Hard Time

by Chloe Fischer

  “Why are you so pale?” she asked, but he couldn’t answer immediately. His breaths were beginning to explode in short, ragged gasps.

  “Just…hurry up,” he choked, chewing on the insides of his cheeks. She stared at him a moment longer, droplets of water cascading down her naked shoulders and then retreated into the bath.

  Xave barely noticed the scent of cocoa butter wafting through the air as his mind whirled, bile threatening to spew from his throat.

  We have to run, he told himself. Sasha and I need to disappear today.

  A moment later, the water turned off and the curtain slid open again, revealing a drenched Danica.

  “Hand me a towel,” she instructed and he turned to oblige but his mind was elsewhere, not in the bathroom anymore. Instead, he was planning his escape from Amarillo.

  He had no transportation of his own and minimal funds. He couldn’t fly or his whereabouts would be traced.

  Maybe I won’t return the car…or maybe Sasha and I will take off together.

  He winced at the thought of traveling with the screechy brunette for any length of time.

  “Am I that hard to look at?” Danica commented, raising her eyebrows in amusement as she noticed his expression.

  Xave stared at her blankly.

  If he ran, he would be leaving her behind too.

  “Okay, you’re scaring me a little bit,” she confessed. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

  She doesn’t know what to make of me. One minute she feels our intense connection and the next, she’s worried I’m going to kill her.

  He debated about telling her the truth.

  No. It doesn’t matter now. I have to get out of here.

  “Xave, what’s going on?” she demanded. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  “No,” he said gruffly. “I made a mistake dragging you into this. I have to go.”

  “No!” she shouted, her eyes narrowing. “Don’t you dare move from this house.”

  But he wasn’t listening as he wrenched open the door and made his way down the stairs.

  “Xave, if you don’t stop, I will call the police myself!”

  He froze at the bottom of the steps, turning to gaze at her in disbelief.

  “You wouldn’t do that,” he accused. “You would be an accomplice!”

  She shrugged, her face cold.

  “Oh well,” she replied flatly. “I guess we’re both going away and I’ll take your girlfriend down too. I memorized the licence plate number on the car.”

  Xave’s mouth fell open.

  “What could you possibly gain by this?” he snapped, shaking his head uncomprehendingly. “You don’t know me. You should be glad I’m getting out of your hair.”

  “I should, shouldn’t I?” she sighed. “I have no idea why, but I know I can’t let you go, not yet.”

  “You wouldn’t call the cops,” Xave hedged, but he was not so sure. Nothing about their situation made sense.

  “I will,” She vowed.

  Fuck, he believed her.

  “Stay there and don’t move until I get dressed,” she told him. Xavier nodded curtly, sinking onto the bottom step.

  He didn’t have another choice.

  In minutes, Danica returned, wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a V-neck dark purple t-shirt.

  “I’m making coffee,” she announced as she tripped down the stairs, but she paused to lock the front door before she headed toward the back of the house.

  Xave reluctantly followed her, glancing around the small house as he did, trying to learn anything else he could about the woman whose life he had stumbled into inexplicably.

  Before the kitchen, he saw a closet sized room filled with video monitors but before he could understand what he was seeing, Danica shut the door casually.

  Again, Xave was seized with a fission of alarm.

  Dammit! The video cameras outside Lady Katrine’s. We’re finished.

  He could see how the death of Clark Jameson was about to bring him and Sasha to their knees.

  And Lady Katrine’s will be done forever. The girls will be publicly exposed and ridiculed. Everyone will have to leave town. Christ, Sasha, why didn’t you just cancel the appointment? Why didn’t you tell someone what he was doing to you?

  He knew why; because he was Clark Jameson and she feared backlash. She was only a borderline prostitute. No one would listen to her, not when such a wealthy client was at stake.

  “You look like you’re going to explode,” Danica commented. “Sit down.”

  Xave grimaced.

  “I am not going to explode,” he retorted. “I’m waiting for you to release me from my hostage situation so I can be on my way.”

  Danica burst into laughter and despite his annoyance, he cracked a ghost of a smile. She had a throaty, sexy laugh – the sound going straight to his dick. How could he possibly get turned on when his life was going crazy? Just a few hours ago his life had been great. And normal. And now he was being forced to flee, dropping everything, like a hunted tiger.

  He found himself forcing down a laugh of his own.

  “Your hostage situation?” she chortled as she tended to the coffee maker. “If you would stop being so stubborn, you would see that I am trying to help you.”

  “You can’t help me!” Xave snarled with exasperation, slamming his hands onto the table. “It’s gone too far already.”

  Danica peered at him.

  “You know I am a psychic medium, right?”

  Xave chuckled dryly. “I know you claim to be.”

  Danica’s mouth curved into a wider smile and she plopped into a simple wooden chair across the table from him.

  “You know why people like me exist?” she asked.

  “Because survival of the fittest doesn’t work as a theory and the gullible continue to walk among us?” Xave shot back.

  Danica’s eyes narrowed and she leaned forward, glaring at him.

  “No, you fool,” she snapped and he wondered if he had finally pushed her too far.

