No More Running

by Jayton Young

  “So, you really liked the movie?” Garret asked as we waited for our order.

  “Yes I did. I loved Will and Bill. They were my favorites, but it could be because Brad Pitt and Matt Damon did their voices.”

  “Nah, that couldn’t be it. They have nothin’ on me.” He said with a cocky smirk on his face.

  I busted out laughing. This man certainly had self-confidence. I saw some one approach our table from the corner of my eye. When I looked up, I was in shock.

  “Hello Dianne.”

  Jamie Lane still had the deepest, sexiest voice I’d ever heard, but it didn’t affect me as much as it used to. I looked at his face, surprised to see most of the burn scars gone. He looked almost as he had before Chuck had burned his garage down with him in it.

  I stood up and hugged his neck. I would forever feel bad for being the cause of so much pain and loss in his life. “Jamie, how are you? What are you doing here on the east coast?”

  “After I received the insurance money and got some plastic surgery done, I decided to start completely over, and moved out here.” He said. “I told you I had some family in Georgia.”

  “Yeah, I’m sorry. I forgot.” I turned to Garret who was now standing watching our exchange with interest. “Jamie, this is Garret Starr my date. Garret this is Jamie Lane. I dated him for a while when I lived in Tacoma.” I introduced them.

  They shook hands. “It’s nice to meet you.” Garret said politely. “Would you like to pull up a seat and join us?”

  “No thank you. My date is waiting for me outside, we just finished eating.” He turned back to me. “I noticed you walk in, but without your red hair, I almost didn’t recognize you. You certainly are looking good.”

  “Thank you, Jamie. You are too.”

  “Yeah, I thank my plastic surgeon every day.” He said with a trace of hostility in his voice, but he smiled down at me. “I would love to get with you and catch up sometime. Do you have the same cell number?”

  “No, I don’t have a cell phone anymore, but you can call me at Starr industries here in town. We’ll do lunch one day.” I told him.

  “I’ll do that.” He took my hand and kissed to top of it. He always had been the gentleman, but there was a glint in his eye that made me very uncomfortable now. Maybe it was just because I was with Garret and didn’t feel the same as I had before. “Starr Industries. Does that make him your boss?”

  “I’m his executive assistant.”

  “Hmm. Okay, well I’ll give you a call this next week.”

  “Alright. It was great seeing you again, Jamie.”

  After he left and our order came, Garret asked me about him.

  “I had gone on a few dates with him, but it never really got serious. We were better friends; I wasn’t ready for a relationship, and he said understood that, so we just went on a few casual dates. Tacoma had been the first place I settled after running away from Chicago. About a year after I moved there, there started to be fires at the homes and places of business of people who’d befriended me. My employer at the time lost her café and shop, and Jamie lost his garage which he lived in the apartment above it. He was caught in the blaze, but was pulled out before it went down. Jamie suffered some severe burns to his face and upper body. I had to tell the police about Chuck, but when they pulled his record and saw he was a cop, they dismissed my claims. I had alibies for all of the fires or they would have tried to pin them on me. When Jamie heard my story, he was angry with me, and understandably blamed me, so I left and haven’t seen him since.” I thought about how he’d seemed happy to see me. “He seems to have gotten over it though.”

  “I don’t know, Di. Just be careful, and please let one of us know when you’ll be with him, okay?” He asked.

  “Why?”

  “I just want to be on the safe side with you.” He said.

  We finished our dinner, and headed to Garrets house to watch movies. He had a really nice home theater system, including a wide screen TV and a DVD projection system with surround sound.

  “Why didn’t you just bring me here to watch movies? This is a first rate system, just as good as the theaters have, and it’s less crowded.” I said as I took a seat in one of the ten captain’s chairs that filled the room.

  “Then I wouldn’t have been able to show you off, nor would I have been able to see Happy Feet Two. It’s not on DVD yet.”

  Garret went and got us some junk food to munch on and a couple of drinks for us to have while we watched the movie.

  When he got back, he put the first Happy Feet in first and sat beside me, putting his arm around my shoulders. About half way through the movie, sharp pains started shooting through my stomach. I grabbed my abdomen and bent over.

  Garret started to stand, turning to me, but fell to the ground with a grunt. When I slid to my knees to check him, with tears in my eyes from the pain in my stomach, I saw that he’d passed out. He was all clammy, like he’d been sick, but just hadn’t said anything to me.

  My vision was going dark, I felt real nauseous, and I couldn’t get back up. I reached into Garret’s pocket, where he always kept his phone, and took it out. I dialed Claire’s number, but when she answered, all that came out was a groan of pain before I was lost to the darkness.

  Chapter 8

  I was in and out of it for Lord knows how long. The first time I remember anything, Claire was trying to get me to wake up, but I was barely able to open my eyes before the darkness took over again.

  The next time was when I was being wheeled down the corridor of the hospital. I couldn’t concentrate on what people were saying because I ended up rolling off the gurney when I tried to get up to throw up. When I was finished vomiting, I blacked out again.

  There were several times I woke long enough to gain someone’s attention, usually vomiting, and then I was out again.

