Day 1 2230 hours outside knight's rest motel
Vanessa and Jim walked out together with the rest of the group, and they took the last car that was not wanted. As the two of them looked at their group members entered their cars and drove into the night, Jim let out a deep sigh.
"Come on in," Vanessa told him as she got onto the driver's seat. "Don't sigh too much. Its bad for your health."
The first few minutes along the roads of Boston was quiet, with Vanessa concentrating on her driving and Jim's thoughts thousands of miles away.
"A penny for your thoughts?" She interrupted when she stopped in front of a red light.
"Marty. I'm so sorry.. for dragging him into this. For not being a better friend. For not meeting him more often, and then just appeared and caused his death."
"Its not your fault, Jim. You should know that. " She told him as she drove at the sight of the green light. "If its anyone's fault, its their fault." Stressing on the word their, not saying out who she was talking about.
"You think this car is bugged?" She added.
"What?" Jim was shocked. "Bugged."
"Yeah... bugged...you know, those little black things that always seem to be lying around."
"You're kidding. There is no way they can bugged our car without us knowing."
"If they can bugged the room, they can bugged the car."
"You're right. Stopped the car now!"
Vanessa slammed on the brakes, and Jim found his face less than 2 inches from the windscreen. A car nearly banged onto them from the back, screeched, turned quickly to the left, and prevented a collison. The owner of the car, a almost bald, definitely over-muscled caucasian man in his 30s, came out of his car, and walked to Vanessa's side, definitely mad.
"Hey, you woman. You don't know how to drive a car, or do you think you owe this road?" His tone was menacing, ready to pick a fight with what he thought was a nervous Asian woman
Vanessa, biting her lips abit, turned and looked at her passenger. When she spoke, her voice was shaking.
"Jim," she said in a half-pleading tone.
Jim did not know what happen to cause the huge change in her, but he knew fright when he saw one. Perhaps the man had a gun aimed at her.
"Excuse me, buddy." He leaned over and called out.
"Buddy? You calling me buddy? Who do you think you are, hiding inside the car."
"You want me to come out?"
"Come out. You what? Chicken? Hanging around with a idiotic minority in a car going god-knows-where doing god-knows-what?"
This time, Jim was real mad. That man had just insulted him, his partner and a racial group all in one breath. He opened his side of the door, stepped out, and walked over calmly.
And then twisted the man's arm behind his back before shoving him against the car and pressing his gun against the head.
"Did you call me chicken?" He asked, pressing the man hard as he tried to wiggled out of Jim's grip. "Did you insult the lady? Are you going to apologise?"
"I'm .... sorry."
"I can't hear you." Pressing the gun harder onto the skull.
"I said I'm sorry! Let me go!"
"That's better," Jim said as he released his hold on the man. "Now go back and sleep."
The man glared at Jim for half a second while he rubbed his sored arm, then turned and walked back to his car. Jim stood beside hood of his car, and looked as the man got back into his car and began to drive off. Vanessa came out and stood beside him.
As the car drove pass them, the driver turned back to show his middle finger.
"Have a nice day!" Vanessa shouted after the receeding vehicle, and then turned to Jim.
"Feeling better?" She asked.
Jim turned and looked at her in amazement. All trace of fright was gone.
"What the - "
"I faked it. You obviously needed some distraction, and terrorising people always put people in a better mood after that."
"You fake it?" He stared at her, disbelieving. And he thought that she was a nice, young lady.
"I used to be in my school's drama class. Come on, let's check for our bugs and get out of here before a car really ramped onto us."
They checked the whole vehicle, and was pleased to announce to each other that the car was bug-free.
"What is this thing about feeling better after terrorising people?" Jim asked as Vanessa started the car again. She then told him about how she put the sniper to sleep.
"Somehow, after seeing some many people coming after us, trying to kill us without any remorse... I guess I felt slightly mad. That blow definitely makes me feel better, more in control. Weird right?"
Not really, Jim thought, but he kept quiet.
"You good at acting?" He asked instead.
"Definitely one of the best in my high school. But then my family put a stop to it. Which is good in a way. Otherwise I would never have found the X-Files."
She spent the rest of the journey telling him about the school plays she was involved in, the fun she had in acting drama.
"One day you can be a outlawed cowgirl, and the next, a damsel in distress. Of course, a Chinese cowgirl looks weird." She laughed at that. "But definitely nothing beats the real thing."
"The real thing?"
"Real drama, real shooting, like now." She explained. A few seconds passed before Vanessa let out a breath and said "What an uneventful drive."
Jim looked at her and the two of them burst out laughing.
A few minutes later, they found the hunting lodge. It was unoccupied. Vanessa drove pass it, and parked the car behind some trees. The duo then took their necessary stuff and walked back to the lodge, kneeling behind some bushes as they waited for the rest of the team to arrive.
Regards,
Lee Sau Woon aka SA2 Vanessa Lee