by Meg Ripley
“I—who are you? What do you know about my troubles?” she looked around quickly, to see if there was anyone loitering in the parking lot at the bank who might come to her aid; it was almost suspiciously empty, just one or two people walking with self-absorbed determination towards the entrance or back to their cars.
“Name’s Dylan,” the man said. “As for what I know about your troubles: I know you probably got a phone call not too long ago that you have no idea how to trace, regarding a very large sum of money you recently came into.” Rachel stared at him in shock; how could he possibly know what’s going on?
“You—were you the one—” she shook her head, looking around in panic again, reflexively grabbing at her car door.
“No, Love. I’m not the one who’s after you. But I know who is—and you’re going to need me around. I got dropped off here to wait for you to come out, so I don’t have a car to my name, and you don’t really need to be driving anywhere alone just now. So, how’s about you unlock the car, let me in, and crawl over to the passenger side; then you can tell me where we’re going.” For a long moment, Rachel considered refusing. She looked around again, but there was no one around. They were alone in the parking lot. She had her phone—but if this Dylan person had bad intentions for her, she doubted he would let her get a call out to anyone. If he had bad intentions, he wouldn’t have even let me stand here this long, he’d probably have just grabbed me… he did say he was dropped off… how stupid do you have to be to take someone’s words at face value when you’ve already been threatened by someone else? She took a deep breath.
“Can I make a phone call first?” she asked. Dylan raised one dark eyebrow from behind the sunglasses he wore.
“Don’t see as it would change anything. I’d recommend against calling the police—the folks who are after you are in pretty deep with them, and at best you won’t be taken seriously.” Rachel swallowed. Should she trust him at all? “I swear to you, Rachel, I’m here to help; I’m not going to get you into the car and cart you off to someone else. Get in, tell me where we’re going, and that is precisely where I’ll take you.” Rachel hesitated a moment longer, trying to decide to what extent—if any—she could trust the stranger. She sighed; he had her blocked off. She was within arm’s reach. Rachel took a deep breath and turned her back to Dylan, opening the car door and crawling from the driver’s side to the passenger side.
Dylan swung into the driver’s side and snatched up the keys from Rachel’s nervous hands, inserting one into the ignition and turning it. As the car roared to life, Rachel pulled the seatbelt around, glancing at Dylan as misgivings filled her mind. “So, tell me where we’re going, Love.”
****
Rachel paced back and forth along the rug in her tiny living room, able to feel Dylan’s gaze on her but, for the moment, caring very little about his presence. “Do you want something to eat?” He asked her.
Rachel stopped, turning slightly to look at the man sitting on the couch, staring up at her with a slightly sardonic smile curving his lips. “What?”
Dylan shrugged, stretching his arms over his head, glancing around the room. “I asked if you wanted something to eat. Worrying is hungry work.” He stood in a quick, fluid movement that made Rachel take a few startled steps backward, glancing at her before he walked towards the kitchen. For a moment, she simply stared at his back, her mouth slightly open in shock. He had had the audacity to accost her in a parking lot, to bully her into giving him her car keys, and when they had arrived at her apartment, he had taken her keys with him, holding a hand out as they approached her door to forestall her. He had walked right into her house after unlocking the door and left her standing outside before beckoning her in behind him.
“What are you doing?”
Dylan turned, one dark eyebrow raised as he glanced at her. He had taken the sunglasses off when they came into the apartment; he had wide-set, dark hazel eyes that seemed entirely too full of knowledge for Rachel to comfortably meet them. “Getting something to eat. I thought I’d get you something as well—cranky women tend to be hungry women.”
Rachel crossed her arms over her chest as the blood rushed into her cheeks. “I am not a cranky woman!” she said, knowing she sounded petulant but unable to help herself. “Even if I was cranky, don’t you think mysterious threatening phone calls and random strangers who force you into your car and take your keys are perfectly good reasons?”
Dylan leaned against her fridge, his gaze traveling up and down over her body, taking her in. “I didn’t force you into your car,” he said slowly. “I advised you very strongly to get in your car and let me drive us to wherever you wanted to go.”
Rachel pressed her lips together, taking a deep breath. “You’re still a random stranger and you—you bullied me into doing what you wanted.” She scowled at him, resenting herself for going along with it and resenting him for being there, looking completely unfazed by her irritation.
“That tends to come with the territory of being hired to protect someone. And we’re all random strangers ‘til we get to know one another.”
“Stop being so reasonable!” Rachel’s hands clenched into fists. “What do you mean hired to protect someone?”
Dylan pulled himself back into an upright position, turning away from her and opening the fridge. He leaned in, and Rachel heard the sound of the fridge’s contents moving around, shuffling plastic and shifting glass on metal racks. “This looks promising,” Dylan said, standing up once more and producing a Tupperware container full of leftover steak tips and mushrooms. He looked around and plucked a wrapped-up baguette from the top of the fridge where Rachel had left it.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she said, losing her instinctive fear as her anger rose up.
“I don’t actually have to, you know,” Dylan pointed out. He moved to the counter, reaching for the knife block with one hand, pulling a cutting board down onto the counter with the other. “There’s enough here for two; sure you’re not hungry?”
