On the Run Together

Chapter 17: Goodbye, Jacques

Even though the plan had been to go south and see some of the beaches and the sights, K decided that, after the scare in DC, they would go to one of the circus showings so that Clint could see his brother — sure that it would be a good reminder that his family wasn't going anywhere.

And since there was one in Tennessee that weekend anyway, it wasn't too far off their intended path.

To K's relief, Clint definitely seemed to perk up once he saw the big tent, and the two of them started to wander through the circus setup.

"You want to surprise him before or after this time?" K asked, bumping him lightly.

"After," he said with a little nod. "Then I can tell him how good his show was!"

"Wonderful," she said. "How about cotton candy this time around then?"

"Yes please," he said. "We can get the blue stuff!" He pointed beyond her to where the vendor was spinning the cotton candy for the kids to see how it was done.

Of course, she got him one — and he was tickled when the man making them managed not only blue but some purple for him too, layered on top of it. "Still don't want to eat purple, or is this purple okay?"

Clint grinned at her and took a big bite of the cotton candy. "This purple's okay. It's not purple on purpose, and I really just don't like grape stuff," he said with a shrug.

"Fair enough," she said before she snatched a little tuft of his cotton candy.

"You're a thief," he teased her.

"Yeah, I am. But a lousy one," she said. "Obviously. Since you caught me."

"Yeah, you're not supposed to get caught," he laughed as he led the way through the carnival games, taking a moment to go to the baseball toss because he wanted to win another prize.

Which meant that now, K had a little yellow bear in addition to her purple unicorn — because, as Clint said, "You said you liked yellow, and that's the only super yellow thing here."

"He's perfect," she said, sure to hold onto the bear with one arm. "You'll have to name him."

"Okay... ummm... his name is ... Blondie," Clint said, one eye shut. "Cuz he's blonde."

"See? Perfect," K laughed.

"We gotta name the unicorn too," he said. "But that one's purple and a horse, so I bet you're better at names."

"Oh. Well... I guess that one could be .... Esteban."

Clint giggled. "I like that," he agreed.

The two of them hadn't gotten quite to the big tent, though, before K stopped in her tracks as a sharp pain hit her leg, and she looked down to see the hilt of a throwing knife there. She put her hand over it quickly and locked her jaw as she tried to see where she could duck to the side where all the blood that was going to follow pulling it out could be hidden.

But before she could do that, she spotted Jacques, who was looking incredibly smug as he lifted his chin her way. "I know what you are," he said low. "And I know you're running."

"What do you want?" she said with the faintest bit of a growl lacing her tone.

"After the show," he said, giving her a smile filled with triumph, "we'll discuss exactly how you can remain so anonymous." With that, he tipped his head her way and slipped back toward the tent, leaving K to deal with the knife still in her leg and a very wide-eyed Clint — who had read Jacques' lips the whole time.

"Can you steal me a long shirt so I can clean this up quickly?" K said, tipping her head toward the menagerie, where there were several shirts hanging on cages where the men working there had left them. "At least I'm not in jeans today."