21st Century Odyssey

Ch. 44 (Karina)

"Karina! Where are you?!" Axels voice blares out over the speaker and I gulp,

"Umm... I'm in my Ferrari Enzo going 325 miles an hour down the Autobahn.... And Josh is pacing me in a Dodge Challenger." There's a pause on the other side and then Axel stutters,

"J-, D-, w-wait... J-Josh is in a Dodge C-Challenger?!? And he's PACING YOU?!" I gulp,

"I don't know why he's allowing me beside him, but he is." I start to worry then, Josh had been trying to get away from me, so why was he letting me keep up with him? My phone beeps and I say,

"Axel I'll call you back, I got another call coming in." I click off and say, "hello?"

"Karina." Josh's husky voice comes to me from the speaker. I sit in shock as he continues,

"Tell Miki I love her." A click sounds, then a roar beside me as the Challenger accelerates, flying ahead of me and down the Autobahn. I slowly lower the phone, suddenly noticing my gas tank. I was almost empty!

"Shit!!" I slam my hand into the steering wheel and slow down, going to 100 miles an hour trying to find a gas station. I pull into the next one and call Axel as I fill up,

"Axel. It was Josh. He's disappeared though. His Challenger was faster than my Ferrari. He... He said to tell Miki... He said to tell her that he loves her." I hear a sob and realize that Axel had put me on speaker phone.

"Why can't he come back?! Why won't he come back!!?" I hear Miki screaming in the back ground, the heartbreak in her voice making me flinch. Axels voice suddenly sounds closer,

"Karina where are you? Are you ok?" I smile sadly,

"I'm fine, I chased him up the Autobahn and I'm filling up at a gas station now. Hold on, I'll find out where I am." I turn and yell at the station attendent,

"OI! Dans quelle ville je me trouve?" He looks up and yells back,

"Bar-sur-Seine! 197 kilomètres à l'extérieur de Paris!" I groan, no way we had traveled 117 Kilometers that fast!

"Axel, I'm in Bar-su-Seine, about 117 kilometers away,"

"Umm... whats that in miles?..." I laugh,

"About 75 miles away." He whistles.

"Do you want me to come get you?" I finish pumping gas, and replace the nozzle, hopping in the drivers seat and starting it up.

"No, I'll be there in half an hour, maybe less." I pull out of the gas station, easing into the Autobahn and speed home. I pull in a little less than half an hour later and walk to our room, knocking softly. Axel answers and gives me a hug,

"You okay?" I sigh and nod, not trusting myself to speak. I step inside the room and see Miki sitting on one of the beds, her face a mask of pain and anger. I walk over and hug her, she had been through so much lately.

"I'm sorry Miki, I should've been faster..." She shakes her head,

"No, don't blame yourself Karina. If Josh doesn't want to be caught he won't be. At least he's safe, I just want to know what he's been doing." Axels phone suddenly rings and he pulls it out, his face shows confusion and I glance at the number.

"That's not Josh's." He shakes his head,

"It's a friend of mine..." He answers,

"Hello?" I put my ear close and hear a guy say,

"Axel!! Where are you??"

"Umm... In France, why?"

"Turn on a TV and go to channel 47!" Axel looks confused but picks up the remote and turn to the channel. It's a news bulletin and Axel changes the words to English for those who couldn't understand French. It was talking about some tragedy in Russia,

"Ok, what are we suppose to be looking at?" Axel asks when we see it. The camera was showing shots from when a shooting happened a week ago and one of the KGB members looked very familiar.

"Josh..." Miki murmurs, and it was. Hi long black and red hair seemed to glow as he stood with the police, protecting a family from what seemed to be an army of angry teenagers.

"Axel, those are demigods fighting the police in Russia." We all look at Axel as he lays the phone on the bed beside him, whoever it was on speakerphone.

"Not all of them." Electra speaks up,

"What? Who's that?" the guy asks,

"My names Electra, I'm a friend of Axels. Look at the group of five policemen protecting the family. See the one with the black and red hair?"

"Yeah, weird haircut for a Russian policeman."

"David that's Joshua. The guy I've been telling you about." Axel explains and David curses,

"What's he doing in Russia and you guys in France?"

"He's not in Russia anymore." I say, "I just chased him down the Autobahn a few minutes ago." There's a pause and David says,

"Axel, give me a sec, I'm going to see if one of my guys can hack into the Autobahn system and find him." We wait about a minute and he comes back, "we got a hit of a Black Dodge Charger passing the French and German border a few seconds ago. We're trying to get the passport records now." I stare at the phone, a few seconds ago? We were at least a few hundred miles from the border!

"I think Josh knows more friends than we thought." Axel mutters to me. David's voice comes back.

"We got the records but they're weird. There is a Josh but his name is Josh Newman an he's got blond hair, not black." Miki perks up,

"That's him!! Josh Newman is how he introduced himself to me the first time we met!" Something about the way David said that seems wrong so I ask,

"Who's the other person?" David sighs,

"You aren't going to like it."

"Who is it David?" Axel asks. David pauses before answering.

"It was Ben."