No More Running

by Jayton Young

  “Come on Di! Wake up, damnit!” I could hear the fear and worry in Garret’s voice. “Come on baby, you’re alright. Everyone is alright.”

  No. not everyone. Doc was missing. I had to get up to find him. All of a sudden a strong sharp scent came to my nose. I tried to turn my head from it, but it followed me.

  “Dianne, open your eyes.” I heard a familiar voice say.

  I finally opened my eyes and had to blink to adjust my sight. I saw that my head was lying in Garret’s lap and Jamie was knelt down on the other side of me in fireman’s gear. Claire and Stefan were standing to the side.

  “I’m sorry.” I didn’t mean for my voice to come out so small. Garret helped me sit up and squeezed me back to his chest.

  “It’s alright,” He whispered in my ear. “Just don’t scare me like that again.”

  I looked at Jamie in his uniform, his helmet sitting to the side. “What are you doing here?” I asked. I knew it was a stupid question, but he had said he’d opened another shop, not that he was a fireman. I would think that with what happened to him, he’d want to stay away from fires.

  “I’m on the volunteer squad. I get called out if it’s a big one and they need help.” He said.

  “You’re okay being around fires?” I knew fires still scared the crap out of me, and I was never actually in one.

  “I did have a fear of them, but part of my therapy was to try to overcome my fears, so I went through training on how to deal with fires and how to put them out. Now I’m a certified fire-fighter, but I would still rather work on engines, so I only do this on the side.”

  I nodded at him. It made sense. I just wish I could do that. Someone called Jamie’s name so, he squeezed my hand, that I hadn’t realized he was holding, and left.

  “It has seemed like he showed up everywhere lately.” Garret said where only our little group could hear. “It’s a weird coincidence don’t y’all think?”

  “What are you saying?” I asked.

  “Let’s get out of here and we’ll talk in the car.”

  Garret helped me to stand and regain my balance, but when he saw that I was still light headed and unsteady on my feet, he swooped me up and carried me to the front passenger seat of his SUV.

  After the three of them joined me in the car, we headed over to Doc’s house. He had given me a key, and I was going to go in to see if he was there or, if not, maybe we could somehow figure out where he did go.

  “Okay, Dina, here’s what I’m thinking.” Garret said. “I don’t believe anymore that it is still your ex who is stalking you. He hasn’t been heard from in four years; no trace or anything, right?”

  I nodded, that was stuff we’d talked about before.

  “Okay, I think he’s dead.”

  My head shot around to him so fast I got a cramp in my neck.

  “I knew you thought it wasn’t him, but what makes you say that he’s dead?” I asked, shocked at that conclusion.

  “Like I said, we haven’t found records of any kind for him. Not even using the facial recognition software we have been using for the past three weeks has turned anything up. On top of that; at the time he disappeared, there was a John Doe found burned to death. He was never identified. We have a call in to the Tulsa PD and have asked them to check his dentals. We should be hearing from them within the next couple days.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were doing all of this?”

  “I wanted to be able to come to you with facts, not speculation.” He kept his eyes on the road, but reached his right hand over to hold mine. “If he is dead, honey, that means someone who knows you, and knows your past, has taken up where he left off. They were probably the one who killed him.”

  “I see what you’re saying; and I can see where you are thinking that, but neither Jamie, nor Doc could ever do that.” I said, and turned my body to him. “Jamie doesn’t have one violent bone in his body. He might look like and act like a tough guy, but he is really a big teddy bear. He wouldn’t squish a bug. He’d catch it and let it go.”

  “How long did you know him again?” Stefan asked. I had actually forgotten the he and Claire were in the back seat.

  “I knew him for most of the year I was in Tulsa, but I only dated him for half of that.” I thought about what I knew of him. “He was always the perfect gentleman, but loved clowning around. He could always make me laugh; and back then, I really cherished that. Before that it had been a long time that I had had a reason to laugh. But he never made fun of people, and would actually help out anyone he would see in need. Your typical good Samaritan.”

