Of course, there was a small chance they would escape detection altogether, tail the Oracle to wherever she was going, race in with metaphorical guns blazing and save the day. He was sure he had a better chance of winding up living in the suburbs with Bella and their furry kids, mowing the lawn on a sunny July day.

He didn't like the feeling of being adrift, not knowing exactly what to do or how things were going to go down. He never thought he would miss Movement briefings so much.

Cursing, he reached for his cell phone. Carrie and Nathan were probably busy wearing out their bedsprings, but Max felt no remorse at the thought of interrupting them. "Hello?" Nathan answered, sounding tired, but awake. "It's Harrison. You're still up?" He checked his watch. "It's only midnight." Nathan paused. "Where are you?"

"Just crossed the Indiana border into Ohio. I thought you guys would hit the sack right after you got home." Max intentionally softened his suggestion of what he thought they'd be doing there. Ever since he and Carrie had done what they'd done in the foyer, things had seemed a little weird. More so now that Nathan knew about it.

"And I thought you guys were going to drive until dawn. What happened to that?"

"Well, I just like Ohio so much, I thought we would really be missing out if we didn't stop for the night in the purgatory of the Midwest." Max coughed to get rid of the tightness in his throat. "We had to stop. Bella's sick."

"Sick? Is it serious?" There was a rustling sound, indicating Nathan had put his hand over the receiver. It didn't mask his words when he said, to Carrie, Max presumed, "Max says Bella is sick."

"It's nothing serious." He raised his voice to recapture Nathan's attention. "She just doesn't do well in the car. I thought it would be better to air the vehicle out and try to make up the time tomorrow night."

There was muffled conferring on the other end before Nathan returned. "Carrie said try ginger ale to settle her stomach."

"An M.D. and that's the best she's got?" He supposed it beat cleaning up the car again. "I hope she didn't pay too much for med school."

"Yeah, well" Nathan's voice died out, then returned. "Was there anything else?"

"Ah, no. Just wanted to know if you've heard from any other Movement, if you had a heads-up for me, that kind of thing." What a lame excuse. It had been four hours since he'd seen them; what were the chances they knew anything else? He was as transparent as the windshield he'd had to clean at their last stop.

There was a noncommittal grunt from Nathan. "We haven't been at it long. Carrie will speak to Cyrus tomorrow, and I hope to know more then."

Max whistled. "She's going to see Cyrus? How do you feel about that?"