This one move should allow them to shake the trackers.
Bosse hoped.
After what seemed to be an hour, the air carried a new scent.
Titan lifted his head.I smell salt in air. Might be near sea.
Bosse replied,I think you’re right. Pick a good place to jump off, and let’s find out.
The landscape along the road had flipped between trees and shrubs to occasional wheat fields being farmed. Waiting until a car that had run up close behind passed, Titan edged to the back and leaped off the truck, curling into a ball. He landed hard on the shoulder of the road and rolled down the drop to bushes where he finally stopped.
Bosse said,Sorry about the bags.
Titan lay there for a minute, breathing hard, then righted himself and stood. He wiggled to get the saddlebags in place.We are good. We must cross the road to follow the smell.
Sounds like a plan, Bosse said.We’re gonna need drinking water soon.
Yes. I will find it.
After loping a short distance, fortune smiled on them when they found a small pond that appeared to be part of a farm. Titan drank his fill and started to shed the bags looped over his body, but the cows began to moo as a group.
Bosse told Titan,Let’s fill the gourd later. The cows sound agitated. They may realize we’re here.
Titan took off before the cows alerted someone to investigate. After that, he made fast time weaving through sparse woods until blue sky and water began to show through the trees. He slowed and paused at the edge of the tree line.
A salty breeze brushed his muzzle, lifted in the air. No cloud interrupted a soaring blue sky, and emerald water rolled over a gray stone beach.
Titan said,I am happy. This is the life we deserve.
His wolf’s words choked up Bosse after years of them clinging to life together. He wanted Titan to enjoy the life that had been stolen from them. This wolf had been his greatest friend since birth.
Staring at the scenery through Titan’s eyes, Bosse had expected white sand from what he’d heard of beaches, but this one had more of a smooth gravel look and boulders running between the shore and the trees.
He told Titan,We must be at the right place. We should go north to find a road. There must be one that follows this coast in a way that would be shorter to reach a port in Italy.
Yes, good idea.Titan turned and headed north. In a short while, they located the road, but it was a busy highway. Titan had no trouble paralleling the route by moving swiftly through nearby trees.
With a bit of luck, the hunters lost their trail once Titan jumped on that truck.
It felt like two hours had passed when they encountered a small airport between the road and the water.
For Titan to continue would be risky as he’d had less and less cover over the last kilometer. Moving between two thickets of brush, they shifted. Bosse dressed in the tunic and pants again, then retied the bag to loop across his chest.
He looked like a poor person with no shoes. They must have those people in Italy. He figured no one paid attention to the poor. He struck out, walking past the airport where small jets were moving around, ready to fly—nothing he ever wanted to do.
Alifair had been wise to suggest stowing away on a ship. He hoped he and Titan did not get seasick.
Once he passed the airport, he kept his distance from the highway while still using it as a directional path. The sun was high in the sky when he began encountering more people, many of whom looked hard at him.
Perhaps he appeared too physically fit to be a homeless person.
He needed information and spoke no Italian. If not for being taught English while a cub and Krol demanding his people speak English, Bosse would have been at a loss trying to communicate with the guards.
When he located a large hotel complex, he took advantage of the lush landscaping and a thick stand of trees on one side. He climbed a tree and settled in to observe and listen.
Many people communicated in different languages. Several spoke English but only discussed their vacation plans. That was no help.
He’d noticed people sticking a card into a slot to enter one end of the building. That prompted him to slip down the tree and watch for the sun to set. Once twilight wrapped the city, he waited for someone alone to use their card. When it happened, he rushed to catch the door before it closed, waiting silently for the person to disappear at the end of the hall. Then he climbed a set of nearby stairs, which he took all the way to the top of the fourth floor. From there, he leaped over a metal bar, preventing others from going higher on the next set of steps. He found a door to the roof and located a place where he could see far out over the water.
