by Joe Pascente
Across the street from where Jacobi was slowing down, was a house that looked under construction. It looked like an old house had been bulldozed and what was left was just a junkyard of a construction site.
As the motorcycle slowed down, Angela felt quite relieved when they finally pulled up to one of the basic-looking houses on this suburban street. They had made it to the safe house. Jacobi pulled up into the driveway and parked the motorcycle, helping Angela off the bike.
They walked up to the front door, but this door was not like any of the other front doors on this block. It didn’t have a key lock, but a number pad on the side. Jacobi pressed a series of numbers, pushed his hand onto the gel pad, and the door unlocked with a soft beeping chirping sound.
Walking into this house, Angela already felt a sense of safety. The windows were barred and after Jacobi shut the door, it automatically locked with steel reinforcements. This place was more than just a suburban safe house. There was no way anyone could get through the front door. Angela tried to observe the layout of this house.
The first thing Angela noticed after walking through the front door was a beautiful chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the foyer. It wasn’t overkill, it was just right for this space. Standing in the foyer, Angela looked at the staircase to the second floor leading to a long hallway. The brass railing looked old and dusty, completely out of touch with the rest of the modern looking interior. The ceramic tile under Angela’s bare feet felt cold and gave her a sense of soothing relief that she didn’t know she was so desperately in need of. She looked down at the partially bloody footprints she was trailing behind her and apologized to Jacobi. He scoffed as if that were the least of their worries—which was completely true.
He walked Angela into the dining room, just to the left of the staircase. Angela peered out the large window looking into the front lawn. She smiled holding onto the bars that covered this window. This place was virtually a fortress and she could finally feel a sense of safety that she hadn’t felt the entire day while they were on the run.
Jacobi showed her the adjoining family room that was bare in decorations, but oddly there were hundreds of cluttered newspapers on the large sofa. There was a television mounted on the wall, but nothing else was in the room. This room was attached to the kitchen, which was small in size, but very contemporary in design.
“Make yourself at home,” Jacobi said, with a small smirk on his face.
He started piling the newspapers off the couch and onto the floor to make room for them.
“I think this is the first time I’ve seen you smile all day. It’s kinda nice.”
Obviously, Jacobi didn’t know how to respond to this, so he used his stoic nature to fill in the silence. Clearing his throat, he grabbed the remote off the sofa and turned the television on.
“Can’t wait to watch some ‘Judge Judy,’ huh?”
Angela took a seat on the sofa and realized just how tired her aching body was from all the torment it had experienced thus far.
“What do you have against ‘Judge Judy’? I wanted to show you all of the camera feeds in this place. Outside and in, so we can both keep watch. I’m confident those people couldn’t have followed us here, but just in case they do happen to find us, I’d like to be prepared.” Jacobi said, pointing to the television, flipping through the channels.
Jacobi flipped back and forth from three different screens of camera feeds. Each screen was a display of the 6 different rooms of the house, or of the various angles of the front and back lawns. The entire property was on camera and no one was getting in without heavy artillery.
After Jacobi showed her the camera feeds, Angela made her way to the kitchen and looked in the fridge. It was stocked with frozen TV dinners and water bottles. She spotted some microwaveable popcorn and knew what her dinner would consist of.
“How long are we staying here for?” she asked.
“When we get word from my boss that we are no longer in danger. Then we can move on, but this is the safest place for us to be in for the time being. If you go upstairs, there should be clothes for each of us to change into. Check the closet in the master bedroom. After we both get washed up, I’ll show you all the in’s and out’s of this place. There’s even a panic room in the basement.” Jacobi said.
“I’m claustrophobic.” Angela stated matter-of-factly.
Jacobi just stared at her face blankly until she smiled. She dug through her beach bag and handed him his phone. There was no reason to keep their phones in the waterproof bags anymore. Angela made her way back to the foyer, walking on the sides of her feet since she didn’t want to bloody up the tiled floor anymore than she already had.
Angela made her way up the staircase holding onto the banister railing. Each step up was a tiny struggle for her aching body. She peeked her head into the first room she came across in the long hallway. It was a guest bedroom with a full size bed, a dresser and a television hung on the wall. There was also a strange looking plant placed in the corner of the room, oddly out of place.
Angela placed her beach bag down in the hallway, and looked into the guest bedroom again, this time noticing something on one of the plant’s stems. There was a white piece of paper attached to it and Angela’s curiosity got the best of her. She walked into the room and knelt beside the plant to read the note.
You are safe here.
She smiled to herself, knowing this was true. As she began to stand upright, a slight metallic glimmer in the dirt of the plant caught her eye. She moved a bit of the dirt away with her hand and slowly pulled out a small handgun buried in it. She brushed it off, looked around the room and up at the small camera in the top corner of the bedroom. There was a red light blinking from it and she knew Jacobi was probably watching her at this very moment. She placed the gun back into the dirt and covered it up. She brushed her hands off and walked out of this room, picking up her beach bag and continued down the hall into the master bedroom.