Rachel closed her eyes, her fists tightening convulsively for a moment before she took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “How the hell is this my life?” she asked no one in particular, opening her eyes and looking up at the ceiling.
“You got lucky; some people don’t appreciate it when others catch a bit of luck. And here we are.” Rachel tore her gaze from the ceiling and watched as Dylan nonchalantly cut the loaf of bread in half. He cracked the seal on the Tupperware container and opened the microwave door, putting the steak tips and mushrooms into the box with the ease of practice. Rachel took a few steps into the kitchen, pushing Dylan aside; he shifted away from the counter, and she turned towards the fridge once more, withdrawing a packet of provolone cheese.
“So, you’re not going to tell me anything?” she said, not even looking at him as she arranged the slices along the halves of the loaf.
“I didn’t say that, now did I? I said I don’t have to tell you anything.”
Rachel sighed. The microwave beeped and she ruthlessly punched the door open button, snatching up the Tupperware container and pulling the lid the rest of the way off. “What will it take for you to tell me what the hell is going on?” She finally looked at him; Dylan was smiling slightly, watching her with a look in his eyes she wasn’t sure she liked.
“Every man has a price,” he said.
Rachel held his glance for a moment longer and turned her attention back onto the food, reaching blindly to pull the silverware drawer open and taking out a fork. She arranged the leftover meat and vegetables on top of the cheese, put one half of the loaf on top of the other, and cut through the sandwich in a few fast movements, snatching up one half and retreating back into the living room. Dylan followed her into the living room and sat down with the other half of the sandwich and they both ate in silence.
“Let me get this straight,” she said, licking her fingers and brushing the crumbs off of her lap. “If I want to know who’s threatening me, who hired you, an
d why anyone has the slightest interest in keeping me alive, I have to pay you?”
“I seem to recall that you have a lot more money than you’re used to having—a fair windfall. I don’t think you’ll miss a thousand or so, do you?”
“A thousand or so,” Rachel said, looking at him levelly. “How exactly are you supposed to keep me safe if I don’t know who you’re keeping me safe from?”
“You don’t need to know; not right now. If the time comes when it’s necessary to your survival to know who it is, then in accordance with the job I was hired to do, I’ll tell you. Consider the thousand an expediting fee.”
Rachel turned her mind onto the problem; she had never lacked for intelligence—in spite of her dead-end career, she had always been relatively quick on the uptake, and if it weren’t for the multiple shocks of the day, she cherished the thought that she probably would have put together more of the situation sooner. “Let me see how much of this I can figure out on my own,” she said, eyeing the man a few feet away from her. “I somehow became the beneficiary of a large chunk of money that someone took great pains to send to me anonymously.” Dylan nodded. “Some other people—you won’t tell me who—are upset that I got this money and want to take it from me.” He nodded again. “Someone else hired you to keep me from getting killed.”
“I’ll give you this for free: the same person who gave you the money hired me.”
Rachel thought for a long moment. “Why on earth would someone give me a boatload of money if they knew they’d also have to hire someone to protect me for having it?”
Dylan shrugged, still smiling faintly. “Maybe they thought you deserved it. Maybe they like you. It’s not really a question I asked. I was told to keep you alive, to make sure the money doesn’t get taken from you.”
“How much are they paying you?”
Dylan chuckled. “If I’m not going to tell you who they are, how do you think you’ll convince me to tell you how much they’re paying?”
“How much money do you want for that?” Rachel raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. Dylan’s smile spread over his face.
“That piece of information isn’t for sale, Love. Besides, you’d be a piss-poor investment for my client if you were the type to fritter your money away so easily.”
Rachel stood. “Get out of my house,” she said, keeping her voice calm with an effort.
“Can’t do that—orders. I don’t take payment from someone without doing the job.”
“I don’t even get a say in this? What if I leave?”
“Then I will be leaving with you.”
“You can’t follow me everywhere.”
“I can follow you anywhere that matters.”
Rachel frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Dylan shrugged. “You’re unlikely to be assaulted in the bathroom. One window, one door—you’re on the third floor so it’d be tough for someone to climb up and get to you there.”
“My whole apartment is on the third floor; wouldn’t my bedroom be just as unlikely?”
Dylan smiled, his lips twitching, his dark eyes gleaming with suppressed laughter. “Are you asking if I would follow you into your bedroom?” Rachel’s blood rushed to her face. “The answer is yes; your bedroom’s a much larger space than your bathroom. Sure, they’d have to climb to get at you easily, but there’s that convenient balcony off the side. Besides, if you’re in your bedroom, chances are fair you’re sleeping—easy to sneak up on you.”
“They said…” Rachel pressed her lips together, feeling a spurt of fear. “They said that they know where I am at all times.” She glanced at Dylan, swallowing against the dry, tight feeling in her throat.
“That they do,” Dylan agreed. “Which is why I’m here. They know I’m here—that will have put them off their strategy for a little while. For the moment, you’re safe.”
“Can’t I just—I don’t know—give them the money? I mean…” she licked her lips. “I’m starting to think that quitting my job was a huge mistake.” Rachel cringed.
