by Willow Rose
One night, she was at a party with some of Nat’s friends, and she was sitting on the couch while most others were dancing. She was staring at her phone while the music blasted loudly around her. She had been drinking a lot, maybe a little too much, and now, she felt sad. She wondered why it bothered her so much, why Wanton’s silence made her feel this way.
Then she did something silly. She called him.
“Hello?”
His voice sounded cheerful.
“Hi. It’s Samantha.”
Deep silence. Samantha felt her heart drop.
The next thing he said came out almost screaming:
“No!”
Then he hung up.
Samantha stared at the display of the phone, her hand shaking heavily. What had she done? He had always told her she couldn’t call him or even email him since his secretary read through those. She could only write to him in the messaging system where the messages disappeared as soon as you had read them. Everything else was too dangerous. As she sat there, she knew she had messed up. Big time. She felt sick to her stomach.
Without saying anything to Nat, she left the party and walked home. As she strolled through the streets in the pouring rain, her phone suddenly rang. She pulled it out and saw that it was him. She picked it up.
“H-hello!”
“Don’t you ever do that again. I told you never to call me. My wife was right next to me. She could have heard it.”
“I…I’m sorry…I was at a party and it…was an accident. Some people were playing around with my phone and accidentally called you. I’m so sorry.”
He went quiet, then chuckled. “I don’t buy that. It’s okay. You got drunk. It happens. But don’t lie to me. You’re too good a girl to lie. Don’t let it happen again. Ever. Okay?”
“O-okay.”
They hung up. Samantha ran home in the rain, feeling the embarrassment eating her up from the inside. It was the worst feeling in the world. How could she have been so stupid? She had ruined everything. She was just a worthless creature who had made such a mess of her own life.
Chapter 57
I jumped down from the bed and ran after Kimmie. Tristan sat up and called for his mom to come back while I sprang for the door.
“Kimmie, come back here!”
As I stepped outside, I saw her running across the parking lot, swaying slightly. I took off after her. She wasn’t running very fast, so I caught up to her quickly.
“Leave me alone,” she hissed and tried to push me away.
I grabbed her shoulder and made her stop. “Come on, Kimmie. Come back, and we can talk.”
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
“Okay, then don’t talk. Just come back to the room.”
Kimmie sighed. Tears were welling up in her eyes again. She grabbed a lock of my hair and put it behind my ear. “I can’t tell you who it is. I just can’t, okay?”
“Can you tell me why you’re covering for this person?”
She shook her head, then looked down. “I have my reasons.”
“It’s not because he’s threatening you? Because he could be an accomplice to murder, you do realize that, right?”
That made her look up at me, her eyes terrified. “Oh, no, it’s not that. This person would never…I mean, of course, I can understand what you mean, but…it’s John…”
Kimmie paused. I stared at her, secretly noting that she had just given me the first name. I turned my head to see what had caught her eye. A black car was driving by on the street, going very slow. As it came closer, someone rolled down the windows.
I reacted fast. I threw myself on top of Kimmie as the shots fell.
Pop-pop-pop!
We landed on the asphalt, me on top of her. Kimmie screamed in my ear as the car continued past us. I lifted my eyes to look at the license plate but couldn’t see much except for the letters ED. Then I jumped up, grabbed Kimmie, and pulled her to her feet.
“We need to get out of here, fast.”
“Who…what was that?” Kimmie yelled at me with fear stuck in her throat. “How…how did they find us?”
“I have to figure that out, but first, we need to get out of here.”
We rushed inside the motel and grabbed the little stuff we had, like my weekend bag, computer, and purse, and a couple of bags with snacks. Tristan was sitting on the bed, shaking, as we told him we had to leave. We walked cautiously into the parking lot, where I saw the black car come back toward us.
“Quick, we need to go out in the back.”
We hurried around the corner and ran around the building.
“But what about the car?” Kimmie said, panting. “It’s parked that way.”
“We have to leave it,” I said. “Continue on foot.”
The black car leaped into the parking lot and approached us, its headlights hitting our car.
“But…?”
“Now, Kimmie. GO!”
Chapter 58
“Things are starting to shape up.”
Rachel stared at her husband and daughter, sitting at the table eating the breakfast she had prepared for them. She had just grabbed a cup of coffee for herself when Crystal called. Rachel walked away from them, so they wouldn’t listen in. She still hadn’t told Joe about what she had been up to. She kept postponing it. She had almost told him a few times, but every time she started to, something always came up, a phone call, or she chickened out.
“Really? What does that mean?” she asked Crystal while she walked into the guest bedroom and closed the door.
“We have a meeting set up. With John Savage.”
Rachel wrinkled her forehead. “John Savage? The news director?”
“Yes. I just spoke with him today.”
“Really?”
“Yes, the plan is we will meet with him and tell him our stories. He wants to hear them.”