  He hoped so; he didn’t need her any closer than she had already gotten.

  Xave tried to ignore the pang of regret in his heart.

  “People like me exist because everyone wants to be heard,” she spat. “You may think you’re fine bottling your feelings inside but that will only take you so far before you snap.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Phil,” he laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Danica shrugged, the annoyed expression disappearing from her face.

  “Okay,” she agreed conversationally. “But you’re not leaving here until you tell me what happened. You made me an accomplice to your murder and I’m not letting you do another thing without my approval.”

  Xave’s jaw almost hit the floor.

  “Made you an accomplice? Without your approval?” he echoed in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? You practically begged me to come after you seduced me!”

  Danica folded her arms over her firm breasts, a smirk appearing on her face.

  “Who are the police going to believe?” she asked smugly. “You or me?”

  She turned her face into a mask of unadulterated innocence and Xave tried to speak but no words came out of his mouth.

  Holy shit, she looks like an innocent angel, he marveled. But then anger took over. Is this some kind of game to her? This is my life! I’ve never been in such a fucked up situation before and she’s treating it like a joke.

  He still had to worry about Sasha and the more time he spent arguing with Danica, the better the chances the police had of finding them.

  If I tell her the truth, maybe she’ll stop being insane and let me go, he thought. He had no other choice.

  The coffee maker sputtered as the last of the steaming liquid seeped into the pot and Danica rose to get them cups.

  “Let me guess,” she joked, casting him a look over her shoulder. “Black, no sugar.”

  He nodded, mildly surprised but there was a grudging respect growing for h
er.

  She can read people, maybe not as a genuine psychic, but through the slightest movements and gestures. She might be useful to me on the road.

  Xave wondered if he was losing his own mind.

  You can’t bring her with you.

  “Well?” Danica asked, setting a hot mug before him before reclaiming her seat. “Ready to tell me how you came to have a body in the trunk of your car?”

  Xave shifted his eyes and busied himself lifting the cup of coffee to his lips. Instantly, he burned his mouth, causing Danica to chuckle again.

  “That’s what happens when you avoid conversations,” she told him sternly.

  Xave sighed and shook his head.

  “I didn’t kill anyone,” he muttered. “But it is going to look like I did when this all comes to light.”

  “How?” she urged, drawing closer to him in her chair. “Tell me what happened.”

  Clearing his throat, Xave raised his eyes and stared into her beautiful face, his heart thumping wildly. Suddenly, the story poured from his lips, words piling upon each other as if he couldn’t wait to unleash the tale.

  Danica did not interrupt, nor did her expression register horror as he half expected it to. As he spoke, Xave read nothing but interest and compassion in her face.

  “It was self-defense,” Xave concluded. “But no one will believe Sasha - or me.”

  Danica nodded slowly.

  “Yes, you’re absolutely right,” she agreed and Xave noticed that relief seemed to fall over her. Shoulders sagging noticeably, she offered him a timid smile.

  “Why do you think that you’ll be caught?” Danica asked. “You have done everything right. Unless they can actually determine where Jameson went missing, you have nothing to fear.”

  “He paid with credit card,” Xave said flatly. “It will be traced back to Lady Katrine’s. There was a camera in the alleyway where I moved his body. It’s too much evidence. I have to get the car back to Sasha and get her on the move.” He looked down, “And I have to go too.”

  Danica’s brow furrowed.

  “Is that the only thing tying the man to the dungeon?” she asked. “The credit card statement?”

  “Well and the camera in the alley.”

  “If not for the credit card statement, they have no reason to look at Lady Katrine’s, right?” Danica pressed.

  “As far as I know but that’s enough, Danica. That is more than enough.”

  “Yes,” she agreed, her eyes raising toward the doorway. “If the transaction appears on the credit card.”

  Slowly, Xave turned to look at what had captured Danica’s attention. He inhaled sharply when he saw a tall blonde standing in the doorway, a puckered scowl on her lips.

  “Xavier, meet my roommate and business partner, Twila.”

  He couldn’t speak, shock freezing him in place.

  How long was she standing there? He asked himself, turning to stare at Danica accusingly.

  “But we can do something about that, can’t we, Twila?”

  He jumped to his feet but Danica put a hand atop his.

  “It’s okay,” she assured him. “Twila can help, can’t you, Twila?”

  The blonde spun on her heel, muttering to herself without responding to Danica’s question.

  “How much did she hear?” Xave asked, dizziness overwhelming him. This was spiralling out of control. Too many people knew. Too much evidence. It was overwhelming him.

  “All of it,” Danica replied brightly. “That’s good. It means you don’t have to repeat the entire story.”

  “Where is she going?” he demanded, panicked as he watched the girl enter the closet sized room off the kitchen.

  “She’s going to hack into Clark Jameson’s credit card account and wipe the charge away.”

  Xave stared at her dubiously.

  “Really?” he asked with skepticism. “Just like that?”

  Danica shrugged.

  “Can you keep a secret?” she asked and Xave almost laughed at the ridiculousness of the question.

