drove him still faster. Even with me on his back, the others trailed
behind.
We reached the Jeep in an impossibly short time, and Edward barely slowed
as he flung me in the backseat.
"Strap her in," he ordered Emmett, who slid in beside me.
Alice was already in the front seat, and Edward was starting the engine.
It roared to life and we swerved backward, spinning around to face the
winding road.
Edward was growling something too fast for me to understand, but it
sounded a lot like a string of profanities.
The jolting trip was much worse this time, and the darkness only made it
more frightening. Emmett and Alice both glared out the side windows.
We hit the main road, and though our speed increased, I could see much
better where we were going. And we were headed south, away from Forks.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
No one answered. No one even looked at me.
"Dammit, Edward! Where are you taking me?"
"We have to get you away from here — far away — now." He didn't look
back, his eyes on the road. The speedometer read a hundred and five miles
an hour.
"Turn around! You have to take me home!" I shouted. I struggled with the
stupid harness, tearing at the straps.
"Emmett," Edward said grimly.
And Emmett secured my hands in his steely grasp.
"No! Edward! No, you can't do this."
"I have to, Bella, now please be quiet."
"I won't! You have to take me back — Charlie will call the FBI! They'll
be all over your family — Carlisle and Esme! They'll have to leave, to
hide forever!"
"Calm down, Bella." His voice was cold. "We've been there before."
"Not over me, you don't! You're not ruining everything over me!" I
struggled violently, with total futility.
Alice spoke for the first time. "Edward, pull over."
He flashed her a hard look, and then sped up.
"Edward, let's just talk this through."
"You don't understand," he roared in frustration. I'd never heard his
voice so loud; it was deafening in the confines of the Jeep. The
speedometer neared one hundred and fifteen. "He's a tracker, Alice, did
you see that? He's a tracker!"
I felt Emmett stiffen next to me, and I wondered at his reaction to the
word. It meant something more to the three of them than it did to me; I
wanted to understand, but there was no opening for me to ask.
"Pull over, Edward." Alice's tone was reasonable, but there was a ring of
authority in it I'd never heard before.
The speedometer inched passed one-twenty.
"Do it, Edward."
"Listen to me, Alice. I saw his mind. Tracking is his passion, his
obsession — and he wants her, Alice — her, specifically. He begins the
hunt tonight."
"He doesn't know where —"
He interrupted her. "How long do you think it will take him to cross her
scent in town? His plan was already set before the words were out of
Laurent's mouth."
I gasped, knowing where my scent would lead. "Charlie! You can't leave
him there! You can't leave him!" I thrashed against the harness.
"She's right," Alice said.
The car slowed slightly.
"Let's just look at our options for a minute," Alice coaxed.
The car slowed again, more noticeably, and then suddenly we screeched to
a stop on the shoulder of the highway. I flew against the harness, and
then slammed back into the seat.
"There are no options," Edward hissed.
"I'm not leaving Charlie!" I yelled.
He ignored me completely.
"We have to take her back," Emmett finally spoke.
"No." Edward was absolute.
"He's no match for us, Edward. He won't be able to touch her."
"He'll wait."
Emmett smiled. "I can wait, too."
"You didn't see — you don't understand. Once he commits to a hunt, he's
unshakable. We'd have to kill him."
Emmett didn't seem upset by the idea. "That's an option."
"And the female. She's with him. If it turns into a fight, the leader
will go with them, too."
"There are enough of us."
"There's another option," Alice said quietly.
Edward turned on her in fury, his voice a blistering snarl. "There — is —
no — other — option!"
Emmett and I both stared at him in shock, but Alice seemed unsurprised.
The silence lasted for a long minute as Edward and Alice stared each
other down.
I broke it. "Does anyone want to hear my plan?"
"No," Edward growled. Alice glared at him, finally provoked.
"Listen," I pleaded. "You take me back."
"No," he interrupted.
I glared at him and continued. "You take me back. I tell my dad I want to
go home to Phoenix. I pack my bags. We wait till this tracker is
watching, and then we run. He'll follow us and leave Charlie alone.
Charlie won't call the FBI on your family. Then you can take me any
damned place you want."
They stared at me, stunned.
"It's not a bad idea, really." Emmett's surprise was definitely an insult.
"It might work — and we simply can't leave her father unprotected. You
know that," Alice said.
Everyone looked at Edward.
"It's too dangerous — I don't want him within a hundred miles of her."
Emmett was supremely confident. "Edward, he's not getting through us."
Alice thought for a minute. "I don't see him attacking. He'll try to wait
for us to leave her alone."
"It won't take long for him to realize that's not going to happen."
"I demand that you take me home." I tried to sound firm.
Edward pressed his fingers to his temples and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Please," I said in a much smaller voice.
He didn't look up. When he spoke, his voice sounded worn.
"You're leaving tonight, whether the tracker sees or not. You tell
Charlie that you can't stand another minute in Forks. Tell him whatever
story works. Pack the first things your hands touch, and then get in your
truck. I don't care what he says to you. You have fifteen minutes. Do you
hear me? Fifteen minutes from the time you cross the doorstep."
The Jeep rumbled to life, and he spun us around, the tires squealing. The
needle on the speedometer started to race up the dial.
"Emmett?" I asked, looking pointedly at my hands.
"Oh, sorry." He let me loose.
A few minutes passed in silence, other than the roar of the engine. Then
Edward spoke again.
