As they agreed, Valentina drove the Mercedes until their SATNAV took them off the paved road. Though he was plagued with a headache, Eli took the wheel along with some aspirin. Valentina must have sensed his mood, because she hadn’t said much to him, beyond a few questions. She didn’t look in his direction either. Valentina must have thought Eli was mad at her. She just watched the oncoming road through the windshield, almost catatonically.
“Eli,” Valentina whispered into the silence. “Speed up.” He applied a little more pressure to the accelerator. Her eyes were open, unfocused. She saw something he didn’t see. “Maintain this speed.”
She saw the truck in front of them. A smoky grey ghost of a black SUV with Russian plates. As Eli increased the speed they had entered the apparition. Keep your eyes open. You can learn something from the past. Is this what Tracked had meant? She could see the driver and passenger talking, but she couldn’t hear them. The man driving was young and handsome. He had a confident smile, and glittering dark eyes. Tracker. The passenger was her mother. Youthful, beautiful, her face lit in a smile. As Malena reached over the light caught on her wedding ring. But they were getting away from Valentina. Their truck drove over a bridge and continued on while Eli stopped.
“What happened? Why are we stopped?” Valentina asked, rubbing her eyes.
“This bridge has been torn down. That ditch is too steep and too wide to cross with the car.” Eli was unhappy. “If we go any further, it’s by foot.” He shut off the car and got out to better survey the obstacle.
The road had been serviced by a simple wooden bridge with stone supports, probably just a little wider than the road on either side. Most of the wooden planks and the stones were still in the stream bed, blocking the flow of water. It was pooling behind the blockage, about a foot and a half deep. On the low side, it had frozen to a thin layer of icy mud. Eli saw a chain half buried in the debris. Someone had torn this bridge down. None of the beams were long enough to lie across from bank to bank. All of the wood and stone had been broken with great force.
“It looks like someone doesn’t want any visitors.” Eli warned Valentina as she climbed out of the car. She wobbled on the feet as her heels sank into the soft mud. He caught her arm before she fell.
“Do you want to continue on?” Valentina asked. He still looked a little green.
“We came all this way to find Horowitz. We are going to find him.” Elijah resolved. Even though he felt ill, Eli edged his way down into the ditch. He was careful of where he put his feet. When he was confident of his footing on two pieces of wood, he motioned Valentina over to the edge. She let out a call of surprise as he swept her off of her feet and into his arms. She put her arms around him for support. He was more concerned for Valentina than he was for his nice shoes. Valentina wondered to herself if Eli would later use this as an excuse to buy new shoes.
The stream was only a few feet wide, but it crossing took several minutes. Eli wouldn’t put his weight down until he was sure of his footing on a solid rock or sturdy beam. On the other side, he placed Valentina on the bank, feet first and made sure she was safe and steady before he let go. Then he climbed up onto the bank. He fell the first time, but didn’t hesitate to pull himself up and try again until he was on the far side of the bank.
“I saw Tracker’s truck.” Valentina told him. After a moment she registered his confusion and added, “It was in the past. We are following him to Fairgarden.”
YOU ARE READING
Looking For A Legend (Book 1)
Misteri / ThrillerA young telepath is unexpectedly left with leading his class when his teacher takes leave. One of Elijah's new students Valentina leads him down a path where mysteries only get more mysterious and nothing is as simple as it looks.
