CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
the gas station.

"Here's your key."

Angeline avoided eye contact with Evan as the blond boy grabbed the room key off of the reception desk Mitch had slid across. Not so subtly, he shot Angeline a wink as he put it away.

Mitch raised his brows, but didn't wait around for Angeline to react. Instead, he shot Evan a deathly stare and grabbed Angeline's arm, pulling her and their belongings out of the disgusting motel.

Mitch said nothing until they got into the car.

"Why did he wink at you?" Mitch demanded.

For a moment, Angeline thought about lying to Mitch. That was, until she realised how much it would piss him off and how much she didn't really like him right now.

"Probably because I made him cum last night," Angeline shrugged nonchalantly, staring at the dashboard. "And then he made me cum too. Like, a mutual thing."

Mitch's knuckles whitened around the steering wheel. He hadn't moved out of the carpark yet.

"Don't fucking piss me off," Mitch growled, "Tell me the fucking truth."

"That's the truth," Angeline said carelessly. "I had sex with him to relieve some... pent up frustrations, let's say."

"You think it's a joke?" Mitch seethed, grabbing her wrist before she could tuck her hair behind her ear. She was forced to look him in the eyes. "You think we're on some cute little road trip, Angeline? Getting to the end of this is the difference between life and death."

"So you get to get your dick sucked but I can't get my pussy—"

"Be quiet!" Mitch practically roared, tugging her wrist harshly again. "Be quiet. I could easily leave you for dead, Angeline. Easily."

Angeline swallowed thickly and tugged her arm out of his grasp. "Then do it. I'd rather be dead then spend more time with you."

It wasn't true. Angeline wouldn't rather be dead, and the way that Mitch's face went blank afterwards made her want to take it back. He didn't look sad or angry, he just turned away from her and exhaled loudly through his nose. His hands found the wheel again.

"You need to start showing me some respect," Mitch said quietly. "Then maybe I'll show you some as well."

"You've been awful to me, Mitch," Angeline hissed in a whisper. "My entire life has just flipped upside down and you've been nothing but hostile and rude to me."

"I'm not supposed to be friendly and lovable—"

"No, but you could try being a little sympathetic," Angeline glared, "I did nothing wrong for the first few hours. I can admit I've taken things too far sometimes, but I'm hurt, Mitch."

Mitch didn't say anything as the car pulled out of the car park. He didn't even look at Angeline for the next few hours. Not until he had to pull up at another gas station.

"What do you want for breakfast?" He grumbled.

"Surprise me," Angeline huffed as she continued to pick at her nails.

Mitch rolled his eyes and made sure to slam the car door behind him, his figure wandering into the gas station less than thirty feet away. Angeline sighed, feeling as though she could finally relax and spread her limbs.

Unbuckling her seatbelt, she kicked her legs up onto the dashboard and leaned back in the seat, hoping to maybe fall asleep so she didn't have to deal with Mitch when he got back from paying for gas and buying them some food for the day. Like normal, she'd probably get a fruit pot and some yogurt for breakfast, an apple too if they had them free.

Not even ten seconds later, the window on the driver's side of the car was smashed in. Angeline barely had the chance to scream, shock causing her to bolt upright as shattered glass sprayed everywhere.

A man Angeline didn't recognise was frantically reaching through and unlocking the door from the inside. Angeline whimpered and quickly dove to unlock her door, crying out when she realised Mitch had locked everything up. It was supposed to stop people from getting in, but that didn't work, and now she couldn't even get out.

Angeline swerved in her seat so that her back was to the man and she used all her might to stomp both of her feet against the window of the car. She'd slipped her shoes off for comfort earlier into the car drive, her bare feet barely doing any damage but making the window frame wobble slightly.

When she felt the man climb into Mitch's seat, his arms wrapping around her to stop her. Angeline felt a burst of adrenaline and kicked her feet out twice as hard, using all of the power she had in her thighs.

"Fuck!" Angeline cried out as she heard gunshots go off from outside the car.