"This is how it's going to happen. When we get to the house, if the
tracker is not there, I will walk her to the door. Then she has fifteen
minutes." He glared at me in the rearview mirror. "Emmett, you take the
outside of the house. Alice, you get the truck. I'll be inside as long as
she is. After she's out, you two can take the Jeep home and tell
Carlisle."
"No way," Emmett broke in. "I'm with you."
"Think it through, Emmett. I don't know how long I'll be gone."
"Until we know how far this is going to go, I'm with you."
Edward sighed. "If the tracker is there," he continued grimly, "we keep
driving."
"We're going to make it there before him," Alice said confidently.
Edward seemed to accept that. Whatever his problem with Alice was, he
didn't doubt her now.
"What are we going to do with the Jeep?" she asked.
His voice had a hard edge. "You're driving it home."
"No, I'm not," she said calmly.
The unintelligible stream of profanities started again.
"We can't all fit in my truck," I whispered.
Edward didn't appear to hear me.
"I think you should let me go alone," I said even more quietly.
He heard that.
"Bella, please just do this my way, just this once," he said between
clenched teeth.
"Listen, Charlie's not an imbecile," I protested. "If you're not in town
tomorrow, he's going to get suspicious."
"That's irrelevant. We'll make sure he's safe, and that's all that
matters."
"Then what about this tracker? He saw the way you acted tonight. He's
going to think you're with me, wherever you are."
Emmett looked at me, insultingly surprised again. "Edward, listen to
her," he urged. "I think she's right."
"Yes, she is," Alice agreed.
"I can't do that." Edward's voice was icy.
"Emmett should stay, too," I continued. "He definitely got an eyeful of
Emmett."
"What?" Emmett turned on me.
"You'll get a better crack at him if you stay," Alice agreed.
Edward stared at her incredulously. "You think I should let her go alone?"
"Of course not," Alice said. "Jasper and I will take her."
"I can't do that," Edward repeated, but this time there was a trace of
defeat in his voice. The logic was working on him.
I tried to be persuasive. "Hang out here for a week —" I saw his
expression in the mirror and amended "— a few days. Let Charlie see you
haven't kidnapped me, and lead this James on a wild-goose chase. Make
sure he's completely off my trail. Then come and meet me. Take a
roundabout route, of course, and then Jasper and Alice can go home."
I could see him beginning to consider it.
"Meet you where?"
"Phoenix." Of course.
"No. He'll hear that's where you're going," he said impatiently.
"And you'll make it look like that's a ruse, obviously. He'll know that
we'll know that he's listening. He'll never believe I'm actually going
where I say I am going."
"She's diabolical," Emmett chuckled.
"And if that doesn't work?"
"There are several million people in Phoenix," I informed him.
"It's not that hard to find a phone book."
"I won't go home."
"Oh?" he inquired, a dangerous note in his voice.
"I'm quite old enough to get my own place."
"Edward, we'll be with her," Alice reminded him.
"What are you going to do in Phoenix?" he asked her scathingly.
"Stay indoors."
"I kind of like it." Emmett was thinking about cornering James, no doubt.
"Shut up, Emmett."
"Look, if we try to take him down while she's still around, there's a
much better chance that someone will get hurt — she'll get hurt, or you
will, trying to protect her. Now, if we get him alone…" He trailed off
with a slow smile. I was right.
The Jeep was crawling slowly along now as we drove into town. Despite my
brave talk, I could feel the hairs on my arms standing up. I thought
about Charlie, alone in the house, and tried to be courageous.
"Bella." Edward's voice was very soft. Alice and Emmett looked out their
windows. "If you let anything happen to yourself— anything at all — I'm
holding you personally responsible. Do you understand that?"
"Yes," I gulped.
He turned to Alice.
"Can Jasper handle this?"
"Give him some credit, Edward. He's been doing very, very well, all
things considered."
"Can you handle this?" he asked.
And graceful little Alice pulled back her lips in a horrific grimace and
let loose with a guttural snarl that had me cowering against the seat in
terror.
Edward smiled at her. "But keep your opinions to yourself," he muttered
suddenly.
===========================================================================
19. GOODBYES
Charlie was waiting up for me. All the house lights were on. My mind was
blank as I tried to think of a way to make him let me go. This wasn't
going to be pleasant.
Edward pulled up slowly, staying well back from my truck. All three of
them were acutely alert, ramrod straight in their seats, listening to
every sound of the wood, looking through every shadow, catching every
scent, searching for something out of place. The engine cut off, and I
sat, motionless, as they continued to listen.
"He's not here," Edward said tensely. "Let's go." Emmett reached over to
help me get out of the harness.
"Don't worry, Bella," he said in a low but cheerful voice, "we'll take
care of things here quickly."
I felt moisture filling up my eyes as I looked at Emmett. I barely knew
him, and yet, somehow, not knowing when I would see him again after
tonight was anguishing. I knew this was just a faint taste of the
goodbyes I would have to survive in the next hour, and the thought made
the tears begin to spill.
"Alice, Emmett." Edward's voice was a command. They slithered soundlessly
into the darkness, instantly disappearing. Edward opened my door and took
my hand, then drew me into the protecting enclosure of his arm. He walked
me swiftly toward the house, eyes always roving through the night.
"Fifteen minutes," he warned under his breath.
"I can do this." I sniffled. My tears had given me an inspiration.
I stopped on the porch and took hold of his face in my hands. I looked
fiercely into his eyes.
"I love you," I said in a low, intense voice. "I will always love you, no
matter what happens now."
