Chapter 116: The game of faith

Neil heard Kai’s question about Mia Harrison, but instead of answering, he chose to pretend like he didn’t hear it and began to quickly speak about their plan. "You know what to do, Kai. Don’t deviate from the plan and don’t, for your sake, change your story. If you play it exactly the way I told you, you’ll come off like a hero instead of an accomplice."

Knowing Neil so well, Kai didn’t push the topic, not to mention this wasn’t the right time to speak about anything else but his escape. "Like a hero, I understand." He nodded his head with a grin.

But something about Kai’s lazy grin and preoccupied, restless stance alarmed Neil, for some reason he felt like the boy was making up his own plans in his head. But to make certain, he clearly and seriously repeated the plan that they had only been able to whisper about before now in their cell room.

"Kai, just do it the way we decided.

Leave the soldiers shopping list on the floor of the car. Do your errands for an hour, then tell the securities in the store that you left your list in the car and can’t be sure if you’ve got everything. Tell them you have to get it, and come back here. The car will be locked." As he spoke, Neil took the list from Kai’s hand and tossed it on the floor of the passenger side, then he closed and locked the door. With an inner calm he didn’t feel, he took Kai’s arm and propelled him firmly toward the corner.

Neil knew that the soldiers could see his movement so he didn’t pull Kai far away from the building Jason had entered. He continued to speak under his breath, "When you get to the car and discover the door is locked, go across the street to the grocery store, look around for some time, then ask the securities if they’ve seen anyone who looks like me. Give them my description.

"When they tell you they haven’t, go to all the stores around the streets and ask if they’ve seen me. When they tell you no, head straight into the building Jason entered and start opening doors, asking where the bastard, Jason is. Tell everyone you need to report a possible escape. The securities in all the stores you went to earlier will verify your whole story, and since you’re going to alert Jason that I’m missing, before he would have come out here and discovered it himself, he’ll be convinced you’re as innocent as a baby. Do you copy all that?"

"Why do I feel like a soldier on a mission? I like the feeling though, you know the feeling of doing something exciting. You see..." Kai began to ramble on but when he met Neil’s no nonsense gray eyes, he grinned and gave him a cheerful thumbs up. "I copy everything you’ve said, brother Neil. Stop fretting about me and go before Wallace returns."

Neil nodded, turned to begin walking, but then halted and glanced back. When he noticed the bitter smile on Kai’s face, he felt a pang in his chest. He had never grown attached to someone as quickly as he had to this boy. However, with the realization that they would cross paths again someday, he relaxed a bit.

"Kai?" he spoke earnestly.

"Yeah, brother Neil?" Kai replied, blinking repeatedly as if holding back tears.

"Be careful," It was an unusual thing for Neil to show any form of concern for another person, however he revealed a slight smile realizing the little time he’d spent in the military prison had built something unknown within him, he observed the boy’s attempt to conceal his emotions.

"You too. But it’s not a goodbye. I’ll find you once I leave this place. And I’ll assist you in clearing your name..."

Neil smiled at that. "Yes, we’ll meet again. But only if you behave. No more harassing women or issuing death threats to people," he asserted in a brotherly tone, then, after one last look, he added, "Take care of yourself," and swiftly walked away, leaving Kai gazing at his departing figure with tear-filled eyes.

Neil on the other hand walked out of the corner. The restaurant he had been ordered to get chicken soup was on the corner with two entrance doors; one on the street facing the building Jason was in and another one facing a side street.

Forcing himself not to deviate from his plan, Neil walked into the main entrance of the restaurant. In case the soldiers were sitting before their computers and monitoring his movement, which he knew they occasionally did, he lingered just inside the doors without going inside, unnoticed, and counted slowly to thirty.

Ten minutes later, he was several blocks away from the restaurant, his prison jacket tucked under his arm, walking swiftly toward his first destination just like in his escape plan. The cold was biting at his skin but he ignored it and walked into an isolated corner of the street with his head bowed down.

His heart was beating loudly with suspense and dread, he crossed another street on a red light, dashing between two cars that had slowed to make a right turn, then he saw what he was looking for...

Parked on the right side of the road was a gray car, with the same plate number as the one given to him by Liam the last time they had met. He breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the car, he hadn’t expected to find it there as Liam had warned him that it had been there for a week.

With his head bent and his hands in his pockets, he slowed his pace to normal. The snow was beginning to fall in earnest as he strode past the car, heading directly towards a small building across the street.

