THE BANDIT QUEEN - Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

Eden woke with a stiff neck when the attendants announced their imminent landing in Salt Lake City. She leaned over Deakin’s lap and looked out the window for her first view of the Great Salt Lake. Then she woke Deakin and made him look at the lake. He grumbled and hunched his shoulder at her before he closed his eyes again. She poked him again and said urgently, “We have to decide what to do when we land. You let me get off the plane first. Let four or five people get between us. I’ll look around and meet you in the first shop to the left.”
Deakin nodded and gathered up his backpack. Eden twisted her hair into a large bun on her neck and stuck a couple of pencils through it. She followed the slowmoving conga line out of the plane and through the passageway into the airport. Several people stood around the arrival gate with signs in their hands. “Dr. Smith” and “H. Rees”. Eden ignored them and checked out the other people standing around the area. Deakin followed about twenty-five yards behind her and noticed one of the chauffeurs stare at Eden’s face with indecision before he stared at the rest of the passengers exiting the plane. Deakin fell in step with a boy who trudged behind his large parents. He used the parents as a shield and even followed them through the airport for a short distance. He stopped at a magazine rack and used it as a cover to watch the man. Eden touched his shoulder as she walked out of the shop and into the steady stream of passengers moving through the airport. Deakin watched the chauffeur nod to another man who stood at another gate before he stuck his little sign in his pocket and walked to a different arrival gate.
Deakin slipped up behind Eden and whispered in her ear, “Two men watching for someone. One had a sign in his hand. They’ve gone to meet another plane.”
Eden moved steadily through the crowd and then stopped at a coffee shop near the security check area. She bought two cups of coffee and joined Deakin at a small table with a view of the crowds walking past.
“Another flight or rental car? Which do we go for?”
Deakin stretched out his long legs and studied the people filing by the window. “Can we do either one with cash or will you have to use your credit card?”
“Credit card. I only have one in my name. The other one is in my mother’s name. We can use it. She doesn’t have the same name as I do. She’ll be mad but all I have to do is pay her back. She did give it to me for emergencies and I think this qualifies.”
Deakin quickly picked up his coffee cup and covered his face with it. Then he opened his mouth wide to cool his overheated tongue. “Damn, that is hot coffee. The chauffeur guy just walked past but he didn’t look in here. What did you buy at the gift shop?”
Eden pulled out a baseball cap and tucked her hair inside it. She handed Deakin a pair of sunglasses. Then she stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled out a nickel. “Heads, we take a plane. Tails, we rent a car.”
Deakin nodded in agreement and watched her flip the coin. “Heads, it is. Let’s go shopping at the airline counters.”
Deakin shook his head and pointed to a bank of phones against the opposite wall. “We’re much safer right where we are. If we move to the other side of the security checkpoint, we could find knives poked into our ribs. Let’s try to stay on this side where these people have all been through the metal detector.”
Eden nodded and headed for the phones. Deakin stayed in the coffee shop and watched her back while she found them seats on another plane. She returned fifteen minutes later and said, “Ticketless travel is the only way to go. C’mon, our flight leaves in thirty minutes.”

Eden left the plane before Deakin and walked into the San Diego Airport. She joined a group of college girls headed back to school and walked with them clear through the terminal. Deakin joined her at the bus stop and climbed on board the car rental shuttle with her. They were delivered to their car and drove away from the airport. Deakin pored over the map of San Diego and navigated them through the city. As the traffic finally thinned and the bulk of the city lay behind them, Deakin hunched his shoulders and clasped his hands.
“Some food for a starving beggar, my lady. Just a few crusts or even a few cold french fries. That’s all I want.”
Eden looked into his “Bambi” eyes, laughed at him and said, “Okay, we’ll stop in a minute. Let me find the right place.”
She finally pulled into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant and joined the line at the drive-through window. Then she drove off with bags of food and drinks. Not far down the road she found the turnoff for a roadside park. A cold wind blew off the ocean and whipped through the small trees grouped around three picnic tables. Eden refused to get out of the car to eat. Sand and dust in her food was not what she was hungry for. Deakin gave in with good grace and stayed in the car with her. They ate every bit of food they’d bought. Then they both got out of the car and chased each other around the tables.
“Your turn to drive, Deakin. I’ll be the navigator and scout for a while. All this caffeine should keep us awake until we get to LA. Pull over when we get close to the city and I’ll drive through the heavy traffic.”
Deakin took the wheel of the car and drove carefully away from the small park. He pulled into the traffic on the highway and joined a large group of cars going the same speed. After ten or fifteen minutes, he shook the tension out of his neck and leaned back in the seat. He eased the desperate hold his fingers had on the steering wheel and glanced casually over at Eden. She pretended she hadn’t seen him hunched over the steering wheel like a madman and checked the road signs against the map lying in her lap. Then she raised her eyes to Deakin’s and said,
“We’re on the right road. Just follow it all the way to LA. Then I’ll get out my nickel and we’ll decide where to go.
Deakin grinned and stared out the windshield at the traffic in front of him. Eden put her head between the seats to check out the back window. Cars, cars, and more cars met her gaze. Their pursuers could be driving any one of those hundreds of other cars on the road with them. There was nothing she could do about it so she’d just watch for something out of the ordinary.