by Cat Gilbert
EVERYONE ARRIVED TOGETHER with the exception of Mama D, who had opted to watch some television and turn in.
“She’s over there making herself a cup of tea. I didn’t realize it, but she’s never been in a hotel before,” Trinity told me as she threw the pillows around on the bed. “Here we are on the run, I’m worried sick about her, and she’s having the time of her life.”
Trinity plopped down in the little nest she’d made, Jonas took the sofa and Mac the easy chair, leaving me the desk chair. I rolled it over, not wanting the desk in front of me, separating me from the rest of the group. I might be the leader, but we were a team, at least for now, and I wanted them to feel that way.
“Okay, so tell us what happened inside the bank today? Mama D didn’t know much, other than we got the gold,” Trinity said. “Why was everyone running out like that?”
“I think it had something to do with Taylor yelling about a gun, but I couldn’t see what was happening,” Mac explained, “ I was busy getting Mama D out of the bank.”
“Yeah, you were moving pretty fast, when you got to the car. I thought you were going to toss Mama D right out onto the street,” Jonas put in, making us all laugh. “What did happen in there?”
Everyone turned to me expectantly and I realized I was actually the only one who knew what had gone down. Things had been moving so fast, we hadn’t had time to discuss it. Once we’d gotten on the road, the bank seemed a distant memory, not something that had just happened. I’d been too distracted with other things in the car to even think about it.
“They had a guy in one of the offices watching the bank,” I explained. “He didn’t seem much of a threat as he was paying much more attention to the short skirt in line than he was to the general comings and goings around him.”
“How’d you make him?” Jonas asked.
“The usual way, I guess,” I said, remembering my anxiety that I might have lost my touch.”I just knew.”
I heard the melody from The Twilight Zone and gave Trinity a look, while Mac chuckled, encouraging her.
“Anyway,” I continued, deciding to ignore her, “he either noticed something and alerted them, or they had the box flagged, because a second guy came into the bank. They didn’t talk, but I caught the nod between them, and then the new guy came over and sat down next to me, watching the vault door. When Mac and Mama D came out, he started to go for them and I tripped him up. I saw the gun when he was moving and decided it would make a good diversion and give Mac some cover to move. You know. Bank. Gun. Lots of running and screaming. Seemed like a plan.”
“What about the guy in the office?” Mac asked me. “Did he have a gun too?
“Uh, yeah,” I answered evasively. “He sort of ran into the door.”
They all just looked at me for minute. The mood had sobered as I told them what all had gone on. Jonas and Trinity had been outside and had no idea any of this had happened. Mac may have been on the inside, but he’d been in the vault until the last minute. This was the first they’d heard that it’d had been a near thing.
“You think they know she was there?” Jonas asked Mac.
“Depends.” They both looked over at me.
“How hard did he ‘run’ into the door?” Mac asked me.
“Pretty hard,” I answered back. “And I’m pretty sure the other guy has some broken ribs.”
“Okay, then. I guess it’s safe to say they know,” Jonas said grimly. “They’ll know we’re working together and that’s what they’ll be looking for.”
“I think they already had a pretty good idea we were together when they attacked us at Taylor’s condo,” Trinity snapped at him. “We were lucky she was at the bank today, or it would have had a different ending.”
“Hey! I agree totally.” Jonas held up his hands in surrender. “Don’t bite my head off. I’m just saying, if I was hunting us, I’d know if I could find one, the others wouldn’t be far away. Gangs are easier to find than just one person.”
“Jonas is right,” I cut in. “It’s something we need to talk about, but before we get into it, there’s something I need to say.” I hesitated, knowing what needed to be said, but not knowing how to start.
“Taylor, go ahead and just say it. We’re listening.” I gave Trinity a nod and decided to plunge on in.
“I know you all are here because of me. No,” I said, when objections started in, “let’s be honest. I’m a victim here too, I understand that, but if it weren’t for knowing me, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, you wouldn’t be here. You’d be living your lives, safe at home, instead of being on the run. I think we can agree on that, right?”
“We don’t blame you, Taylor. At least, I don’t,” Trinity put in, throwing a look at Jonas.
“I don’t blame you either,” he said, “but I’d be lying if I said there hadn’t been times when I wished I didn’t know you.”
I laughed at that. “Thanks Jonas. There’s been times I wished I didn’t know me either. That’s been the problem lately. I didn’t know me. I lost who I was. When this whole thing started, it really rattled me. I couldn’t get a handle on it. Things were coming at me from all directions and I was so busy dodging them, I couldn’t get my feet planted.”
Everyone nodded agreement. They’d felt it too and were able to sympathize with my plight.
“Today, on the drive here, I had some time to think about things. What was the next step for us? How best to keep everyone safe? Stuff like that. Frankly, it wasn’t going well. There didn’t seem to be any clear answer. At least none that I could see. Then Mac asked me what I wanted to do. Simple question really, but it made me angry. Really angry. That’s when he pulled over, threw me the keys to the car and walked away.”
Jonas turned on Mac, incredulous. “You left her there? What! Are you crazy?”
