Eyes Of Danger (7 page)

He looked around, seeming comfortable that no one was paying any attention to us. Actually, we weren’t in view of any cars except those leaving. I had backed up against the side of the building to stay out of the way. He walked over to me, reached down so that he could drop the belts into my bag.

“I’ll leave you here. You know where you are at, right? Throw these in someone’s garbage as they might have our skin cells on them.”

I looked up. He had approached a little closer than I wanted. I felt that warning heat start to build. Okay, let’s get this settled and move on. “I know where I am at, but you didn’t answer my question about the guys in the parking lot. My guess is you know who they are and why they are watching me.” I slid sideways on the wall and saw saw in his eyes that he was watching my movement. I began to think he had some of my talents—that he could read me more than I was comfortable with.

“We are going to separate here. You can walk home. Tomorrow, you can take a cab to pick up your jeep.”

He started to turn away, but I couldn’t help myself. It was better to be angry than just scared. A grab on his arm drew his attention.

“No, you don’t. I think you got me into this and you owe me. Who were they? Why are they following me and asking questions about me?”

He stepped back, and at the same time, a guy came around the corner. The guy had garbage bags. It was probably his job to clean up around the gas station as he was heading across to a large fenced-in garbage dumpster.

Tim moved back in against me, suddenly pushing me back into the wall with his body. He lowered his head and brought his head down and then we were kissing. It started out with just a touch of lips, then somewhere in there, it turned on with a little heat. I felt him push a little more and felt the movement of his tongue on my lips. I don’t know when I moved my arms up without thinking and wrapped around him.

I was aware of a lot of things all at once—the heat of his body, the feel of his mouth, the surprise of my own body’s response. I let the tongue slide in with a welcome feeling, my own tongue responding. What was more surprising to me, I felt a response between my legs. This was a first. I wasn’t sure that I understood, but I knew that I was actually pressing forward against him. Then, he raised his head and stepped back, looking at me with those incredible dark eyes.

He looked around, then back at me. “The men were probably CIA. Or
hired
by the CIA. That happens a lot. They are looking for me. They probably thought by following you,
you
would lead them to me.” Then, he smiled.

“What. You find this funny?” Between the heat from the kiss and his smile, I was insulted.

He shook his head, but still smiled. “Look, I am sorry, but you really pulled a great one at the store. A trained operative couldn’t have done better.”

I looked at him totally frustrated. “Their plan might be working, right? Because here we are together, so, are you watching me, too?”

He stepped back further, but still had his eyes on my face. “I feel responsible for you. I brought this down on you. Sorry.”

“Sorry? Are you nuts?” I had my hands on my hips. I stepped towards him, ignoring my warning system. “Just go away. Go somewhere else. Let them follow you there. Lead them to another state, another country, another…” I stopped as he placed a finger on my lips.

“I can’t leave, yet. Stop yelling. Stop drawing attention to us. Let’s play this off as a lover’s quarrel. Slap me and stalk off. Then, go to your home.”

He removed his finger. I looked at him, then saw over his shoulder, a couple looking at us as they got into their car. I looked at him, drew back, and planted, with full force, a hand against his jaw. I picked up my bag, stomped around him and headed out to the road. I waited until I got to the road before I peeked back, but he was gone. Sure, a ghost.

I cut over a couple of blocks. This meant I was soon on my own street, then in front of my house. I looked around to make sure I didn’t see any strange cars or even any unknown people. I went in though the side garage door, sitting down at my kitchen table. I turned the green bag upside down, dumping everything out.

I stared at what I had bought. I couldn’t remember buying half of the items sitting on the table. When had I picked them up, and that poor guy at the deli? I had a dozen small white wrapped packages. I unwrapped one and looked at the two slices of cheese. I broke off a sliver and stuck it in my mouth. Okay. I was in a dream I would wake up from any minute. There was something else, though.
Sex
. It had always been a bit of a disappointment to me. Yet, in one kiss, I had felt more stirrings than I had ever felt in bed with the two men I had developed experiences with in my
so-called
love life.

