The Great Escape (5 page)

and called from a pay phone, finding that it was a local time and

temperature recording. Nothing conclusive,' he ended dryly, 'but

enough to make me wonder, and it couldn't hurt to check here before

checking the hospitals. I'm beginning to recognise your methods.'

She acknowledged that with a nod, her eyelids down to hide their

expression. She was thinking rapidly, furiously, and for the first time

since she had seen him getting out of his car, hopefully. Her knapsack

and bag were in the bathroom, and there was a window. Could she

pretend sickness or something, and get in there to try to get out? The

problem was that it was a second story window and she had no idea if

there was anything to climb down, or that she would even fit through

the tiny square. It was, however, worth considering.

She needed a little time to think, so she sat back and looked at him

directly, her blue eyes losing their friendly light. 'So,' she said

abruptly, 'now what? Surely you had something in mind for this

occasion?'

A quick turn of his head had him looking at her oddly. 'I'm going to

take you back home, of course,' he stated calmly. The confidence in

his manner made her hackles rise, but she managed to hide her

antipathy for the moment as she stared at him unblinkingly, eyes

wide. His expression changed, became more gentle. 'There are some

very worried people back in Kentucky, Dee. They care about you and

want you back home. Surely you can work things out, now that

everyone's had plenty of time to think?'

'Don't make me laugh!' she snarled, and as quickly as her hostility had

surfaced, it vanished, as she got a grim hold on herself. She had time

to notice that his brows had shot down at her outburst, his eyes

becoming sharper, stern. She continued hardly, 'Do you happen to

know the law in Ohio, Mr Carridine?' She saw him register her

deliberate use of his last name, felt him tense. 'I don't. In some states

it's against the law to try to force a minor over sixteen years of age to

go back home. Don't you think you'd better check up on that before

you so blithely decide your course of action?'

'I don't need to,' he said quietly, his eyes now as hard as hers,

implacable, frightening. He really was the enemy, she thought,

sickened. He was as much the enemy as all the others. 'You see,' he

said gently, the tone making her shudder, 'you're going to come with

me, or I'm going to the newspapers and tell them your name, address,

place of work and real identity. It's one or the other, Deirdre. Your

choice.'

'God!' she muttered, paling. Her eyes searched his and found him

absolutely sincere, with no softening of resolve. He didn't exactly

look cruel, she had to admit. He was merely doing his job, no matter

what. 'Why? Why does it have to be that way? Why can't I just go on

with my life as it is here?
Damn
it, man, it's my life, not yours or

anybody else's!'

'You should go back if for no other reason than your obligations,' he

said sternly. 'I was hired to find you. If you don't wish to accompany

me back, I can easily call your aunt and uncle to fly out and make the

trip back with you, if you'd like. It doesn't matter to me. I've done my

job.'

Dee had blanched at the mention of her aunt and uncle and he had

seen it. His face had changed, grown puzzled, but he didn't press the

issue. He let silence fall in the room as he gave her time to consider

the options he had given her. She was feeling that terrible sense of

being trapped again, and it was stronger than before. She couldn't go

back! That would be the death of all her independence and happiness.

Judith and Howard were her legal guardians until her twenty-first

birthday, and that was an eternity away. For all Dee's blossoming

maturity, she somehow shrank at the thought of confronting her aunt

again. She couldn't, wouldn't do it. She had a right to her own life, and

this man sitting so quietly in front of her now was doing his best to

take away that right.

'I don't understand,' she muttered sickly. 'I really don't comprehend

this. I'm nearly eighteen years old! This is a ridiculous situation!'

'You may be nearly eighteen, but you aren't like other

eighteen-year-olds,' he replied, impatience creeping into his

inflections. 'Good God, child, can you imagine the horror if some nut

or criminal found out that you were living in a cheap, accessible

apartment in the bad part of Akron, Ohio? I wouldn't give two dimes

for your chances of survival!'

'Who would know, if nobody told them?' she cried out, then put a

shaking hand to her forehead and then to her mouth. She closed her

eyes and swallowed hard. One part of her was acknowledging wryly

that it wasn't wholly assumed. This man was overwhelming her.

'Are you all right?' he asked her sharply, leaning forward to stare into

her face.

'I'll be fine,' she mumbled into her hand, too quickly. She bent her

head and stared at the worn carpet, letting all her anxiety, her misery

show. She didn't have to act that. 'W-would you excuse me for a

moment? I'm a bit nauseated…'

He rose to his feet when she did, his eyes following her out of the

room, his expression thoughtful and concerned. She left, mentally

cursing. She hadn't wanted to see that concern. It didn't support the

impression that she had carried of him all these months. She didn't

want to know if he could be kind.

She closed the bathroom door behind her and carefully, silently

locked it, then she flew to the window to assess the situation. It

looked extremely difficult, but possible. There was a drainpipe right

along the edge of her window and if it would hold her weight, then

she could shin down. It was an old pipe, and made out of sturdy

metal, not like the newer, lighter ones. She would take the risk.

Moving rapidly, she switched on the bathroom sink taps so that the

water was gushing out at full strength, then she carefully slid open the

ancient window. It creaked and she hissed with frustration, but she

didn't really think that Carridine could have heard it over the water.

