In one of the many lost small towns in some lost countryside of the American country, a car, a SUV, advanced leisurely on the road. It took a few minutes to go through most of the agglomeration, then left the road with a left turn.
Raising a cloud of dust on the dirt road, it soon stopped before the only house that had been partially visible from the main road. It was a quaint house of wood with one upper floor above the ground floor with a neglected garden in front, if the latter could be called like that with the few sparse chaotically grown plants it was sporting.
After getting down from the car from the passenger's side, one passing glance was all Lucas graced the house with. He was more focused on Estrella as she also left her seat.
She wore a body hugging long sleeve shirt along with a pencil skirt that stopped above her knees, showing her fair legs perched on heels. Her hair was brushed but left in a free state and overall, she was too well dressed for this rural place.
But of that, Lucas didn't care at all. With someone beside him showing off her beauty, her assets, her allure, her whatever could be used to better describe her attractive side, he would be a fool not to do what any physically and mentally sane man would do.
'With the few months together and us having been like a couple touring the world, her mental state has shown signs of improvement but I can't shake the feeling that she is provoking me.'
Estrella also looked at the house and was about to advance toward it when she turned to her admirer. Seeing his eyes full of appreciation for what he was looking at with a smile, she also let out a small smile of her own:
"Let's go, Lucas. Even if the target has left the place already, we shouldn't lower our guard that much."
"Alright. Let's get things done quickly so we can leave."
Though he said that, he waited for Estrella to get in front before following behind her to keep his eyes occupied.
'Her indifference seems to have melted totally, at least toward me. And I have changed too.'
He took his gaze back as Estrella went inside the house. When they had arrived, one glance was all it had taken to see that the door of the house had not been closed, much less locked. Combining that with other elements had already let them know that Jack Schneider was not here anymore.
He stayed outside and observed the house, going around it. As previously said, the house was not big and the car was parked on the side since there was no garage.
"He must have been afraid of running into me on the road."
Jack Schneider would have been stupid to think that the people who were tracking him would not know his appearance and even with a disguise he might not have had the time to put on, he made the right and less risky choice of using a bike to leave, a mountain bike possibly.
'Either he is so afraid of me he would rather run haphazardly away from roads, or he has a supply point somewhere on the way. And I wouldn't be surprised if he has some information about how I did the job he owes me a debt for.'
Lucas looked at the tracks and was about to examine the car but he heard Estrella call him:
"Lucas, I found something."
"Coming."
Inside, he saw Estrella before a table, one as modest as the rest of the furniture in the modest house, on which were torn pieces of a package with traces of burns.
Not bothering to make his brain repeat a job that had already been done, Lucas asked for the answer directly:
"What did you find?"
Estrella pointed her fair finger at some ashes then at the pieces that survived the fire and explained:
"Our target tried to burn anything that could have left a clue but he had been in a hurry and some things that needed more time to become ash survived. What had been contained in the package couldn't have been bought in this rural place…"
Lucas continued:
"So he must have brought it here himself or have had it delivered."
"Yes. Could you please bring me my backpack?"
"Anything for you."
He didn't wait for her to roll her eyes and quickly came back with the bag from which Estrella took out a computer and some accessories that she plugged into the former.
She sat down, looked at the pieces and started rapidly typing. She accessed the internet, opened enough programs to make Lucas dizzy and for a few minutes just focused on what she was doing.
"Alright, I've found it."
Lucas blinked a few times to get his brain back on track.
"Found what, exactly?"
"Information on the package. Where it had been made and where and how it had been bought."
"So… You know how to use a computer."
"..."
Estrella looked at Lucas like an idiot with that statement.
"You know that compétence of yours could have afforded us less detours?"
"You never asked."
The way she said that without blushing made one of Lucas's eyes twitch.
'Was your skin also trained where you come from?'
He took a deep breath to let the negativity go:
"I get it. You just wanted more time and opportunity to enjoy the company of a fine specimen of the opposite sex like me."
Estrella rolled her eyes and decided not to humor him but he pushed his luck:
"Your eyes are perfect the way they are. If you don't want them bigger, you should stop rolling them."
Seeing him smile in triumph as she blushed, she gave him a punch in his stomach that was just across from her.
*BANG*
Lucas folded in two as he started gasping:
"F*ck, I must call the police for domestic violence. Where is that fox's landline?"
"Alright, stop acting. We both know you didn't even feel that blow that could kill a normal human."
Lucas straightened before suddenly holding his heart and looking hurt:
"You are saying I'm not normal. It hurts so much, coming from you."
*Sigh*
Sighing was all Estrella could do, faced with Lucas' antics that she usually qualified as childish.
"I'm sorry, okay? I will compensate you later."
This made Lucas immediately stop clowning around as he smiled happily, too happily:
"You should have said that sooner. I wonder what form the compensation would take?"
*Sigh* "You've won. I found a phone number that pinged here and where the package had been bought. It had been inactive with the sim maybe destroyed but it let me know when your "friend" arrived here. During that period, a certain number that had not been active here also pinged in this zone."
Lucas nodded:
"I suppose you were able to determine the numbers of those who had just been passing by. How many companies and official agencies did you hack into to get all of that?"
"Enough to have people in NSA, DoD, FBI and some other places start cursing us for giving them more job."
"You mean cursing you, right? How violent have you been?"
"Never call a woman violent. And we are in this together."
"Wait for the marriage to say that. Till then, I'm just a single man touring the world."
It was Estrella's turn to breath deeply:
"No compensation anymore."
"What?!? That's not fair, how could you?"
"How can a single man be compensated? Enjoy being single then."
Lucas could only hurry behind her as she left him, going back to the car that she was already starting.
They soon left the small town behind, their conversation now muffled by the closed openings of their vehicle.
********
In the warehouse the story was being told in, the narrator concluded:
"In conclusion, Jack, so long as something exists, it leaves tracks. Now that I have found you and I've gotten what I wanted, what you owed me, what should I do with you?"
********
AN: Hello~
I'm happy to tell you guys and girls that thanks to your support, I'm going premium.
I can't be stingy with my thanks so I'm debating between giving you one bonus chapter and two bonus chapters.
And if you happy people motivate me enough, I will give you up to four bonus chapters tomorrow so it will be like one week worth of goods in one day.
😲 *Gasp*
Peace & Love ✌🏽