* * *
“Evan, what is a campaign?” Julia asks.
“It’s a battle or a crusade. You see, at this time England was in a great religious upheaval because King Henry, Henry the VIII, had created the Church of England so that he could divorce his current wife. England had been predominantly of the Catholic faith, and most of his subjects didn’t want to change their religious faith.”
“Were, Jon and Mary, both of the same faith?” she questioned.
“Yes. They were both Catholic,” Evan responded.
“If they were both Catholic, and they both lived in the same area, why wouldn’t Jon’s parents let them become engaged, or betrothed, as they called it?”
“Julia, during that time there was a strict code that people of noble birth could only marry others who were born into a noble family. Commoners could only marry commoners and their dress had to reflect the station they held in life. Jon, was from noble blood, and for all he knew, Mary, was a commoner.”
“Jon’s father needed him to carry on the family name through a noble blood line so that they could keep their social status. To do this, he would have to have, Jon, marry someone of noble blood.”
“I guess in many ways, in different places in the world, we’re not too far away from that type of mentality, even today.”
“No, we aren’t, Julia. Say, the Sun is up. Are you ready to leave this safe house?”
“I’m all packed. Let’s get out of here.”
“I’ll put all of the baggage in the trunk of the car and then we’ll drive to a new safe house.” Traveling for an hour, Evan, suddenly drives into a car rental place.
“What are you doing, Evan?”
“I’m thinking that this car might have a tracking device on it.”
“So, you think that we are being tracked?”
“We might be. If it is an inside job, then they would put a tracking device on the car for sure. And, yes, Julia, I can see it in your face. I’ll make sure that the car that we rent doesn’t have any type of tracking system on it, like On Star, so that we can’t be tracked with that either,” Evan reassured her.
“You’re getting to know me pretty well, aren’t you?” Julia says with a smile.
“I should know you pretty well by now, since we have been partners on the police force for the last two years,” Evan brags. “Ok, now give me your luggage and I will put it into the rented car, which I have paid for with cash Julia. I knew that you’d ask me that question, so I thought that I would answer it before you asked it,” he said, looking at her with a smile.
“Now, you drive the car that we drove here to a local grocery parking lot. We’ll park it there so that it won’t be noticed. Then, we’ll both drive in the rental car and head north for awhile.”
Later, Evan begins to drive east. “So what’s our plan, Evan?”
“I don’t have one just yet. We’re driving around so that we won’t be followed, since we don’t know who we can trust.”
“Are we going to develop a plan?”
“Actually, Julia, I’ve been thinking. Whoever is looking for us, will be looking for both of us together.
“We’re going to go to a local convenience store and pick up something to eat. While I’m getting some hot dogs and chips, you go into the rest room and put on several layers of clothing. When you have put on as many as you can handle, bring your luggage back out. We’ll go out, put the luggage in the trunk of this car, and eat our delicious lunch. Then we’ll call for a taxi.”
“You wait over there,” pointing to the shade of a tree, “and I’ll stay with the car. We can’t be seen together when the taxi arrives. But, don’t worry. I’ll watch you until then. Ask the driver to take you a few miles to the next town and pick a specific restaurant for the driver to drop you off at. Get out go into their restroom take off a layer of clothes, thus changing the look of your outfit. Fix your hair differently and then call a different taxi company. Request them to take you another few miles.”
“Keep doing this until you get to the Beach House. What do you think of that plan?”
“It sounds like it should work, Evan. Let’s try it.”
“First let’s get a map, and figure out the mileage.”
Evan goes into a local convenience store and buys a map. Together they decide how far each taxi will take Julia. “Evan, I think that I’d like to ride in a bus for a while. That way the taxi companies won’t be able to trace the direction I’m going.”
“Good idea, Julia.”
“We’ll keep in touch by using phone cards and calling, Daniel, to relay messages, using our special code.”
“Who is, Daniel?”
“He’s a very good friend of mine. He lives at the Beach House. Well, actually he owns it.”
Evan adds, “It’s a good thing that we have all of this training, isn’t it, Julia?”
“It makes it a lot easier, knowing what to watch out for.”
“Here’s the first taxi, Evan I had better get over to the tree. See you soon.”
“See you, Julia. Take care.”
Following their plan, Julia finally arrives at the Beach House a day later. Daniel greets her and welcomes her into his house. Daniel is 5’11,” well built with strong arms, and a captivating smile. His manner is engaging, yet calming, and very comforting to be around. As the sun sets, Daniel makes a fire in the fire pit on his back deck.
Julia remarks, “I love the sound of waves as they ebb and flow. Next to that, I love the sound of warm crackling wood in a fire pit. This is paradise, Daniel, just sitting here watching the sun go down.”
Everything is almost perfect, except that Evan hasn’t arrived yet, and it has been several hours since Julia has heard from him.
Worrying about Evan, she excuses herself and goes to her room. To get her mind off of Evan, Julia decides to continue reading Jon’s notebook.