Secret Seduction

Chapter 4

Katie woke when she heard the door click shut. Sitting up quickly, she coughed at the plume of flour that followed her, and then she heard Jason laugh from his seat against the front door.

"What was that?" she asked between coughs.

"What was what?" he looked across the room at her, smiling.

Looking around the room, she noticed her backpack was leaning against the opposite wall.

How? When did you go get this?" She started to grab for it.

"Hang on, Katie. Before you..." It was too late, she noticed it then. The bag had been cut open and half of the contents were missing, including her hair brush. Rummaging through it, she took stock of everything that was missing. Her gray sweatshirt, her other pair of shoes, the hair brush and the tube of toothpaste she'd just purchased were all gone.

She still had her shorts, another pair of jeans, and thank goodness, all her undergarments were still accounted for. The secret money she had tucked in the inside zipper was gone. That was okay with her, it had only been fifty euro's. She had kept the means to her real money on her, just in case she ever lost her backpack.

"How did you get this back?"

"You aren't upset?"

"Upset at what? That you snuck out of here without me to retrieve my bag, or that you forced me to leave it in the first place? No."

He shook his head, "Katie, they took your passport, your wallet, everything."

She started to laugh, "Jason, I can replace my passport. Actually I've had to once already on this trip, shortly after I arrived in England. I think I left it on the bus to Munich." She looked off in the distance trying to remember.

"Who are you and what have you done with my Katie?" When she just looked at him, he chuckled at her. "Well, I hope you're not very hungry. All I could get was a couple apples and some rolls." He pulled out a brown bag. "But we will have to eat on the road. The sun is already up and we need to make sure those men aren't around to see us leave."

Katie stood up and dusted herself off, causing such a large cloud of flour that Jason had actually stood outside waiting for it to dissipate.

She used this private time to change her shirt and finger comb her hair to look somewhat normal. Her skin felt like there was a light coat of flour all over her, and her head itched. She wanted a shower badly.

When she walked outside, the warm sun and the wonderful sounds of the town greeted her. She smelled freshly baked goods from down the street, and the town felt like it was coming alive.

She started walking towards the bus station, knowing she had only a few hours to get to the New Edges building before her meeting with the father she had never met. She still needed to stop at a clothing store and buy new clothes, then check into a hotel and shower before she met with him, so she picked up the pace as Jason walked beside her.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm heading to the bus station."

"Good idea," he said, easily matching her pace.

When they reached the bus station, she was about to walk to the counter to buy her ticket, when Jason pulled her to a stop and yanked her back out the door.

"What?" She tried to pull her arm free.

"He's here!" he hissed and continued to try to pull her away. She looked around, and seeing nobody she knew, tried to pull her arm free again.