Shadow of Betrayal

She went right at the next corner, going as fast as she dared. Half a block down on the left was the entrance to the church parking area. The tires of the Saab jammed up against the wheel well as she turned in to the lot. She doused the car’s headlights but kept driving. Because there were few cars present, she was able to race across the parking lot and out the exit on the other side, onto the parallel road.

For the next hour she checked her mirror every few seconds, but there was no one there. She’d lost him. When she finally allowed herself to pull to the side of the road, she began to cry.

It was too much. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know if she should do anything. Maybe she should just give in to the inevitable, and wait for them to find her.

She heard sniffling to her right.

Iris.

The girl had been so quiet for the last fifteen minutes, Marion had almost forgotten she was there. But she wasn’t quiet now. Her lower lip arced upward in the middle, quivering. Her eyes were full of water, some already spilling onto her cheeks, and her short, shaky intakes of air were punctuated by silent pauses. Her hands were against her chest, one holding the other.

“Oh, baby,” Marion said. She reached down, released the seatbelt, and lifted Iris into her arms. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Together they cried, Marion’s tears running down onto Iris’s hair, and Iris’s tears soaking Marion’s shirt. The child, so innocent, so unknowing, scared of what was happening, scared because the woman who was protecting her was crying.

It was the jolt Marion needed, the reminder that giving up was not acceptable.

“We’ll be fine, sweetie,” Marion said, her voice soft and comforting. “Everything will be fine. I won’t let anything happen. I’m here, okay? I’m here.”

After several minutes the young girl’s sobs began to subside, and soon Marion could feel Iris’s breath grow steady and deep. She had fallen asleep.

Marion returned her to the passenger seat, then tilted it back as far as it would go. She pulled the seatbelt over Iris’s hips. It was loose, but would hold the child in place.

The one thing she knew was that they had to get out of town. She didn’t know where, just away. As she drove toward the Motel Monique, she touched her pants pocket where she’d been keeping the key. Only it wasn’t there.

“Oh, God,” she said aloud. The key.

She thought back to the last time she’d seen it, and remembered with horror putting it in the box, the box she’d left at her parents’ house.

Their clothes, their passports, the documents she’d downloaded were all left at the motel. She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. The night manager, she thought. If she slipped him a little money, he’d give her another key. All right. It’s going to be okay. I’ll just run in, grab the suitcase, and we can be—

She cut herself off, her eyes growing wide. What if the others had found the box and the key inside? What if they were headed to the Motel Monique, too? What if they showed up while she was there?

Ahead, she could see the motel. But instead of stopping she drove right by. The suitcase was lost now. She would have to forget about it, and concentrate solely on keeping Iris safe.

The one thing she had was her wallet. And inside that, an ATM card. She found the nearest ATM and took out as much money as she could.

She wasn’t dumb. She’d seen plenty of movies and knew her transaction could be traced, but they already knew she was in Montreal, so since she was leaving town, it wouldn’t matter. A calculated risk, at least that’s what she told herself.

She wanted to get back into the States. She felt it would be much easier to get lost there. But without passports, driving into the country wouldn’t be possible.

So instead of heading dead south for the nearest border crossing, she headed southwest toward Toronto, the largest city in the country. There had to be secret ways across the border there, someone who could help her.

Or so she hoped.

She found an underground parking garage in downtown Toronto near the SkyDome, or as it was now officially known, the Rogers Centre, and took a spot on the third level, as far away from the stairs as possible. She then got into the back of the car, taking the still-sleeping Iris with her. Together they lay down on the cramped seat. The only good news was that it was a pleasant night. Cool, but not cold. The pullover sweatshirt she still wore would be enough to keep them both warm.

Exhausted, she thought she’d be asleep the minute she closed her eyes. But her mind still buzzed with the last drops of the adrenaline generated by her late-night escape. She gave in to it, knowing that fighting it would only push sleep further away. Her thoughts tumbled around, each taking center stage for a second, then being replaced by another.