“This isn’t funny anymore, Jules!” Nick yelled finally, leaving himself up from his seat. He had been violently woken up by a turbulent pocket of air, which threw their jet about 300 feet down. He definitely wasn’t in a good mood.

Julian turned, looking surprised by his outburst. “Funny- what?”

“Just where the hell are we going?” Nick demanded angrily. “It’s been nearly twenty hours since we took off. Are we heading to the South Pole to visit Santa or something?”

The others stared at him, surprised by the outburst. “Nick-” Kevin started.

“No,” Julian replied, “actually, it’s been fourteen hours since we took off. And by the way, Santa lives in the North Pole, not south.”

Nick glared at him and flung himself back on his seat, glowering out at the window.

“I don’t see the reason for all this secrecy, Jules,” Howie said mildly.

“Actually, there is.” Julian turned and looked at them. “this location is going to be absolutely foolproof. Kept one hundred percent secret. The less people know about where we are, the less we’ll be interrupted.”

“We can’t just disappear from the face of the earth,” Brian grumbled. “They’ll find us sooner or later anyway.”

The comment sent a chill through Nick.

“Still, it takes privacy and security to a new light,” Mike interrupted. “By the time they find out about it, it would be too late. Even you won’t know where you are.”

“What, you don’t trust us?” AJ said sarcastically.

“Let’s just say I’m taking the necessary precautions.” Julian smiled thinly then turned back to face the front. Discussion finished.

“You know,” AJ whispered to Nick, “I think he does that just to annoy us.”

Nick snorted, not answering. He heard Mike whispering to Julian, “We’d better be landing soon. What’s happening with the captain?”

“…Some weather problem…may have to wait until morning…a natural storm…”

“We might be late…”

“…Don’t worry…it’s not going to affect the schedule…the only delay was because of Harrison…she should have kept her nose out of this…”

Nick’s head jerked up at the last comment, then glanced at Rachael. If she had heard it, she didn’t give any sign. Then he had a glimpse of what she was working on. A whole heap of confusing data, but he saw a window and a bar that completed a download. He started. It was information on Julian, complete with biography and history and every other detail. At an eye’s glance, it was about thirty pages- enough to cover a whole life story. Now he knew how she got to know so much about him. Suddenly he wondered if she had information of all other people- the guys, band, even the security team. It was a scary thought.

She shut the laptop, packed it away, then leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. Startled, he jerked his arms back from where he was leaning on, but not before he felt the brush of her auburn curls against the back of his hands.

A sudden thought flashed though his head: since they started working together, it had always been like this. With his other bodyguards he was totally relaxed and at ease. They treated him like a buddy and were almost like pals. But it wasn’t the same with Rachael. They seldom talked, let alone mess around and hang out. The very idea was absurd. She was a complete stranger to him. He had a feeling that her fellow security didn’t like her that much, not merely because she was a different gender, but she seemed to be a cut above them.
Was she a loner? Did she think that she was better than the rest of them? Nobody knew for sure, but instinct was a scary thing. He could feel the silent hostility directed towards her. He had head somewhere that she was becoming a target lately, and it was plaint hat she didn’t do much to appeal to other people. She probably thought it wasn’t a big deal. But did she care about what the people around her think? People like him?

He sighed, wishing not for the first time that the situation were different between them. And every time he did, he felt so damned frustrated because he had no idea how to approach her in the way that would make things easier between them. A part of him wanted to be friends with her, but still…another part told him that he shouldn’t be so sure. Besides, he barely knew her.

And it all came back to that, he sighed inwardly. As soon as they landed- wherever that would be- he really had to get started on that. Unless Julian had chosen a place that was completely civilization-free. That was another scary thought.

The plane lurched again, rocking uncertainly for a few seconds, then the seatbelt sign flashed on. Resignedly, he sat back and clicked the seatbelt on. This had better be worth the rough ride, he thought, closing his eyes. Although he told Rachael that he had slept all right, he actually hadn’t. His own bed wasn’t safe anymore. He wondered sleepily if anything could be worse in life.

************************

it must have been thirty minutes when he felt the plane preparing to land. His eyes flew open as the jet touched down the taxiway with a thud. Then he looked out at the window. It must have been morning, looking at the pale dawn sky. All around the asphalt taxiway was orange-red earth, stretching for miles.

“Yo man, what’s this?” AJ exclaimed, his face glued to the window. “We in the Sahara desert or what?”

“Come on,” Mike grunted, standing up. “Get your stuff. We’re here.”

The guys stood up wearily and stretched, exhausted. They trudged down the narrow walkway, shouldering their bags. “Where are we?”

“Honestly, if I got a buck every time you asked that question, I’d be a billionaire,” Mike growled. “Just get outta this plane and you’ll see, all right?”

“Just asking,” Brian grumbled, running a hand through his hair.

The waves of heat hit them hard and fast, a dryness that sucked the moisture out of their breath. Staring at the red land around them, they stood, dumbfounded. Puffs of red dust rose as people got off one by one.

They were standing at a cliff of some sort. There was no greenery to be seen anywhere, except for a few shrubbery growing here and there, struggling to survive in the ruthless heat. Stretching out in front of them was a sparkling ocean, reflecting the blinding sunlight and the cloudless blue sky. A lone seagull flew aimlessly, squawking crossly at the intruders.

Julian came up to join them, looking out at the view. “This is it, guys,” he said.
“Welcome to Australia.” He paused, then turned slightly. “I hope you brought your bathing suits.”