This room was a bit more decorative, with paintings on the wall and a coffee table with a tea set resting upon it at the foot of the bed. The carpet felt nice on her swollen feet and without any hesitation, Angela collapsed on the comfortable king size bed. She rested there for a couple minutes grabbing onto one of the pillows. Everything smelled fresh and clean—unlike her own body odor.
She managed to get back on her feet and walked directly to the closet. It was much bigger than she had anticipated. Half of the closet was filled with men’s clothing and the other side was filled with female clothing options. The choices were of limited size and fashion, being mostly suit jackets and pant suits but at least these options didn’t have blood stains and sweat in every fiber. As opposed to the clothing she and Jacobi had been wearing most of the day.
Angela searched through the clothing options and found a black pants suit and some new undergarments that were practically her size. She grabbed all the articles of clothing and made her way to the master bathroom. She began to run the water for a bath as she undressed. She looked at her naked body in the mirror and was surprised to see all the cuts and bruises. The adrenaline had made her oblivious to most of the smaller cuts on her body from the boat explosion.
Easing her beaten up body into the warm water, she felt a stinging sensation in every inch of her skin. Not only was this bath necessary to clean the scrapes on her body, but it was needed to calm her nerves. Angela’s stress levels were at breaking point and this calming bath was the first chance she had to catch her breath and process the insane events of the day.
She thought about Mr. Hicks and how he had died on the beach. She was helpless to save his life and the image of his body was permanently stuck in her mind. A few tears dropped from her eyes as she sank under the bath water.
Downstairs, Jacobi was inspecting every corner of the house, making sure all the components of the security systems were working properly. When he was satisfied, h
e went to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. He used his phone to help him see the back of his cut up head. The cut from the boat explosion wasn’t too bad, it had stopped bleeding, but he needed to put a fresh bandage on it. He grabbed the first aid kit from the kitchen pantry and scoffed at the lack of bandages. There was one butterfly bandage perfect for his wound.
After securing the bandage on the back of his skull, he called Mr. Hornsby to follow up. Mr. Hornsby told him they’d have to spend the night there, until his private jet could be ready to take both Jacobi and Angela to another country for the time being.
Obviously, Mr. Hornsby felt extremely guilty about giving Duke the whereabouts to the safe house and wanted to warn Jacobi about it, but he knew he couldn’t double cross Duke. After all, Duke had promised Jacobi would be safe when they infiltrated the house. The mission was to kill Dr. Haven. And he could live with that betrayal.
After the phone call, Jacobi flipped through the camera feed on the TV and clicked on the master bedroom. Angela was standing by the bed in her bath towel, brushing her hair. She put the hairbrush on the nightstand and dropped her towel. Jacobi looked away while she put her clothes on, as he was a gentleman.
Angela was now dressed and feeling like a new woman. She rummaged through her beach bag and grabbed her cell phone. She called her parents and told them all about the horrible events of the day, and advised them to get somewhere safe immediately. She felt much better knowing they were out of harm’s way since they were practically the only family she had.
She went through her texts and realized she didn’t have many close friends these days, besides her coworkers. She scrolled down and found Jeremy’s name. The man “from her past.” The man in the picture Jacobi had dropped at her house.
Before leaving her hotel suite, Angela made sure to bring the picture of Jeremy into her beach bag. It was an important picture to her, and she wanted it close. Looking at this picture brought up so many memories and she realized she wanted to hear his voice more than anything at this moment. So, she clicked on his name and decided to give him a call. She let it ring three times before Jeremy picked up.
Jeremy answered, “Hello?”
Angela wanted to say so much to her former lover, but no words came out.
“Angela? You there?” he asked.
Still, Angela couldn’t bring herself to say a single word. She ended the phone call and began to cry, once again. The tears were coming down fast now and Angela slid off the bed, onto the carpet floor. She sat there sobbing quietly into her hands.
Still watching the camera feed, Jacobi could see Angela was holding onto the picture of the mysterious man. He wanted more than ever to ask her about him, but he knew it wasn’t his place. He also knew he couldn’t shower and change until she had gotten herself together.
It was only minutes later when Angela came down the stairs with a random makeup bag and told Jacobi the shower was all his.
“Do you know whose makeup bag this is? I found it in the bathroom.”
“It’s one of our previous client’s. She left it here for the next girl that had to escape from her abusive husband. I’m going to clean up now. I’ll be quick.”
Jacobi placed his hands on Angela’s hand as a comforting gesture.
“Oh, please, take your time. That bath was practically spiritual; it felt so good,” Angela said, slipping out of his hands to begin applying eyeliner. “Oh, and I left some antiseptic lotion on the counter, for any cuts you might have to clean up.”
“Appreciate it.” He said, walking out of the room and up the stairs.
Angela sighed watching his large-framed body walk away. She actually loved feeling his hands on hers, but at the same time she felt uncomfortable not knowing if he had regretted kissing her by the dock explosion. Plus, her flirting skills were not topnotch these days.
Jacobi started to unbutton his shirt and plopped it down on the coffee table. He did the same face plant onto the bed as Angela had just done. He needed a minute to feel nothing but the cozy mattress and clean sheets against his body. He smelled a hint of vanilla and lavender coming from the bathroom. The scent seemingly was getting stronger as he walked into the bathroom and saw a dimly lit candle casting various shadows on the wall. Angela had lit a candle to set the mood to her bubble bath.
