Page 50 of Saving Mr. Bell

The driver wasn’t someone I recognized, and he wasn’t chatty. Either because he had limited English, or because he was pretending that was the case to get out of talking to me. It didn’t bother me. I wasn’t exactly in the mood for conversation myself, happy to sit and watch the scenery go by. Well, not happy. That wasn’t the right word to use.

“We go straight airport,” the driver announced, his first words in thirty minutes. “Closest one.”

“Great.” I couldn’t have given the word any less enthusiasm if I’d tried. “And then what? Is Jade meeting me there?”

“Jade is…” His brow furrowed. “I cannot recall word in English.”A cow? Too pissed off with me?“Beschäftigt.”

“Ah, beschäftigt,” I parroted without having a clue what it meant and no doubt butchering the pronunciation. “Sounds like Jade.”

“Boozy!” the driver announced proudly.

I hid a smirk at the image of Jade being so incapacitated she couldn’t get on a plane. Maybe I could put her in rehab instead. “I think you mean busy.”

“Yes, busy.” The driver slammed his hand down on the steering wheel. “English has many same words. Pronounce one way means one thing. Pronounce other, something different.”

“Yeah.”

“You have German name. You not speak German?”

I shook my head. “My mother was half German, but she didn’t speak it very well herself, so she never taught me.”

“Pity. German is good strong language.”

He was chattier after that, introducing himself as Jakob and telling me about his wife and three children. At least it made the journey pass quicker, and it distracted me from thinking about the miles I was putting between myself and Arlo. We soon left the wilderness behind, Jakob taking us through the center of Salzburg before drawing up in front of the large gray building with Salzburg Airport emblazoned across the front.

I sat and stared at it. For the last eleven days, it had been just me and Arlo. In the car, it had been just me and Jakob. Now, there were people everywhere. Coming out of the airport. Going into the airport. Getting in and out of cars. So much metal as well. And noise, even without opening the car door. “Is airport,”Jakob said helpfully with a wave of his hand, presumably in case I’d failed to notice the building.

“Yeah… It’s definitely an airport.” I unclipped my seatbelt and said goodbye to Jakob, and then there was nothing left to do but take a deep breath and immerse myself back in civilization. At least there were no photographers, either outside or inside. I stood as people rushed past me, some of them not polite enough to give me space and almost barging me out of the way in their rush to be wherever they needed to be.

“Rudolf?”

I turned to find a mountain of a man waving his arm at me. Nelson. Of course they’d send him. He’d probably been given strict instructions to pick me up and put me on the plane if I showed any signs of changing my mind. I fought the urge to walk in the opposite direction, knowing it wouldn’t do me any good in the long run. I walked slowly, though, dawdling as much as I could. How pissed would Nelson be on a scale of one to ten for me giving him the slip that night? Because I didn’t doubt he’d gotten it in the neck.

“Nelson,” I said when I couldn’t make the trip last any longer and came to a stop in front of him.

“Rudolf.” Was that a hint of a smile on his face? I couldn’t think of any reason he’d be smiling. Perhaps he had wind. He held something out and I took it warily. “Your plane ticket,” he explained somewhat unnecessarily as I stared down at the rectangle of white paper, focusing on the word Paris. “Jade has booked you a suite in the Four Seasons Hotel.”

“And you’re supposed to accompany me there?”

“I’m supposed to accompany you.”

I narrowed my eyes at Nelson, something off about his careful wording. I studied the ticket again. It felt like a merry-go-round, like accepting the piece of paper in my hand as fact would delete all the hours since I’d left that nightclub. Delete Arlo. I’d toldhim I’d be back, and I’d meant it. But how was I supposed to do that if I was in Paris doing Jade’s bidding? I had his number. I could call him, but that wasn’t what I’d told him, and more importantly, it wasn’t what I wanted. If I called him, I’d be making excuses.

“The gate closes in fifteen minutes,” Nelson stated. “We need to make a move.”

“Yeah.” I didn’t move, though. I just kept staring at the ticket. Then I carefully and deliberately ripped it in half. “Whoops.”

The only discernible reaction from Nelson was a slight raise of one eyebrow. “I’m guessing you have no intention of getting that flight?”

I shook my head and then I stood tall, craning my neck back to look into Nelson’s face, the bodyguard at least a foot taller than I was. “No. Do you have something to say about that?”

The glimmer of a smile again. This time, it definitely was a smile. “I do. What plane are we getting?”

“One to London.”

Nelson nodded. “I see.”

“And you can’t stop me from doing that.”

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