The next morning, I was woken up abruptly to Jake throwing our bag onto the bed, nearly giving me a heart attack.

"Pack everything you can! We leave now!" he ordered before leaving the room again.

Acting on instinct, I pushed myself to get out of bed, fighting off the dizziness that resulted from getting up too quickly. I slipped my pants on over my panties, threw on my hoodie, and shoved everything else I could find into our bag. Thankfully, we weren't the tidiest of people and it was all just sprawled in one corner of the room so sweeping it all back up was relatively easy. I went into the bathroom and swept everything off the vanity and into the bag. Satisfied I had everything I could think of, I went to find Jake in the apartment's foyer. He already had his laptop packed up but was busy wiping his history from the desktop.

"We leave via the fire escape," he commented.

"You mean the stairs?" I asked.

"Yes," he responded, annoyed that I would question him.

"That's like a hundred flights!" I pointed out.

"That's the price we pay for the luxury we enjoyed," he sighed. "Ok, I'm done."

Jake grabbed his backpack and led the way out the apartment to the fire stairs. As we went through, I heard the elevator ping followed by the doors opening. Quickly we ran down the stairs, one flight after another, without looking back. It became so tedious after the first 5 or so floors. Sure, the tower wasn't actually 100 floors, but at 65 storeys, it sure as hell felt like it.

At about the tenth floor, we heard commotion at the bottom of the stairs. Jake pushed us back against the wall and motioned for me to be quiet while we waited. There were voices for a few minutes, but then silence again. Jake gestured for me to stay quiet as we slowly started down the stairs again. When we reached the third floor, he pressed gently on the door lever to make as little noise as possible as the door opened. As soon as we exited the stairs onto the third floor, Jake cautiously closed it behind us, making sure the latch didn't even make an audible sound.

Jake sighed, "Security will be watching the ground floor."

"What do we do?" I stressed.

"Give me a moment," he pulled out his phone to look at the schematics of the building.

Suddenly the elevator beeped. We kept our heads low while pretending to be occupied looking at our phones as two men in grey coveralls and caps bearing the logo of a plumbing business exited the elevator. Carrying a tool case each, they passed us without even giving us a second look. We watched as they went down the hallway towards an apartment at the end. The fact that their coveralls and caps covered nearly their entire appearance wasn't lost on us. We looked at each other and exchanged knowing glances. It was clear that it was my time to shine again. I stepped out into the middle of the hall and pretended to collapse, putting on my best fake fainting performance.

"Help! She's having a seizure!" Jake emphasised while glaring at me as apparently my fainting act wasn't enough.

I started shaking to mimic a seizure as best as I could, which was actually quite strenuous to do nonstop. Jake behaved as if he was trying to hold by head gently. After a moment, the older of the two plumbers came over and said something in German. Jake responded, but even I could tell he was trying to fake not knowing German. He was not nearly as clear as he usually was and some sounds he flat out bastardised. In fact, the only way I could describe it was as if he was trying to imitate an American attempting to speak German. I tried my hardest not to feel insulted by that.

The older of the two plumbers squatted down to hold my ankles. Jake yelled at the younger plumber and had him swap places. The younger one looked at me uncomfortably while I was still trying to fake the seizure as best as I could. Jake moved away and pretended to be looking for my medicine, but while the two were distracted, he grabbed a wrench from one of their toolboxes and hit the younger plumber on the back of the head, then the older one before he could react. The sound of the metal tool hitting their heads resonated so much in the quiet hallway that I was actually afraid he hit them too hard.

"Please tell me you didn't kill them!" I exclaimed as I got up off the ground.

"They'll be fine," Jake seemed offended that I would suggest they weren't. "Help me carry them over to that maintenance closet!"

Glancing to the right, I saw the maintenance closet he was referring to. He grabbed the older one by the shoulders and I held his ankles as we carried him into the small maintenance closet. Then we went back and grabbed the younger one quickly. Hastily in the closet we pulled off their work boots and coveralls, leaving them in their undershirts and briefs. Without wasting any time, we both put a set of coveralls on each. We even packed our sneakers away into the backpack and put on the work boots. Then, before exiting the closet, Jake shoved a cap on my head before putting the other on himself.

"Grab a toolbox as well!" Jake instructed.

Heading back towards the elevators, we each picked up a toolbox, acting as natural as we could. Thankfully no seemed to have heard us and the hallway remained empty. While we waited for the elevator, I adjusted my cap so it fit better.

"Do you think this will actually work?" I whispered.

"Only one way to find out," he chortled.

I turned to him, "You're feeling that confident in our plan?"

"I find it's easier not to think about how ridiculous it sounds and just live in the moment," he advised just before the elevator doors opened.

We stepped into the lift, now very much aware that we were likely being watched on the CCTV, so we kept our distance and tried to act casual.

"I don't know how you do it," Jake spoke up suddenly. "But you somehow make that uniform look hot on you."