“I… I don’t understand. Isn’t he like Wanton’s right hand and best friend?”
“Yes. But he has agreed to meet with us and hear the stories.”
“But…why?”
“He’s on our side,” Crystal said. “He wants to help.”
Rachel sat down on the bed, feeling confused, anxiety starting to rise in the pit of her stomach.
“I…I don’t know what to say.”
“Just say you’ll be there. With a man like John Savage on our side, we have a much better chance at getting somewhere.”
“But…shouldn’t we be getting lawyers? If we’re starting a case?”
Crystal laughed. “Of course. We’re working on that part too. All in due time. But for now, it’s all about gathering as many on our side as possible, right?”
“I…don’t know,” Rachel said. “You tell me. It’s not like I’ve done this type of thing before.”
“Neither have I. But just promise me you’ll be there, please?”
Rachel cleared her throat. “Of course. If it can help in any way.”
“Great! I’ll text you the details, address and time to be there and so on. See you soon then.”
“Wait.”
“Yes?”
“What’s in it for John Savage? Why is he doing this?”
Crystal went quiet for a few seconds. “My guess is that he wants Wanton’s job. He’s been right underneath him for many years, and now he wants his place in the sun. That would be my best guess.”
Rachel nodded. It sounded plausible. “Okay, then. Thank you.”
“See you soon.”
Rachel hung up and stared at the display of her phone. Her hands were shaking slightly still. It was the name from her past that had her feeling anxious again. John Savage had been her closest boss back when Wanton raped her. She hadn’t told him what happened because she simply didn’t think he would do anything. It was commonly known that those two were best friends and had known each other since college. She had never thought he would ever betray the man who made him who he was.
But that just showed you that you never r
eally knew someone until they had the chance to stab you in the back.
Rachel walked out as her husband and daughter were about to leave for work and school. She kissed them both, handed Marissa her lunch, then waved at them, feeling uplifted and excited. Things really were shaping up for them now. A man like Savage was a powerful man. With him on their side, there was no stopping them.
They were about to make history.
Chapter 59
We continued on foot, walking for most of the night. I kept watching for the black car, worried that these people would catch up to us. Around three o’clock, Kimmie sat down on the asphalt and started to cry.
“I can’t keep going anymore. I just can’t.”
I wanted to tell her to pull herself back up, to get it together, but I was too tired for that. Instead, I sank down next to her with a deep sigh. Tristan laid in the grass next to us, groaning loudly.
“How do they keep finding us?” Kimmie said after catching her breath. “How do they know where I am?”
“These are highly-trained killers,” I said. “At least the guy I shot back in Sykesville was. He was a former Mossad agent. You can hire people like him if you have enough money. And if there is anything Wanton has, it’s that. Connections and money.”
Kimmie moaned, annoyed. “I am sick of this. There are still two days until the trial starts. Will we have to keep running until then? And will we ever make it back?”
“We will. But you’re right about one thing,” I said. “Even the most highly trained soldiers need a way to track someone. There must be some way they’re finding you. And it can’t be facial recognition because we’ve stayed clear of any surveillance cameras. I made sure of that.”
“But then, how?”
I turned my head and looked at Tristan, who was half asleep in the grass next to us while the cars rushed by on the highway.
“Give me your boots,” I said.
Tristan sat up. “Excuse me?”
“I need your boots,” I said and approached his feet. I grabbed the right one and pulled it off, then grabbed my flashlight from my weekend bag and turned it on. I examined the boot closely, then looked at him, lighting up his face. He lifted his hands and covered himself from the bright light.
“The other one, please.”
“Okay, okay.”
He pulled it off and handed it to me. “Here you go.”
I shone the light on it, examining the sole, then looked inside it, putting a finger under the inside sole, pulling it up the sides, but found nothing.
“Huh. I was so certain.”
I gave Tristan the shoes back, then looked at his arms as he tied his shoes. Then, I turned to look at Kimmie.
“Are you wearing a fitness tracker?”
She nodded and showed me her wrist. “A Fitbit. I use it to track how many steps I walk every day. You know—to make sure I get my ten thousand in.”
“Is the Bluetooth turned on?” I asked.
“I think so. I haven’t really thought about it.”
I grabbed her wrist, then took the band off. “Then, that’s how they’re tracking us. It’s the easiest thing in the world. All you need is an app. Anyone can do it.”
“Wow,” Kimmie said. “I didn’t know that. I haven’t charged it since we were at the house back in Sykesville, but it lasts up to five days without a charge.”
I felt the band in my hand, then threw it into the bushes.
“Well, now it’ll die out here.”
I grabbed my bag, then swung it over my shoulder. “But it won’t be long before they track us to this place, so we should keep moving.”
Chapter 60
We walked most of the night, then found a rest area where we used the restrooms, making sure to pull up our hoodies and jackets to cover our faces from the surveillance cameras. I then pulled out a burner phone and called my dad.
