by M. Garnet
I leaned against the wall just trying to catch my breath. I took a minute to decide what had happened. I noticed that the crowd was thinning out. I knew that Connie would be looking for me. I pushed off and was surprised that my legs moved properly because my hands were shaking. I found Connie on the sidewalk, talking to a couple of guys, as usual. They all looked over at me greeting me with a smile from all three.
“Michelle, these nice gentlemen have invited us out for a drink. What do you say?” Connie accompanied this with a flutter of eyelashes at the guys.
I hesitated, then tried a smile again. “Sorry, everyone, but I ate something that didn’t agree with me.” I just pushed past them, heading for my jeep. I was almost to the jeep in the large parking lot when Connie finally caught up with me. I was still shaking inside and knew I needed to sit down before the shaking reached my legs.
“Hey, that was pretty rude. Are you really sick?”
Connie tried to keep up with me, but I didn’t slow down. I got to the jeep, slid in, fastened my belt, and started the motor. She fumbled with the door, taking a moment climbing into the high step to get into her seat in that tight short skirt of hers.
“Michelle, are you mad at me? What happened?”
I pulled out impatiently into the traffic lines of the cars, leaving the movie parking lot to the main road. Finally, I realized I really was gripping the wheel too tight. I needed to get some control. I tried some deep breaths and I deliberately drove slower. I felt myself calm down, but I knew I was still scared. Okay, this guy was following me, not Connie. It was me that had been pulled against the wall. Connie was long gone in the flow of bodies, finding men to flirt with. I was the one looking into the dangerous dark eyes too close for comfort.
When I finally steadied my breathing and felt I could speak, caught up with her, and we got into my car, I exclaimed, “Connie, I have a stalker.”
Connie was tying a scarf around her hair, but she looked over at me. “The hunk?”
She was only playing dumb. She was right on when it came to good-looking men.
“Yes.” I drove carefully, keeping to the outside lane.
“You sure he is a problem? I mean, he really is handsome in a rugged way. Sex pours off him like the guy in the movie.”
I looked over at her and she made me smile. Only Connie could do that under such serious conditions. Then, I got a shiver down my back.
“I am sure he took papers out of my jeep, so he knows my name and address. He was in the crowd in there. I was getting pushed around by the crowd and he pulled me out to the side, then took off.” I took a deep breath remembering the eyes.
Connie looked over at me. I could see her movement out of the corner of my eye. “Well, taking the papers isn’t nice, but so far everything else seems okay. I mean, he helped save me, and now he helped save you from a crowd. Are you sure he means any harm? Maybe it is just that he would like to meet you.”
I quickly looked at her, but then rapidly put my eyes back at the road. Connie still believes in Cinderella and Prince Charming.
“No, I am getting some kind of bad vibe from him.”
Connie sat silently through a red light before she spoke, “What, you think he wants to hurt you? What I mean is that guys who beat up women wear cut up tee shirts and forget to take baths. He is too cute to be a serial killer and I don’t think I saw him on TV as a bank robber.”
Oh, Connie, sweet Connie.
“I don’t know. The funny thing is, I don’t know. I am so mixed up. I feel like I am in some kind of danger. Like tonight, when he looked down at me, I felt safe, like he wouldn’t hurt me.” I shook my head. “I am one confused idiot, but I do know, I don’t want to be around him. There is danger and I just can’t figure what kind or what it involves.”
We drove on in silence and we were almost to Connie’s house before I felt the need to unload some more.
“I get the feeling that he is trying to find out something, but I don’t know what it is.” I pulled in her driveway.
Connie sat for a moment and then slowly got out.
“Call me over the weekend so we can talk. You scare me and I think you need some help. You know…someone to talk to.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek and was gone.
I drove home thinking about her words. Was I really losing it? Had some nice guy just happened to be in the wrong place and I read too much into it? Had my warning signal finally proved to be just a silly flutter in my brain that said I was a little nuts? Maybe I did need to talk to someone.
Years ago, when my parents were still there to support me, there had been an effort to get me some help. Two tries, and they both had been disastrous.
The first was with a nice lady who was so sweet that I felt she needed to take an insulin shot after each meeting. Of course, the lady agreed with everything I said and agreed that I did have special talents. She also felt the only answer for me was drugs. Fortunately, my parents said Hell No and decided to wait a couple of years.
The next time, a teacher recommended me to an older man who was doing testing and, surprise, I tested off the charts for some special thing or other. No one would tell my parents what the test results were. When the man suggested that my parents sign me over to his care, they decided it was time to have me change schools to that special one I wanted to go to that taught history as well as computer science.
But my parents sat down with me and talked. They knew I had talents, but they both agreed it might be better to keep it concealed. Good idea.
Chapter Three
I got no sleep that night and not much more Sunday night. When I went to work on Monday, I had dark circles under my eyes. I got some teasing about having too much fun on the weekend. I went with it, easier than the truth. My work was way off for the next couple of days because my mind wasn’t on my job. It was on the tall man with dark eyes. Steve didn’t complain although he did look worried.