He grasped the door knob and twisted it open. He walked inside the building, which happened to be a public restroom that was under contraction, and carefully locked the door behind him, all his attention turned on the overflowing workers equipments inside the building.

He had to get rid of the tracker like he was taught. And everything he needed to do so was supposed to be in here among the workers equipments. If anyone had taken the things meant for him out, then his luck had just run out.

Neil began to grab random bags and emptying them on the ground. Soon he found what he was looking for. He took out a screwdriver and other things he needed and sat on the ground. He cut off the strap of the monitor around his ankle, knowing that it would give off a signal, he tied it around something else.

When he was done with the monitor, Neil rolled up his shirt sleeve, revealing his inked arm where the tracker had been inserted. Taking a deep breath, he used the screwdriver and dug out the tracker from his arm. Immediately, blood began to ozze out but he ignored it knowing if he wasn’t fast enough, the soldiers and authorities would soon come after him.

Neil stood up and yanked open the other bag with one hand and started unbuttoning his prison shirt with his other. Inside the bag was a pair of black trousers in his size, and a big black sweater, with a long over coat, shoes in his size. Then lastly, he took out a face mask and a pair of black sunglasses.

When he was done wearing everything, he took out some papers from another bag and saw that one of the papers contained the detailed instructions to his destination, which happened to be one of his properties up on a mountain far away from the cities and life. He had gotten it years ago under a fake identity, which not everybody knows about. The safe direction he would drive to avoid checkpoints was written on the paper. He wasn’t that familiar with Novaria, thus he would be needing the paper to guide him out of the city.

Neil took out the keys of the gray car parked outside from the bag and put it inside his pocket. Then he also saw a thick white envelope, inside it. He found bundles of dollar bills. Then he pulled out the last thing inside the bag, which happened to be a gun with bullet package.

Neil was taken aback by the gun. Initially considering keeping it to avoid further trouble, but he ultimately changed his mind. It was clear that Kai’s brother believed the well-dressed escaped convict should have a weapon.

Mentally counting the seconds, Neil donned the black coat over his new attire, stashed the old clothes in a bag, and tidied up the scattered items on the ground. He aimed to disappear without a trace, leaving no clues behind.

When he was done, Neil opened another envelope containing papers for his new identity and a passport under the name Roman Fernandez. The second envelope held prepaid airline tickets to various cities, some in the name of Ramon Fernandez and others under different aliases to use in case his current identity was compromised.

Neil knew appearing at an airport was risky and needed to be avoided until the situation cooled down. He placed his faith in a plan he had orchestrated from his prison cell, with the assistance of Kai’s brother’s associates. They had arranged for a decoy to divert attention away from Neil, waiting for his signal in a hotel. All Neil had to do was to call the decoy and signal him.

If the soldiers were misled by the plan and pursued the wrong target, Neil would have some time alone. When the time was right, he planned to confront his enemies one by one to prove his innocence and avenge his parents deaths. He would never accept defeat before achieving his biggest goal in life.

***

Mia, who had left her hotel early without staying to have her breakfast, felt her stomach begin to growl. Knowing she had a long way to drive before arriving to her destination, she decided to stop at a small restaurant at the side of the road and eat something quickly.

She parked her red BMW 7 at the small parking area in front of the restaurant where there was another car beside hers. She pulled on her cap and wore her thick gloves before stepping out of the warmth of her car to the biting cold outside that made her shiver immediately she stepped out.

"Gosh, the cold here is killing." She muttered to herself as she hurried inside the glass walled small restaurant. Apart from the fact that she was hurrying back home because of Rayne, she had also made an appointment with her therapist to meet this evening. Even though five years had passed, she was still struggling with her strange nightmares and hallucinating about things that weren’t real: things like seeing two of herself and dreaming about a certain someone she had sworn to never speak his name again with her mouth.

Neil Wayner was like a taboo to her and the society now. She wanted to forget about him and everything she ever liked about him. She wanted to live a life without ever remembering how he had made her feel. And how he’d been the first and only man to make her heart skip a beat and made her feel excited at the mere mention of his name in the past.

Mia ordered her food in the restaurant and took a seat beside a young woman who was cuddling a toddler to her chest next to the glass wall. She sat down and offered the woman a smile while blocking all thoughts of Neil from her mind to focus only on her bright future. Unknown to her that fate wasn’t done playing it’s game on them.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read