“I need your help with something.”
“You in trouble, kid?” he asked, trying to sound fatherly. It always took me by surprise since I hadn’t known him most of my life while growing up. We had reconnected late in life after I forgave him for kidnapping my sister and taking her away from me for my entire childhood. It wasn’t something I had done easily, and I was still working on accepting him acting like a father. He was a very skilled hacker who worked for big cybersecurity companies, at least that’s what he told me. I had a feeling I didn’t really want to know what he did for a living, but I would come to him from time to time for help, and I sensed he enjoyed that.
“You can say that again. I can’t tell you any details, but I need you to find out everything you can about a man named John Savage. Right now, he’s the News Director of WBC News and Richard Wanton’s right hand.”
I figured it had to be him when Kimmie mentioned the name John. I knew him by reputation only, but he was a pretty big name in the media industry.
“John Savage, okay. And what do you want to know?”
I exhaled. “Just anything you can find. I suspect he played a role in killing the young girl who fell from the rooftop deck of Wanton’s apartment a few weeks ago. Can you find his alibi for that night? Was he questioned during the investigation?”
“Okay, but why don’t you ask Isabella Horne these questions? Weren’t you working with her on this case?”
“It’s a long story. I’m not sure I trust her or anyone inside the FBI right now. I’m not taking any chances that they find us again.”
“Again? That doesn’t sound good, Eva Rae. Are you sure you’re safe?”
I looked around me as a white van drove up and parked not far from where I was standing. My heart started to pound in my chest. Was that them? Had they found us? Or maybe someone was watching me from the blue car parked in the corner?
A young couple jumped out and walked right past me. A black car drove up behind it and got my attention.
You’re being paranoid, Eva Rae. Focus.
“What are you up to, Eva Rae?” My dad asked. “Are you okay?”
I exhaled. “I have to go. I’ll call you another time, Dad. Just find me everything you can about the guy, okay?”
I hung up, thinking this was a mistake. There probably wasn’t anything my dad could find that would help me find out if he was actually in the apartment or not. I needed to know his role in it and whether he was a witness or an accomplice. Somehow, I felt like he held the key I needed to find. But Kimmie wasn’t talking anymore to me about it, and what I really needed to find out was why she was so keen on protecting him. Had he maybe threatened her? Did he have something on her to make her keep quiet about him being there?
Or was it something else entirely?
Kimmie and Tristan sat on a bench, and I threw out the burner phone in the trash bin, then walked toward them, wondering how I would solve this puzzle and keep them both safe at the same time.
How on earth will this ever end well?
I approached them as another car came toward us, and I felt my pulse quicken once again. Kimmie and Tristan had bought some snacks at a vending machine that they were eating, and I grabbed a Snickers bar, then chewed it fast while looking at them, then at the car that passed us at that instant.
“We should get moving,” I said. “It’s too dangerous to stay here.”
“Where are we going?” Tristan asked as he got up. He was getting tired, and so was Kimmie. I had to find somewhere for us to stay soon. We all needed at least a couple of hours of sleep and a shower.
“I wish I knew,” I said and grabbed my bag.
Chapter 61
THEN:
They went out after work. It was just a small group of people, so Samantha thought it would be okay to say yes, even though she felt very insecure. For a few weeks, she had been focusing on her work, and only that, yet still felt like all eyes were on her. She believed she heard their whispering voices in the corners and by the coffee machine behind her back every day and was certain that everyone knew about her and Wanton.
Everyo
ne knew, and everyone talked.
Wanton had started writing to her again. After she called him, he had begun writing sweet messages every day. He mostly commented on her outfit, telling her she looked cute or gorgeous, stuff like that. She had to admit, she enjoyed his attention, but she feared he wanted more than that. So, she stayed away from him as much as possible. It wasn’t that hard since he wasn’t often in the newsroom as he was mainly in the offices at the top of the building. But now and then, he peeked down to say hello, and then he’d smile and sometimes wink at her, making her blush.
The bar they usually went to after work was a small Irish pub around the corner from the building where they worked. They were just eight people going in, and she wasn’t the only intern. Two others were with her, and she knew she could sit with them at the bar.
Samantha ordered a beer as she sat down with the other interns. That’s when she spotted the News Director, John Savage, walk-in. He waved at some of the other journalists, then walked to sit with some of them. He smiled secretively at Samantha as he walked past the interns. It made her feel uncomfortable, and she lowered her eyes to avoid his.
“How’s your story coming along?” One of the interns, Jacob, asked. “I heard you’re working on something big? You’re still a legend for that mayor story, at least among the interns, just so you know it.”
That made Sam smile. She had received no recognition for that story, and even though that was the way it usually went for interns, it still bummed her out. Maybe because she was so close to actually getting to do it herself, getting her name on TV, and then it was taken away.