The window stopped moving upwards and she wasn't sure if she

could fit through, but she was in too much of a hurry to struggle with

it. She zipped up her knapsack and threw it out of the window, then

grasped the edge of the sink with her hands for support while she

struggled to get her legs out of the window. It was a furious, quick,

frantic wriggling squeeze to get her hips through, but she made it and

slid with a bump to hang with her shoulders in and her bottom out.

She had lost the grip on the sink as she had scooted back, and she

scrambled for a handhold on the windowsill before edging one

shoulder and then the other out the tiny open area. Then, hanging by

her hands from the second story window and suddenly realising that

if she fell she would be landing on harsh, cutting gravel, she

cautiously tried to reach for the drainpipe with one hand while calling

herself a crazy fool for even attempting the stunt. She barely reached

the pipe, but was able to get a firm enough grip, and there she hung,

unable to loosen either hand for fear of losing her grip entirely and

falling. She closed her eyes, gritted her teeth so hard it hurt her jaw,

and with a supreme effort unclenched her right hand.

The world swung around frighteningly and the strain on her left arm

was enough to make her cry out, but she was soon latching on to the

drain with her right hand like a hook of steel, then she was going

down, hand over hand, until the ground was at a reasonable distance

for dropping. She let go with both hands, landed at a crouch, turned

and picked up her knapsack, and was out into the street with a huge

spring.

The whole manoeuvre had taken perhaps a minute and a half.

She saw a yellow battered car bearing a taxi emblem on its hood

turning on to her street, down the block, and she could have laughed

at the wonderful timing. It was the first thing that had gone right that

day. She raced down the street, confident that Carridine couldn't see

her as her living room window was on the opposite side of the house,

her bathroom window being towards the back. At her frantic wave,

the taxi slewed over to stop beside her. She briefly looked over her

shoulder, then she was opening the back door, of the car and saying

breathlessly, 'Thank God you're here! I told you the wrong time, and I

might miss my plane! Could you step on it, please, and get me to the

Municipal Airport as fast as you can haul it?'

'Sure enough, sweet thing,' the cabby said, winking. He was a heavy,

good-natured man who looked to be in his forties or so. He cheerfully

stamped on the gas pedal and the car shot forward with a jerk that sent

Dee back into her seat. She squeaked and ducked down as the taxi

shot by Mrs Gordon's house. She sincerely hoped that Carridine

hadn't been looking out of the window. Everything had happened so

incredibly fast, though, he was probably still standing worriedly at

the bathroom door. If he was suspicious, he would surely be knocking

and calling to her instead of gazing outside, so she rather thought she

was safe. Still she couldn't assume it, and would have to go on the

hunch that he had seen the taxi. When he found her gone, he would be

able to put two and two together, but he still wouldn't know where she

had gone. She estimated that she had a fifteen- minute lead, if that.

And she was feeling pretty desperate.

As the cab driver pulled to the kerb just outside the airport building,

Dee stuffed a bill into his hand and told him shortly to keep the

change, and she was out of the car and into the building before he had

finished his thanks. Once inside, she took stock to the right and then

to the left, and she caught sight of a flight plan posted to the left.

Running over, she sent a quick eye down the flights. The next one

would be leaving in half an hour, and it was an airline she wasn't

familiar with. She got quick directions from a girl in a nearby candy

shop, then she was rushing through the huge open walkway, passing

slower people and elbowing her way around standing groups. Her

heart was thumping madly from her swift pace and from the sheer

exhilaration of being on the run again, using her wits, dodging

discovery. Adrenalin was sluicing through her. She could feel it in her

heightened awareness, the swift ticking of her brain.

Catching sight of the airline's counter, she ran over. 'Could you tell

me if there's an empty seat by any chance on your flight to

Washington D.C. in a half an hour?' she asked breathlessly, thinking,

what the hell? I've always wanted to go there. The girl at the counter

frowned.

'I don't really know,' she replied, glancing through some things

behind the counter. 'The list isn't here. Let me go and get someone

who can find out for you.' She disappeared in the back while Dee

concentrated on getting her breathing steady, looking cautiously

around her.

It was just plain luck that she saw Carridine before he saw her. He

entered the building with long, impatient strides, looking around him,

eyes darting alertly to his right, and Dee was to his left. 'Oh, my God!'

she moaned, clutching her hair with both hands in furious

exasperation. 'How the hell does he do it—radar?' And she ducked

behind a group of several businessmen, wondering what she was

going to do next. She edged around a corner and found herself

looking at rows of lockers for hire, and then she looked at her

knapsack. What she needed desperately at the moment was

mobilisation and anonymity. She rushed over to the counter and

rented a locker space, throwing her things in it quickly after a mad

scramble for her money and identification, which she stuffed into her

pocket. Then she slammed the door shut, thrust the key into her

pocket as well, turned and muffled a shriek. At a distance, over

several people's heads, Carridine was searching the area, and his eyes

lit on her. Then with a distinctly ominous frown that she personally

didn't care for one bit, he started to shoulder his way towards her.

That one sight was all she needed. She whirled and ran. She had the

advantage as she dodged, ducked under arms, and darted through the

people. The airport was very busy that day, and she was smaller than

Carridine, more able to squeeze past people and duck around

obstacles. At least she thought that she had the advantage over