Troy was about to answer, when Irene said, “Don’t. She’s not the one for you.”
Troy laughed. “Your time in lockup must have dissolved some of your brain cells.”
“Just the opposite. Oh, Raymond told me to tell you . . . you should have taken him up on his offer.”
“So Raymond’s behind all of this?” Troy asked.
“Of course your little friend doesn’t know it, but he’s the one who killed her father. Major was going to expose all of us. We couldn’t have that, could we?”
Troy was thinking of a way to escape. “Raymond and Major were friends. I don’t believe you.”
Irene leaned her head back and laughed. “In this game nobody’s your friend. It’s every man”—she laughed—“and woman for themselves. You’ve played it long enough to know that.”
“It’s still hard for me to believe. How and why?” Troy asked.
The smile on Irene’s face left. “Excuse me, but this isn’t twenty questions. It’s not about Raymond right now; it’s all about me. And you chose another woman over me, so she’ll pay for that.”
“You better not harm a hair on her body,” Troy stated.
“Too bad you won’t be around too much longer to find out,” Irene said.
“Well, maybe we can work something out,” Troy suggested.
“I knew you would see things my way.”
Troy stood up. He started unzipping his pants. “Is this what you want?”
Irene’s face showed she was surprised. She fanned herself. “Come to Mama.”
Troy leaned on her; then instead of kissing her, he hugged her. She moaned. He used his fingers and touched the pressure points on her neck, knocking her out. “One down, and more to go,” Troy said.
38
Savannah dreamed Troy was whispering in her ear. She opened her eyes and almost shouted when she realized Troy was there in the flesh and whispering in her ear. She grabbed him and hugged him tight.
“Look, we don’t have much time,” he said. “Come on.”
She followed behind him. The house was dark, so it took Savannah’s eyes a minute to adjust. Thankfully, Troy had her by the hand, or they would have gotten separated.
Troy held up his hand to alert her to stop. He pointed to the hallway. She moved back down the hallway. Troy opened up the door that led to another door. He tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. He ran and used his shoulder to get it to open.
The alarms went off. “Grab as much gear as you can,” Troy said as he placed ammunition in his pockets.
Savannah picked up ammunition. “What are these?” Savannah asked.
“These are for night vision. Put one on. Hand me that one,” he said.
Savannah did as instructed. “Looks like we hit pay dirt.”
“Come on,” Troy said.
In her peripheral vision Savannah saw the guard coming. She shouted, “Duck.”
She turned just in time to shoot the guard before he could shoot Troy. In a voice barely above a whisper, Troy said, “Baby, you saved my life.”
Savannah let out a few deep breaths. “I guess this is how Bonnie felt when she was backing up Clyde.”
“Only you would find something to joke about at a time like this,” Troy responded. He shot the lock off the door that led to the outside. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
The room filled with smoke. “I can’t breathe!” Savannah yelled.
“Don’t let go of my hand,” Troy said.
Savannah held on for dear life. The smoke was blinding her. She knew when they had made it to the outside, because the clean air filled her nostrils. She coughed a few times.
“Get down,” Troy said.
She crawled, following Troy. She was so glad for the night vision glasses, because otherwise she would be blind out here in the dark.
“Run, Vanna. Don’t look back. Run!” Troy screamed.
Gunshots could be heard coming from behind them. Troy got up and she was not too far behind him. She ran as fast as she could. God had to have been watching out for them, because it was a wonder that none of the bullets reached them.
They were running deeper and deeper into the forest. Under normal circumstances Savannah would have been scared out in the forest at night. She couldn’t stand creepy things and was afraid of bears, wolves, and anything slimy. But she would rather be with the beasts of the wild than be locked up in the place from where they had just escaped.
She didn’t have time to think about too much because Troy had them running. “Are you okay?” He stopped and asked her this a few times.
“I’m fine,” she would respond each time, although she was getting out of breath. If she got out of this, she would increase her workout from three times a week to at least five times a week.
“Let’s stop and rest for a minute,” Troy said.
“No, I’m fine. We don’t have to,” Savannah said as she stopped and bent down.
“Vanna, come here,” Troy said. He held her in his arms.
Savannah wanted to fall over, but they had come too far for her to give up. “I’m scared, Troy. What if—”
“No what-ifs. You have two sisters at home and it’s my duty to get you back to them,” Troy said.
She saw him smile, and his million-dollar smile was all she needed to see. “What are you waiting for?” She walked ahead of him.
“Slow down, Annie Oakley,” he joked.
She followed him into what looked like a cave. “Troy, why are we stopping? I thought we needed to keep going.”
“I don’t hear anyone coming behind us, so that means they are waiting for daylight. We’ll rest here for a while and then get started again,” he responded.
Savannah could hear what sounded like crickets. She heard a howl, which sent a chill up her spine. Before she realized it, she was reaching for Troy. If he hadn’t caught her, she would have fallen.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Come over here,” Troy said as he cleared off a spot for her to sit down.
“Ouch,” she said as she removed the stem that she sat on. “This night air is a little chilly.”
Troy wrapped his arms around her. “Vanna, I’m sorry.”