  “And we all know your point of view on Doc, but it has to be somebody.” Garret said. “It looks bad on Doc that he left without telling anyone, leaving a note, or anything, and it was in the middle of the night. With Jamie…it’s kind of already like he is stalking you. He has showed up at several of the places you have been. Savannah might not be a huge city, but certainly not that small anymore that that would be normal.” He squeezed my hand as he said, “I’m just trying to figure this out so I can help keep you safe.”

  I was really starting to get a headache. It had to be Chuck because if it wasn’t, and he was dead, then I didn’t know who to trust.

  Chapter 17

  We got to Doc’s house and immediately knew something was wrong. His car was in the driveway, not the garage as it normally was when he was home. It was parked at an angle as if he were in a hurry and just jumped out. When we looked, his keys were still in the ignition. The hood was cold when Stefan checked it, so he’d been there for a while.

  Garret and Stefan pulled out guns. Stefan handed Claire one and Garret turned to me.

  “Do you remember everything we’ve taught you?” He asked.

  I nodded. They had been showing me how to shoot, and how to use a knife in defense, but I really didn’t like handling weapons at all. I couldn’t imagine hurting anyone that way, but I knew if Chuck, or whoever, was in there; I would need it.

  He gave me a Pink Duracoat Subcompact Glock 33. “I special ordered this for you a few weeks ago, but have never gotten the chance to bring up my reasoning for giving it to you.” He said. “I want you to stay with one of us at all times, but if something happens, this is just like the gun you trained with. I just got a good lookin’ one to match my woman.”

  I smiled weakly as he tried to make me feel a little better, but my nerves were shot. It was one thing to practice at a shooting range, but it was completely different when I knew I might actually have to use it to save myself or one of the others. Doc might already be dead, but I was trying to keep that thought out of my head.

  Garret saw the battle I was having with myself and pulled me into a brief, but intense kiss.

  “I love you, Dina.” He said earnestly. “Don’t let anything happen to yourself. Do you hear me? You remember everything we all showed you if something happens, and fight with everything in you.”

  Tears were streaming down my face. “I love you, too. Please just don’t leave me.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” He said.

  We got out and joined Stefan and Claire and headed to the front door. It was opened a crack, like someone was in a hurry and didn’t swing it hard enough to close. We all entered, Claire and me after the men, and looked around. The front room was the living room which was an open plan joining with the kitchen and the dining room.

  You could see evidence of a struggle and I immediately went to the keypad for the security system and hit police. It was supposed to silently alert the police department, and if they didn’t get an answer when they called to check, they would send people out.

  “We need to search the house.” Garret said quietly, trying not to alert anyone to our presence if they didn’t already know we were there. That was if someone was still in the house. “You two go search the upstairs. Dina and I will search down here.”

  There were two master suites upstairs and one downstairs. There was also the home gym and office for us to s
earch besides the bedroom.

  We searched the gym first, but nothing was out of place. I wanted so badly to call out to Doc and see if he answered, but I knew that was stupid for two reasons. First, if whoever had done this was still here it would give us away, and second, if Doc was alright, he would have called out to one of us by now.

  We went into the bedroom next. This was the one he used so it was filled with his stuff. Everything was very clean and organized in there, but that was to be expected. Doc had always had kind of OCD when it came to cleanliness. I attributed it to the fact that he was a doctor and was used to sterile conditions. We didn’t touch anything, just looked around in the closet and bathroom but still didn’t see anything out of place.

  It all went downhill when we got to the office. As soon as Garret opened the door, I gasped at the sight. It looked like there had been a struggle in here, but that wasn’t the worst part. I saw dozens of pictures of me lying everywhere. The pictures were of me at work and of me when I lived in Mrs. Chambers’ apartment above her garage. There were pictures of me at the grocery store and the mall. I couldn’t believe it. Did this mean Doc was the one who had done all of this? Why would he have it? My head started spinning.

