Crushed (57 page)

Robert didn't ask because he thought that perfect future would come true, but because he was positive it wouldn't. He wanted them to talk about it, because now might be the only time they had left to dream about the future.

Nothing they planned now would come true, which is why he'd asked her to go along with his question.

Sophie almost didn't reply. She didn't want to imagine a life she could never have. However, she knew that it would be good for her to dream of a better future, despite how improbable it was. Dreaming wasn't supposed to be realistic anyway.

"I would like to start over at college." She answered finally, her voice quiet. Robert's eyes widened in surprise. "It would be after we take care of the kids, and get them settled into new lives. I want them to have a town like this to call home. Then, when everything has gone back to normal, I want to enroll again. I want to start over doing something I love."

"What about the financial issues? Isn't that why you were studying something you hated?"

"I thought that since I was on my own, I had to give up what I wanted to support myself. My dream and what I had to do to survive were two different things. I don't know if being a painter is my dream anymore...I love painting but it's not everything." She lifted one hand to touch her cropped hair. "If you haven't noticed, I've changed a lot."

Robert smiled, his expression growing distant.

"What about you?" She asked after a moment had passed. "Without being a thief, what would you do?"

He remained silent for a long time. "I honestly can't tell you." He whispered, his eyes wandering down the sidewalk to the shops beside of them. "I want everyone to find their own places. The kids should go to school and start their own lives. You should do what you want, and leave this place behind you, but I have no idea what to do about myself." He took a deep breath. "Never in my life has there been so many options about what to do. Before, I was set on inheriting my parents empire, and then when I ran away I was set on remaining a thief until I died. If I had a blank slate to start over with, I don't know what I would do."

"Wouldn't you be happy with that kind of freedom?"

Robert grinned, though his eyes remained serious. "Stealing is what I'm good at. Without that, I don't who I'll become."

The mood had darkened again, and Sophie felt obligated to return it to normal. Dreaming of life after they escaped wasn't as freeing as he'd wanted it to be.

"Let's get some ice cream." She asked, motioning to a shop across the street. "I'm starving." She hadn't thought about food all day, but now that she said it, she felt her stomach growling.

Robert nodded without saying anything, and led her across the street.

Sophie waited outside while he bought their cones. She smiled at a group of children standing nearby, all taking turns riding on the statue of a cow that stood outside of the shop. The stores' name was printed in bright pink letters on the side of the cow, which was oddly familiar to her.

She blinked twice, wondering why the cow seemed so familiar. Sophie walked towards it, trying to remember if she'd ever been here before. Images of her grandparents flashed through her mind, and she had the strange feeling that she'd come here with them.

With narrowed eyes, she examined her surroundings again. The tall lampposts that lined the streets were also familiar, as were the railroad tracks that were located to her left.

She clenched her hands as memories began to come back to her. She didn't remember the name of the town, but she was almost positive she'd been here before, more than once.

Robert exited the shop, looking confused at her shocked expression. He offered out her ice cream cone, but she ignored it completely. Instead of speaking to him, she bolted off down the sidewalk.

If her memories were accurate there should be a park nearby. She continued running despite hearing Robert yelling her name. She felt like she'd just come across something very important, and she had to know if it was true.

Sophie ran across the railroad tracks and down another block of shops. At the stoplight she took a sharp left across the road, coming to an abrupt stop when she could see the fence before her.

Her mouth dropped open as recognition swept over her. The large trees and cobbled sidewalks had not just been in her imagination. Here they were, just like they'd been years ago when she visited her with her grandparents.

Sophie swore under her breath, a smile breaking out on her face.

A panting Robert rushed to her side, holding what remained of their ice cream cones. "What the hell are you doing?" He shouted, dropping the half-melted ice cream on the ground.

Sophie began laughing, without knowing exactly why. "Rob, I've been here before."

"What?" He asked in annoyance, wiping off his ice cream covered hands.

"I've been to this place before. My grandparents used to take me to that ice cream shop, and then we'd walk through this park."

Robert froze, his eyes widening in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. We have a picture of us standing just in front of that gate when I was around eight or nine years old." Sophie's hands began to shake in excitement.

Robert glanced at the fence, his lips settling in a firm line. "What does this mean..."

"I have no idea, but it's something!" Sophie's voice grew louder with her determination. "This place is nowhere near where I grew up."

"So?" Robert asked, pushing her to explain.

"So, my grandparents had to be telling me something. They wouldn't bring me here for no reason, which means..."

"Your parents." Robert whispered.

They both stared at each other, and slowly began to smile.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

For the longest time we'd been racing towards an ending to our story. Only, the ending we expected was nowhere close to reality.

"We should rest." Robert offered, grabbing onto Sophie's hand when she turned back to face the shadowed park. "I can't let you run off with this little evidence."

