Begin Again

Talkers

"You saw how I did it," Rowan asked patiently. Blake nodded as she squinted at the letters Rowan had spelt out on the dirt around them.

"Instabul- Bosporus Five Hundred-," Blake gasped.

"Mill May 26th."

"Orion, Alone," Blake finished it off. Rowan and Blake sat alone, thinking about what sort of operation was being run here. He raised his chin, taking in one deep breath.

"What day is it?"

"May 20th," Blake glanced down at her watch.

"We've got six days to stop whatever this operation is. We got our lead, the Orion, and those three men, probably the man who framed you-," Rowan pointed. "Do you think it would be possible that it were Jaime or Albert?"

"I would recognize them," Blake admitted. "Who knows, perhaps they wore disguises."

"Our best guess is that the ship is on its way to Turkey," Rowan stated. "That's where we need to go next."

"Oh, we are a we now," Blake teased. Rowan gave her an irritated glance, before cracking a friendly grin. "Alright, I'm in."

It wasn't easy traveling the Sahara but with the Jeep Halim lent them, it was quite easier except for Rowan's driving over the sandy terrain. Stopping the Jeep, Blake angrily stormed out of the Jeep, moving over to the driver's side. Demanding to know why she had made him stop, she ordered him to sit on the passenger side.

"For a traveling journalist, I'd expect you to drive better. You I-know-everything-and-everyone-wanna-Be-journalist-with-Nothing-else-better-to-do," Blake ranted as she turned the car back on, hearing Duke bark in excitement. "Want me to show you how it's done? I'll show you how it's done Mr.We-need-to-get-there-on-time. Then drive faster! Better yet, learn how to drive! I can't believe it."

Blake floored the accelerator as the rear of the car swerved, trying to gain its straight line. Rowan clutched the sides of his seat tightly, looking over at her posture. He had interviewed a car racer before and he had to admit, she had a lot of familiar traits of one. Her relaxed back, almost curved into the seat from the usual snug restraints from the car, extended hand out even though the car was in fact an automatic- strange for being a Jeep- her sudden leg movement, mimicking the clutch before the gear change. Except he noticed how her leg knee was a bit stiffer at this oddly placed position.

He wonder what could have happened if she were a car racer. Did she quit? Is she still racing? What made her want to race? Did she love automobiles since her youth or picked it up later in life? How did she become a great mechanic at such young age? All these questions and more just went running through his mind, as he watched her effortlessly glide over the sand dunes of the Sahara. Their next pit stop would be Cairo.

Greece
"Well, we are almost there," Rowan laughed nervously, seeing Blake cross her arms at him. He had by accident booked two tickets to Greece, instead of Turkey directly. This was just a waste of time. "Sorry."

"Come on Duke, we need to find a place to stay the night."

The problem was, there wasn't anywhere to stay the night. Literally stranded in the terminal until the next morning, when the flight to Turkey was scheduled, Rowan found himself wandering the area. He bought food, bringing it back to Blake who was reading up on Turkey's culture.

"So, you always travel alone," Blake asked as she flipped several pages of the magazine. Rowan chuckled as he munched on his sandwich, just to stall on purpose. "What? Why is that funny?"

"Shouldn't I be making the questions? I am the journalist."

"Yeah well sometimes there is nothing bad with asking questions to maintain a conversation. Not everything is bad, I have to say that journalist intuition might be wrong at times."