  One of the times I woke, a nurse had come into the room as someone was doing something with my IV. She sounded upset, but I couldn’t get my mind out of the fog it was in enough to know what was being said.

  I finally woke from my fogged sleep at nighttime. The lights were low, but I could see Claire sitting with Stefan on the bench seat by the window. She had her head resting against his shoulder, and his arm was around her, his head resting on top of hers. They looked really sweet.

  I tried to talk, but it came out a croaking sound because my throat was so raw and dry. It was enough to gain their attention. Claire jumped from her seat coming to see if I was alright. She looked horrible, having bags under her eyes and her hair not styled like it normally was. Stefan poured me a cup of water, put a straw in it, and let me sip it as Clair helped me sit up.

  “Thank you.” Even after having drank almost the whole cup down, my throat was still scratchy. “Garret?” I asked.

  “He’s doing better than you.” Stefan answered. “He woke up yesterday morning, a few hours after you both were brought in. He’s been an ornery SOB, wanting to be in here with you.”

  “What happened to us?”

  They looked at each other before turning back to me; both with murderous looks in their eyes.

  “Someone poisoned everything in Garret’s house. They are still testing the food and drink to try and determine what exactly was used, but they know it was the popcorn and water you guys had in the theater. They already inspected the food at the Golden Palace, and didn’t find anything.” Claire explained.

  “Then this wasn’t just us getting sick, or an accident?” I wondered. They both shook their heads.

  Thinking about it though, it couldn’t have been directed at me. Nobody knew that I’d be going to Garret’s after the date, so that had to mean someone was after him.

  Looking back at them, I asked, “Garret doesn’t have any enemies does he?”

  Stefan looked surprised at the question, but he thought for a minute. “Not that I can think of off the top of my head. Everyone has someone who doesn’t like them or is jealous of them, though. Why?”

 
“This couldn’t have been directed at me, so that leaves only him.”

  “But nothing started happening until you came here.” Claire added.

  I flinched at that because I knew she was right, but even I didn’t know I’d be going over there, so why would Chuck poison everything. Unless…

  “Oh my God! He’s doing it again.”

  “What? What’s he doing?”

  “He goes after my friends; those who have helped me or associated with me.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  I had explained everything to them. I told them the whole story and about everything that happened to Jamie and Patty in Tacoma. Since Tacoma, I had tried to leave before he had the chance to find me, or do anything if he had found me, but I knew that my friends were right. I couldn’t run anymore. I had to make this stand against him, and try to find a way for him to pay for his crimes against me and others that he’d hurt.

  Stefan came back into the room after checking on Garret. He had a grim look on his face, but stayed silent as Claire was talking to me.

  “Garret will be here in a while.” He said when she had finished telling me about the plan for everyone to move into Stefan’s house, which was in Claire’s neighborhood that was a gated community, but his house had better security. “He is signing himself out so we can work out a solid plan on what to do.”

  “I’ll sign out, too. I’m sure Doc will help us with that. I don’t really like being in a hospital, I feel more exposed here.” I figured the sooner we did whatever, the better. Chuck obviously was already watching me, so it wouldn’t be long before he made his move against me. But it wouldn’t be before he ‘toyed’ with the people around me. “Has Doc been around?” I asked, thinking about how worried he must have been.

  “Actually, he was here for your initial treatment, but I didn’t see him anymore after that; yesterday or today.” Claire stated, looking over to Stefan.

  “What is it?” I asked looking between the two; I knew they were keeping something from me.

  “Um,” Claire sounded very nervous. “He didn’t show for work last night.”

  Doc had been working the twelve am to twelve pm shift in the ER to cover a doctor shortage.

  “Can you send someone to check on him?” I was getting nervous. What if Chuck did something to him? I took the cover off and was going to try to stand, but a wave of dizziness came over me and I fell back on the bed.

  “Hold up short stuff, where do you think your going?” Stefan asked, scooting my legs back around straight on the bed.

  “I have to go see if he’s alright. Like I told you, Chuck goes after everyone else first. Doc could be lying dead somewhere.”

  “We already had Alex over to his house to check. His car was not there, and the house was

  locked up tight. He wasn’t home.” Alex was one of their ex-marine buddies that worked for Garret as a bodyguard to people who hired our services. When he wasn’t doing that, he was pretty much a jack of all trades in the office, doing anything that needed to be done.

  Claire came up on the other side of the bed, grabbing my hand. “Are you sure you know Doc as well as you think?” She asked softly.

  “Of course! I’d trust him with my life! I have trusted him with my life.” I said, as I tried to calm myself down. Being upset was only raising my blood pressure making the dizziness worse. I had to work at it to get my breathing back under control.

  Clair squeezed my hand. “I’m sorry Di, but you have to see it from our point of view. Nothing started happening until he got here. Did you tell him about your date?”

  “Yes I did, but it’s not Doc! If you’ll both remember, I got shot before he got here.” I told them. I couldn’t believe they’d accuse Doc. He’s the one who saved me and helped me escape Chuck in the first place. “Think back on it, Claire. I think the bullet was aimed at you. I got hit as you pulled me behind you. This is exactly how he did it last time. He hurts those around me, then he’ll come after me, but I know it couldn’t be Doc.”