I needed a shower, but more than that, I needed to get away. I needed to get away from black sedans, from CIA talking to my friends and from a guy who could send my heart beating too fast with a kiss.

Let’s see…Steve said I should take some time off. I got up, stumbling around to find my laptop, brought it online to check my bank account, and noticed that I had eight thousand in the savings and eighteen hundred in the checking with the overdraft protection.

I knew better than to buy an airplane ticket or anything else they could trace unless I wanted them to trace me. Hmmm, yes, so I went on line again. I bought an
Amtrak
ticket for the next day in my name from Cincinnati to Washington, D.C. I was going to be on that train, but not with
that
ticket. In this day and age, with all the tricks taught to the average guy by watching the cops and robbers TV shows, one girl should be able to outsmart the Guys in Black.

I went to my bedroom to begin packing a backpack. I took a shower, then went through a desk drawer looking at a driver’s license I had of a friend in Indiana. We looked a little alike, but she was almost 70 pounds heavier than me, and with short hair. I felt I could make it work. I used my computer to print up some realistic looking cards in her name to take along. I dug out my little laminating machine so that I even put a couple of them in plastic. Finally, I went to bed. I set the alarm for two am.

I woke up alert and anxious. I got dressed, using a lot of bobby pins to fold my hair up into a knot with only a few pieces around my face. I called a cab, giving the address of a neighbor. I was waiting on the curb in front of my sleeping neighbor’s house when it arrived. I told him to drive carefully through the parking lot where my jeep was as I was looking for my abusive husband. Unfortunately, there was a dark sedan parked over a couple of rows from the jeep. It was easy to spot them, as there weren’t many cars in the lot. So much for using my jeep. I kissed that idea goodbye.

The cabby understood when I told him to go on, so I had him go by my bank. I took five hundred from the ATM. They wouldn’t see this until morning. I was not stupid. This would be all I could get away with. I told the cabby where to take me. I got out at the bus station, which was a shabby storefront, and paid the cabby. After he was out of sight, I started walking. When I got into a decent neighborhood, I found a
Walmart
. Going in, I bought two
Throw Away Cell Phones
, each with minimum minutes. God bless
Walmart
and the cheap buys on these items.

I went out and called for another cab. While I waited, I sent Steve an email saying I was taking a vacation. I hated to toss away my Blackberry, but it, too could be traced. I turned it over to pull out the battery just when I heard it ring. I was so surprised at a call in the darkness of early morning I almost dropped the phone. I turned it over and looked at the ID that said
Unknown Number
. I debated to answer or not. Finally, my curiosity getting the best of me, I pushed the button, put the phone to my ear, and listened. There was silence, but I finally heard a voice.

“Where are you going?”

I knew the voice. “How did you get my cell?” Sometimes I get sidetracked with stupid.

“Where are you going? I can’t protect you if you get too far away.”

I took a deep breath. If he had my cell number, then the Feds had it also, so I needed to get rid of it now. “Tim, if that really is your name, if you can’t leave town, then I can. Goodbye.” I quickly disconnected, pulled the back off the phone, and pulled out the battery. I also pulled out the SIM card. I went over to the first trashcan and dropped the stripped phone into the can.

When the cab showed up, I had him take me to another
WalMart
across town. I told him they said the item I wanted was at that store, but I had already researched it and found the store was within walking distance of the Union Station—Cincinnati’s only train station.

The first thing I did after getting out of the cab was to drop the battery and SIM card into the nearest trashcan. I now had two disposable cell phones, five hundred in cash and two changes of clothes with my laptop. This was what I had to escape Tim and my own Government. We had all heard, repeatedly, of the street people. How those who lived off the grid were able to exist. They survived, eating at soup kitchens and sleeping in boxes on heating transoms. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that for me, just enough time to discourage those that followed me.

I walked to the station. Now, I entered to sit and wait for the traffic to pick up. People always sit around in any public building like Train and Bus stations. Mothers with small kids with no place to sleep that were cheap, really scary looking guys who mumbled to themselves, teens on the run. There were always a couple of cops who walked through, but didn’t bother anyone.

