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"Then, let's find someplace to stay for a few days," proposed
Charlie, "like Chad suggested."
Just then, Adam's satellite phone rang. It was Shirley. Once again, Thomas was nowhere
to be found, but since he had eventually shown up yesterday, she wasn't too concerned.
Still, Shirley wondered where he was disappearing to.
After his sister hung up, Adam decided that it would be best to find someplace where
they could hide for a while. To his relief, Chad didn't seem at all disappointed
with this change, and pulled out the road map Kevin had entrusted to him, to plan
their next move.
"How about Whitehorse?" said Chad, running his finger across the thick
red line on his map that marked the Alaska Highway. "It's about halfway between
Dawson Creek and Fairbanks."
"The road's getting a bit rough," murmured Kevin, as they rounded a narrow
turn in the two-lane road.
Adam looked out his window at the dark cloudy sky.
"Keep your headlights on," he cautioned, "so people can see us coming."
"I saw a caribou!" shouted Chad excitedly.
But Kevin was too busy paying attention to a large RV that was having trouble staying
in its own lane to celebrate Chad's first wildlife spotting for the day.
"What's this guy's problem?" wondered Adam, leaning forward in his seat
and looking over Kevin's shoulder as the RV approached them in the opposite lane.
Suddenly, it veered toward them, and Kevin had to momentarily swerve off the highway
to get out of the way. Thankfully, there was enough room on the shoulder to make
this maneuver, so the bodyguard was able to keep his clients out of harm's way. Adam
turned in his seat to look behind them, and was grateful to see that the driver of
the RV had finally managed to get back in his own lane again.
"Whew!" sighed Adam, "that was close!"
"A little too close, to suit me," sighed Kevin. "That man must have
been drunk! Can you imagine driving that erratically with such a large RV, on a winding
road like this?!"
"Thank God, we're okay," breathed Adam.
When the excitement had passed, the musician looked over at Charlie, who was trying
to read out of a large, thick book.
"What's that?" he asked, cocking his head to one side to read the title
on the cover. "Charlie, are you actually trying to study for your GED, right
now?" he asked incredulously, for she was reading a biology textbook.
"Why not?" she asked, as the vehicle bumped and caused her to momentarily
lose her place in the book. "I can't wait for our life to quiet down before
I start studying, or else it might never happen!"
"The beauty of the Alaska wilderness is just outside your window, and you have
your nose stuck in a textbook," Adam teased with a handsome smile. "And
you call yourself Chuck's daughter!"
"I tried to study on his outings, too," she explained, "but it usually
didn't work out that way. At least, in a car, I don't have to pay attention to where
I'm going."
Charlie turned a page and resumed her reading. As she was learning that flowering
plants had to be pollinated before they could reproduce and form seeds, the vehicle
suddenly swerved, lurching Charlie over to one side in her seat. A strong hand reached
out and stopped the young woman just before her head was about to hit the glass window
on her passenger door. |
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