  Garret came into the room as I was saying that. “I just found out he was brought into the ER a couple of hours ago. He had an accident in his car.”

  “Oh no! Is he alright?”

  “Yes, he’s okay.” He answered coming to my bed slowly. I could see the bags under his eyes and could tell he was still feeling weak. “They’re trying to get him to stay overnight for monitoring; he has a slight concussion, but he said he knows the symptoms and that he’ll be fine. He wants to come check on you, and should be here in a little bit.”

  I relaxed hearing that, but I was getting angry. Here, if I’m right, was an attempt on three people around me. I had to figure something out to stop him.

  “It’s not your fault, Dina,” I looked at Garret and saw the sincerity in his eyes. “And we will figure something out.”

  “I don’t agree that it’s not my fault, but I will agree that we will figure something out.” I told him. “I won’t let that asshole hurt anymore of my friends. Speaking of which, will someone go talk to Mr. and Mrs. Davis and let them know to keep a look-out? You’re keeping tabs on Mrs. Chambers aren’t you?”

  “Yes, Margie is still with Rose, and I’ve got some people watching her house. I’ll have somebody check in and keep an eye on the Davis’. They do know something happened, though. They were here to visit both you and me earlier.”

  “Thank you.” I grabbed his hand. “I’m so sorry that this happened to you.”

  “I’ll only say this one more time, and I better not hear you say it again. This. Is. Not. Your. Fault. You can’t help the fact that someone is after you. I’ve got someone working on figuring out where Chuck is and what he is doing. Once we figure that out, we’ll be able to decide what moves to make to stop him.”

  “Good. I would love for this to be over.” I looked over to Claire and Stefan to include them in the conversation. Claire was standing beside Stefan, holding on to his arm. They looked like a couple. Then it hit me. All the little gestures I’d seen between the two of them; they were a couple. If not, they wanted to be. I lifted one brow at Claire as I continued whispering to Stefan, and she blushed when she saw me.

  “Well when can I sign myself out of here? I think we should hurry and settle wherever we’re going to be and set up security.” I concentrated on Stefan to let him know I was directing the next statement at him. “I’m going to rest for a day, if possible, and then I want to get back to training in self-defense. I might not be able to be the best fighter, but I really want to be prepared next time he comes.”

  They all nodded, Stefan went to get the Doctor for my release papers and the rest of us talked about ways to prepare us all for direct and indirect confrontations, because we all knew there would be something else coming; probably sooner rather than later. Stefan joined us again saying the doctor would be in after his rounds.

  There was a knock on the door, and Doc came walking in. By the look on his face, I knew whatever he had to say, I wasn’t going to like.

  Chapter 9

  “I was run off of the road, Diana. It was not an accident.” Doc told me gravely as he came over to stand next to my bed. He walked stiffly and I could tell he was still hurting.

  “Did you get a look at the car?” Stefan asked. I could tell he was still skeptical as to whether Doc was innocent, but he would have to deal with it. Doc was my friend, just as they were, and I trusted him no matter what they said.

  “Not really. I was able to give a basic description, but it was dark. All I could tell was that it was a large black SUV. I didn’t see the driver or if there were passengers or not. Everything happened kind of fast.”

  “What did they say about you?” I asked, worried about him. He didn’t look too good. “Should you be up and walking around?”

  “I’m alright, just a small concussion. I can deal with that, but I still wanted to make sure you were alright. That poison can have lasting effects on humans.” He said
has he rubbed my arm and then grabbed my hand.

  “Wait.” Garret spoke up, coming up beside him. “They said they hadn’t determined the poison used yet.”

  “It was on her chart. I just checked before I came in here. I can go get it if you’d like.” Doc said defensively.

  “Yeah, why don’t you do that?” Garret said, crossing his arms, and my jaw dropped.

  When Doc left the room, Garret motioned for Stefan to follow.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I asked him angrily. “All of you need to freaking back off of him! He could have died, and you want to start acting like he did something wrong.”

  “Di, I checked the charts before I came in here and there were nothing about the poison in neither mine nor yours. It’s kind of convenient don’t you think?”

  Just then Doc came back in and walked straight to Garret with the chart.

  “I’m sorry, Doc. They’re just being a little paranoid. I know better.” I said as Garret read over the chart. Doc came back to me a gave me a small smile to let me know it was okay.

  He looked up when he heard me say that. Turning to Doc, he offered his hand, “Please forgive us. We are just trying to look out for Di. I don’t want her to keep getting hurt.”

  Doc shook his hand. “I know. I’ve been doing the same for years now, but I would never hurt her on purpose.”

  Garret nodded and started talking to him about the poison used, it accessibility, and the effects. I noticed Stefan and Claire off to the side speaking in low voices. I thought about how weird Doc’s statement seemed, but I couldn’t pinpoint why it seemed off. I was getting drowsy again, but I didn’t want to go to sleep and end up staying here for longer.

  When Garret and Doc stopped talking, I decided to get Doc to get me the forms to be released. After he left to take care of it, we discussed living arrangements again.