The whole time she was thinking about all the ways she could possibly disappear in Australia, Kaely hadn't noticed until it was too late that she had a low tank, by which point her car had actually shut down on her. She had only just managed to pull over the side of the road before it stopped moving completely, and when that happened, she lost it.
She hunched her shoulders over the wheel and she cried, her forehead resting against the backs of her hands. She was a mess; her shoulder was throbbing, her head was imitating this feeling and her life had somehow crumbled downhill in under twenty four hours. How was all of even possible at the same time?
Kaely leaned back, wiping the tears angrily from under her eyes. It was dark, but the streetlights were on, revealing a building she had parked next to. She had no idea where she was, and she had no idea on how to find out, either.
Then she remembered the piece of paper that the nurse – Stacey – had given her. Jared's phone number.
Now, she would have been apprehensive about calling him altogether, seeing as how it was his fault the FBI were after her, but he had asked for her to call him as soon as she was awake. Surely he wanted to explain to her what the hell was going on? Or at least help her disappear?
Rather reluctantly, she dug out her phone from her bag and pressed the numbers in the order they appeared on the paper with shaky fingers, pressing the call button and holding the phone to her ear. It rang out a few times, and then it was picked up.
"Kaely?" a voice asked, and she recognised it immediately as Jared's. He was hesitant.
"You need to tell me what the hell is going on, do you understand?" she demanded immediately, sniffling back the tears as best she could. "Who are you? Why do the FBI want you so bad they're willing to shoot me to get to you?"
"Are they forcing you to speak?" he asked instead of replying. "Are they threatening you?" Kaely closed her eyes to fight back a growl.
"No, you've made certain I'm going to be alone the rest of my life," she snapped. "I'm definitely alone. I- I just got out of the hospital."
"Good, that's good," he replied, clearly relieved. "I just- wait, what's wrong? Are you crying?
"Yes I'm crying!" she exclaimed. "I had to jump out of a hospital window to avoid getting shot in the face! They think I'm working with you!" She realised she was shouting now, and calmed herself mentally. Just breathe. She came back to the phone after complying. "You got me into this mess. You can at least point me in the direction of a post office; I'm going to need my passport renewed at this stage."
"You're not safe," Jared said eventually. "You can't go off on your own anymore, they'll be after you."
"But what am I supposed to do?" Kaely exclaimed, feeling the tears coming back. "I gave you coffee and a book, and now they think I'm dangerous enough to shoot on sight! They're going to kill me, aren't they?"
"They won't touch you I promise," Jared told her, his voice calm and soothing. "Hey, stop crying, alright? Calm down and tell me where you are. We're coming to get you."
"I don't know you," she warned. "I don't know why they want you, and I don't know why. So give me one good reason for telling you where I am."
"Alright, how's this?" he shot back. "If you stay where you are, they will find you. They might kill you, they might arrest you. They might torture you. If you tell me where you are, I can get you out of all of that, and we will keep you safe. I swear."
The tears began to slow as she bit her lip, thinking about it. He was right. At least they'd saved her life; if she told them where she was, they might be able to give her the answers she wanted. So, finally, she sighed in defeat and ducked her head to try and see where she was. "It's dark; I'm next to a shop, I think. 'Adelaide Panel Repairs'."
"How long have you been driving for?"
"Um, fifteen minutes? I- I left the hospital and I think I turned onto Currie Street."
"Alright, look for a street name. Leo is on the map right now."
Kaely opened the door to her car and slipped out, standing beside it to look around.
"Bond Street," she said. "I think I've been here before."
"Richmond," Jared agreed. "Okay, just stay there. We'll be there as soon as we can."
Kaely didn't need to say goodbye, or thank you. She just hung up and leaned back against her car, placing a hand to her forehead to attempt at calming herself. She had heard once that if you put a hand to your forehead, it attracts the blood to your brain and gets it up and running properly. She figured that she would need a functioning brain for what was to come.
"Miss Monsford, we just keep running into each other," a voice announced from the darkness behind her. Kaely jumped in surprised, leaping away from her car. Behind her, quite coincidentally, were McMillan and O'Connor.
"Leave me alone!" she screamed and turned around to make a run for it, but she ran straight into someone else. It was a man, young and clad in an official police uniform.
"Kaely Monsford," he announced as he grabbed both my arms and wrenched them behind her back, "you are under arrest for association with the most wanted criminals in Australia. You have the right to remain..."
As he went on, Kaely couldn't believe her ears. She shouted and cried as loud as she could, but no one came to save her. No one told her she was going to be okay.
Because she knew wasn't.