I had to bite my lip to keep my cool, "I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter what I wear, you'll be busy undressing me in your mind."

"True," he admitted. "Actually no, there's one thing I couldn't stand to see you wear."

"What's that?" I asked with curiosity.

"A chastity belt," he responded with a straight face.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head while trying my hardest not to laugh. I knew he was just trying to get me to relax, but he was still being cheekily cute. The doors opened again. We lowered our heads and walked past security. They glanced at our uniforms then waved us on. One of them was on the phone with police while the other was speaking to an older woman who appeared to be a professional cleaner. She was distraught and waving her arms frantically around. Knowing what she saw probably saw in that apartment, I couldn't blame her.

We exited the front of the building, walking past the same teenage valet as the other day. Thankfully he didn't recognise us. I noticed a van parked on the side of the road with the same plumbing company logo as the one we wore on our backs. I gulped as I hadn't thought about that. It would be pretty odd to anyone who saw us leaving if we didn't get in. Thankfully though, I heard Jake jangle keys in his hand. The timing of that was so on point that I had to wonder if he could read my mind, or at least read my panic.

We went around to the back of the van and Jake unlocked it so we could put our toolboxes and bags in. Then we went to the front and got in. As soon as my door closed, Jake turned the ignition on. The van spurted a bit, then came to life. Wasting no time, Jake drove off.

"Oh my God, I thought that only worked in movies," I exclaimed with relief.

"Real life is actually much simpler," Jake shrugged.

"What happened anyway? Why the sudden rush this morning?" I questioned.

"The owner suddenly made a change of plans and asked for his caretaker to come through to get it ready for his arrival tonight," he explained. "It is a shame though, I liked that place."

"Me too," I smiled. "So where do we go now?"

Jake sighed, "Well we don't want to go too far if we want to meet that psychologist, so we'll want to stay local, but we'll need to ditch the van in 20 minutes or so. It'll only be a matter of time before an APB is put out. You should go get changed in the back."

"Ok, I'll do that," I nodded, then carefully climbed to the back to change.

"By the way, your acting could still use some work," Jake commented while I removed the coveralls.

"Gee thanks," I rolled my eyes. "I don't see you pretending to have a seizure."

"And what, you'd knock them out?" He teased. "It's good to see that you're learning how to take advantage of an opportunity."

"Is that praise I hear?" I mocked as I put my sneakers back on.

"Make sure you put the wig on," he reminded me.

I pulled my wig out and lamented over the condition it was in. It took me the rest of the trip to salvage it to make it look somewhat passable.

"I don't think this wig is going to survive much longer," I commented. "I'll need a better disguise."

Jake didn't respond as he was lost in thought. When he slowed down at a set of red lights, he started to mumble to himself, "We could squat in another tenancy, but it would take me time to find something reliable. Staying at a motel would be too risky right now."

"We can't just hole up in an abandoned building?" I asked as I put my wig on.

"They don't all have power and running water," he responded.

"It doesn't need to be permanent, just some cover until we come up with a plan," I argued as I joined him in the front again. I checked my wig in the mirror and adjusted it.

"True," he conceded. "All right I'm going to pull over on the other side of the freeway. Then we'll have to travel on foot for at least a half of an hour to make sure we get enough distance from the vehicle and hit the subway."

"I love it when a plan comes together!" I said with my best impression. Jake glanced at me confused. "You know, A-team? Oh, come on, it's a famous line!"

"Ok, I'm pulling over now," he announced nonchalantly.

I shook my head in disbelief still that he didn't know the line while he pulled the van over to the side of the road. After turning the van off, he snuck into the back to get out of his coveralls.

"What if we don't get a response?" I spoke up after a while.

"You mean from the doctor?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, like how long do we give him?" I shrugged.

"I don't know, a week maybe? Then I don't know," he admitted.

I sighed, "Then what? We should probably leave Colville."

"Yes, that goes without saying. We shouldn't risk staying in the country actually, and we can't go back. While my colleagues aren't pleased that I had to leave our operation the way I did, they understand the heat we are under. Trying to finish things off would be too difficult now. So that sort of makes us free agents? We can go where we like, although it will be difficult to carry on in some countries. We should probably move to a country without an extradition treaty. Perhaps somewhere tropical? The Maldives maybe? Vanuatu? Unless you prefer something more urban," Jake suggested while changing.

"Tropical might be nice, but how would we get there?" I wondered.

Jake leant over my shoulder and whispered in my ear, "Don't worry about that. I'll always find a way."

"I'll have to think about it then," I turned to him and smiled.

Jake smiled back and kissed my forehead, "Take your time, but don't feel it has to be permanent. If you get bored, we could always change locales."

