief moment and his eyes darts back to the road. "I am Harry and you can call me that." "But everybody calls you Edward. All of them can't be lying. And you say you are Harry..." My voice rises with a little courage. He suddenly pulls the car in the sideway bringing it to a halt and glares at me. Oh why do I have to open my big mouth! "Tell me, do you remember by what name does Grayson address me, everytime?" I think back to the first meeting when Mr.Grayson shook my hand 'Nice to meet you. Styles get her a cup of coffee, will you?' This is the first statement that comes to my mind but everytime I can only remember him addressing Harry as Harry or Styles. "Harry", I say not knowing whom to believe. My hesitation must be evident on my face, maybe in my voice too because his face softens. "Fine. I will tell you but please no more questions for today. I really can't tell you now. The less you know the better." I nod yet I feel the need to assure him with my own voice. "I promise". These two words transformed his stressed face into a relieved one.

"My name is Harry Edward Styles. I changed my name to Edward Richardson. Everyone knows me as Edward except Grayson. He gave me this name. He always calls me by my own name, obviously when we are alone. This was the only way to hide my identity, to convince people that Harry Styles is dead, to protect...uhh...err.", he doesn't reveal more. Dead. Why does he have to be dead? It seems I am not the only one who is unsafe. "They never saw my face and I proved it easily that I am someone else." He adds few seconds later. He sighs staring ahead but his eyes seems to be reliving a far away event, perhaps a past event. I hesitate but place my hand on his hand and give a gentle squeeze. "Its fine." I am surprised by my own behaviour and words. My words bring him back to the present and he puts the car in ignition and drives back to the highway.

Harry rents a small room at a hotel for the night. We settle down and have dinner, the one we picked up on our way. It is already 1am in the midnight and Harry turns the lights off while I tuck myself in the bed. He chooses to stay on the small couch in the corner.

We stay on the roads most of the day, renting hotel rooms for night, swapping positions for driving. It has been four days and we are still on the road, trying to stay low. Harry keeps glancing at me like he does when I drive. He seems tired from this road trip, his eyes appear dull than usual and his skin under the eyes is darker pointing to the sleepless nights he has been having. While my nightmares are making me lose my sanity slowly, Harry tries his best to keep me calm. Even though he wants to know about my nightmares which is clear by his facial expressions, he keeps his curiosity to himself. We are heading nowhere to be precise, just changing places to keep away from my killer. I think there is no other choice I have got except trusting him to some extent which I already do. He keeps checking his cellphone every night but seems disappointed everytime. Harry is almost asleep with his eyes closed and slow rhythmic breathing. I have no idea how long I will be moving around but I am already getting tired and Harry does this all the time. I sigh and keep driving because that's the only thing I can do.

A sudden thump on the car door stirs Harry awake while my hands clutch the steering. What was that! Yet I keep driving with little more alertness and Harry turns around to look back and he turns back quickly. I turn to look at Harry and he immediately gestures me to switch the position with him. Now that is impossible! How can I leave the steering and the accelerator while the car is in motion. But Harry is Harry. He is not the one to wait or change his mind. Once he makes a decision then that's the only one he will be following. He places his foot on the accelerator and makes himself shift over me pulling my seatbelt off in the process but my hands can't let the steering go. I get my feet to the passenger side and shift still holding the steering. Finally Harry grabs it and my hands automatically let go of the wheel. One more thump! Harry adjusts his rear view mirror and finds a car hot on our trail. And there he goes hitting the pedal pushing the speed-o-meter higher. "What is going on?", I ask Harry with a worried face. He keeps his eyes trained on the road and says in a stern voice, "They are firing at us but don't panic. I will get us out of this." But the moment he said firing, an electric pain shot through my body, stabbing my heart. I am thankful for being seated because if I was standing my knees would give away making me fall. He drives rash to escape the chasing car, taking sharp turns and nearly misses a collision. A sudden jolt leaves me breathless and I feel like I am being thrown here and there in a small confined place. My head hits the window once making me wince as he takes one more sharp turn, weaving his way out of the traffic. Suddenly, a large truck appears to be arriving from the left turn. Harry needs to hit the brakes now! I don't want us to go crashing into it. If we do, survival chances are only 10% that too by luck. But we are trapped with a killer behind and an accident in the front. "Harry. Stop!", my screams get muffled by the heavy noise of the nearing truck. I close my eyes tight and hold on tight to the seat. I pray for us to make it knowing that Harry has lost his mind. The chills run down my spine making my stomach churn at the thought of the gruesome accident that is going to kill us.

*****

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A.R.