The revelation that she'd been here before was all the evidence Sophie needed to know this town had to be an important piece in her parents' mystery. Her first instinct was to dive straight into a search for the kind of clues she imagined might've been left behind.

"Since when did lack of evidence ever stop you? There was nothing supporting your decision to search this town, and we ended up finding something anyway!" She couldn't help but pull away from him. Her heart was racing and she didn't want to waste time standing still.

"I understand I'm being hypocritical right now, but we really do need to take a break. I pushed you to come all this way, knowing we've both been working without sleep for over twenty-four hours." His voice was strained. "A break couldn't be a bad thing, right?"

"Yes, it could." Sophie backed away, shaking her head. "Look, Cleo and Max's men are already chasing us. We don't have time to pause, and you know that!"

"If we keep running around like this, we may get hurt." Robert warned. "We're both sleep-deprived, and not on the top of our game."

"Either you're with me, or you're not." Sophie placed her hands on her hips. "I appreciate your concern, but I have to do this. I followed your gut feeling before, and now it's your turn."

"I'm always with you, darling." Robert sighed, taking a step forward to clasp her face in his hands. He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the forehead. The gesture helped to calm her racing heart.

"Then why are you being so difficult?"

"I'm worried that we're rushing into this too quickly. I don't want to get our hopes up only to be disappointed again." He sounded sincere, and Sophie reluctantly accepted his logic.

"What if this is it though?" Sophie's voice rose with anticipation. "If the paintings really were hidden here..."

"If that's the case, we'll figure out our next move once we see them." Robert stared off into the park. "I just don't see how Slavsky could've missed finding anything."

"You don't think they're here?" Sophie crossed her arms. "I thought that's why we came all this way?"

"I trust your instincts and mine." He answered. "It would make sense for your parent's to hide them where they grew up. It just doesn't seem likely that Slavsky would search this place and come up with nothing."

"Diana said my parents lived here for the better part of their lives. It's not impossible that they would know somewhere to hide the paintings that Slavsky wouldn't be able to find them."

Robert's eyes narrowed and he pulled out his cell phone. He turned away from Sophie as he dialed a number into the keypad.

"Hello?" He asked into the phone a few moments later. "It's me."

Sophie raised her eyebrow questioningly, but he shook his head once, silencing her.

"Diana, I need you to send me a detailed map of this town we're in." Robert sounded like had just figured out something important.

"She already sent us a layout." Sophie whispered, wondering what he was getting at. She pulled out her cell phone where she'd downloaded the file of the map, and flashed it before his eyes.

He winked down at her, and she was momentarily distracted by the smile on his lips. She began to think she'd been imagining his serious frown from before.

"Yes, I've seen the one you sent us. According to your information it was updated last year, meaning some of the older, abandoned buildings wouldn't have been put on the map. Outdated buildings that haven't been used in years could've been forgotten." He paused, listening to Diana speak on the other end. "No, I'm not insane. It's entirely plausible, and I've got reason to believe this map isn't giving us the full picture."

Sophie realized where he was going with his request. She reached out her hand for the phone, and stubbornly nudged him until he handed it to her.

"She's not listening to me." He whispered in frustration.

"Diana?" Sophie asked in the phone, silencing the woman mid-rant. "Robert's not being unreasonable. I've been here before...to this town, I mean. My grandparent's used to bring me here when I was a child." Sophie fell silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts for her next argument. "Look, I always thought it was strange that my parents would just abandon me. What if my grandparent's brought me here to see them? My parents wouldn't risk contacting us. Since they were in hiding, this would've been the only way they could've checked up on me. The last time I came here was when I was nine, just a year before they were killed. There has to be some significance to all this!"

"That's a lovely story, Sophie, but it doesn't tell me anything. Remember, you don't have any proof to support any of this." Diana was obviously confused and annoyed by their theorizing.

"I need you to help me with the proof part. Rob may be on to something. My parents lived here a love time ago, when they were just kids. They could know of a dozen places not mentioned on the updated map. All we need is for you to dig up an older map. This is just a hunch, but maybe there's a significant difference."

"You think Slavsky wouldn't have thought about that?" Diana asked, though the fight had gone from her voice.

"I don't know what Slavsky was thinking when he was searching for my parents. All I know is this is the only shot we've got. We're running out of safe places to hide, and this is the last thing we have to cling on to." Sophie didn't mask her desperation.

"Fine. It shouldn't take me long at all." Diana fell silent, though Sophie could hear the unmistakeable sound of keys clicking in the background.

"Thank you." Sophie sighed, and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she couldn't ignore Robert's obvious surprise that she'd broken through to Diana. She stuck out her tongue at him for doubting her.

"Well, look at that." Diana said, sounding genuinely shocked.

"What?" Sophie straightened her back, her heart clenching with suppressed hope.

"You were right!" Diana nearly shouted, laughter mixing with her voice. "I can't believe it."

