Murray Hill || A Superhuman Tale - 1

Chapter Sixty-Five

The natural thing would've been to head for the border. Camille never even considered it. That was exactly where their enemies would be looking for them, enemies with near limitless resources and a proven lack of scruples.

The best bet for the time-being would be to bury themselves in the anonymity of a big city, at least until they could make plans to get Sam and his new young friends to safety.

Calgary was no Manhattan, but it was a city of over a million souls and was just two hours by road from where she'd picked up the three fugitives in Fort MacLeod. Hopefully they'd reach their destination before their enemies had even deciphered how Camille had spirited them away. She already had the address of a corporate complex where Philly had rented them a furnished apartment for the week. Tommy would be along within hours to help with other details.

Sam and the girls were fast asleep. Her friend quickly had faded into oblivion in the seat next to her. She'd never thought to see Sam look so worn and exhausted. The girls had stretched out in each other's arms in the back seat after wolfing as much of "the grub" as they were able.

Camille had no idea how the smaller of the two had gotten her phone number, nor how she had known to call her. The detective's arrival had taken Sam completely by surprise. The child's call simply had come out of the blue, announcing that she was with Sam, asking where Camille was, and inquiring if she could pick them up at the Fort MacLeod hospital. The young girl had even described the parking lot in which to wait for them.

"Oh," the girl had said, just before signing off, "do you think you could stop off and pick up some grub on the way?" It was as casual as if she'd been asking for a ride home after soccer practice. Had the girl not known Sam's name, Camille would've presumed it was some sort of prank.

"The grub" was the first thing the girls had asked about after getting underway. As panicked as they'd seemed about getting in the car and departing, once on the road, they'd immediately shifted into eating burgers and fries and inquiring about the radio.

You'd think these kids broke jail every day, she mused.

The road was clear, and the directions provided by her mapping App took them to their destination by noon. Rolling into the complex, and on the lookout for the rental office, Camille spied Tommy Haas sitting on a stoop in front of one of the buildings and again had to catch her breath—thoughts of their last meeting flooded her.

He smiled and stood, as she parked the car in front of him. "Amazing the people you run into in Calgary," he observed casually.

Camille said not a word but walked up and wrapped her arms around him. The young police officer usually liked being in charge, liked the feeling she got from putting things in order, but every once in a while, it was nice to have someone else call the shots. This was one of those times.

They both moved toward the passenger seat in which Sam still slept.

"He's hurt bad," Tommy said in a low voice.

Something grabbed her innards. She should have known after having retrieved them from a hospital that something serious was afoot.

Opening the door, Tommy picked up his large friend, with nary an effort, and carried him up the steps to the apartment. Camille wrangled the still sleeping girls inside. Over the next few hours, Tommy tended to Sam, while Camille ran for supplies, cleaned out the rental car, and stashed it out of sight.

"I put some antiseptic on his wounds," he said in answer to her enquiry. "It looks like he took a bullet through and through."

The notion that Sam had been hurt at all was still shocking. "I thought the two of you were invulnerable?"