Shadow Men – 41 – Anders and Grant

"A truck?" Grant looked at it askance when Anders got out and came over to the car.

"Just for the time being. It'll meld in better with where we're going. Get Nicky, I'll get his seat."

"Hang on." Grant slid the gun from between his legs to hand it to Anders who quickly holstered it as he moved out of the way of Grant's exiting the car.

Grant picked Nicky up then waited as Anders dealt with the child seat, which just fit on to the narrow rear seat in the cab of the truck. Grant put Nicky in it, noting as he did the bags sitting beside it.

"Clothes," Anders told him as he slung the saddlebag on top of them.

Grant got into the truck, saying as he did, "That was fast."

"Just grabbed the first things I saw in the right sizes." Anders slid into the driver's seat and moments later they were exiting the garage.

* * * *

It was almost dark when Anders pulled the truck off of the main road onto a side road. They had stopped at another fast-food place to pick up lunch. This time they ate in the truck as they drove. Twice they stopped just long enough for all of them to relieve themselves. Other than that, it was one continued blur of highways and smaller roads, at least as far as Grant was concerned, during which Nicky was asleep more than awake.

As it got darker, the road they were on turned several times, going deeper into the sheltering trees. From the road signs he'd seen, Grant figured they were now somewhere just inside Tennessee.

Finally Anders turned once more, this time onto a narrow one-lane byroad. After a mile or a bit more, the truck's headlights lit up a small house.

"We're here," Anders announced as he parked beside the house and turned the lights off.

"Where is here?"

"The middle of nowhere, and safe," was all Anders said in reply as he got out of the truck and opened the back door. He picked up the saddlebag and the other bags, and walked to the tiny front porch.

Grant got Nicky and hurried to join him. Anders rapped twice on the front door, waited then gave three more raps. A moment later the door opened a crack and Grant saw one blue eye as whoever stood there peered out. Seconds later the door swung open.

"About time you got here, I was getting worried," said the woman standing there. She was three or four inches shorter than Grant's six foot height, not particularly beautiful but striking in her own way with short-cropped dark hair, which accented her high cheekbones. She held out her hand to him. "I'm Corrie, Anders' partner in crime. You must be Grant and you…" she grinned, "have to be Nicky."

"Umm hmm," Nicky whispered as he buried his face in Grant's shoulder.

"You hungry, Nicky?"

Nicky turned his head enough to peek at her. "Umm hmm."

"Want to come with me while I finish fixing supper?"

Nicky hesitated before he asked, "Can I, Daddy?"

"Sure, why not." Grant put him down and smiled when he instantly took the hand Corrie held out to him. Moments later they vanished into what Grant presumed was the kitchen.

While that was going on, Anders had dropped the bags on one end of the sofa. Then he said, "Come on, there's a couple of people I want you to meet."