Authors: Shelia M. Goss
Savannah's Curse (21 page)
39
Troy hoped his memory was correct. They had walked deep into the woods, and there was a road on the opposite side. Getting onto the road wouldn't guarantee their safety, but it could get them back to the highway. Once they were at the highway, he knew he could hitch them a ride to safety.
His throat was dry. He needed some water bad. “Are you okay?” he asked Savannah.
“Yes,” she said as she walked beside him through the brush. “Uh, Troy. I think I stepped on something.”
He looked down. “Don't panic.”
“Uh. What is it?” she said between clenched teeth.
“It was only the remains of a small animal.”
Savannah began shaking her foot and jumping around. “Ugh. Get it off. Get if off.”
Troy picked up a stick from the ground and held her foot and wiped as much as he could off.
“Thank you,” Savannah said.
If they weren't running for their lives, Savannah's little antics would have been comical. He would file this scene away for future reference. Maybe one day when they were alone in bed reminiscing about their lives, years later, they could both look back at this and laugh.
Troy saw the headlights. “Come on. Let's stay on the edge.”
They walked closer toward the road. Savannah said, “Did you see that?”
“Yes. But we can't be sure if they are friend or foe . . . so keep it moving,” he said.
Troy was relieved to see a pond. He practically dragged Savannah near there. He bent down and cupped the water in his hands. He didn't care how it tasted; he just needed to wet his taste buds. “You better drink something,” Troy said.
Savannah didn't move. “I'll pass.”
Troy splashed some water on her face. “Come on, it's not all bad.”
“No.”
Troy knew Savannah was stubborn. He hoped he was able to get them to safety, because he hated for her to pass out from dehydration. Savannah leaned down and splashed water on her face. She licked her tongue out. “If I do it like this, it's not so bad.”
He laughed. “I love you, girl.”
In between splashes, she said, “And I love you too.”
Troy's ears pricked up. He thought he heard some dogs barking. “That's enough. Let's move on.”
He grabbed Savannah's arm and increased their pace. He saw some lights approaching from the road. They had to take their chances. The barking was getting louder, and he wasn't sure of how many men and dogs were close on their trail.
“Baby, this is the deal. We're going to flag down the passerby. If they stop, let me do all of the talking. If they don't cooperate, we'll have to use force.”
“That's criminal.”
“No, it's surviving,” he responded.
They removed their night vision goggles and placed the guns in their pocket. They flagged down the motorist. The car almost hit them and screeched to the side of the road.
A young couple exited the car. “Are you all right?” the woman said.
“We're fine. Our car broke down. We need your help,” Troy said.
The young man said, “Sure. We can drop you off at the next exit. We need to stop and get some gas, anyway. Come on, get in.”
Troy heard the dogs getting louder and louder. “Thanks.” He hoped they would hurry. The young man liked to talk. Troy wanted him to drive. “We appreciate the ride,” Troy said.
“No problem. We're headed out of town, or else we would still be in bed.”
Troy patted his foot. He saw the apprehension on Savannah's face.
Savannah said, “Where to?”
The young lady spoke. “We're headed to Savannah, Georgia.”
“Really. My name's Savannah,” she volunteered.
“Cool. Must be Kismet,” she said.
“Totally, dude,” the young man responded.
“My cell phone's not working. Do either one of you happen to have one?” Savannah asked.
The young lady turned around and handed her one.
When they passed the entranceway to where they just escaped, Troy noticed the place was lit up. More cars were there than when they had first arrived.
“Let me see that,” Troy said. He dialed Cheryl's number.
“Where's that gas station?” he asked the young man.
“It's the Busy Bee on Plank Road,” he responded.
Troy said, “Have them meet me at the Busy Bee on Beltline Road. Pronto.” He handed the cell phone back to the kind young woman.
The parking lot was well lit when they pulled up into the gas station, which was also a restaurant and truck stop.
“Thank you. I lost my wallet out in the woods,” Troy lied.
“No problem. Do a good deed and it'll come back to you. That's what my papa always says,” the young man said.
“It was nice meeting you,” Savannah said to the young woman.
“Same here,” she responded.
“You two be safe now,” Troy said.
“We will, mister. Thank you for the company.”
Troy and Savannah didn't realize how rough they looked until they saw their reflection in the mirror in the gas station. Troy said, “Come on. I don't think we should sit still long. We need to get us another ride out of here. We don't have time to wait on my people. I have a feeling they are fast on our trail.”
Savannah used her assets to get one of the truck drivers to give them a ride into the city. “Now, I normally don't pick up hitchhikers, but you two. Something tells me you're not your average hitchhikers,” the older gentleman said.
Troy said, “Sir, we do appreciate it.”
Troy didn't think anything of it until he realized they were headed in the opposite direction of the city. He didn't want to crash, but they were headed back toward the compound. He refused to let that happen. Troy removed the gun from his pocket and held it up to the driver's head. “Stop this truck now.”
“Troy, what are you doing?” Savannah yelled from the backseat of the trailer.
The truck driver ignored Troy's command. Troy clicked back the revolver. “Buckle up, baby. I'm only going to give you three seconds, and if you don't stop this rig now, all of us are going to be closer to meeting our Maker. One . . . two . . .” Troy was about to let the gun go off when the driver stopped.
“A call went on the CB radio about you two. A reward was offered. You two fit the bill. I didn't mean no harm.”
Troy popped him upside the head; then he reached over, opened the door, and pushed him out. He closed the door and remained behind the wheel.
40
Savannah jumped in the seat that Troy had occupied earlier. “You know how to drive this thing.”
