Escape, a New Life (22 page)

“No Eric, I know I am.  I am not going to have my memory restored.  I am
really
starting fresh.”

“What?  Why?”

She explained the letter that she wrote to herself, and let him read it.  She watched his face change from concern, to anger, to confusion.  As he read through it a second time, he settled on understanding.

“Jeez.”

“I know.”

“
We’ve been through a hell of a lot in the past month.  I’m sure we’ll get through this.”

“Eric, don’t you get it?  There
is no
we
.  I can’t go back to the States with you.  I’ll stick around for the big finale, but after that, I’m on the run.  I can’t even tell you where I’m going.  I don’t even know where I’m going….” She threw up her hands and flopped backwards onto her pillow, exasperated at the thought.

Eric looked into her eyes, pushing a stray hair out of her face, “I don’t have to go
back.  What do I have to go back to?  Let me come with you.  If you can’t tell me where you’re going, just let me tag along.”

She thought about it. 
“You would do that?”

“Of course I would Abby.  I love you.”

She laughed and cried all at once.  Unable to wipe the giant smile off her face, she jumped on top of him and kissed him deeply as they sank back down into the bed together.

********************

From three hundred yards away, Bryce watched though high-powered binoculars as they sank down into the bed and began another round of lovemaking.  He muttered under his breath, “I’ll kill that little whore.”

WHEN ABBY AWOKE mid-morning, her stated goal was to spend as much time in bed as possible that day.  With less than twenty-four hours until the finale, and her departure, she knew that she would not be enjoying these comforts for long.  At the very least, she would be enjoying the comfort of having Eric by her side, so she took consolation in that. 

Robert and the production team had other plans.  She swore that his stated goal must have been to keep her on her feet for as much time as possible.  The morning and early aftern
oon were spent running through rehearsals for the live finale that would be held at five a.m. local time the following day.  This was so they could broadcast it live, and it would be in primetime back in the States. 

The rehearsal was simple enough.  For the most part they went over questions that Robert would ask during the interview portion.  The live show was going to be early in the morning, so Robert wanted to make sure that they were on the ball. 
The early hour did not bother Abby or Eric.  Having spent the last month sleeping under the stars for the most part, they were pretty well in tune with the natural rhythm of the day.  What did bother them about the early hour was that the show would be coming to an end just before sunrise.  They had hoped to make their disappearance immediately after the finale, under the cover of darkness.

On their way to a very late lunch, following the final run through of the day, Abby pulled Robert away from the rest of the group to finally talk.

“I read my letter last night.”

“And?”

“I’m not going to lie.  I’m pretty freaked out.  It sounds like I was scared out of my mind about this guy.  What if he shows up here?”

“Abby, we are in the middle of nowhere, so I would not worry too much about that.  But
we did discuss this before, and you were concerned then, too.  You said that he had a great many resources.  I promised you that if you came back here I would have extra security on hand.  Even though you do not remember that, I am a man of my word, and we called in extra security late last night.  They will be with us for as long as you are.”

Abby thanked Robert.  She had come to understand why she felt so familiar and comfortable with him when they were back on the island.  He had told her that he was willing to help in any way he could, and she had thought of a way.  Actually, she was mostly seeking advice.  He knew the islands and the area better than she did.  If he were going to disappear, how would he do it?

“That is a tough one,” he said.  “Obviously I cannot know where you are going, so I cannot exactly tell you
where
would be the easiest place to disappear.  That being said, there are over seven thousand islands out here, with roughly two thousand having people on them.  Most of this area is very undeveloped.  Relatively few of the inhabited islands are tied to the world at large.”

“I guess it is not a bad place to be if you don’t want to be found.”

“Certainly it would be difficult to find you, even if someone knew approximately where you were.”

“How would you say we go about finding a nice out of the way island somewhere?”

“That I do not know.  I do not even know that you want to stay on an island.  Understand?  I do not know that.  What I do know is that I have at least a half-dozen boats out in my little boatyard.  With the exception of the yacht, the keys to all of them are usually right in the glove box.  I own everything within two miless of where we are standing.  I am not worried about theft, though it would be a shame if one were to disappear.  I doubt anyone would even notice for a day or two.  It would be even worse if it never came back because it sunk off the coast of someplace far from here, and the people aboard had to swim ashore and start their lives over.  Would that not be tragic?”