I saw my tormenter twice in the distance during the week, but both times, he was moving away, not looking at me. He seemed to be looking around, checking out buildings. Once outside my bank, then again when I was in traffic going home.
There were five days without any glimpse of him and without any Michelle warning system giving off alarms.
The following Monday, I came out of work, turned out of the parking lot into traffic. I saw a Hummer pass along with all the other heavy traffic. This wasn’t unusual. With a military base close in the area, many families also liked the big Hummers, but I instantly felt my alarm go off. I sat for a moment, heard the guy behind me honk several times, and looked to see what might be the warning signal. No semi bearing down on me.
I turned, but I moved over into the center lane of the three-lane road among the heavy traffic. I got a strange tingle along my spine. The hair on my neck was moving. I was one car back of the Hummer. At the next light, I was a little higher in my jeep than the car ahead. I could see into the Hummer and I saw a head with brown hair streaked blond by the sun. Oh, shit.
I gripped my hands tightly on the steering wheel. That had been the warning signal. When I came to my turn off, I was still in the center lane. I hadn’t moved to the left turn lane. I dropped back to allow a couple of cars to pull in between my jeep and the Hummer. What was I doing? I had my warning, so if I was smart, I would turn left at the next light and go back towards my home. But I did not seem to have the smart button pushed as I just moved with the heavy traffic, following the large vehicle.
Maybe it was because he had followed me for so long—it felt good to be on the offense for a change. I missed the next traffic light watching the Hummer move on as the heavy traffic from the side street pulled in between us. At last, the light changed. I carelessly crossed from lane to lane, moving up until I saw the top of the Hummer, but it was now in the right lane.
I stayed in the center lane watching the Hummer turn down a quiet side street. I moved to the right lane and turned down the next side street. The f
irst block was run- down houses that had seen better days. There was no foot traffic. The second block was vacated storefronts with small empty warehouses. I turned back towards the way I thought he might have turned, driving slowly. I looked down the next street, but didn’t see anything. I was almost past the next when I saw the back of the Hummer behind a building, parked in an alley. I sat for a moment, then pulled back, turning into the street to drive past the Hummer.
There was no one around. I went up about twenty feet, parked and got out. I knew I was running on adrenalin and out of my mind. My warning signal was off the chart. I should be in that little jeep heading toward home. But here I stood acting like a fool. I looked around to see that there was no one in sight. I stayed close to the front of the building until I got to the Hummer. I leaned forward so that I could look down the alley. It was clear. My warning signal was tying up my stomach, but I refused to throw up.
I slowly approached the Hummer. When I reached it, I rose up on tiptoes, but there was no one in it. By this time, my stomach was one solid pain. I turned to run into a wall in the shape of a man’s body. I was pinned by his body to the Hummer. I looked up at the black eyes trying to melt into the metal of the vehicle.
“What are you doing here?” His voice was low and rich, almost a whisper that was in my ear, but not carrying up the alleyway.
I shook my head because I really didn’t have an answer. Then, I heard a noise up the alley. He heard it, too because he turned his head that way, but he didn’t move away from me. I looked in the direction of the noise and saw two men moving against the building.
I heard him say a harsh word low, then he opened the door of the Hummer. He pushed me upward towards the seat. I hesitated, but the look he gave me told me that there was something going down and that I did not want to interfere. For some strange reason, the danger signal wasn’t coming from him. I let him push me into the high vehicle, his strong hand shoving me down below the windshield.
He closed the door quietly. From my prone position, I watched him move forward until he got out of sight of the window. I remained sprawled over the large console in the center. Finally unable to stand not knowing, I sat up slowly. I think I had a death wish with me this day.
He was against the wall with one man beside him. The other had stepped out, holding a gun in his hand. The three of them stood for a moment, frozen. The guy against the wall was saying something, but it was so low, I couldn’t hear. Then, the man with the gun brought it up to point it at him. Everything happened so fast that I didn’t think I could repeat the details to anyone.
I knew he struck out at the gun as he drew in the man next to him. Then, there was a lot of violent fast movement with the two men on the ground. Both weren’t moving. There seemed to be a lot of blood, all on them. I couldn’t believe what I saw, but I wasn’t sure if they were alive or not.
He stooped over and went through their pockets. I still had that alarm feeling going off. At last my survival button turned on. I slowly opened the door, sliding out of the Hummer. I moved back around the vehicle, then ran back to my jeep.
By the time I got to it, I had my keys out. I had the motor running and in gear without even using the seat belts. I glanced back in the mirror, but saw nothing as I skidded around a corner. I then gunned my fast little vehicle, skidding around another corner that sent me back to the main thoroughfare. It was a Stop sign, but I swept into the traffic immediately to move over to the center lane, irritating a few drivers. I found a turn lane that let me make a U-turn and I headed back towards home.
The ride home was torture. I watched more through the rear view mirror for a Hummer than I did in front, but at last, I made the turn into my complex. I made my way to my little garage. I pushed the automatic garage door button, pulled in and pushed the button to close the door before I even had the motor shut off. I sat in the jeep with the motor off, hearing the small noises it made as it cooled down.
