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Consulting the map, Claudette adds, “Fredericton is coming up in the next hour. Why don’t we shop for clothes there? Being the capital of New Brunswick, it should have plenty of options.”
“You remember this will be a quick in and out?” Aiden teases. “No lingering.”
We roll our eyes at him.
“Will the shops still be open? It’s gonna be well past five o’clock by the time we get there.”
“Yeah, there will be shops open,” Claudette replies confidently.
And she’s right. As soon as we reach the outskirts, we find a shopping mall. Aiden parks as close to the entrance as possible just in case we need to make a quick getaway.
“I hope they’ll let us in given the way we smell,” I say, having a sniff at Claudette’s clothes.
Aiden scrunches up his face. “It is a little offensive,” he admits.
Looking around, he spots something.
“Wait here.” He disappears into a supermarket, and not five minutes later, he emerges again, holding a bottle in his hands.
“Deodorant,” he declares and starts spraying us with the fresh scent that’s supposedly lavender and vanilla.
It makes me cough and squeeze my eyes shut tightly.
The deodorant somewhat masks our stink, but I’m not sure the lavender and vanilla combo is much of an improvement.
“Come on, girls. Let’s see if we can be out of here in fifteen minutes.” Aiden spurts us on like a trainer of an athletic team. All that’s missing is a whistle around his neck and a stopwatch in his hand.
“Just go in grab what you need to stay warm and have a change or two of clothes. Meet you at the checkout. We’ll grab some food and toiletries after this.”
We split up as soon as we enter the store, though Claudette and I head in the same direction.
I jog to the ladies’ clothing section. Jeez, this feels like we’re competing inthe Amazing Raceand were given a shopping task. Who will complete it in the shortest amount of time and advance to the next stage?
Only checking sizes and ignoring what things actually look like, I throw what I consider the bare essentials into my shopping cart. It fills quickly with thermal underwear, panties, bras, long-sleeve shirts, sweatpants, jeans, puffer jackets, beanies, gloves and scarves.
Have I forgotten anything?
I scan the shelves for inspiration when my eyes land on a guy who’s staring at me with a curious expression on his face.
He’s tall and muscly… and Italian looking. My heart stops for a second.
Oh no!
He wouldn’t be… he couldn’t be one of Tiero’s men, right?
Aiden was certain no one followed us. And he is… was special ops. He has eyes like an eagle. He sees everything.
Tiero can’t know we’re here. He just can’t. Uberto isn’t that good, is he?
This is just a coincidence. There are Italians living all over this country.
Stop the paranoia, Ella. Focus on your shopping mission.
I inspect the shelf next to me. Vests. Yes, one of those would come in handy. I pick the first one in my size and dump it in the cart.
I need a bit of everything. What I’m wearing is literally all I currently own. That and the little backpack holding my new ID.
Now what else?