Trinity picked up a bed pillow and threw it at him. Mac had been watching Jonas and didn’t see it coming, so it hit him square in the face, throwing him back in the chair.
“Before you lynch him, let me finish!” I said, getting up to pull a soda from the mini-fridge. “His walking away was the best thing he could have done.”
I pulled out drinks for the others and started passing them around the room. “It forced me to stop and look at what I really wanted and I realized something important out there, alone with the cows and the crickets. I may be a victim, but that doesn’t mean I have to act like one. I’m tired of trying to stay one step ahead of these guys. Tonight, I took my life back. I’m done running.”
“So what are you saying, Taylor?” Jonas asked, “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to embrace the weirdness, Jonas. Whatever this thing is inside me, it’s not going away. It’s part of me now. Maybe it always was and I just didn’t realize it. It doesn’t really matter. The important thing is I need to understand it better. I can’t just cross my fingers every time it rears it’s head and hope I can live with the fallout. Mac knows someone who may be able to help me learn how to control it. I plan to find him and see if he can teach me a few things.”
“That would take care of your worry about hurting one of us,” Trinity noted, “if you could learn to control it.”
“That’s true,” I agreed, “but there’s more to it than that. This isn’t just about learning to control it. I plan on using it.”
“Using it? Just what do you intend to do, Taylor?” Jonas asked.
“I intend to go after them, Jonas,” I answered, “And I intend to win.”
“You’re going after them?” Jonas was on his feet. “I thought you were concerned about keeping Trinity and Mama D safe? How does putting them in harm’s way keep them safe?”
“It doesn’t,” I snapped back at him. “I didn’t say we’re going after them Jonas. I said I’m going after them. If I can’t find them and stop them, no one here will ever be safe. Look at what they’ve been willing to do so far. They’re not going to stop. The only way any of us have a chance of having any kind of
a life is for me to stop them.”
“Wait, what are you saying?” Trinity cut in. “You’re going without us? You want us to leave? You want us gone?” Her voice was rising with each question she asked. She may have offered to go, but she didn’t like the idea.
“No Trinity, that’s not what I want,” I assured her. “ but that may be the way it needs to be. What you said tonight is true. This is what I need to do, but I can’t ask you to risk anything more. I have enough guilt to carry around without adding that to it.”
Mac and Jonas both looked over to Trinity, who ignored them, concentrating instead on what I had to say. She knew what she’d told me. Now she was waiting to see what I had decided to do. I looked at her and knew in my heart I was doing the right thing. Maybe it was my gut feeling, or my special senses, but whatever it was, I knew without a shadow of a doubt this was right.
Right or not, the mood had gone to confrontational in a blink of the eye. Mac was sitting still as a statute, watching me, waiting for the next shoe to drop.
“So you want us to leave,”Trinity said, tears in her voice.
“What I want is for you to understand where I’m coming from, so you can make a decision about what you want,” I said, trying to explain. “The three of you haven’t had any more choice about what’s been happening than I have. Up until now. Things have changed. We have the gold. They don’t know where we are. You have a new identity and tomorrow, after we go the bank, you’ll have the money to start over. I know what I’m going to do. I’ve made my choice. Now, I’m asking you to make yours. That includes you, Mac. I’ll protect you as best I can, but I can’t let fear stop me from doing what I need to do. You can come with me, or go your own way. The decision is yours. But if you choose to come with me, it’s got to be your choice and you need to consider all the ramifications and risks involved before you make it.”
“You understand these guys are heavily armed professionals with one goal in mind and that’s finding you and taking you in. You don’t even know who these people are.” Jonas threw the facts at me rapid fire. “You know you don’t stand a chance against people like this, right?”
“What I know, Jonas, is that we can’t keep running. Sooner or later, they’ll find me or one of you, but they will find us. What I know is that this is the right choice for me. The only choice. I feel it. I have to do this.”
“You going to get yourself killed.”
“Probably,” I said.
“What about Trinity? You going to drag her into this and get her killed too?”
“No, Jonas, I’m not. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I’m not dragging her or anyone anywhere. Come with me or not, it’s your decision. If you come, it has to be with the understanding that one or more of us probably won’t be walking away when it’s over. I’ve accepted that. I don’t like it, but I don’t have a choice. You do.” I stood up, dizzy from all the tension radiating in the small space. Desperately needing fresh air, I picked up my bag, slipping the room key into my jeans pocket on the way to the door. “I wish you had more time to think about it, but time’s something we’re short of. Tomorrow after we go to the bank, I have to move on. You’ll all need to know what you’re doing by then,” I said as I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.
TWENTY-FIVE
“WHAT’D YOU BUY?” Mac asked as he slipped into step next to me as I came out the doors of the Wal-Mart across from the hotel.
“A gun. And I’m gonna use it to shoot you, if you sneak up on me like that again.”
“You didn’t buy a gun and you wouldn’t shoot me even if you had.”
I stopped to turn and look at him. “You sure about that?”
“I’m staking my life on it,” he replied, reaching over to take the bag of supplies from me. “I appreciate your offer, but I’m not about to leave just when this is getting interesting.”
