CHIPPED

Chapter 5

"Well? Was he there?" Neva asks from the taxi's window, as I begin my walk back to the bright yellow car. My legs are numb underneath me and I can't find the words to speak. I grip the the note in my hand and shove it in my pants pocket.

"No." I shake my head with a stern voice. She slumps in her seat as I sit in the back once more. I have to ditch Neva somewhere. I thought I could find Willder and be on my merry way. Now I'm in uncharted territory and I don't know what my next move is. How long will it be until the secret service is after me? Do they know I brought Neva, a random maid along with me? What will her consequences be? That's it, I have to leave her behind. It's for her own good.

"Sir, can you take us to a hotel other than the one we just came from?" I ask vaguely.

The man turns around in his seat with a hesitant look, "Are you two troublemakers? Because I want my pay at the end of all of this." I want to roll my eyes. Can't the man just do his job without questioning us?

I roll up my sleeves and pull out rolled up 100 dollar bills. You would think handing him 300 dollars would make him thrilled beyond words. Instead, his dark eyes scan my face skeptically. Neva finally turns around to find the wad of cash being tucked back in my pants pocket.

"You're thieves, huh? I'm calling the cops." He turns around in his seat and pulls out his phone. Before I can react, Neva grabs the phone and throws it out of her window.

"You will not call the cops, and you will take the money. We need your business. You don't need to know what our business is. Take us to the closest car lot." She falls back into her seat and motions for the driver to move along.

To my surprise, he drives forward at her command. Why does this girl keep coming in handy and bailing me out of my messes? She doesn't know if I stole the money or not, and she still wants to assist me?

I'm careful not to use her name, just in case the driver turns us in later, but I touch her shoulder. "There won't be any car lots open this late." I whisper as close to her ear as possible. She waves her hand to brush away my words and the driver seems to not have heard me. What does she have in mind?

As we pull into a car lot with dozens of cars, I smile at the thought of hot-wiring one of them. I'm experienced enough to complete the job. Does Neva suspect that's one of my skills?

"Thank you. For your information, my husband in the back seat is a billionaire and this is one of his car lots. Next time, you might not want to be so nosey and just take our money." She pushes her door open with a great force and slams it. I retrieve my bags and hurry out of my own door.

The taxi driver, who was pale as a ghost by the time Neva stepped out of the car, drove off , leaving a puff of smoke behind him as the tires squealed. Neva smiled at me triumphantly.

I run my free hand through my hair, "Husband? Millionaire? Where do you come up with this?"

She rolls her eyes, "You just had to bring out a roll of 100 dollar bills? Like that didn't make us look more suspicious. I had to think of a reason. By the way, why do you have so much money?" She squints her eyes at me.

I shrug, "Because I work for the government."

"Liar. Why would those men be chasing you?" She grits through her teeth. Suddenly her Australian accent is much more prominent in my ears.

"Because I'm a criminal who knows too much," I look her dead in the eyes, "Kind of like you."

She takes a step back from me, "You're a criminal? What did you do that was so bad for the government to come chasing after you?"