Faolan knew that Lucien would ask about this, and regretted that he had said nothing before taking off. In the moment, he had just trusted his instincts. The trailer rumbled along the road, and every three or four seconds, he would glance in the mirrors to see if they were being followed. There was no one on the road at this time of night, so he decided they had a good chance of outrunning any heat. An aspect that worked against them, however, was that they were mostly surrounded by flat, open ground. Faolan knew that their headlights would be seen for miles around with no other vehicles to mask them. They were too slow to catch up to any cars that had left the circus before them, even if it had been only by minutes. However, Faolan was counting on the fact that any pursuers would identify their headlights and head in this direction.

[color=a36209]"Throwing them off the scent a little,"[/color] he said in answer to Lucien's inquiry, [color=a36209]"We can't out-drive them, but we can point them in the wrong direction."[/color]

Lucien did not answer, and Faolan accepted this as understanding and agreement. He left his foot on the gas for several minutes and kept glancing behind them. Luckily for him, the road was relatively straight and well-maintained, so he didn't have to worry about hitting potholes or blocks, at least for this stretch.

And then, he saw them. Two glowing eyes lighting up the road behind them. He had no doubt that this was a vehicle in chase, although it had taken them a little longer to send someone than he had anticipated. At least he did only see one vehicle after them, for now. It was good timing, because the turnoff he needed was coming up.

He let them catch up a bit, still pushing his foot practically through the floor. It took mere minutes, their car was much faster than their mobile home. Once the vehicle was close enough for Faolan to smell the hint of exhaust belching from their tailpipe, he cut the headlights on the trailer, said, [color=a36209]"Hold on,"[/color] and braked, hard.

As he slowed, he saw the turnoff coming and quickly slanted the wheel toward it. It was a sharp turn, but not enough to toss anyone around, though he knew the breaking has jostled a few things that were not exactly nailed down. He let the trailer rumble into a small grove of trees for a minute or so, slowing all the while, then braked fully and immediately cut the engine.

He sat there for a moment, still and silent, listening to the breathing of Lucien and the child, their heartbeats, the quiet [i]ting ting ting[/i] of the hot engine and the wind in the branches. They needed to wait until they were fully in the clear, and Faolan would not turn the engine back on until he knew that they were.