The man inside the car grabbed a fistful of her hair, trying to stop her moving so he could start the car, but Angeline drove her arm backwards and felt her elbow connect with his stomach.

"Little bitch!" The man growled.

Angeline felt like she couldn't breathe as scrambled forward to try and make it out of the window. It was awkward in such a small space, but as soon as her arms were out, she felt the man attempting to haul her back in.

Her hands gripped a hold of the window frame desperately, barely acknowledging the yells and gunshots going off around outside, cries leaving her lips as he continued to tug her back like some sort of rag doll.

With no other plan in sight, Angeline thought fast and grabbed a hold of a particularly large shard of glass from her seat. She drove it back, feeling sick as she felt it impale the stranger. He cried out in agony and released her.

The seconds were all Angeline needed to escape out of her window. Panting, Angeline dropped and crouched down by the vehicle, squinting her eyes shut as she heard the gunshots fade out slowly but surely. Soon, only one person was shooting.

Please be Mitch. Please be Mitch. Please be Mitch.

Footsteps came running over and a hand yanked her from the ground. Mitch was glancing all around, his eyes wide. Angeline could only breathe out in relief as he pulled her to her feet, but it was cut short when she caught sight of the massacre around her. About six different men in black suits were lying in pools of their own blood.

The sound of a gun clicking came from inside the car and Mitch whirled around, shooting the man that had tried to drive off with Angeline without a single moment of hesitation. The brunette felt sick as she watched his body slump down into the seats further.

"Fuck," Mitch breathed, "Come on."

He tugged her towards the boot of the car and pried it open, grabbing both their bags. He flung his over his shoulder and began to drag Angeline away.

"M-Mitch," Angeline whimpered.

"Hush," Mitch ordered, "Just follow me right now. You'll be fine."

Angeline really hoped that Mitch was telling the truth. He took off running behind the gas station, his hand never leaving Angeline's wrist. Her ankles ached and burned from the amount of pressure she'd put on the window to break it, but adrenaline allowed her to push on.

Behind the gas station was an alleyway with garages and a small empty car park. Mitch raced through it and they found themselves in a maze of alleys that were behind the houses of a rundown neighbourhood. Angeline's breathing was heavy as they ran for what must have been about ten minutes, finding themselves going down an alley that led out into a field small enough to know it was empty.

Mitch finally released Angeline's wrist. The brunette dropped down onto the floor and threw her head back in a whimper as her hands reached down to hold her aching feet and ankles.

"Where are your shoes?" Mitch demanded, bending down and grasping her ankle, making her cry out in agony. "What? What hurts?"

"I had to kick the window out," Angeline sucked in a breath as his fingers prodded at her ankles, trying to see where it hurt and not. "And I wasn't wearing them in the car."

"Great," Mitch muttered and leaned down to inspect her feet. "They're bleeding."

"We did just pass through the dodgiest alleyways I've seen in my life," Angeline winced as she felt him brush the dirt off with his slender fingers.

"You got spare shoes?" He asked.

Angeline nodded, grabbing her duffel bag and pulling out a pair of white converse.

"I don't have socks, though," Angeline murmured, "A-And these can rub."

Mitch rolled his eyes. "Well then why did you pick those ones? You're running away, not trying to impress your friends."

"Okay, one, I do not dress to impress anyone but myself, and two, I am aware of that Mitch, but when you told me to go pack, I literally had two minutes to shove everything I could into a bag," Angeline rambled at him.

"Yet you still managed to pack your makeup?"

"It's actually just moisturiser, and yes. I get eczema. Priorities," Angeline muttered.

She watched as Mitch shuffled through his belongings, pulling out a pair of white socks. He tossed them at Angeline and she shot him a grateful look as she slipped them over her feet, wincing the whole time.

"Fuck," she hissed, wiggling her toes and grabbing the shoes. "What was that, by the way?"

"Some of your father's men," Mitch said, "They caught up to us. And now we don't have a fucking car and no doubt did I get caught on tape shooting those guys. Irene's going to kill me when she realises she has to keep this out of the media."

