Unproven Chapter 101 "A Little Luck, A Lot of Nerve"

Ary and Grayson saw signs for a town called Villanueva at around six that night, which according to the map wasn't too far from Albuquerque. They drove until they found a reasonably busy gas station and pulled in, hoping they would find someone to take the car.

Grayson scoped the people coming in and out of the convenience store until he spotted a guy who looked like he was in his early twenties; headed for a beat-up truck. Perfect, he thought. "Wait here," he told Ary as he got out.

She nodded and watched through the window as Grayson walked over to a kid not much older than they were and started talking. After a few minutes they came across the parking lot and she got out.

"This is Will," Grayson told her.

"Hi," she said, biting her lip nervously.

"So, you're running from your dad because he doesn't want you guys together?" Will asked Grayson.

"As I said," Grayson replied.

"And you're just going to give this to me? Are there any liens?"

Grayson shook his head, opening the passenger door and pulling the title from the glove box.

Will looked it over, "Are you Dorothea?" He asked Ary.

She shook her head, "She's a friend of ours but we bought the car, she just put it in her name for us."

"You're sure this isn't stolen?" He asked skeptically.

Grayson smirked, "You're welcome to have the title searched if you're worried. We'll leave the plates on it, the insurance won't run out for a couple of weeks."

Will leaned over the door and looked inside. "It's in good shape."

"Yeah, it runs great too," Grayson assured him.

Will shrugged, "Okay, I guess it would be stupid not to take it."

"Good," Grayson said, "then let me call a cab and when it gets here we can put our stuff in it..." He stopped talking as he noticed the look Will was giving him.

"There's no cab service 'round here. But I can give you a ride somewhere if you want."

"That works. We need a motel, the kind that won't ask for I.D., we plan to catch a bus in the morning…Shit, how can we get to a bus station without a cab?" He wondered aloud.

Will laughed, "Tell you what, the nearest bus station is about thirty minutes from here, and I'm sure there's a motel you can crash at that’s close enough for you to walk." He pulled his phone from his pocket and started typing. After a minute he looked up, "Yup, there's a Motel Six about a block away, and those places are always owned by foreigners who only care about the cash. I'll take you there."

Grayson smiled, "Thanks man, we appreciate it."

"Hey, no problem, I can probably get a couple grand out of this thing, easiest money I ever made."

Forty minutes later they lugged their things from the car into the room they'd rented.

"Good luck guys," Will told them as they grabbed the last bag. "Hope he doesn't catch you."

As soon as they shut the door to the room Grayson went straight to the bed, dropping on it in exhaustion, his feet dangling off the sides, shoes still on. "I could seriously fall asleep just like this," he commented.

Ary laughed and knelt to take his sneakers off, then kicked off her own shoes and climbed in next to him. "We have to call for the bus schedule."

He nodded, closing his eyes.

"Or I have to," she smiled. She bent over and grabbed her purse, taking her phone out and turning it on. She waited for it to boot then dialed information. A couple of minutes later she was listening to a recording, listing off the routes.

She started to tell Gray what their best bet was but he was already asleep, his breathing deep and even. If only she had that ability. No matter how tired she was, she could never fall asleep at the drop of a hat. She got up and closed the blinds then climbed in beside him, her mind working at a million miles a minute.

An hour later she was finally drifting off when her phone rang, startling her. She reached for it. Dori. She winced, poor girl, they hadn't given her an update. She answered, "Hey."

"Hey, there you are, I've tried calling several times but your phone was off. I was getting worried."

"Sorry about that, but no need to worry, we're fine."

"Oh good. So...Where are you?"

Ary frowned. "Um, Grayson made a point that we shouldn't tell you that. Not because we don't trust you, but he thinks the less you know the better off you are. He's pretty sure his dad will question you."

"Yeah, well, it'll be fine."

There was a strange note in Dori's voice, and Ary wondered if she were afraid. She was suddenly afraid for her.

"This all happened so fast, maybe you should have come with us," she said. She heard Dori swallow audibly.

"Yeah, maybe, but you know what they say about hindsight."

"Are you okay?" Ary asked.

"Hey, don’t worry about me, worry about yourselves…I just mean be careful."

"We will. We'll call you when we get where we're going."

"Okay."

"Thanks for everything Dori, we couldn't have done it without you."

There was a moment of silence then Dori said, "I love you guys," in a choked voice.

"We love you too. Call us whenever you need to."

"'Kay."

The call disconnected, and Ary stared at the phone with a bad feeling. What if James did more than question her, what if he interrogated her? If Dori were hurt because of them she would never forgive herself. Damn it, we should have brought her, she thought. But it really had happened too fast. Nothing they could do about it now.

She reached over and turned off the desk lamp plunging the room into darkness then snuggled in close to Grayson. After a while she fell into a restless sleep.

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