  “Remember how I told you that I call the store Oculus?”

  Xave nodded, still watching Twila intently. She was at a computer in the camera room, grimacing in annoyance.

  “Well I share the name with a group which Twila and I do work for on occasion. It affords us some luxuries that are not so easily accessible to others.”

  He stared at her uncomprehendingly.

  “Like a government group?” he asked.

  Danica smiled again.

  “More like an anti-government group,” she replied, lowering her voice as if she worried Twila would hear. “Anyway, trust me when I say she knows what she’s doing. It’s like fixing a parking ticket.”

  He stared at her for a long minute, trying to make sense of what she was saying. A strange sense of unease gripped him.

  “What do you do for this group?”

  Danica raised her shoulders.

  “Whatever they ask us,” she replied flippantly. She seemed to notice his sudden concern and she laughed.

  “Don’t worry, Xave. You have nothing to fear from Oculus.”

  But as the words left her mouth, his mind was suddenly traveling back to a dining room in New Haven, Connecticut, a silent yet thunderous statement ringing through his ears.

  Don’t stop fighting! Don’t let them take you, boys! They are Oculus and you must fight against them!

  Staring in horror and confusion at Danica, he wondered if he had inadvertently made a deal with the devil.

  Chapter Eight

  The job with Oculus had come rather unexpectedly and at a time when Danica and Twila had found themselves panhandling in Austin.

  They had devised a “pregnant and homeless” scam in opposite ends of the city, a scheme which enabled them to live in a pretty house in the quaint suburb of Round Rock.

  It was a game they had played for almost six months when one afternoon, a kindly older man who had given money freely to Danica several times paused to chat with her.

  “When are you due?” he asked, adjusting his glasses against the bridge of his nose, leaning in on his cane to hear her answer.

  “Two months,” she replied dully, shaking her head with sadness. “I worry about what life I will provide for this child.”

  He made a commiserating noise.

  “You are such a brave girl, Danica,” he told her and the hairs prickled on the back of her neck.

  There was no reason for the man to know her real name and as she stared into his dark eyes, she realized for the first time that there was a definite lack of emotion in their depth.

  It’s like he’s not human, was the thought which crossed her mind. It was terrifying but she maintained the stoic expression on her face.

  “I don’t feel brave,” she muttered, no longer regarding him as a mark but as a potential threat.

  “Ah but you are. Who else can pull off the same scam for months without being caught, especially in an area where you have pulled off so many other scams.”

  A defensive reply sprang to her lips but died there when she abruptly realized that there was no use denying her situation.

  Somehow, the man before her knew more about her than he should. A shiver worked its way through her body, her muscles tensing. Preparing for the possibility that she would be forced to run for her life. She had no idea what he wanted, but if he knew that much about her and her past, it couldn’t be good.

  “I’ll be on my way,” Danica told him, reaching for her cup, but he stopped her, placing a feeble hand on her arm. His fingers were strong and she quickly understood that the man was not an older gentleman at all.

  A shiver of apprehension slithered down her spine.

  “No,” he said. “You’ll come with me.”

  As if on cue, a black, windowless van pulled up and Danica pulled away, turning to run.

  “Don’t run,” he told her. “Twila is already inside.”

  Terror drained the blood from her face as she
allowed herself to be led into the vehicle, her heart thudding.

  “I am offering you a job,” her kidnapper explained as they stepped inside the empty van, the door closing behind her with finality. Twila was not inside and Danica was furious at herself for falling for the lie.

  “I don’t need a job,” she snapped. “Let me out.”

  He chuckled.

  “I am offering you a great deal of money for very minimal work,” he told her as if she hadn’t already refused.

  “You also told me that Twila was in this van,” she retorted as the van sped away from her spot on the corner. “How am I supposed to believe anything you tell me?”

  “I am graciously offering you this position,” he replied. “But if you refuse, I will have to ensure your cooperation in other ways.”

  Danica had no doubt that she was dealing with a very dangerous man. He spoke perfectly pleasantly, but the look in his eyes was colder than any Danica had ever seen.

  She tried to switch tactics.

  “I don’t want any trouble, but there is nothing I have that would help you,” she told him quickly.

  His grin widened.

  “On the contrary,” he replied. “I believe you will be very valuable as an information ambassador.”

  Danica squinted in confusion.

  “I have no idea what that means,” she replied. “What does that entail?”

  “It means you will gather information when we call on you.”

  “We? Who is we?” she demanded.

  He nodded.

  “I work for a group called Oculus. We are determined to make the world a safer, better place.”

  Danica did not believe a word coming out of his mouth.

  “And how do you do that exactly?” she asked politely, trying to hide her nervousness.

  “By ridding the planet of threats.”

  “Do we have a lot of threats on the planet?” she asked, wondering if she was dealing with a sane man.

  His leer was horrifying.

  “Far less than there were before we existed,” he answered smugly. “We have learned how to tame the threats and use them to our advantage. But we are still met with resistance, believe it or not.”

  She eyed him, her mouth twisting in dismay.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she told him flatly. “And I want no part of some secret government plan.”