Rebels And Invaders

Amber reached up and turned off the radio. With her hand over her mouth and her eyes probably popping out of her head, she stares in shock at the dash. Knowing that day is May 18th means she has been technically missing for a little over four weeks.

"What day did you find me?" she ask.

"On April 22nd. I was going up to the cabin for a much needed long weekend, and there you were."

He glances over at her, she was sure to assess her sanity level, but quickly turns his eyes back to the road to pull into a gas station.

"Stay in the truck and stay down. That news bulletin was for a local station. We need to get gas and get out of this area and away from I 95."

Their situation is not good. They thought that Troy is her captor, but even worse, they know what direction they were headed. If they find them, Troy will get arrested, and the police will take her home, leaving her vulnerable to be taken again by the men who took her the first time. There is no way in hell they would leave her in peace when she could expose their trafficking operation. They can't go to Jacksonville. They are watching the freeway now for sure. What the hell are they going to do? Then it hits her, her cottage on her white sandy beach.

The timing could not be worse. They only had two hours left to Jacksonville, and now they have to change course. Troy not so worried about them thinking he's the shady character; they could clear that up easy enough. His biggest problem is that they just advertised that she is alive and flashed arrows in their direction. At least before it was just speculative. So far they haven't identified him, so they are safe for a while, but they need to get somewhere remote and lay low.

He pays for gas and bottles of water and head back to the truck. Once again her rapid-fire English is hard to understand. All the words run together as if they were one word.

"OhmyGodTroyIknowwherewecango." She squeezes that out in one breath.

"Okay, Amber, calm down. Take a deep breath and start over."

She is bouncing around as if she has the best sort of news even though we just heard the worst.

"Remember when I told you about my cottage and the white sandy beach I dream about?"

At his nod, she continues.

"Well, it's in Destin, We can go there."

She looks so excited, almost like a kid who just got a puppy, not understanding fully well the situation they are currently in at the moment.

"Amber, it's not a good idea to go somewhere that the police and your kidnappers can link to you." She shakes her head no and continues.

"It won't link to me. The property was in my grandmother's name on my mother's side. When my parents built the cottage on her land, they just left it in my grandmother's name. It has been a family retreat since before I was born. When my grandmother passed away, it went into a trust in my mother's maiden name. There is no link to the James family; even if there is it will be hard to find."

She finally takes a breath and calms down a little.

"Troy, it would be perfect. We can even rent it under a different name for a few weeks. That way we don't have to worry about someone showing up to look for me there." She continues at his puzzled look. "We rent out the cottage throughout the year to vacationing families. It just sits there since we can't come down as often as we like, so we rent it out, and it becomes residual income for my dad. If he knows it's rented, he won't be looking for me there."

Resolved, Troy pulled up Google maps, and it shows to go to Jacksonville and then head west. We can't do that, so taking I 16 West. It only adds another 30 minutes to our drive; maybe we can find a small Bed & Breakfast to crash in along the way. The look she gives him when he told her they were heading to Destin makes him feel like a king. She crawls over the seat and straddles his lap, still in just his shirt and her panties. She definitely has his attention as her lips pressed softly to his.

"Oh, thank you, thankyouthankyou, this means so much to me. I'm going home,"

She whispers and peppers kisses all over his face.

They pulled into GA. just after 5:00 p.m., and he's exhausted. He'd been driving for over eleven hours and felt as though he might pass out at the wheel. The bed and breakfast they found looks like a miniature White House but with a country flare. The little old lady who greeted him doesn't ask any questions and is happy to accept cash.

"We serve dinner at six thirty in the dining room to the right of the kitchen. We're serving ham, potatoes, and a green salad. I hope you're hungry; we had a lot of last minute cancellations, and I made enough food for an army."

Troy drove around back and hurries Amber through the door and up the stairs. She hasn't bothered to get dressed since she slept most of the day. He hopes she is not getting sick; that's the last thing they need. As he shuts the door, he drops their bags and stalked her like an animal. When she sees him coming, she runs for the bathroom probably thinking that is her only escape. He laughed and follows, knowing what will come when he catches her. He needs this. He needs to forget all that she's been through and possibly what's ahead. He needs to help her forget, too, if only just for a minute. He needs to lose himself in her body.