I nodded and headed across the parking lot in the direction of the hotel, Mac by my side. I had hoped that he would stay. Even figured he probably would, but I needed to give him the choice. More for my benefit than his. I’d been ignorant of his presence during those seven years. He may have been watching and protecting me, during that time, but he’d been working alone. Telling him what I planned to do and giving him the option to leave, was a game changer. If he chose to stay, we’d be working together as a team and his job description was going to change big time. In my mind, I had no option but to give him the opportunity to leave, but I wasn’t about to lie to myself that I wasn’t relieved that he’d decided to stay.
“How are the others?” I finally asked, not sure if I really wanted him to answer.
“Torn, I guess would be the best way to describe it. You’ve given them a lot to think about.” He walked for a few minutes in silence before adding, “I’m worried about Jonas.”
I just smiled, nodding to myself, as we walked along. I understood why Mac was concerned. Trinity and Mac would follow me anywhere because they believed in me. Jonas never would. He would dig in his heels, question every move, and the motivation behind every decision and choice I made. Jonas, my voice of dissent. What Mac saw as a problem, I was grateful for. Jonas would keep me on my toes, if he decided to come along for the ride. He’d taken his role as Trinity and Mama D’s protector very seriously and wasn’t too keen on putting them in danger. Neither was I, but I wasn’t sure which road was the more dangerous one. That was something they’d have to decide for themselves.
“They still up in my room?” I asked him, putting the subject of Jonas on the table for now.
“No. Things broke up just after you left. I wasn’t sure how much Trinity was going to rely on Jonas, but she went off to her room without saying much to him.”
“She smart and she’s used to operating alone, making decisions for herself. She’s got Mama D to think of now. She knows that. Whatever she decides, it’ll will be the right decision for the both of them.”
He nodded in agreement. We had reached the hotel and he paused, causing me to turn to him in question.
“I did tell them, no matter what their decision, they would need to start using their new identities tomorrow, even in private. They need to forget who they were. Decide who they’re going to be.”
And now he was telling me. I nodded to let him know I got the point and walked past the fountain to the entrance. I’d left the hotel as Taylor Morrison. I was going back in as Samantha White.
“You can call me Sam,” I informed him as I pushed through the door into the lobby. “All my friends do.”
He chuckled and followed me in. I headed to the business center. They had some computers there for guests to use and we needed to try to locate the guy Mac thought could help me. I checked my watch, surprised to see it was only a quarter to ten. With everything that had happened that day, I was sure it had to be after midnight. When we got to the Business Office, it was empty. The center was open until midnight, which gave us a good two hours to track him down. Mac came in behind me, closing the door, and pulling up a chair next to me.
“I’m going to wipe the drive when we finish, just in case,” he told me in a low voice, as he sat my bag on the floor. “I don’t want to leave any evidence of where we’re going in case someone comes looking.”
I offered him the keyboard, but he rejected it. “You’re the detective. I’ll give you what information I have and you take it from there. Between us, maybe we can get somewhere.”
Two hours later, my eyes were glazing over, and we still hadn’t found him. Exhausted, I headed to my room wanting nothing more than a hot shower and a soft bed. Before they’d split up, everyone had agreed to make it a late morning, to give the rush hour traffic in Dallas time to clear before we hit town, so Mac and I agreed to meet for the free breakfast in the lobby at 8:00.
I ended up standing in the shower for a good 30 minutes, letting the jets of hot water beat the tension out of my muscles until the stress and terrors of the day gave up their hold on me. Exhausted, I c
rawled into bed, pulled up the covers and let the sweet release of sleep take me.
I WAS MORE or less awake when the sun lightened the room through the drapes. I lay there determined to keep my mind off the coming day, intent to get at least another 15 minutes of sleep, when the knock sounded on my door. My head jerked up off the pillow and I snorted in dismay. It had to be Trinity. Or Candice, I thought, shaking my head. I had to start thinking of them with their new names or I’d blow it in public. Mac had warned me it was time.
I checked the clock and was amazed to find it was 6 a.m. Frankly, I was surprised she had waited this long to come seek me out. I crawled out from the covers as she rapped again and made my way across the room. Opening the door, I found both Candice and Mama D standing in the hallway outside.
“Candice, Della. Come on in.” I swept my arm back, waving them inside. I picked up the morning paper the hotel staff had left and softly closed the door. “What brings you out so early this morning?”
I already knew. You had to be brain dead not to. I looked over at them standing there, bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to talk, and tried to shake off remnants of sleep that clung to me. Needing to be awake and alert, I stumbled over to the coffee maker and started rummaging around for the makings. I didn’t get very far before Mama D came over and grabbed the pot from my hand, sweeping into the bathroom. I caught Candice’s smile as Mama D filled the pot with water. Within minutes, she was back and the smell of coffee began to filter through the room.
“We’ve been talking and we’ve got some questions,” Candice started in right away, Mama D at her elbow, presenting a united front.
“Okay. Shoot,” I said, eyeing the dripping coffee, wishing I’d been able to brace with some caffeine before facing this.