“For what?” she wondered.
“All of this could have been avoided if I would have let you shoot the guy when he was back at the house.”
“Hey, I thought you had a good idea. I wanted to see who the boss man was as well.”
He brushed the grass out of her hair and said, “I did find out some things.”
Savannah halfway listened to him give her a recap of the conversation he had with Irene. Her mind was still spinning from what Irene said about Raymond being behind her father’s death. First she had to get out of her current situation. She asked, “Do you really think we can get out of this?”
“Baby, you’re with me. I’m the king.” He playfully hit himself on his chest.
Savannah leaned her head back on his chest. “Well, just get your queen to safety and she’ll be highly appreciative.”
Savannah didn’t know when she dozed off. Troy’s hand brushing gently across her face woke her up. He whispered in her ear, “We’re not alone.”
“But—”
“Shh,” he said. “Ease up.”
Savannah got up as quietly as she could. She could hear her heart beat. She could feel Troy’s breath on the nape of her neck.
Troy held up two fingers. She realized he meant two people. He pointed at himself and then in the opposite direction. He pointed at Savannah and then in the opposite direction of her. Savannah followed his lead. She went one way, while he went the other. They backtracked and were able to sneak up on the intruders.
Troy grabbed one of the intruders around the neck. He reached for his gun. The gun fired before it fell to the ground. Savannah didn’t hesitate to shoot the other intruder before he could react. He fell to the ground. Neither man was dead, but they wouldn’t be coming after them either.
T
roy went through their pockets. He found a pair of handcuffs and handcuffed them together. Savannah found a cell phone in the other intruder’s pocket. She attempted to dial a number, but the call wouldn’t go through. “Dang it!” she yelled.
“Grab his weapon,” Troy stated.
Savannah placed the cell phone in her bra, because her pockets were full. She followed Troy deeper into the woods, or so she thought.
39
Troy hoped his memory was correct. They had walked deep into the woods, and there was a road on the opposite side. Getting onto the road wouldn’t guarantee their safety, but it could get them back to the highway. Once they were at the highway, he knew he could hitch them a ride to safety.
His throat was dry. He needed some water bad. “Are you okay?” he asked Savannah.
“Yes,” she said as she walked beside him through the brush. “Uh, Troy. I think I stepped on something.”
He looked down. “Don’t panic.”
“Uh. What is it?” she said between clenched teeth.
“It was only the remains of a small animal.”
Savannah began shaking her foot and jumping around. “Ugh. Get it off. Get if off.”
Troy picked up a stick from the ground and held her foot and wiped as much as he could off.
“Thank you,” Savannah said.
If they weren’t running for their lives, Savannah’s little antics would have been comical. He would file this scene away for future reference. Maybe one day when they were alone in bed reminiscing about their lives, years later, they could both look back at this and laugh.
Troy saw the headlights. “Come on. Let’s stay on the edge.”
They walked closer toward the road. Savannah said, “Did you see that?”
“Yes. But we can’t be sure if they are friend or foe . . . so keep it moving,” he said.
Troy was relieved to see a pond. He practically dragged Savannah near there. He bent down and cupped the water in his hands. He didn’t care how it tasted; he just needed to wet his taste buds. “You better drink something,” Troy said.
Savannah didn’t move. “I’ll pass.”
Troy splashed some water on her face. “Come on, it’s not all bad.”
“No.”
Troy knew Savannah was stubborn. He hoped he was able to get them to safety, because he hated for her to pass out from dehydration. Savannah leaned down and splashed water on her face. She licked her tongue out. “If I do it like this, it’s not so bad.”
He laughed. “I love you, girl.”
In between splashes, she said, “And I love you too.”
Troy’s ears pricked up. He thought he heard some dogs barking. “That’s enough. Let’s move on.”
He grabbed Savannah’s arm and increased their pace. He saw some lights approaching from the road. They had to take their chances. The barking was getting louder, and he wasn’t sure of how many men and dogs were close on their trail.
“Baby, this is the deal. We’re going to flag down the passerby. If they stop, let me do all of the talking. If they don’t cooperate, we’ll have to use force.”
“That’s criminal.”
“No, it’s surviving,” he responded.
They removed their night vision goggles and placed the guns in their pocket. They flagged down the motorist. The car almost hit them and screeched to the side of the road.
A young couple exited the car. “Are you all right?” the woman said.
“We’re fine. Our car broke down. We need your help,” Troy said.
The young man said, “Sure. We can drop you off at the next exit. We need to stop and get some gas, anyway. Come on, get in.”
Troy heard the dogs getting louder and louder. “Thanks.” He hoped they would hurry. The young man liked to talk. Troy wanted him to drive. “We appreciate the ride,” Troy said.
“No problem. We’re headed out of town, or else we would still be in bed.”
Troy patted his foot. He saw the apprehension on Savannah’s face.
Savannah said, “Where to?”
The young lady spoke. “We’re headed to Savannah, Georgia.”
“Really. My name’s Savannah,” she volunteered.
“Cool. Must be Kismet,” she said.
“Totally, dude,” the young man responded.
