Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga #5) - Stephenie Meyer Page 0,242

given Jasper’s enhancements in the clearing, that the tracker would never willingly put himself within Emmett’s reach.

“You’re leaving tonight, whether the tracker sees or not,” I told Bella, feeling too defeated to look up. “You tell Charlie that you can’t stand another minute in Forks. Tell him whatever story works. Pack the first things your hands touch, and then get in your truck. I don’t care what he says to you. You have fifteen minutes.” I looked in the mirror, meeting her gaze. Her expression was stoic now. “Do you hear me? Fifteen minutes from the time you cross the doorstep.”

I revved the engine, then executed a tight U-turn, in a different kind of hurry now. I wanted to get the bait part over with as quickly as possible.

“Emmett?” she asked.

I could see in Emmett’s mind that she was looking at her fettered hands.

“Oh, sorry,” Emmett muttered, freeing her.

He waited for me to object, then relaxed when I didn’t.

Now that the decision was made, I focused on Alice’s visions again. There weren’t very many options, maybe thirty solid versions. In most of them, the tracker would show up at Charlie’s house about two minutes after we did, keeping a safe distance. In a few, he came after we were gone. But even in those, he ignored Charlie and followed our trail.

After that, the possibilities narrowed further. We would go home. The tracker would stay even farther back, not wanting to risk a confrontation. The redhead would be waiting for him there. My family would split up. In no version did Laurent help James and Victoria. So we would only have to split into three groups.

The one thing I didn’t understand was how the makeup of those three groups kept shifting. It didn’t make sense.

Regardless, the next part was very clear.

“This is how it’s going to happen,” I explained to Emmett. “When we get to the house, if the tracker is not there, I will walk her to the door. Then she has fifteen minutes.” I met Bella’s eyes in the mirror again. “Emmett, you take the outside of the house. Alice, you get the truck. I’ll be inside as long as she is. After she’s out, you two can take the Jeep home and tell Carlisle.”

“No way,” Emmett objected. “I’m with you.” You owe me one, remember?

It shouldn’t surprise me he would want that. This was probably why the future groupings were confused.

“Think it through, Emmett. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.”

“Until we know how far this is going to go, I’m with you.”

There was no wavering in his mind. Maybe it was for the best. I let it go.

In Alice’s head, it was Carlisle and Jasper hunting in the forest now.

“If the tracker is there,” I continued, “we keep driving.”

“We’re going to make it there before him,” Alice insisted.

It was ninety-nine percent certain, but I wasn’t taking any chances with some outlier version that was less clear than the others.

“What are we going to do with the Jeep?” Alice asked.

“You’re driving it home.”

“No, I’m not,” she said with absolute certainty.

The vision of how we would divide shifted around again.

I growled a string of archaic curses in her direction.

Bella interrupted in a low voice. “We can’t all fit in my truck.”

As if we were going to make our escape in that geriatric sloth. I said nothing, though, knowing how sensitive she was about her truck. I didn’t have the energy for a pointless argument.

When I didn’t respond, she whispered, “I think you should let me go alone.”

I’d missed her meaning again. Naturally, she’d think it was her job to sacrifice herself so that Charlie could have a redundant number of bodyguards.

“Bella, please just do this my way, just this once,” I begged, though it didn’t sound like pleading when the words came through my clenched teeth.

“Listen, Charlie’s not an imbecile. If you’re not in town tomorrow, he’s going to get suspicious.”

There were so many layers of meaning I missed entirely with her. Was this the real reason for her willingness to endanger herself, creating a believable alibi for me?

“That’s irrelevant,” I said in a tone that was intended to sound final. “We’ll make sure he’s safe, and that’s all that matters.”

“Then what about this tracker?” she countered. “He saw the way you acted tonight. He’s going to think you’re with me, wherever you are.”

All three of us froze, surprised by this direction. Even Alice. She’d been paying attention to other futures than this conversation.

Emmett embraced the logic immediately.