Finally, around eight in the morning, some business people along with some tourists came in. I joined a line to buy a ticket to Washington, D.C. I went out to the loading platforms and found a seat against the wall. The Amtrak train was sitting there and a porter loading the luggage and extra items on the cars. A few people were getting on the train.

I just watched until I saw what I wanted. A couple of young men, looking like college kids, embarked on the train, laughing as they pushed to a seat in the middle of a car. I could see them having fun through the windows of the car. I got up and went to the same car, and found a seat across from them. Since the car was not full, I dropped my backpack into the seat by the window so I could sit down in the aisle seat.

I gave one of the guys a nice smile. I got busy pulling out my laptop, bringing up a downloaded game.

It only took fifteen minutes before I had the two guys in the seats with me. One moved my backpack to sit beside me while another took the other seat across in the seat that faced backward. I stole the ball cap of one guy with a laugh and had it on my head before the train moved when the first Fed came through the car and up the aisle looking for a girl with long hair, traveling alone. Oh, yes, they had monitored my accounts.

I relaxed and had a good time with the guys. They were both heading to a new job in Washington, all excited, but a little worried. They were also interested in having a little last minute fling on the way to wearing a suit and tie for the future work days. This trip was about fifteen hours to Washington, but there would be a couple of stops along with some beautiful scenery. Since the three of them didn’t have sleeping arrangements, they would be camping in this car. I meant to help them have a good time, but no sex.
Sorry guys—no quickies.

It was almost eight hours with food from a cart before they came into a station. “Hey, guys, lets stretch our legs.” I gathered my stuff, bringing my backpack. As they left, one of the guys commented about me not trusting anyone. On the other hand, this wasn’t unusual. After 911, no one left any type of luggage lying around. Any official was suspicious.

“Actually, I probably have a chance on a sleeper. Sorry, the offer is for one lady, no extra guys.” I shrugged, giving them a big smile. Then, I got off the train with them. We walked into the small station. I pointed towards the front where we could see a couple of chain restaurants through the windows. We had a quick bite, then went back to the train. I entered with them, but went on through the car and through the next one. I exited off the wrong side, stepping down on a track. I ducked down, pushed under a car of another parked train, then pulled myself up onto the deserted platform on the other side.

I looked around to see the steps that led up to the cross-over. It looked too open for me, so I went on until I found a section marked
Employees Only
. I went down a few steps only to find I was on a sidewalk that went around the end of the building. It had areas that led around the end of the trains. It was quite a hike, but eventually I was around the train station itself. It was dark by this time as I heard the Amtrak train move out.

I was in the main part of town, so I looked for a decent chain motel. I soon saw the sign about three blocks away. It was an easy walk, so I hung around outside until another couple pulled up, then went in right behind them.

At the desk, they signed in and then, because there was only one guy on duty, I waited the twenty minutes it took to get them registered. As they walked away, I said to the woman, “See you later.”

She nodded at me and kept on going. The desk clerk was busy with his paper work so I just waited. “I need a room next to my friends if possible. Just for one person.” I smiled. I pulled out the wrong driver’s license. The clerk hardly looked at it as he worked on the computer. Fortunately, a businessman came in to stand behind me.

The clerk held out his hand. “Credit card?”

“Oh, can I pay in cash? “ I pulled out my wallet, starting to count out cash. I let him see the tops of my credit cards.

“Sure, oh, and you can pull your car around in back. Your room key will open the outside door.”

He told me the amount and I got change back along with the room key. I went out to get my non-existent car. I walked around to the rear door, entered, and went up one floor to my room.

I took a nice shower, then had an equally nice night’s sleep, only interrupted once by a dream of dark eyes. I sat up in bed expecting to see him in the room. Once my breathing had settled down, and I was able to make sure I was still in the room by myself, I went back to sleep, finally waking up in the morning surprised that I was rested.