“Absolutely,” Abby agreed. 

“Hungry?”

“Starved.”

*******************

It was mid-afternoon, and a
fter a satisfying lunch, Abby finally found her way back to her bedroom and enjoyed another long, hot shower.  Drying off, she climbed into bed wearing only her underwear.  She had never felt anything quite like these sheets, and she wanted to feel the softness against every inch of her body.  She was exhausted, but lay awake enjoying the comfort of where she was.  When she was a little girl, imagining what it was like to be in heaven surrounded by clouds, this bed was what she pictured.  While the warm late afternoon sun gleamed through the beautiful arched window on the west wall, she lay daydreaming about the possibilities to come.

She had money, she had a blank slate, and she was going to start over.  Not only would she start over,
but she would start over with Eric.  There was a knock on the door.  She assumed it must be him.  He had said he was going to clean up and rest. It appeared he did not want to rest alone. 

Abby called to the door, “Come in.”

After a beat, the handle turned and jiggled a bit, but the door did not open.

“Hold on, I must have locked it.”

She climbed out of bed and trotted to the door, enjoying the feeling of walking around mostly naked.  In her prior life, this was not a habit of hers, but she found it very liberating.  That, and she thought that her new body looked damned good without much on.

Abby
was about to flip the deadbolt and swing open the door wearing only her panties and a smile, when something gave her pause.  How did she know it was Eric?  She remembered the letter she had written to herself.  She had to keep her guard up.  “Who is it?”

The muffled response from the other side of the door did nothing to answer her question.  “Eric?”  An unconvincing and muffled “Yes” came from the other side.  Her eyes opened wide.  Had someone already found her? 
No, it has to be Eric… right?
  She slid the chain lock into position on the door so that she could open it slightly without it flying open.  About to unlock the deadbolt, she had another thought and quickly pulled on a tank top.  She unlocked the deadbolt and slowly turned the knob, ready to slam the door closed the second she saw anyone but Eric.  Easing the door open just a crack, she braced herself to push back.  

Fortunately
she didn’t have to, it was Eric, and the chain on the door confused him.  “Sorry,” she said, “Hold on.  Wait, is there anyone else out there?” 

He looked side to side, “No, are you expecting someone?”

She smiled before she closed and unchained the door.  Quickly losing her tank top again, she tossed it to the side and swung open the door, striking a pose to reveal herself.

“Whoa!”

She pulled him in the room and pushed him toward the bed.  “Like what you see?” she asked.

“What’s not to like?”

They began kissing, and she jumped up on him, wrapping her legs around him.  She pushed against him and immediately could feel that he did in fact like what he saw.

He laughed
. “Alright, let me join you then!” 

As he pulled his shirt up over his head there was a loud crash and the giant arched window shattered into a thousand pieces that showered the room.  They both dove for the floor
as shards of glass flew everywhere.  There was the loud roaring of an engine outside, and the room filled with the fresh smell of the island air.  The engine noise died out immediately, and a voice yelled up to the window asking if everyone was all right.

Eric realized what had happened and walked over to the window.  He was careful not to step on the glass
, although he still had his shoes on.  Looking through what used to be the window, he saw the grounds crew preparing the yard for the finale in the morning.  He waived to a stout-looking local man who was standing on top of a riding lawn mower.  The poor guy looked to be both terrified and concerned.  “We’re OK,” Eric shouted.

“I am so sorry!”  The man’s panic came through his heavy accent
. “I heard the glass shatter.  I do not know what happened.  The mower must have kicked up a rock or something.  Is everyone all right up there?”

Eric waived and called back, “We’re fine.”  He turned around and said to Abby, “You better put some clothes on.  My guess is there are a whole bunch of folks heading this way.”

He was right.  Abby pulled on her shorts just as the cavalry arrived and began pounding on the door.  They assured security they were fine.  No one was bleeding or was hit by any glass.  A couple of the men walked around the room looking for whatever shattered the glass.  When they wrapped up, one of the men apologized and told them a cleaning crew would come by to take care of the glass.  For now, they might want to find someplace else to be. 