Before I could respond, Jake opened the side door of the van and hopped out as he put his hood up. I checked my wig in the mirror one more time, then got out of the van as well. Jake closed the door behind me, then took my hand and we started walking down the street, acting as if we knew nothing of the van behind us. We were in a medium-density residential area, but given it was already after nine, most people were at work or school so it was actually fairly quiet. If it was any other day, under any other circumstances, I would've been any to relax and enjoy the leisurely stroll with Jake. As it was though, I couldn't get the thought out of my head of what our next steps were. I really needed to start getting used to this nomad lifestyle.

A few blocks later, we entered a busy commercial district with stores and eateries. The smell of pastries emanating from the bakery was absolutely divine, which reminded me that I hadn't actually eaten yet that morning. I tried to stop to check out the goods, but Jake tugged my hand to encourage me to keep walking. That's when I noticed his attention was primarily elsewhere. I glanced over and saw a parked police car on the other side of the street. I freaked and went back to looking down at my feet while trying my hardest to remain calm. I didn't get a chance to see if there were police officers anywhere near the car, but judging by Jake's stiffness, there must have been at least one in the vicinity. I had no idea if we were being watched, but it certainly felt like there were eyes following us. Jake squeezed my hand as we walked up to a red crossing light.

He whispered, "We've been made. As soon as the light goes green, run into the subway."

Immediately, my back stiffened. I turned my head towards him just enough so I could see in my peripheral vision any movement behind us. Sure enough two authoritative figures were walking towards us, determinedly weaving past other pedestrians to get closer, but they were still several lengths from us. If only the light would change. I started getting antsy, feeling very tempted to risk running across the road even on a red, but there were too many cars on the road for me to feel comfortable doing that. I squeezed Jake's hand. The police were going to be on us before the lights changed. We couldn't wait any longer, we had to change course, but he remained resilient, ignoring me tugging at his arm.

Suddenly Jake started counting, "3... 2... 1..." I realised the cars were beginning to slow down. Just as the last cars cleared in front of us, before the light changed, Jake shouted, "Go!"

We bolted across the road while the police behind us, shouting in German, struggled to get past the other pedestrians waiting on the corner. On the other side of the road, onlookers tried to get out of our way as we ran towards them. Jake was faster than me so he reached the stairs for the subway first. Leaning on the railing, he slid all the way to the bottom. Without thinking twice, I followed suit, though as I haven't done such a stunt in a very long time, I wasn't nearly as smooth doing it as he was. Jake looked back to make sure I was still following. I noticed a slight eyeroll at my landing. Together we weaved through the crowded station. The police continued to shout from behind, but thankfully the other people in the station were too baffled to understand what was happening. Jake took one look at the monitor to see which track would have the next train, then immediately changed direction for that platform. We were in luck that a train had just pulled in the station. However, we were unlucky because that meant there was a wave of people coming at us on the stairs and the escalator was packed. There was no way to push past them fast enough before the cops caught up to us.

Jake jumped up onto the metal divide between the stairs and escalator and ran down skillfully, which freaked people out. I followed him close behind, but I found it was far harder than it looked. Trying to keep balance and grip on the smooth, angled surface was actually quite difficult. I stumbled at the end, but thankfully Jake caught me before I fell. Quickly he then ushered us towards the doors of the subway car just as they began to close. Jake pushed me on first and he jumped on right behind, narrowly getting through before the doors closed behind him. Meanwhile the cops had just reached the bottom of the stairs and ran up to the train shouting, but the train had already started to pull away from the station. Jake cackled, stuck his tongue out and flicked them off, revelling in their failure to catch him.

I leant up against the handrail by the door, trying to catch my breath after that intense run. I couldn't help but notice all eyes in the car were on us. By then people were starting to put two and two together. This didn't seem to bother Jake, who cupped my face and kissed me deeply in front of our frightened audience.

"You did well," he spoke softly while smirking. "That was very close."

"Except we have dozens of witnesses right now probably reporting us," I mumbled.

Jake rolled his eyes, "Don't worry about them."

Jake took my hand and led me through the car to the next one. At least in the next car, no one seemed to notice. To my surprise though, Jake led us to the next car then the car after that. He stopped when we reached the end of the train.

"You're not going to like what I'm going to say next," Jake winced.

"What?" I looked at him, then at the back door of the train. "Oh God, no! You can't be serious!"

"I am, it's the only way. They'll have cops at the next station waiting for us," he reasoned. "It's not like we're going to jump while the train is at full speed. That would be crazy."

"Oh, good," I nodded.

"We'll jump while it's slowing down," he clarified.

"Is there any situation that doesn't involve us jumping from a moving train into a dark tunnel with other moving trains?" I questioned.

"Nope," he grinned cheekily. "Come with me if you want to live," he teased, pulling his best attempt at a Schwarzenegger impression. "See? I do know some movie quotes."

I rubbed my forehead in despair, "That's it. We're doomed."

The train started to slow and Jake raised his brow at me smugly as he opened the rear door, "Time to go!"

As I stepped through the doorway, I took a deep breath then jumped in the dark void.