“That dead-end thing? Of course you should have quit! You’re a smart, beautiful girl and shouldn’t settle for such a thankless job.” Rachel felt her cheeks warming up again at the words ‘smart’ and ‘beautiful.’ He shrugged. “Why should you give up the money? It’s not like the people who want it deserve it any more than you do.”
“Do they deserve it any less?”
Dylan’s gaze shifted off of her face. “That would give you a hint,” he said. “I told you I’m not going to tell you anything about them unless it’s necessary to keep you alive, or unless you pay me a thousand dollars.”
Rachel slid her tongue over her teeth, considering. “So,” she said, glancing around her apartment; it looked smaller than usual with Dylan sitting only a few feet away from her. “What do we do now?”
Dylan shrugged. “It’s your life, Love—I’m just guarding it for you.”
“But I can’t leave.”
“You can leave, but I’ll leave with you.”
“What if I had a date?” Rachel smirked.
Dylan tilted his head to the side slightly. “Do you?”
Rachel blushed once more. “If I did. What—I mean…” she gestured to him.
“Then I would go with you, introduce myself as your bodyguard, and give you a little privacy.”
“Right, because showing up with a huge, good-looking guy isn’t going to put anyone off.”
Dylan’s eyes glimmered. “When your life’s in danger, I don’t think dating should be at the top of your priorities list. But I thank you for the compliment.”
Rachel stood, deciding abruptly that she needed to use the bathroom. She turned and pretended to ignore Dylan while her heart beat a little faster in her chest, her cheeks burning. You really only have his word for it that he’s here to help you, she thought. He could be keeping you in one place until whoever’s coming after you manages to get here. Rachel sat on the ledge of the bathtub, staring at the closed door. Somehow, she didn’t think it was likely that she could find a way to get through the front door of her apartment without Dylan noticing.
She heard movement from the living room; the groan of the couch, footfalls in the hallway leading to the bathroom and her bedroom next to it. Rachel sighed. In less than a week, her life had gone from one form of hell to another, it seemed. She no longer had to worry about waking up early to go to a job that would never get any better. But now, even though she was financially independent, someone decided that they wanted her newly found fortune. She couldn’t call the cops; she didn’t know the extent to which she could trust Dylan, but she reasoned that anyone who was going to go through the kind of trouble of making threatening phone calls from carefully concealed numbers probably wouldn’t balk—if they had the means—at keeping the police from investigating the situation.
But what do I really know about the situation? She knew that she had two million dollars to her name. She knew that Dylan had showed up after the phone call, and seemed to know more about the situation than she did. She knew that people didn’t typically give away millions of dollars without good reason. She knew that she was probably in danger; whoever had called her had made it clear that they were determined.
Suddenly, she heard a sound--a crunching, groaning, cracking sound.
“Stay put,” Dylan said through the door. Rachel’s heart started beating faster. A fleeting temptation to follow him flitted through her mind. She heard his steps retreating down the hall, away from her. Rachel looked around the bathroom. There wasn’t much that could serve as a realistic weapon for her; the towel rack didn’t appear very solid, and none of her toiletries were in particularly heavy packaging. Rachel swallowed.
Far away, on the other side of the door, she heard a shout; there was a muffled thud, the sound of boots scraping against the floor, scuffing noises and grunts. Rachel sat down uneasily, thinking that if nothing else, Dylan was demonstrating—she hoped—that his assignmen
t to protect her was genuine. It could be a set-up, she thought anxiously. Lull me into a false sense of security and then lead me straight to whoever is after me. She didn’t know what to believe; Dylan’s refusal to give her any information—or very little information at all—was difficult to reconcile with the idea of someone who had her interests at heart. My interest isn’t in his heart, she thought bleakly. It’s in his wallet. What happens if they offer him more money?
“You can come out now, Love,” Dylan called. Rachel hesitated; she realized abruptly that the struggling, fighting sounds had ceased. She looked around the bathroom again, sucking her bottom lip between her teeth as she considered her options. None of her toiletries were particularly heavy, but she at least had the soap dish. She grabbed it, swallowing against the tight feeling in her throat. It wouldn’t do much at all, but if Dylan tried to attack her—or if he was merely lulling her with sounds of struggle, to ambush her with whoever had broken in—it might buy her just enough of a moment to get away. I’ll have to grab my keys. I’ll need my purse. My phone. Or I could just run, and hope that someone will be kind enough to help me. She sighed, shaking her head.
Gripping the soap dish tightly in her hand, she opened the bathroom door, cringing at the faint mechanical squeak of the hinges. Rachel walked as quickly and as quietly as she could through the hall, her heart beating as fast as a rabbit’s in her chest. She cocked her hand, preparing to throw or smash the soap dish against or at whoever might jump out, and took the final step into the living room.
A man lay sprawled on her floor, head turned to the side, either unconscious or—as Rachel’s mind reeled at the sight—possibly dead. She stared in shock, trying to discern some kind of familiarity; some kind of clue as to who he was. The man was utterly nondescript; even if she could go to the police, she wasn’t sure she would be able to come up with any one identifying feature that could lead to his capture—if he wasn’t already dead.