Kaely was to stay overnight in the Adelaide Police Station, and in the morning she would be taken to the Supreme Court in Canberra before most-likely being transferred to the Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre, where she was to spend five years of her life for associating with the four most wanted criminals in Australia. It was ridiculous; they were young, although not so fresh out of school. How could they be criminals? They'd saved her life, and risked their own identities to make sure she wouldn't fall in the hands of the feds again. Although they failed that last feat, they still tried, which was more than Kaely could vouch for anyone else trying to help. Which brought her back to the matter at hand. What could four men of their age and status possibly do that could result in arresting Kaely for five years for simply giving them a street-directory? She didn't know what to do with herself anymore. How could she live in a prison for five years? She wasn't fit to be surrounded by the women that were housed there, and she certainly couldn't take care of herself in there if she ever got herself into trouble. What was she to do? She would have to keep quiet; not to talk was sometimes the best thing to do if you were in a situation you didn't know how to handle. She'd behave herself. She'd do the right thing by everyone. She'd stay out of trouble. Simple enough.
Right?
Kaely let out a frustrated shout and slammed her back against the wall of her temporary cell. She couldn't handle it; she knew this much now. She wouldn't be able to keep herself up every day. She just wouldn't be able to handle it.
She turned around and faced the wall, her forehead resting against its rough surface as she began to breathe heavily. She was freaking out; she needed an excuse. She needed something to happen. It needed to happen now.
Like, right now.
And suddenly, as if miracles existed, something soft echoed outside her cell; something extremely soft. Almost like that silenced gunshot McMillan had used to shoot her down. There were loud shouts and following them, a thud. The shouting stopped. Kaely's eyes widened and she backed away from the door to her cell, her breathing hitched. He was here for her, they both were. They were going to kill her.
"Kaely!" someone shouted suddenly, and Kaely's eyes widened even more before she raced to the door, banging on it with her fist as she recognised the voice.
"Jared?!" she shouted. "I'm in here!"
Moments later, the door swung open and in walked the scraggly blonde named Leo, tall and armed.
Wait– armed?
Leo held his gun out to the left and pulled at Kaely's good arm, leading her out of the cell gently.
"Don't be scared," he told her quietly as he walked her back into the main room. "We're not going to kill anyone; we never have, and we never will. We're getting you out of here."
Kaely nodded her head quickly, no room for any protests as her mind was overrun with thoughts and saw Eliot and Jared almost immediately, standing over the unconscious bodies of a few men and women.
"They aren't dead," Jared assured her when he found her staring at them. "Leo, get her to Dex and come help me clean this mess up."
Leo did as instructed and pushed her out of the police station towards a tattered-up bus that looked more like a long van. The one called Dex was waiting beside it, on guard with a gun of his own that was hidden from passers-by. He saw Kaely and Leo nudged her towards him, so she moved quickly over to him and let him help her into the back of the van/bus. It had seats like a bus and a bed and appliances like a caravan, so it was confusing.
She sat in one of the middle seats to the left and drew the curtain to the window over so no one could see her. Dex climbed in after her, sitting opposite her with his hair still tied up in a small ponytail. He looked at her with those dark eyes of his, his jawline sharper than it was when Kaely first caught a glimpse of him at the café.
"We're sorry," he admitted finally. His voice was quiet. Genuine. "We didn't mean for this to happen to you."
"I know," Kaely murmured, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. "I just wish it hadn't. It's a bit silly, isn't it? I'm basically a fugitive because I happened to serve you at my workplace one day."
"It's a strange world," Dex muttered, his eyebrows forming a frown as he stared at something at the ground. Vague, but Kaely didn't buy into it. "Don't worry about your family, they won't touch your family."
"Yeah," she mumbled miserably. "They won't."
With that, Kaely turned her head to the bandage wrapped up and around her shoulder, noticing the dirt and grime covering its surface already. It only just dawn as she was settled in the van, so everything that had happened since had happened in around twelve hours.
Unbelievable.
"What do you need for that?" Dex asked eventually, and Kaely glanced up from unravelling the bandage, seeing him gesturing to it.
"Some kind of antibiotic ointment," she murmured back, her voice muffled form the position of her face. "A new bandage as well. It won't really make a difference to me, really. It's the last thing on my mind."
"We'll sort it out," Dex promised nonetheless. "Why don't you get some rest? The guys won't be long, but the drive will."
"Where are you taking me?" she scowled, suddenly defensive about being in the same vehicle as these men. Dex didn't seem to notice her sudden hostility, or he didn't really care.
"Far away from here," he replied as Kaely fought back a yawn, already closing her eyes and by the time she realised she was doing it, she had fallen right asleep.