It was close to one thousand miles from Pasadena to Portland, Oregon, and Nagib and Alia once more took turns driving and napping. They had left Pasadena the previous evening, avoiding the rush hour traffic, and made good time travelling along Highway 5, stopping briefly at the outskirts of Sacramento for coffee and services. The old Nissan they got from the used-car dealership in Pasadena did not cause any trouble despite their concerns about the 5-50 guarantee. They did not want to check into a motel and waste too much time so they continued north until they reached Medford, OR, where they parked in a quiet corner of a rest area and took a nap. Alia lay on the back seat and Nagib tilted the driver's seat as far as it would go and within minutes he was snoring as if he had no worry in the world. When dawn approached they woke up, had a steaming cup of coffee and continued north to Portland. As they passed through Eugene, OR, Nagib muttered a juicy expletive and when Alia asked him what came over him he said that the town's name reminded him of the guy from the NNSA who had interrogated him and appeared not to believe him. When they passed close to Lebanon, OR, Alia started laughing and when Nagib asked her why she was so happy she said that they were almost home as they were just close to Lebanon. Nagib joined her laughter and was pleased that she took the whole affair in her stride. As they reached Portland they debated whether to check into a motel there or make an extra effort and cross into Canada before resting.
The additional six hour drive from Portland to Vancouver was beyond their strength so they checked into a cheap motel, paid cash and went to their room. After resting for a few hours they woke up, took turns in the shower and went out for dinner at a fast-food joint near the motel. They turned in for the night and woke up refreshed, with new energies but with the same old worries. They realized that the sooner they got out of the US the better chance they had of avoiding being captured. Their biggest fear was that their photos and passport numbers were sent out to the US and Canadian border crossings. They decided to try and blend in with the many Canadians returning to Vancouver from their good paying jobs in the US and weave in with the busy afternoon traffic. They were surprised and relieved when this simple ploy succeeded and after entering Vancouver found a nice motel and celebrated their escape from the US.
They saw that their cash reserves were almost depleted and what they had left would barely suffice for airfare to Turkey. They couldn't use their credit cards because they suspected that those were closely monitored, and although they were out of US jurisdiction they feared the US authorities would drum up some fake charges and get the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to detain and extradite them. Their only asset was the car they had bought in a trade-in deal in Pasadena so Nagib drove to a used car lot in Vancouver and the dealer at first did not want anything to do with it but when Nagib said that he desperately needed cash a transaction was made for about half the book value of the car.
Now they faced a new problem. Ever since 9-11 all airlines were suspicious of passengers who paid cash, of travelers who bought one-way tickets and of travelers that purchased their tickets shortly before travelling. In addition passengers with Arab sounding names were immediately suspected. Nagib and Alia suited all four criteria. However, when they checked the price of airline tickets from Vancouver to Istanbul they discovered that buying a one-way ticket was much more expensive than buying a round trip. A little further search of the web found that there was a special deal on tickets to Frankfurt, Germany, and they figured that they could fly to Germany and then continue their travel with one of the low-cost airlines to Istanbul. These airlines did not care if you just purchased a one-way fare so they could save a considerable sum of money. They still had to overcome the other problems so they decided to concoct a cover story. They would claim that they had been on vacation in Vancouver when someone broke into their hotel room and stole their credit cards. Fortunately they had some cash and by selling their car — they had the documents to prove that — they raised some more. They received a message that Nagib's father was in a hospital in Istanbul and tradition dictated that Nagib as the eldest son, had to see him before he passed away. That would also explain why they couldn't wait for new credit cards and clarify why they had to pay cash as well as explain their Arab sounding names. They hoped this would be convincing and as a back-up Alia was ready to shed tears because of the bad fortune that transpired while narrating her story.
Obviously they couldn't buy their tickets on-line because using their credit cards would instantly alert the authorities, so they entered one of the few remaining travel agencies and explained their predicament. The polite travel agent examined their US passports, found nothing wrong and was favorably impressed by their appearance as solid citizens, so she didn't even mention the problems they had anticipated. They handed her the cash, received the printed tickets and walked out of the office holding hands. There were direct flights from Vancouver to Frankfurt but the cheapest fare they found was operated by Icelandair and was scheduled to take off early the following morning. They were not worried about the stopover in Reykjavik because they were convinced that no one would be looking for them there.
The first task force, responsible for locating Nagib and Alia was clueless as to their whereabouts. The couple had been traced to California, the used-car lot in Pasadena where they had traded in their fancy Toyota for a cheap sedan had been found by the Pasadena police that alerted the junior FBI agent. The dealer instantly recognized Nagib from the photo the agent had shown him but said that he did not get a good look at Alia. He described the car he sold he sold them as an old Nissan in excellent mechanical condition and gave them the license plate registration number. He added that they looked pressed for cash and that he was very pleased with the good deal he had made with the trade in. When asked if they gave an address in Pasadena he said that he thought that they mentioned a cheap motel nearby, and when asked if they said where they were headed he answered that they didn't speak much. He neglected to repeat the joke on "the 5-50 guarantee" which was not really surprising.