Free aHunter4Rescue (aHunter4Hire) by Cynthia Clement Page B

to accept their help, but a part of her
knew that was selfish. These men, whether they were aliens or not, needed to
find a refuge.
    “Your
life comes before ours.”
    Fiona
felt tears start in her eyes. This was crazy. “No, it doesn’t. You need to
hide.”
    “So
do you.” Ardal brushed a tear from her cheek. “We are the same.”
    “I
suppose.” Fiona sniffed. “What if I hold you up?”
    “We
will wait.” Ardal eased her back against the seat. “You need to sleep.”
    “I
suppose I could explain things to you.” Fiona covered her yawn with her hand.
“Earth’s people probably seem strange.”
    “You
will be a help.”
    Fiona
thought she caught a hint of sarcasm in Ardal’s voice, but when she glanced up,
he was looking at her with sincerity. Oh well, she didn’t have much choice now.
They were already on the road heading toward Wawa.
    “I’d
take the northern route if I were you.” Sleep seemed to skirt around her
senses. “They haven’t found the other part of your vehicle so it’s probably in
Lake Superior. The further you get away from it, the better.”
    “Jehon
has already considered that.” Ardal rubbed her arm. “Sleep.”
    Fiona
was too tired to argue. Her eyelids were heavy and before she could think of a
response, she had drifted off. She woke with a start. Her head was cushioned
against Ardal’s chest. With a start she sat up. The vehicle wasn’t moving and
Ardal was looking down at her expectantly.
    “What?”
Fiona stretched. They were stopped at the side of the road. She glanced out and
saw a mileage sign for Chapleau in 10 kilometres. So they’d taken her advice
and gone north.
    “The
vehicle is flashing a light at us.” Jehon pointed to the dashboard.
    Fiona
leaned over his arm and spotted the low fuel sign. “We need gas.”
    “What
do we do?” Ardal shifted beside her.
    “We’re
almost at a town. There will be a gas station there.”
    Less
than five minutes later they made the circular entry into the small town of
Chapleau. Fiona spotted the gas station and motioned Jehon to drive to it. Once
there, she pointed to the pumps.
    “Pull
up there and then turn the vehicle off.” Fiona twisted around and spoke to
Firbin. “Hand me my bag.”
    Fiona
rummaged in her bag until her fingers touched the cloth pouch that contained
her emergency kit. She had been taught to always take this with her, no matter
how ridiculous it might seem. You never knew when you might have to make a run
for it unexpectedly. Now was definitely one of those times. She opened the
pouch and pulled out a wad of money.
    “This
is what you use to buy things.”
    “How
do you get this?”
    Fiona
shrugged. “Usually people work and get paid money. Sometimes they save it in a
bank and then they use an ATM machine to get the money.”
    “What
is an ATM machine?”
    Fiona
pointed to one of the machines inside the convenience store doors. “You have a
card that you put in to access your money. The machine will give you money from
your bank account.”
    “We
will let the others know.”
    Fiona
frowned. “Do your scanners work as telephones?”
    “The
frequency is not right for that.” Ardal opened the door and stepped out of the
vehicle.
    “I
used to have a cell phone, but I had to get rid of it.” Fiona jumped out of the
truck and went to the pump. “They make it easy to stay in touch with people
anywhere, but not if you’re hiding. They all have GPS in them so that you can
be found.”
    “This
is an electronic device?” Ardal watched as she unscrewed the gas cap and then
took the nozzle from the pump.
    “Sort
of.” Fiona pushed the button on the pump and then
started to fill the tank. “They have cell towers all around the country so that
you can call from anywhere. The problem is that in remote areas like this,
there are no towers.”
    “We
will not need to use this way to communicate.”
    Fiona
tilted her head. The man gave nothing away. She felt in her bones he was hiding
something;