"Really?" She gripped the phone tightly in her hand. "There are buildings not on the map? Where?"

"I hacked into the towns' records and dug up a map from fifty years ago. Turns out there's three storage buildings hidden maybe four miles north of the park. They used to be old warehouses for repairing machines, but I'm guessing they must be abandoned now." Diana paused, letting the information sink in. "The towns' park is bordered by a forest, which I'm assuming has hiking trails that will take you directly to the buildings."

"You think Slavsky missed them?"

"The town saves one map from every decade for their records. I just checked, and this is the last one to show the buildings on it. They must've been abandoned for years." Diana's voice was filled with awe. "This really might be where they hid them."

"Send us the directions. We're on our way now." Sophie kept herself calm.

"Call me when you arrive." Diana hung up immediately, and Sophie took a moment to take everything in.

"Four miles north of the park." She whispered, her eyes widening in shock. "There's no guarantee the paintings are there..."

"Well, no use worrying about that now." Robert's eyes were bright and hopeful again. "Ready for a hike?" He reached out for her hand.

"Are you sure?" She asked as they quickly made their way into the shadowed park. "You don't want to take a break so we can rest?"

Robert grinned, and waved away her comment. "We can rest when we're dead." He paused momentarily after registering what he'd said. "Which, coincidentally, might be soon if we don't find those paintings."

Sophie's smile faded as well as another chill raced up her arms. She was the closest she'd ever been to finding her parent's paintings, but their troubles were far from over.

As they rushed into the pitch-black park, Sophie wondered what would be waiting for them.

*  *  *

Four miles was less daunting when they were spurred on by adrenaline and hope. However, it didn't take long before Robert and Sophie were struggling to continue.

The map Cleo sent them wasn't hard to follow, and the compass built in to Robert's smart-phone was more than useful. The terrain, on the other hand, was an obstacle they couldn't overcome easily.

Sophie had never been this exhausted in her life. She was driven by her excitement and fear, though that wasn't enough to make up for the hours of sleep she was lacking. Even Robert wasn't able to mask his fading energy. Neither of them were thinking clearly, which gradually began to worry her.

Worry, however, was too much for her. She decided while fighting through branches and stumbling across tree roots that her only concern would be to take one challenge at a time.

"We have to be getting close." Robert muttered, staring at his phone in confusion. Bags were forming under his eyes and Sophie knew he was struggling to stay active. "My phone's telling me we're already here."

Sophie paused, taking in her shadowed surroundings. They'd come this far with only the light of Rob's cell phone, and that alone had gotten her more than a few scars from tripping over unknown objects. She took a few steps forward into the blackness, away from her only source of light.

She broke through two bushes, ignoring the small pain of branches scratching her skin. Squinting in the darkness she took another two steps and paused. Glancing down at her legs she found that she was no longer standing in the middle of a forest. She took another hesitant step and found that the area ahead of her was no longer the same as the jungle-like forest she'd been walking through.

"Rob, I think I found it." She shouted, and he immediately followed after her.

Using his cell phone he lit the way ahead of them, which only illuminated a few feet. However, the distinct outline of buildings against the skyline was enough to send hope surging through Sophie's chest.

"This is it!" She whispered, grabbing on to his hand tightly. "Is it weird that I'm completely terrified right now?"

Robert smirked, squeezing her hand tightly. "Pitch-black forest, creepy old buildings, and dangerous men on our trail? I'd think you're weird if you weren't scared."

"Thanks for putting it into perspective like that. Now or never, right?"

He stared down at her pointedly, though she could barely see his eyes in the darkness. "With or without those paintings we're going to be okay. No matter what."

She tried to smile, but she knew she was too nervous for it to appear natural. "Let's go." She whispered, leading him towards the outline of the buildings.

Robert used his phone to help her find a path to the massive doors. Sophie suspected the doors had been used for unloading large pieces of equipment into the warehouses, but there was no way they could get them open tonight. Both doors were locked by a long rusty chain.

"Let's try around the side." Robert offered, carefully helping her around the corner of the building. Just like he'd expected there was a small doorway located on the side of the warehouse.

Now that they were closer to the building, they could distinctly make out the other two warehouses located a few yards away from one another. They'd chosen the building in the middle, which was the largest of the three.

"Split up?" Robert offered jokingly, and Sophie elbowed him in response. "Okay, if you insist." He reached for the side door, and unsurprisingly found that it was locked.

"Of course it is." Sophie hissed.

"Calm down, I've got this." Robert reached into his pocket and pulled out a long silver needle. "I always have one on me in case of emergencies." He bent down to fiddle with the lock, and in less than a minute he had the door creaking open. "Ladies first." He made a show of bowing for her to go ahead, and she scowled as she accepted his challenge.

She tried to convince herself that she wasn't scared of what laid ahead. She stubbornly took her first step into the darkness, ignoring all sense of danger.