  “Come on, calm down baby.” Garret said as I continued to look around at the different pictures of me. He came over to me and took me into his arms. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. He’s been investigating just as we have, so there might be a rational explanation for all of this.”

  “What?” I asked him incredulously. I remember when Garret, Stefan, and Claire had all thought it was Doc, and now that I was starting to believe it, Garret was telling me not to jump to conclusions? “What could possibly explain all of this? This isn’t investigative work and you know it. These pictures are from someone stalking me.” I backed out of his embrace and went over to the desk, grabbing a picture that had been taken of me in a tank-top and panties that I sometimes slept in. It had been taken through the gap in my living room curtains. “Tell me how the hell this is investigating someone; following me and terrorizing me?”

  “Dina, I don’t know, but some of these pictures couldn’t have been taken by him.” He picked up the picture of the grocery store. “He was with us at this point in the store, remember? He dropped a dozen eggs.” I looked at the picture. It was of me, and it had Garret in the edge of it. I was picking up a gallon of milk. I did remember that day. It was one of the times we had run into Jamie.

  I calmed down a little with that.

  “I’m starting to think I don’t know who to trust anymore.” I whispered. “I hate that feeling.”

  Right then, we heard a gunshot, and Claire started screaming. We both took off running up the stairs and found Claire on the floor with Stefan, both having been shot. I was confused considering I had only heard one shot go off. Claire was breathing heavy with the pain of the shot to her leg. Stefan was out cold on the floor with a shot to his shoulder, almost exactly where I had gotten shot.

  I pulled out my cell phone and called 911 to find out where the police were. They should have already been there. I told them the situation, and that we had set the alarm off on purpose to get them there, but they said it never sounded.

  “They’re on their way with an ambulance.” I told Garret, who was using both hands to try to stem the blood flow from Stefan’s wound. Claire was sitting up and telling us what had happened.

  “Whoever it was had a silencer.” She said. “I didn’t even hear it, I just saw as Stefan went down, but I tried to shoot back to where the shot came from. I guess I missed because then the bastard shot me in the leg.”

  I started to smell something right when Garret did. We looked at each other confirming our thoughts.

  “Smoke.” He said. He hurried to get up and grabbed Stefan and threw him over his shoulder. “You help Claire down, and I’ll carry him.”

  He was going to wait for us, but Claire told him to go. We worked our way downstairs as fast as we could; Claire having her arm around my shoulder. When we got downstairs, we heard Garret call out to us, and there were sirens in the distance.

  “We’re ok!” Claire called back. “On our way!”

  Just then, I felt her jerk and then go slack at my side. It pulled me off balance and I fell with her. Then I felt a sharp pain at the back of my head before everything went black.

  Chapter 18

  When I woke up, my head was pounding like someone was driving a jackhammer against it. I opened my eyes, but could only see blurry images around me. I couldn’t see well enough to tell what anything was or where I was. I tried remembering what had happened. I remembered the photos in Doc’s office, but the more I tried concentrate and remember what came after, the more my head hurt.

  I was lying on a concrete floor, in what I was guessing was a basement or garage, so I sat up and leaned against the wall; trying to move slowly since every movement hurt. I’d swear I’d been hit by a bus if I didn’t know how ridiculous that was.

  I was worried that my sight wasn’t clearing up. I rubbed at my eyes and blinked a few times, thinking that maybe I had gotten something in them, but it didn’t work. I still could only see blobs and colors; nothing concrete. Not that there was anything in the room from what I could tell. All I could see was white, what I assumed to be walls, and then a couple of blobs on the floor.

  I knew, with the way I was feeling and not seeing that well that I wouldn’t be able to walk around, so I got to my knees and crawled to the first blob I came to. It was one of the sources of color in this otherwise white room.

