The drive to the safe house was somewhat awkward. North drove and Kota sat shotgun, while Sang sat in the back sandwiched between Gabriel and Victor. When Sang tried to ask questions about where they were headed the guys just averted their eyes or gave monosyllabic responses evading her queries. After a while she gave up, realising that trying to get information from any of the guys was a fruitless endeavour. At least they hadn't blindfolded her. Victor had, however, put her seatbelt on for her since her hands were cuffed behind her back. Talk about uncomfortable. It was hard enough to sit between two guys like that without throwing arm strain into the mix. She tried to keep up with the signs on the highway but she decided to forget it, they'd said they'd keep her safe so she welcomed the idea of them not taking her to an old abandoned warehouse and leaving her there. She realised that to some extent, very little at that, she trusted them.
"Can I please take these cuffs off now? My arms hurt." She said, trying to stretch her arms in the restricted space.
"Might as well." Grumbled North, "you can't go anywhere anyway." Well, that was a comforting thought. North took out a small key from his pocket and handed it to Kota. Kota passed the key back to Gabriel who quickly uncuffed Sang's wrists. She stretched out her arms before her, rotating her wrists to get the circulation going again. Sang wriggled in her seat trying to find a comfortable position; she figured she might as well get comfortable since she'd be cooped up in the car for who knows how long. Realising what she was trying to do, Gabriel put his arm around her back, leaning her against him and encouraging her to rest her head on his shoulder. Sang gave him a small smile and she did as he offered and leaned her head against his upper arm and shoulder. She closed her eyes, deciding to get as much rest as she could and to brace herself for what was coming in the evening.
"You alright, Sang?" inquired Gabriel quietly.
"Mm hmm," she affirmed.
"If you wanna nap you can spread yourself over the two of us." Said Gabriel. Sang's cheeks hinted as she noticed a double meaning to his words. She felt strangely embarrassed, even though Gabriel's comment was fairly harmless. He probably didn't even realise what he'd said. Sang chided herself for thinking such rude thoughts.
"I'm okay here." She said, yawning, eyes still closed. "When will we get there? I still don't know where we're going."
"We still have a few more hours." Stated Victor, speaking for the first time since they'd been in the car. Hours? This was turning into one long road trip. He probably couldn't be more vague if he tried. Sang sighed. Someone's phone started ringing and they picked it up immediately.
"Hello?" said Kota. There was a pause. "It's Mr. Blackbourne. He's asking if we're alright and if we wanna stop for a while." Sang assumed he was talking to North as North replied, "tell him we're fine. We can stop at the next service station and get some stuff to eat or change drivers." Kota relayed the message to Owen as Sang listened in on the one-sided conversation. "Yeah. Sure. Okay, bye." Kota ended the call. "He said that's fine. We can all stop at the next service station and freshen up."
"Thank God it was him. For a minute I thought it might be Academy and that I'd have to pull up on the side of the road for you to take the call." Said North, relieved. Sang knew that if the call was Academy-related they for sure wouldn't answer it in front of her for privacy and confidentiality purposes. They probably thought she'd feed any information she could to TIBI, which was partially true but hey, that was part of the job description. They lapsed into silence until Victor requested they put something on. North put in a CD and Sang drifted off to sleep with the familiar melody of Winter by Vivaldi playing as they drove towards the safe house.
