I put on the flannel shirt with the cut off sleeves and topped if off with nerd glasses and work boots. My heart was going crazy. If this didn’t work, I knew I would be spending the rest of my life eating carrot sticks and apples, locked in the gym.
I threw the duffle bag over my shoulder and left with a bubble in my mouth. I didn’t know whether I was supposed to take the duffle bag or not, so I did. Derik was waiting right outside, arms crossed leaning against the wall to the left. I didn’t look at him but could see him out of the corner of my eye. I knew I had seconds when I heard his knuckles knock on the bathroom door, telling me to hurry.
There were two yellow cabs parked right out front.
I panicked. I didn’t know which one to take. I just knew that Derik was going to grab me from behind at any second. I couldn’t even open one of the cab doors and ask if they were going to I didn’t know where.
I stood in a frozen state, not knowing what to do. I almost jumped out of my skin when someone grabbed my elbow and shoved me toward the first car. They opened the back door for me, and I got in. I didn’t even look to see who it was. I did turn around once we were in traffic.
There were a lot of people on the sidewalk. I didn’t see Derik anywhere.
It took forty five minutes for my heart to regulate, and the nerves to settle throughout my body, and then it started all over. The driver handed me a manila envelope, chucked full of information and ID’s.
“What’s this?”
No answer. He wasn’t going to discuss anything with me. I opened the flap and pulled out the prepaid phone as the driver pulled off the side of the road, and I was quickly rushed into another vehicle parked right behind us.
“Thank you,” I said to the driver who only nodded.
I didn’t know what I was thanking him for. I didn’t even know how much he knew.
“I need your cellphone,” my new driver said before I exited the cab. I handed him my new prepaid cellphone.
“Not that one,” he stated, and I fished Drew’s phone from the pocket on the side of the duffle bag. He handed it to the cab driver and ushered me on my way. I had never thought about being tracked, and the panic started all over again. I was sure he was tracking me.
I jumped again when the new phone rang in my hand.
“Hello,” I cautiously answered.
“Are you doing okay?” the unidentified voice asked.
I hadn’t even noticed I wasn’t breathing until that moment. I inhaled deeply.
“Yeah, I think so. This was just so unexpected. Are you Ms. K?” I asked.
“Yes, I am. It’s always best that you don’t know what is happening. You have full instructions in the envelope. I will call you later. Don’t answer any calls from that phone unless it is this number, understand?”
“Yes, thank you Mrs. K.”
“You’re welcome. Relax, it’s over. You’re going to be fine.”
It's over?
That was the first time that I had realized that I was on the run. I was away from Drew, but still had no idea where I was going. I pulled out the contents of the package and begin to find out who I was and where I was going.
I was Lisa Fitzgerald first, and when my new driver, who also didn’t talk to me, pulled to the front curb of the first of six banks that I would stop and withdraw my money, it started to become real. I was nervous as hell there too. I just knew that Drew was onto me, and I would be escorted to an office by bank security where I would be held until he arrived for me. He didn’t come, and I walked out with a seven thousand dollar prepaid Visa card, one of many that I would accumulate during journey.
Everything started to sync in when I was driven to the last bank by my fourth driver. This was really planned out, and I had no idea. I had gone into six different banks, with six different identities and was carrying over twenty five thousand dollars in prepaid cards. The majority of the money had been withdrawn for the purchase of my new home. I still didn’t even know where I was going. I had been in four different vehicles, but at the stop of every bank it became easier for me to walk in, withdraw my money and leave. I never removed the black wig until my last driver pulled into a parking garage hours later from my escape. I knew that we were in Freemont, Nebraska, but that was it. I had never been out of West Virginia until I was sold to Drew Kelley almost six years prior.
We parked beside an older white Honda Civic, and I had no idea what was going on.
“This is it, good luck to you, I need the envelope and your phone now,” my last driver said, holding out his hand and wishing me luck. Those were the only words that my chauffeur had spoken to me the entire three hour trip.