“My cell phone’s not working. Do either one of you happen to have one?” Savannah asked.
The young lady turned around and handed her one.
When they passed the entranceway to where they just escaped, Troy noticed the place was lit up. More cars were there than when they had first arrived.
“Let me see that,” Troy said. He dialed Cheryl’s number.
“Where’s that gas station?” he asked the young man.
“It’s the Busy Bee on Plank Road,” he responded.
Troy said, “Have them meet me at the Busy Bee on Beltline Road. Pronto.” He handed the cell phone back to the kind young woman.
The parking lot was well lit when they pulled up into the gas station, which was also a restaurant and truck stop.
“Thank you. I lost my wallet out in the woods,” Troy lied.
“No problem. Do a good deed and it’ll come back to you. That’s what my papa always says,” the young man said.
“It was nice meeting you,” Savannah said to the young woman.
“Same here,” she responded.
“You two be safe now,” Troy said.
“We will, mister. Thank you for the company.”
Troy and Savannah didn’t realize how rough they looked until they saw their reflection in the mirror in the gas station. Troy said, “Come on. I don’t think we should sit still long. We need to get us another ride out of here. We don’t have time to wait on my people. I have a feeling they are fast on our trail.”
Savannah used her assets to get one of the truck drivers to give them a ride into the city. “Now, I normally don’t pick up hitchhikers, but you two. Something tells me you’re not your average hitchhikers,” the older gentleman said.
Troy said, “Sir, we do appreciate it.”
Troy didn’t think anything of it until he realized they were headed in the opposite direction of the city. He didn’t want to crash, but they were headed back toward the compound. He refused to let that happen. Troy removed the gun from his pocket and held it up to the driver’s head. “Stop this truck now.”
“Troy, what are you doing?” Savannah yelled from the backseat of the trailer.
The truck driver ignored Troy’s command. Troy clicked back the revolver. “Buckle up, baby. I’m only going to give you three seconds, and if you don’t stop this rig now, all of us are going to be closer to meeting our Maker. One . . . two . . .” Troy was about to let the gun go off when the driver stopped.
“A call went on the CB radio about you two. A reward was offered. You two fit the bill. I didn’t mean no harm.”
Troy popped him upside the head; then he reached over, opened the door, and pushed him out. He closed the door and remained behind the wheel.
40
Savannah jumped in the seat that Troy had occupied earlier. “You know how to drive this thing.”
“Watch me,” he said as he put the truck in gear. Fortunately, there was not a trailer hooked up to it, so Troy was able to back up and maneuver it and turned the truck around. He pulled the horn. He looked at Savannah. “I always wanted to do that.”
She laughed. Troy turned on the CB radio. Savannah said, “Uh, I think you need to keep your eyes on the road.”
“I got this,” he joked.
She pulled the phone out of her bosom. There was still no signal. She threw the phone to the back and said, “That piece of junk.”
Troy handed her a phone that was hooked up to a charger. “Try this.”
“Four bars!” Savannah said.
Troy would have sworn she was doing a cell phone commercial from the excitement she portrayed for seeing the cell phone with four bars on the display screen instead
of none.
Savannah dialed Asia’s cell phone number. “Voice mail. Go figure.” She hung up and dialed her home number. Still, no answer. “Dang it. You got to get me home.”
“First we need to dump this truck,” Troy said.
Savannah leaned back and let her hair blow in the wind. She tried her best to keep the hair from falling in her face. The last few days had been rough. She prayed for Montana and Asia’s safety. The phone rang, breaking her from her trance. She looked at the display and saw Asia’s number. “Girl, where are you guys?”
Asia responded, “We’re at Montana’s. Her place is the only place no one has broken into, so we decided to camp out here. Where are you? Did Troy kidnap you?”
“If you only knew,” Savannah responded. “Look, don’t go back to my place. I’ll meet you at Montana’s.”
“Sis, you don’t sound too good.”
“I’m fine. Just fine,” Savannah said. Now that she knew they were okay, she could relax.
Troy pulled the truck into a parking lot. “Baby, we got to go,” he said.
“Asia, I’ll see you later.” Savannah hung up the phone. She was about to put it back in the cradle, but she thought better of it and kept it.
When she got down from the truck, Troy was talking to a few familiar faces. She recalled seeing them during their training at Troy’s facility. She was so relieved to see them. She wanted to jump up and down for joy.
Savannah got into the backseat of one of the SUVs as they were driven to Troy’s office. Troy handed her a bag. “There are some women’s clothes in there. The shower is that way.”
Savannah wasn’t too sure about showering with a load of men out there. Troy must have sensed her hesitation, because he said, “I’ll be right outside the door. Nobody’s going to bother you. These are the good guys.”
The water hitting her body massaged not only her body but her soul. Each hot drop of water helped release the tension that had built up in the last twenty-four hours. She washed the dirt out of her hair. She dried off and looked at her reflection. Once she exited the bathroom, she went to Troy’s receptionist desk and found a couple of rubber bands. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail. Her hair was slick, black, and wet. It would fluff up when it air-dried. Troy was sitting at the head of the table when she entered the room. Everyone stood up to offer a seat to her.
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