It’s funny how comfort can transition your mind from survivor mode, to contemplation mode in a matter of seconds. Jacobi was now contemplating the kiss he and Angela had shared just a few hours ago. He wondered if she was thinking about it as much as he had been.
And Angela was thinking about their kiss in that same moment. But, she was also thinking about Jeremy now. The two of them shared a past. He had been the love of her life—thus far. They celebrated holidays, weekend trips to Napa Valley, and snuggled in bed taking turns making breakfast for one another each Sunday morning. Angela thought this man would be her husband. But sometimes, life has other plans for you.
In fact, after the demise of that relationship, she buried herself in her career and hadn’t dated another man since Jeremy. Reporters and TV producers all wanted the scoop on Dr. Haven’s love life—obviously because she was the creator of the one and only love drug on the market. But Dr. Haven never revealed details about her personal life, mostly because she didn’t have much of one.
There were a few reporters who snooped into her life and found Jeremy to interview. He was always kind enough to Angela not to reveal anything about their relationship, no matter how much money was thrown in his direction. The two of them knew the details that led to their split, and they were the only people that needed to know what transpired.
After Angela put on some makeup and looked presentable, she threw some popcorn in the microwave and preheated the oven for a frozen pizza she would “prepare” for Jacobi. This was about the extent of Angela’s cooking skills, as she never had the time to cook a proper meal being in the lab so many hours of her waking life.
Meanwhile, Jacobi found some clean clothes to put on after his relaxing shower and found an extra gun clip in the safe that was hidden in the master bedroom. He took a few deep breaths, feeling a bit queasy. He was getting hungry, having not eaten anything since breakfast.
Too bad this was the exact moment the assassins had pulled up to the next-door neighbors home. Jacobi wouldn’t have a chance to eat his pizza.
He would be much too busy in a matter of minutes.
III. Games Children Play
Bows was the first to exit the blacked-out van. She was wearing an all black outfit that matched everyone else’s apparel on the team. Except she made some last minute touches to make the getup more feminine and fashionable. Her hair was in a tight high ponytail accentuated with a glittery bow, and her lipstick was a shade of dark maroon that resembled a dried-blood color. She had a single hand knife wrapped around her calf, whereas Boulder was armed with several handguns and knives on his utility belt and attached to his bulletproof vest. Worm opened his metallic steel briefcase and grabbed a couple of gadgets that resembled something out of a James Bond novel.
Once all three of the team members were outside the van, they made sure to test their earpiece communication devices. Boulder made a series of hand signals to Bows and Worm and crept to the side of the house. Bows looked at Worm and they both shrugged their shoulders, as neither one of them knew how to interpret what his hand signals meant.
Worm led Bows to the front door and attached the first gadget on it right above where the door handle should’ve been. Since this front door was made to keep intruders out, Worm had quite the challenge opening this door to the fortress. But if anyone could figure out an electronic way of getting inside, it would be him.
“Here, take this. All you have to do is attach it to a door and twist it counter-clockwise. And make sure you move out of the way.” He said, handing Bows a circular metallic device. Bows put it in her back pocket and stepped
away from Worm, letting him do his thing.
Bows looked around the house for any drainpipe or ladder she could climb to a second story window to get inside. But as she examined the windows, she realized they were barred. There would be no getting in through a window to this safe house. Even the window wells to the basement were blocked off, filled with cement.
Bows made her way to the backyard and spotted Boulder crouching down beside a tall tree. She put her hand over her eyes to block the bright sun. The twilight hour was approaching in a few hours time and the sun was at that angle where it was in your eyes no matter where you stood.
Once Boulder made eye contact with Bows, he rolled his eyes and signaled for her to come behind the tree with him. She slowly walked towards the tree as he was mouthing the words, “Move! Get over here!”
She didn’t understand the urgency and outrage he was displaying in a mime-like form. He pulled her behind the tree’s large trunk and scolded her for not following his direct clear hand signals to stay low and stay hidden until Worm could get the front door open. She pushed Boulder away from her as best as her tiny frame could push a 230-pound mountain of a man. She stood behind him and lit a cigarette, intentionally blowing the smoke in his direction, knowing he couldn’t stand the stench.
Off the second story master bedroom, there was a small balcony made out of some sort of wood with iron reinforcements. The door to the balcony was made of some sort of Plexiglas and from what Bows could tell, it didn’t look as if there were any bars covering it. If they could find a ladder of some sort, they could get into the safe house that way.
Worm’s gadget was working on decoding the door’s internal locking mechanism. It was now at 14% and counting. This would definitely take some time. So, meanwhile, Worm got onto his tablet and began hacking into this particular street’s electrical system.
Worm was observant enough to realize there were cameras everywhere on this safe house—inside and out. If he could shut the electrical grid down for the entire street, at least the cameras wouldn’t capture his team trying to get inside. For all he knew, the doctor’s bodyguard could’ve spotted them already. If he could just shut down the grid, the cameras would be shut down and they’d be free to roam around and get in the house without being seen.