I wasn’t sure, but I thought I had seen him at least beat up two men into unconsciousness. He had possibly even killed them. I thought I had witnessed a crime by someone who had my address. Now, do I go to the police? I still didn’t know what to tell them. I didn’t know his name. He could really claim that all he did was defend himself from a couple of guys. If the guys weren’t hurt as bad as they looked, they would be gone and I had no proof.
I went through another couple of sleepless nights. I didn’t leave the house without looking out windows or watching through my rearview mirror. I flinched whenever I saw a Hummer. I took my lunches to work to eat at my desk. I looked at my jeep and around the parking lot before leaving the office. Whenever possible, I walked with other workers. I was so paranoid that every tall guy had me shivering or crossing the street or driving out of my way.
Then, one evening, we had worked late. We had all walked out to the parking lot together. We were half way from the curb when the Michelle danger alarm went off. I just grabbed one of my co-workers and pulled fast as we both went forward into a center curb covered with grass. We both fell forward as we heard the crash—the loud boom made when two vehicles came together was behind us. We heard the cries of people that were hurt along with the screams of surprised bystanders.
Bill, my co-worker and I rolled over. We looked in shock at the mess behind us where we had been standing. Unfortunately, one of our office staff was one of the victims hit, thrown a few feet past us. Bill went back towards the cars as I went over to the girl tossed on the tarmac past us. As I got there, someone else was there a second before me. He told her not to move, then looked at me with those black eyes.
I halted for only a moment, but concern for the girl let me move in to her. As I knelt down, he looked at me over her.
“She should be okay. Looks like a broken leg.” He nodded at the leg that was bleeding showing a strange bump. He moved back on his heels as if to give me room to take care of her.
I knew better than to try to move her, so I just took her hand, assuring her help was on the way. I pulled out my cell and with one hand dialed 911. I reported the accident, aware that he was watching me. I refused to look back at those eyes so I just hung onto the girl. I looked around waiting for the distant sirens to reach us.
“You moved out of the way before the accident,” he said in a low voice.
There was a lot of noise around us as people were rushing in to help the cries they’d heard. I could hear his voice. It was as if it carried to my ears for some reason. I finally looked at him as I held her hand. I felt I had to say something. “A warning, inside. Happens sometimes.” I stared at the dark eyes. This close, I could see that they were entirely black, so that one couldn’t distinguish the iris.
He sat on his heels for another moment, looking at me. He actually seemed to be trying to figure out a puzzle, then the sirens began to come closer. He looked around and stood up. With one last look down at me, he turned and moved off. There was a crowd forming. He had no trouble disappearing. Funny, the warning signal vibe wasn’t from him. I was more confused than I had been before I had first seen him.
It took another hour for me to get away from the accident. I had to get people to move to back my jeep out, but at last, I could head for home. I was gratified to find out that both of my co-workers had not sustained life-threatening injuries. Unfortunately, the people in the cars were a lot worse off.
When I got home, there was a message on my phone from Steve. He was going to close the office for a couple of days due to the accident. Everyone would get paid. He was so nice. I agreed with him wholeheartedly. I needed time to think. We all needed time to pull ourselves together. We needed to visit our co-workers at the hospitals and think about re-arranging our office duties.
I felt the man with the dark eyes was following me or at least knew where I was. There was a nice State Park close by. It had trails to walk or jog with a couple of decent size lakes. I had a plan that I knew would work.
* * * *
F. J.
Franklin
“Sir, sorry to interrupt, but we have had a strange field report that I felt you would want to know about.” The man dressed in plain black military fatigues had stopped Franklin just as he was about to leave for the airport out of Washington. He frowned at the young brawny man who was holding out a snapped security folder.
His driver, seeing him hesitate spoke. “Sir, we don’t really have much time.”
“Come with me while I read this in case I have questions.”
In the back seat of the plain government sedan, he read the report. “Okay, we had a covert operator deep in a drug cartel under a contract we had with an outside source, and unfortunately he got killed in an alley drug sale. Why would this be of interest to me?”
“Sir, we got two items that add up to one individual that you are interested in, one that you have put out a bullet on. First, our team followed the drug implant and stumbled across a man two times that matches Myers’ description.”
“Stop.” The Commander’s voice was so loud that the driver immediately threw on the brakes, causing horns to blast behind them. “No, no, continue driving.” He took a deep breath, fighting the wild anger. “Why am I just now being told of the sightings?”
“Sir, the sightings were only glimpses from a distance and not confirmed. The team was deep into a project. They didn’t report it verbally, but just included it in normal reports. We wouldn’t have noticed it except for the death of our insert. It seems that there were several of the drug workers, including our insert. Here is the strange part, though, the witness claims the entire group was taken out by one man. He wasn’t aware that there was a witness. He came from one end of the alley, and parked at the other end of the alley was a driver who had been instructed to stay in a car with the engine running.”