Bourne A Diamond (First Draft)

Chapter Eight

PoV: Kaylee

I woke up with my cheek squished uncomfortably against a seat belt, "Wha?" I mumbled as I looked around. I was in my mom's car, and she was driving as if she was late for a very important appointment. I tried to remember what had happened, but I couldn't remember anything after driving up to the house.

"Oh good," Mom said, sighing in relief, "You're awake."

"Mom?" I asked, "What happened?"

"It's... it's all quite complicated sweetie. I can't explain much. What do you remember?" she asked hesitantly.

"Pulling up to the front of the house with Megan..." I trailed off, glancing into the back seats, "Where is she, Mom?" I asked urgently.

"I... I don't know," she answered sadly, " But we have our own issues right now."

I looked outside of the window, trying to figure out where we were, "Where are we going?" I asked, " and what kind of issues do we have?"

"It's complicated," Mom said while keeping her eyes on the road, "But the short version is that we have to leave the country."

"What?" I asked, flabbergasted, "Why do we need to leave? And why on Earth would we leave without Megan? We're leaving a family member behind!"

"She'll be better off on her own, trust me."

I glared at her, "I'm finding that rather difficult at the moment. Anyways, are we doing the dumb 'We'll run away to keep target away from those we care about' thing? Why would we even have a Target on our backs? Is this because of your time in the Canadian military?" I watched my mom, waiting for her response.

Her shoulders began to shake, then she began laughing, hard.

"Oh, Kaylee, you are... ah, you have managed to get this all mixed up quite well," she said, trying to stop laughing,  "No, it's...Megan, who's target is causing trouble. Not anything I did when I was working for the military. Though admittedly, we would never had met her without my history over there," she sighed happily, yet still seemed extremely focused.

"Okaay," I was uncertain how to reply, "Why are we in the automotive section of town?" I asked, deciding to change the topic, as I was fairly certain my mom had just laughed at me.

Her smile faded rapidly, and was replaced by a look of concern and concentration, "We are going to rent a car, and head to the Portland airport."

My jaw dropped, "What? Why? Where are we going to?"

"Calgary," she answered shortly, "We are going to visit with Auntie Darcie for a bit."

"Without Megan? And why did you not tell me about this before? And why are we not using our airport, and instead driving all the way to Portland?" I asked, pointing out all the problems I was finding with her story.

Mom turned the car into the parking lot of an auto mall, and turned off the engine, turning to face me, looking very serious, "Kaylee, I know you want answers, but frankly, I can't give them to you. But I need you to trust me, or..." she trailed off, looking scared, "Or things could go very poorly. I wish I could tell you more, I wish it so badly, but there are rules I still have to follow. I'm sorry."

"Rules such as what?" I asked, trying to find any snippet of information I could.

She sighed, "Such as the chain of command. Kaylee, I'm going to go get us the rental car, and I need you to stay here. I know you have no reason to trust me at the moment, but please, I am your mother, I love you, and I'm trying to protect you."