  When I felt over it, I could tell it was a person lying on their stomach. The images of Stefan and Claire having been shot came rushing back to me, and I panicked for a moment until I felt the head of the person. They had short, almost buzz cut either dark blond or light brown hair. I couldn’t see well enough to tell which, but I could tell by the build of this person that it was a man. He didn’t move the whole time I had rubbed and felt over his body, so I grabbed hold of his shoulder and hip and rolled him over.

  As soon as I heard him groan, I knew he sounded familiar.

  “Jamie?” I shook his shoulder to try to wake him up and he finally started moving a little, so I shifted around to crawl over to the blob of color I then knew was probably another person. When I shifted, I felt something hard and heavy in the pocket of my slacks.

  I sat back on my knees and shoved my hand in the pocket to find the gun Garret had given to me. I fingered the safety off, though I knew it was probably stupid, but I didn’t know who put us in here or why. I was just glad they hadn’t checked me for weapons.

  I continued on to check the other person. I heard movement behind me and figured Jamie was finally waking. Once I reached the other body, I did the same thing I had done with Jamie and checked him over. It was another man, I could tell, but when I got to his head, I didn’t feel any lumps or wetness from blood, so I didn’t know why this person wasn’t moving.

  “What’s going on?” Jamie asked from behind me.

  “I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

  “Are you ok?” He asked, closer to me then he had been.

  “Yeah. Just banged up a bit like you.”

  He had had a huge lump, with dried blood on it, on the back of his head. I knew he was probably hurting as I was.

  “There’s blood on your head, are you sure you’re alright.” He asked. The concern was evident in his voice.

  “I’m fine, just help me roll him over and tell me if you know who he is.”

  We shifted him over and I heard him curse. “Isn’t that your damn doctor friend?” He asked angrily.

  I felt over his face, noting his hair color seemed to match being dark brown and had been the right length when I was checking for lumps on his head. As soon as I felt his face, I knew. With that bone structure and his distinctive nose; I didn’t have to see to know that it was him.

  “Can you see what’s wrong with him?” I asked Jamie, turn
ing to look at him. I could see his shape well enough to think I was looking at least at his face, if not his eyes.

  He put both hands on either side of my face; I guess to get a better look and asked me what was wrong.

  “I can’t see clearly. I think something happened when I was hit in the head.”

  “Your eyes are not focusing and tour pupils are more dilated than usual. How well can you see.” He asked.

  “Well, I’ve been calling you two blobs if that tells you anything.” I answered trying to sound flippant, but I knew I failed. I was so scared. I had been through worse with Chuck, but at least I knew then what I was dealing with. Who I was dealing with. I didn’t know anything at that point, and that was what scared me most. Both men that Garret had some suspicions about at some point were in the room with me, both hurt, so they couldn’t have done it. Did that mean Chuck was still alive? I was so confused. I hurt, I was scared, and I just felt like saying to hell with it and giving up before anyone else got hurt, but I knew I couldn’t. Jamie had already been hurt two too many times because of me, and I had the potential to help us get out of this, so I had to figure out something.

  “Is there a door or anything…what am I saying? There has to be. Check the door and see if we can get out.” I said, but I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

  “Shit! This knob is hot as hell.” He exclaimed a minute later. “The whole door is. It’s made of reinforced steel.”

  “Where are we?” I asked him.

  “I have no idea. It looks like a basement or cellar.”

  “How’d you get down here?”

  “I had gone to confront your doctor friend.” He said with venom in his voice. “After an argument we had, I was hit in the head with something and woke up here just a moment ago.”

  “How the hell do you even know him?”

  “He came to the garage yesterday morning, or whenever it was now, and started going off on me about a bunch of damn pictures he said that his investigator friend had gotten from my house.” He said. “They were all of you, but I didn’t know anything about them and I told him that. He was yelling and telling me I had better back off of you or he would make sure I did, and nobody would find me when he was done.”