Gone--8

   “Slightly bare isn’t it?” Ashley glanced around the small apartment.  It was comprised of three rooms:  a kitchen, a living area, and a bedroom.  All were scantily furnished.
    “It works.”  He hurriedly shuffled through some papers on his desk.  “Here they are.”

    She glanced at the pile of papers in his hands.  “What?”

    He shook his head.  “Instructions, correspondence, stuff like that.  Enough to show that I have been paid to do this stuff.  I want any evidence I can get against these guys.”

    “What are you going to do now, though?  And what are you going to do with me.  Technically I’m still your prisoner.”

    His shoulders slumped.  “I promise I’ll get to those questions later.  Right now we have to get.  I never told them where I lived.  But that doesn’t mean they don’t know.  As far as you being a prisoner…well, I don’t think that term rightly applies anymore.”

    “That’s comforting.  Does that mean I can leave?”

    “And have someone else kill you?  Listen, you would never reach the police, and the police would never reach you.  You would be dead or captured.”  He took a step towards her.  “Please believe me when I say that.”

    She broke his gaze and stared at the wall.  “What’s your name?”

    The change of subject threw him.  “Huh?”

    “Well, if I am going to be have to be with you for a bit longer, I would at least like to know your name.”

    “Philip.  Yours?”

    “Ashley.”

    “Well, Ashley, let’s go.  I’ve got a spare car down in the parking lot.  I’ve been saving it for emergencies.”

    She smiled.  “I’d say this counts as one.”

                                                                            ~

  Philip checked in the rearview mirror again.  “You said your house was down this road?”

  “Yep.  About a mile down.”

  Ashley had managed to convince him that her house could be a safe haven for them stay in for the rest of the day.  He wasn’t so sure.  His boss, Ryan Flelling, would not hesitated on finding out where she lived, and considering his resources, it wouldn’t take long. 

  The tension was thick in the car.  Both of them had had time to think about what had happened.  The attempt to kill them both had planted fear firmly in their minds.  Ashley had suggested they go to the police.  While that would make sense in any other situation, it was unreasonable right now.  Besides the fact that he had tried to kill Ashley, something he now deeply regretted, Flelling had people planted everywhere.  It stood to reason that he would have spies in the police department too.  Ashley and he would never get out alive.  It was best that they duck below the radar screen of both Flelling and the police.  Philip wasn’t sure how long Ashley would wait until she shoved his reasons aside and went to the police.  He wouldn’t blame her if she did, but he had to keep that from happening.  If anything, to make up for what he had tried to do.

  “There it is!” Ashley excitedly pointed towards a small clapboard house.  Bushes and trees blocked most of it from view. 

  Philip eyed the house uneasily.  “I don’t like it.”

  She turned concerned eyes on him.  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know what I mean, but I feel there is more there than what we see.  Let’s drive a ways down the road first while I think this out.”


I'm sorry to say that this will be the last installment of Gone.  There is no telling how long this story will become, and I don't really relish posting it on here for the next year.  Hopefully you won't be too angry at my discontinuation of it.  :)