Abby was getting together a few things when Robert arrived with the cleaners.  “I am so sorry,” he said.  “They told me you two are fine
, though?  No one was hurt?”

“We’re fine,” Abby said.

“Good!  I would hate for you to make it off the island just to catch a piece of glass in your eye while you are a guest in my house.  I will have them make up another room for you, for tonight.”

“No need,” she said, “I have a place to stay.”  She smiled at Eric.

Robert beamed. “That is damned adorable.  America is going to eat this up!”

********************

The window incident had given them a scare and killed the mood for a while.  However, after dinner, when they found themselves back in Eric’s room, they managed – quite easily – to rekindle the fire that they had started earlier.  Afterward, Eric began to snore while Abby lay in his arms.  She giggled a little bit.  Never having heard him snore before, she figured that she must have really worn him out.  There was something comforting in the sound as she drifted off herself.

Abby opened her eyes in the middle of the night with an uneasy feeling.  She felt a hand on her shoulder from behind.  She knew it was not Eric’s hand.  He was in front of her in the same dead
-to-the-world position he had been in when they fell asleep.  Without as much as a flinch, she rolled over to see one of the security men next to the bed.  She recognized him from earlier, but did not know his name.  He was the tallest of the bunch.  With his dark hair, dark eyes, and dark suit, he certainly looked the part.

He held his finger over his lips and motioned for her to follow him.  She slid out of bed.  He watched unapologetically as she slipped
on Eric’s T-shirt to cover herself. 
Creep
.  She followed him out of the room and into a sitting room across the hall where he nodded to another security man as then entered the room.

“Sit down,” he pointed to a plush leather chair.

“I’d just assume stand.  What’s going on?”  She figured it was about the blond-haired man.  Maybe they had some sort of lead on him, or worse, he was here somewhere.  Why else wake her up in the middle of the night?

“Have a seat.”

She sat with a huff that was unnecessary.  The thick leather chair let out its own sigh.  “Is this about that guy?”

“What guy?  You will have to be more specific.”

“The blond-haired guy.  The one that you’re supposed to keep away from me.”

He laughed
. “Oh yes, that guy.”  He sat down in front of her and pulled his gun from its holster under his jacket.  Abby sat up straight.  “That man is your husband, and he is my employer,” he paused.  “You look surprised.  I was told that you might not remember that little detail, or much else for that matter. Know this.  He is very powerful, and he has people everywhere.  There is nowhere he won’t find you.  Do you understand?”

Abby sat motionless, staring at the floor
, absorbing that detail. 
The man in the picture is my husband.  I am running from my husband.

“Tell me you understand.”

“I understand,” she said, without lifting her head.

“So this is the plan.  In a few hours
, they’re going to get you out of bed, get you made up, and put you on national television for the finale.  Immediately following that, you will come with me.  We will leave here to return to your husband.  We will go quickly and quietly.  We will leave without anyone noticing.  Tell me you understand.”

“I understand.”

“Good.  Just so we’re clear, I’ve been watching you on the show.  You handle yourself pretty good, but don’t be fooled.  There are more of us than there are of you.  Your husband does not want us to hurt you, so we won’t.  However, if you do not cooperate, your new boyfriend will pay the consequence.  Do you understand?”

Again, Abby sat motionless
, staring at the floor.  She felt a helpless and familiar feeling.  She felt trapped.  The man put his gun against her forehead and used it to push her head back, lifting up her chin, until her eyes met his.  She never flinched.  She never blinked.  She spoke as if they were idly chatting over coffee in the kitchen, “Why not just take me now?”

Without lifting the gun from her head he said, “Excuse me?”

“Why not just take me now?  You don’t have to threaten Eric or anyone else.  You and I can walk out the front door and be gone before anyone is the wiser.”

“It’s not that simple.”  He removed the gun and holstered it.  He could not believe how cool she was in spite of a gun to her head.  “Follow the plan.  No one gets hurt.”  He gestured for her to stand and return to
Eric’s room.  “I will see you in the morning.  Sleep tight.”