Page 64 of London
Gerard chuckled. “Summer, the season for construction.”
With her navigating, Gerard tried to follow the detour signs, but missed them twice and had to double back. He’d been forced to turn off the GPS because if that woman said “recalculating” one more time, Linda would rip the device from the car’s dash.
“Are we even going the right way?” she asked.
Gerard shook his head. “Between the one-way streets and the twists and turns, I haven’t the faintest idea.”
“Look,” Linda cried. “That’s an airport. The sign says International Airport Avram Iancu, Cluj. Why didn’t we fly straight here instead of to Bucharest?”
“There wasn’t a direct flight London-Cluj on the dates we chose.”
“Well, I’m not sorry. We did get to see some of the country— Wait! Stop. That sign says Bucharest. Quick. Turn left.”
Gerard did, much to the dismay, honks, and screeching brakes of the other drivers.
Within twenty minutes, after another few wrong turns, the buildings gave way to the farmland surrounding the city. This wasn’t the main road, but the secondary highway was in good condition. They crossed a bridge over the Some?ul Mic river, but they were traveling more or less in the right direction. They’d lost more than an hour thanks to the detours, but since they’d allowed plenty of time, Linda relaxed.
She gazed through the windshield as the jeep ate up kilometer after kilometer. Traffic was light, gradually dwindling to only themselves and a similar blue Jeep behind them.
Drowsy, Linda watched as the scenery flew by, her thoughts focused not on the country’s natural beauty, but on all the things she had to do back home. She needed to call Giovanni since she hadn’t heard from him. Of course, having a company to run kept her brother busy. Perhaps he hadn’t had the time to try any hacking yet. Or maybe he had, and hadn’t managed to gain access to the clinic’s network. The countless “what ifs” drove her mad. Closing her eyes, she slowed her breathing, ordering herself to calm down and relax. All would be well. Before she knew it, the car’s purring engine put her to sleep.
* * * *
Gerard smiled down at Linda, dozing beside him. The skies had started to clear, and while it was still cloudy, it didn’t look like rain. With so little traffic, he divided his concentration between the road and his plans to get around the red tape stopping him from using his formula and Jean-Paul’s to treat patients.
Hitting an unexpected pothole, he sat up straighter and looked around. Where the hell was he? He didn’t remember driving through this forest on the way to Cluj. It was true he’d come to a couple of places where the road had forked. Since he’d kept right on the way to Cluj, this time he’d kept left. Had he made the wrong decision? He pressed the button to activate the GPS. No response. The screen remained black.
“What the hell?”
He touched the screen several times, but nothing happened. Either there was no signal here, or he’d pressed the wrong button earlier when he’d turned it off. Glancing in the rearview mirror, he couldn’t even see the car that had been behind them when they’d left the city. The trees on each side of the road seemed to be closing in on them.
“Linda.” He slowed the vehicle and gently nudged her. “Wake up.”
Opening her eyes, she blinked, trying to focus. She yawned.
“Are we there? Did I sleep the whole way?” she asked groggily, leveraging herself up in the seat and rubbing her neck.
“No. You’ve only been napping about half an hour. Can you look at that map I printed out? Where is it?”
She looked around, shifted, then lifted her butt.
“I was sitting on it. Sorry.” She glanced outside then turned to him, her brow deeply furrowed. “Where are we?”
“That’s the problem. I don’t know. The damned GPS won’t come on. According to the mileage display, we’ve driven about ninety kilometers, but half of those have to have been for that damn detour. We should be on the main highway to Bucharest, but we’re not in the right place.” He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. “No service. I can’t even call Jean-Paul.”
She checked her phone, then shook her head. “Mine’s out of juice. It won’t even turn on. Stop the car, and let’s look at this map.”
Gerard pulled over to the side of the road. Actually, it wasn’t even a road now, more like some sort of country lane. He hadn’t imagined the trees closing in on them.
This must be the densest forest on earth, because right now, not even the weak noonday light filtered through the thick canopy of branches. It was almost dark.
Getting out of the vehicle, they opened it up on the hood, and bent low over the map, analyzing it from all angles.
“If you say we drove almost fifty kilometers minus the ones we used on our unscheduled city tour, the only place we can be is here.” Linda put her index finger on a green patch, just west of Cluj. “Look, at this turn the road splits in two. To reach Bucharest you had to turn right. You must’ve driven straight ahead. It looks like this is the Hoia-Baciu Forest—at least that’s what the map says.”
Gerard examined the map. “Could be.” He rubbed his chin, then dragged a hand over his face. “Shit, I’m sorry about this. I fucked up. I guess I should’ve been paying closer attention.”
“It’s not all on you. I should apologize for falling asleep.”
