21st Century Odyssey

Ch. 45 (Josh)

"I'll go check in, you find a place to park and I'll text you." I say, Dalton nods and eases away as I step towards the cheap French Motel. I stop as I see a group eating dinner, and my body goes cold,

"They should not be here..." I mutter, turning away and walking quickly back to where Dalton parked. He gets out and I jog up to him, "they're here. We've gotta go." His eyes widen and he curses, tossing me the keys and sliding over the hood to the passenger side. I slide in an shut the door just as I see Karina burst out of the side door. I pause and wait, but she starts looking around so I start it, the engine roaring as I slam on the pedal. Karina bolts off and I slam it into first, tires squealing as the Challengers tires grab the pavement. Dalton curses again,

"Easy Josh! You're gonna kill us!" I smirk,

"Don't worry, it'll take a while for them to find us and catch up." As soon as I said that, a dark, blood red Ferrari Enzo falls in behind us. I slam the Challenger into second, roaring away and shifting to third. Outpacing Karina for a few seconds before she picks up the pace, matching me twist for turn. Dalton points,

"There! We can loose her in the city!" I notice two signs, one for Paris, and the other for the Autobahn. I chuckle,

"Have you ever let this thing loose totally?" He looks confused and shakes his head. I switch lanes, sliding onto the entrance ramp if the Autobahn. Dalton yells at me,

"Are you stupid! She's got a Ferrari!! This is only an 8 cylinder and the Ferrari's a 10!" I look at him incredulously,

"You've never looked under the good have you?" he shakes his head,

"I've got a V12 engine hooked up to Nos under the hood." He stares at me, "I've taken this thing to about Mach 1.03 before. THATS how fast this thing can go." He looks shocked for a second and I look outside the window, seeing Karina's Ferrari even with the Challenger. I snap my fingers,

"Hand me the phone." Dalton hands me the phone and I punch in Karina's number.

"Hello?" I almost drop the phone as I hear Karina's silky Egyptian accented voice for the first time in four months.

"Karina" I manage to force out, my throat clogs up and I can't speak for a second then I manage to say, "Tell Miki I love her." I snap the phone shut, throwing it at Dalton and slamming the Gear shift back into fourth, the engine roaring, and punch the gas, quickly passing five hundred miles an hour and shifting to fifth, tears starting to blur the already speed blurred highway.

"JOSH! Josh slow down man!! JOSHUA!" I notice Dalton yelling at me and I ease up off the gas, decelerating to a modest 400 Miles an hour. "easy man, easy! what the heck was that?"

"I can't go back."

"Josh, those are your friends, you guys are the four that are supposed to fight Legion together!"

"Well we can fight him better if I'm not with them! If I'm there I'll just be a distraction. Trust me, when we finally encounter Legion, THEN I'll join them." Dalton shakes his head,

"Josh..."

"No Dalton, I'm not going back. we'll head to Germany, they've got France." Dalton sighs and brushes his hair back behind his pointed ears, settling down into the seat.

The next hour and a half is quiet, with only the roar of the engine breaking the silence. Lights finally appear at the border and I slow down, shifting down to second to pull up to the checkpoint. Rollin down the window I hand the guy two passports, my fake one and Bens, which I managed to steal a month ago.

"bonjour , deux pour l'Allemagne ?" I wince, and tried out my German,

"Uh...Jemand Deutsch sprechen?" Anyone speak German? The border agent looks confused for a second then turns around and yells into the station. Another man walks up with a handlebar mustache and looks at us,

"Nur zwei?" Just two? I sigh and nod,

"ja, zwei" the border agent nods and glances at our passports, scanning them and handing them back.

"Ihr zwei vorsichtig sein , und haben eine gute Nacht." You two be careful, and have a good night.

"Danke, und Sie!" The man nods and shuts the door as I press on the gas, shifting up to fifth and heading towards Frankfurt.

"We'll stop in Darmstadt, find a motel and see what the mornings like." Dalton is quiet for a moment then says,

"You know they will track us?" I nod,

"That's why I used my fake one and Bens. I want them to think I'm gone, so they'll leave me alone." Dalton sighs in resignation, when the phone rings. I glance at it, then answer it.

"David, tell me you've got some good news."

"No can do buddy, Seems like they got video of you in Russia, Axel asked me to track you and I told them that you were in Germany with Ben, why are you with Ben?" I groan,

"I'm not, it's Dalton but we used Bens passport."

"Well that's good, so were are ya at now?" I chuckle,

"Sorry bud, right now the less you know about my location the easier it'll be for me to get lost." David sighs then says,

"Well, alright. But they're headed to Germany right now. Some chick named Miki set up a fierce fight. She's the one leading their little 'quest' to find you." I groan again. Dalton gives me a look and I move the phone down,

"Miki's looking." he shakes his head.

"That's not good news David, you DO know who her mom is right? With her luck, she'll have us by the morning. Give me some good news!"

"Well that's what I'm trying to do, you tell me where you're headed, and I'll try and lead them off the scent!"

I sigh,

"We're stopping in Wiesbaden, gonna find a motel there we can stay in for the night. See if you can lead them to Stugart to the south of us. We'll grab a plane to Britain then." Dalton looks at me and I glare at him. I hear David typing for a bit then say,

"Alright, lead them to Stugart, then I'll send them to France. Is that ok?" I sigh,

"Perfect. I owe you one." He chuckles,

"Well, you saved me from Legion, I'm still paying that back! Good luck Josh, and to Dalton as well. Stay safe!" I chuckle,

"Thanks Dave, see you soon." I hang up and look at Dalton, "David sends you his love." Dalton scoffs,

"I think that was meant for you." I laugh then, finally exiting at Darmstadt and finding a motel. Dalton goes to check in and I park, joining him as he hands me a key to our room. After we unpack we immediately fall asleep. Little did we know what tomorrow would bring, but prepared for it anyway.