“Watch me,” he said as he put the truck in gear. Fortunately, there was not a trailer hooked up to it, so Troy was able to back up and maneuver it and turned the truck around. He pulled the horn. He looked at Savannah. “I always wanted to do that.”
She laughed. Troy turned on the CB radio. Savannah said, “Uh, I think you need to keep your eyes on the road.”
“I got this,” he joked.
She pulled the phone out of her bosom. There was still no signal. She threw the phone to the back and said, “That piece of junk.”
Troy handed her a phone that was hooked up to a charger. “Try this.”
“Four bars!” Savannah said.
Troy would have sworn she was doing a cell phone commercial from the excitement she portrayed for seeing the cell phone with four bars on the display screen instead of none.
Savannah dialed Asia's cell phone number. “Voice mail. Go figure.” She hung up and dialed her home number. Still, no answer. “Dang it. You got to get me home.”
“First we need to dump this truck,” Troy said.
Savannah leaned back and let her hair blow in the wind. She tried her best to keep the hair from falling in her face. The last few days had been rough. She prayed for Montana and Asia's safety. The phone rang, breaking her from her trance. She looked at the display and saw Asia's number. “Girl, where are you guys?”
Asia responded, “We're at Montana's. Her place is the only place no one has broken into, so we decided to camp out here. Where are you? Did Troy kidnap you?”
“If you only knew,” Savannah responded. “Look, don't go back to my place. I'll meet you at Montana's.”
“Sis, you don't sound too good.”
“I'm fine. Just fine,” Savannah said. Now that she knew they were okay, she could relax.
Troy pulled the truck into a parking lot. “Baby, we got to go,” he said.
“Asia, I'll see you later.” Savannah hung up the phone. She was about to put it back in the cradle, but she thought better of it and kept it.
When she got down from the truck, Troy was talking to a few familiar faces. She recalled seeing them during their training at Troy's facility. She was so relieved to see them. She wanted to jump up and down for joy.
Savannah got into the backseat of one of the SUVs as they were driven to Troy's office. Troy handed her a bag. “There are some women's clothes in there. The shower is that way.”
Savannah wasn't too sure about showering with a load of men out there. Troy must have sensed her hesitation, because he said, “I'll be right outside the door. Nobody's going to bother you. These are the good guys.”
The water hitting her body massaged not only her body but her soul. Each hot drop of water helped release the tension that had built up in the last twenty-four hours. She washed the dirt out of her hair. She dried off and looked at her reflection. Once she exited the bathroom, she went to Troy's receptionist desk and found a couple of rubber bands. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail. Her hair was slick, black, and wet. It would fluff up when it air-dried. Troy was sitting at the head of the table when she entered the room. Everyone stood up to offer a seat to her.
“No. Sit. I'll sit here,” she said, grabbing a chair at the other end of the table.
She listened as Troy went over everything that had happened to them. She felt like she was living someone else's life. Everything up until this point had been surreal. She wanted it all to be over with so she could go back to living a normal life. Who was she fooling? Her life hadn't been normal since her dad died. She didn't realize when she set out to find his killer that she would be fighting for her life, fighting for the safety of her sisters. She had to ask herself if it was all worth it. A part of her said no, but the part that wanted to avenge her dad's death knew that she would do it all again, minus the part where Montana got hurt. If she could do it again, she would send her sisters far away, so whoever was guilty would only have her to target.
After Troy finished talking to his team, they dispersed. He walked to the other end of the table and sat on the edge. He reached for her hands. He held them up and kissed them. “I'm a lucky man.”
“Where is all of this coming from?”
“I was watching you a while ago and it dawned on me how much you care,” Troy said.
Savannah smiled. “You've done so much for me. For my sisters.”
“I don't deserve you,” Troy said.
“Don't ever say that.”
“I thought I was going to lose you. I can do without a lot of things, but not you. Baby, I don't know what I would do if I lost you.”
Savannah stood up. She kissed him. They held each other like that, until they heard someone clear his throat.
“Don't mean to interrupt,” Mike said.
Savannah moved from in between Troy's legs. Troy stood up from the table. “Did you find our abductor?” Troy asked.
“He was DOA.”
“Dang it. He took the easy route.”
“Troy, don't worry. We'll do a clean sweep. If he wasn't the only one, I'll find out soon enough.”
Cheryl rushed in. “Irene's dead too. Our guys got to the compound, and when the dust settled, most of their men were down.”
Savannah watched them in motion.
“Any of our men hurt?” Troy asked. Savannah could hear the concern in his voice.
“A few got shot, but no casualties,” Cheryl responded.
Savannah saw Troy's chest fall and rise during the course of their conversation.
“Do you need anything else, Ms. Savannah?” Cheryl asked.
“Cheryl, when you say my name like that, it makes me seem so old.” She laughed. “No, I'm fine.”
Troy said, “We're about to head out. I'm taking her to her sisters, or else she's going to kill me.”
Thirty minutes later, Savannah was hugging Montana and Asia.
“Girl, you look a hot mess,” Asia commented.
“And I love you too,” Savannah responded.
“Hi, Troy,” Montana said. “We didn't mean to ignore you, but you know how we can be.”
“I don't mind at all. Seeing women hug like that is a man's fantasy.”
Savannah popped him on the arm. “You're so nasty.”
“You should know,” Troy said as he left the room.
Asia said, “Ooh, you didn't!”
Savannah ignored her. “There's more to life than sex, like the fact that I was kidnapped.”
“What? When were you going to tell us?” Montana and Asia blurted out question after question.
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