Angeline swallowed nervously, not bothering to ask who Irene was. "You can do that? Like, erase information so it doesn't get reported?"

"CIA do it all the time," Mitch replied, watching her struggle with her shoes out of the corner of his eye whilst he zipped his duffel bag back up. "Your father won't want that reported either."

"Oh," Angeline whispered, wincing again as she tried to slip her shoe over her hurt foot.

"Here."

Mitch gently pushed her hands away and kneeled by her feet, pulling them up onto his lap. Angeline was surprised when she felt his hand cup her heel and carefully slip it inside her Converse shoe. He tied them quickly, at a pace Angeline had never seen before. He did the same with the other and then moved her feet from his lap.

"Thank you," she murmured, looking around the desolate field. "Where are we?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Do you know where we are?" She asked instead.

"Of course. We're only about two miles away from that gas station. Which means we need to get moving before anybody else catches up to us," Mitch stated.

"How do we do that without a car?" Angeline asked.

Mitch sighed heavily. "Not easily. It sets us back. Stan's probably working something out right now, though."

Angeline didn't know who Stan was either. She was too tired to ask though. Grabbing her duffel bag, Angeline began to stagger to her feet, flinching as soon as she put all her weight on them. If Mitch had noticed he said nothing.

"Come on," he said, "There are woods back there. We can go through them, hopefully it will bring us out into the rest of the city. And hide us for a while."

Mitch began to head towards them. Angeline bit down on her bottom lip and attempted to convince herself that the pain was all in her own head as she trudged on after him, taking a few moments to pause every now and then, the cuts on her feet hurting too much.

About five minutes in, Mitch turned around to see Angeline about fifty feet away from him, paused in the middle of the field as she rolled her left ankle to try and unstiffen it.

He sighed heavily. "It really hurts that bad?"

"I'm fine," Angeline replied stubbornly, walking over at a slow pace.

As soon as she'd caught up to his paused figure, Mitch grabbed her bag from her and flung it over his own shoulder before he grabbed her too. Angeline squealed as she was pulled bridal style into his arms.

"Mitch!" She gasped.

"I'm not waiting around all day for us to get across this damn field," he grunted in response, walking with her as if it didn't phase him one bit. "When we find somewhere to stay for a bit, I'll get some bandages on your feet or something."

Angeline didn't know what to say, whether she should thank him or not. Now that she wasn't concentrating on walking or the pain, she was forced to focus on what had just happened at the gas station.

How abruptly everything had gone from zero to a hundred. One moment she'd been fine, and the next, seven men were dead and all due to Mitch Rapp.

"Why didn't they just shoot me there and then?" Angeline asked him.

Mitch furrowed his brows. "They're most likely under orders to bring you back to your father. He probably wants to question you, see what you read in those letters in his office."

"Am I allowed to tell you what I read?"

"If you mean the code, then no, Angeline. You shouldn't tell anyone," Mitch replied, "Nobody but the CIA when we get you to your safe house."

"What would happen if... if my dad's opposition got to me first?" Angeline asked somewhat fearfully.

"You mean if they asked you for the codes?" Mitch raised his brows, continuing not to look down at her as his feet moved from grass to dirt tracks, their bodies finally heading through the woods.

Angeline nodded. "Yeah. I wouldn't give them up, obviously. I know what that could mean for people. But I'd get tortured for them, wouldn't I?"

Mitch nodded in confirmation. "You would."

"I wouldn't give them up, Mitch, truly," Angeline promised him quietly, as if she thought he didn't believe her. "I know I'd have to let them kill me first."

Mitch's face seemed to hesitate. "Yeah..." His voice was barely above a murmur. "It's the right thing to do."

She sighed as everything went silent for a moment or two. "Thank you. For saving my life. Again."

Mitch pursed his lips. "Just doing my job, Angeline. Just... doing my job."

...
another chapterrrr

sozzles u had to wait for a bit.

hope you enjoyed though <333

dyiansobrien.