I wasted no time in preparing to leave for the Persivals. A large bag filled with paperwork sat under the desk. I pulled it out and upended it to remove the contents. I carefully placed The Book of Narveere in the bottom of the bag. Andy had taken his backpack but had left my bow leaning against the desk; I put that in the bag next, along with the jacket, which he had draped over me, and a pair of gloves I found in the drawer.
I placed my mobile phone by the laptop. If I truly didn’t want Andy to follow me, I had to make certain he couldn’t trace me. I knew it would only take him a matter of seconds to trace me by my phone. A piece of me wished he would just appear and make all the hard decisions for me; to tell me what to do next. He had put himself in harm’s way countless times in order to help and protect me. It was now my turn to do the same for him.
Veronika and Boris were still hunting me. I knew it would be only a matter of time until they found me. I just hoped I would be able to find the Persivals before that. I took comfort in knowing that while Veronika and Boris were hunting me, they were not hunting Andy.
There was a small staffroom next to the office. I looked through the cupboards and found some bottled water along with a couple of boxes of dry biscuits; probably stale, hardly nutritious, but better than nothing. I put them in the bag. I knew my shoulders would scream in agony as soon as I swung the backpack on my back. Yep. I positioned it as evenly as possible and walked out the door.