Gone--7

    Exhausted she stared at the computer screen.  Her body screamed for rest, yet fear kept her going.  She had clues.  She had to use them.  There was no one else.  He was dead.  

    The screen grew fuzzy.  She blinked.  It remained blurred.  Her fingers trailed over the keyboard as she fell forward.  The dark hole had swallowed her.

   ~

    Philip slammed on the brake.  His eyes surveyed the road.  Something was wrong, he could feel it.  The girl stared fearfully at him.  He cracked down the window and listened.  “A vehicle,” he mumbled.  Why should that worry him?  He didn't know.  Up ahead there was a turnoff.  Philip gunned the engine and spun into it.  A few moments later a gray Mercedes sped by.  The boss.  Fear crept over Philip.  His boss knew what had happened.  There was no knowing how, but there was no doubt that he did.

    He urged his car onward down the bumpy road his hands clenching the wheel so tightly that they were turning white.  “Now what?” he muttered.

         ~

    Ashley watched the man out of the corner of her eye.  His was worried.  Well, I guess that makes two of us.  That thought almost brought a smile to her mouth.  Yet the stark fact still remained:  he had tried to kill her.  Of that she was certain.  Why he hadn't she couldn't figure.  It would have been easy.  She had been unconscious, completely helpless to defend herself. 

    She sighed.  If only she dared voice the questions swirling in her mind.

    Ahead a small tumbled down shack appeared on the side of the road.  The man swerved over in front of it.  He turned off the engine, then starred off into space.  Finally, he spoke, his voice hoarse.  “What am I going to do with you?”  His whole body seemed to deflate and he turned to look at her.  “I-.”  He shook his head. 

    “I have a question,” when no reaction came, she continued, “Why?  Why are you doing this?”

    He grinned ruefully.  “Good question.  I don’t know.  The reasons I had before no longer have merit.”

    “You were supposed to get rid of me, I gather.  Why?” 

    “I can honestly say I’m not entirely sure why you were chosen as my first, um, project.”  He tapped his fingers nervously on the steering wheel.

    Ashley took a deep breath.  He was talking with a calm, modulated tone.  That was a good sign that she was going to get out of this situation alive.  “What’s going to happen now?”

    Her window shattered sending glass everywhere. 

  ~

    Philip grabbed the girl’s arm and jerked her down on the floorboard while he fumbled around for his gun.  They had been found.  More bullets hit the car piercing through the sides.  “Keep down!” he revved the car to life.  They had to get out of there fast.  The back window shattered as they started down the road.  The girl yelped with fear.  They were quickly gaining speed.  In a few moments they would be out of reach of the bullets.  Suddenly a sharp pain ripped up his arm.  “Ah!” the car swerved and slammed into a tree sending his head against the door.  He lay there for a moment stunned. 

    As he blinked, trying to clear away the black dots, something appeared in his peripheral vision.  A gun.  There was no time to think or to act.  He starred at the gun barrel trying to accept what was about to happen.  Behind the gun a man stood there, a sneer on his face.  His finger began to draw back on the trigger.  The sharp retort of a gun filled the air.  The man froze, then dropped to the ground, dead.  What happened?  I'm not dead? Philip whirled and looked at the girl.  In her hands she held a gun.  Her face was white and her hands were shaking. 

    “I killed him,” her lips trembled.

    Philip didn’t say anything; he just took to the gun from her hands and tried to smile.  “We need to get out of here.” 

    "Yeah..." her voice trailed off and her eyes wandered to his arm.  “You’re hurt!”

    “It just barely nipped me, nothing serious.  We have other things to worry about right now.  We have to see if this car will work.”  The front had been battered a bit, but the car might still move.  He put it in reverse.  The car pulled back onto the road.  “Yes!”  He grinned, they could get out of here.