When Drake returned that night, well past midnight, Dru was sleeping and Cade long since gone. Under Dru’s insistence he had promised to have Ivey transferred to a hospital near their home in Tennessee. Cade and Dru had talked until two in the afternoon. He told her of his plans to re-enroll in the University of Tennessee where he had already completed two years. She had told him that she wanted to find his father before September so she could still go to college. Cade had just laughed and told her she should plan at least three years before they would even have a trail of him.
Dru had waited up until eleven for Drake, but had gotten too tired to wait any longer. All the sleep she had been missing the last few days was finally catching up to her, and she wanted to keep her baby healthy.
Drake had burst into her room at about two in the morning and begun shaking her. She had screamed, immediately thinking it was some of his father’s men. Drake covered her mouth and told her to be quiet.
“It’s just, me, Drake.”
Dru quieted down and scooted away from him.
“Don’t waste any time being afraid of me, Dru, they’re here.”
“Who?”
“James and Don. Some of my father’s best friends.”
Dru hopped out of bed and began gathering some of her things.
“Don’t waste any time. We’ll buy you some more clothes later.”
“Do we have enough money?” Dru questioned him. They shouldn’t blow their money on clothing when that wasn't the most important thing.
Drake paused for the first time since he had gotten back. “We have over a million dollars, Dru.”
Dru wondered at the usage of the word we.
They left the hotel suite, glancing in both directions before leaving. Taking the stairs down, they exited at the first floor and took the fire escape the rest of the way. They got in Dru’s car and drove to the airport.
Drake hired a private airplane for them. Getting in it, Dru didn’t
even know where they were going, which was Drake’s intention. Dru
fell asleep before they had even taken off the runway.
“Dru,” Drake hissed. “We’re about to land. The pilots say you have to be awake.”
Dru obeyed him, though barely. “Where are we?” She asked groggily. “I want to know.”
“In Denver, Colorado. As soon as we land we’ll take off on another plane. We cannot have them following us. I have a person that told me where Dad might have gone.”
They landed smoothly and got onto another plane that was waiting for them. Dru fell asleep in that one when they were in the air. She woke up again before they landed in Boise, Idaho. They got off there and got into a rental car. Dru was awake enough to walk without Drake’s assistance.
Soon the two of them were driving the sleek black Corvette along the deserted interstate. “Really, Drake, I don’t think we needed to waste money on getting a Corvette.”
“We have no choice. We need a high performance car just in case we get tailed and they didn’t have any others.”
“None?”
“They did have a red Corvette, but they attract too much too much attention.”
“Hmm. Where are we going now?”
“Seattle. I was told by the hotel Dad was staying at that there were many calls to and from Seattle from his room. It’s the only lead we have.”
“What is this?” Dru asked him, motioning to the small suitcase he had placed under her feet.”
“Our money.”
“We have it with us?”
“What did you expect us to do? Withdraw it from the bank? That would work good, they would check all the ATM records and find out where we are! That would work real nice.”
“You don’t have to snipe at me. It was just a simple question.”
“Sorry.”
“How much is there?”
“I don’t know. Count it.”
“That would take forever.”
“Then I guess we won’t how much there is.”
Dru sighed and pulled the suitcase onto her lap. About forty-five minutes later she announced the total. “3,780,520 dollars.”
“That much? Are you sure?”
“Within a thousand dollars.”
“Wow. If we run out we can get more.”
“Run out? We probably couldn’t use that much if we tried. And where would we get more?”
“I have 100,000 dollars stashed in each of ten different cities around the country. In train stations, bus stations, roller-skating rinks, and various other places.”
“Where did all this money come from?”
“We had jobs to do in Lafayette. Dad gave us every resource we needed.”
“You certainly did your job well,” Dru whispered so quietly Drake couldn’t understand her.
“What’d you say?”
“I was talking to myself.”
“No doubt about me.”
Dru didn’t say anything, but closed her eyes. She was still extremely tired.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
“Then why are you so tired? You’ve slept the entire morning away.”
“I haven’t been sleeping properly for a long, long time.”
Drake stopped his questioning. Dru turned her head so she could look at the scenery that was rushing by the window.
“How fast are you going, Drake?”
“I’m pushin’ eighty-five.”
“You should slow down.”
“We need to be in Seattle by twelve, and this is the only way we’ll make it.”
“Hmm.”
The car’s steady rhythm soon lulled Dru to sleep. Drake quickly glanced over at her and smiled. He remembered that other day when she had fallen asleep in his presence, and how it had ended. How he wished the circumstances had been different!
When Drake looked back up at the road, and then mirror, he noticed flashing lights behind him. He swore under his breath. This was great, just perfect. A ticket. Drake gradually slowed the car down, so Dru wouldn’t wake. He didn’t want her gloating because she had warned him to drive slower!
He got out of the car and met an officer at the back of it.
“You were going more than thirty miles per hour over the speed limit, Sonny,” the old officer said.
“I’m well aware of that, Sir.”
“Where were you off to in such a hurry?”
“We need to be in Seattle by noon, Sir.”
“I’m going to have to give you a ticket. May I please see your driver’s license and car registration?”
“This car isn’t mine; it’s a rental.”
“Then get the paperwork to show that.”
Drake pulled his wallet out of his pocket and handed it the old man, and then grabbed the papers out of the car.
They were now by the driver’s door. The officer was jabbering as he was writing the ticket information down on the pad of ticket paper.
“Excuse me,” Drake interrupted. “Could you make a little less noise? She’s not been sleeping well the last couple of days and is very tired.”
The aged man squinted his eyes and eyed Dru. “Wife?” He asked.
“Yes,” Drake nodded, knowing he was lying.
The officer finished writing in silence and handed Drake the ticket. “No more speeding!”
“Yes, Sir,” Drake said as he climbed back into the car. He eased the car into gear and slowly drove away from the decrepit officer.
“I’m not your wife, Drake, and don’t ever think I am.”
So she heard, Drake thought. She had woken up sometime along the way. Drake was too smart to make a comment. She evidently was in a sour mood, and he did not want to get in an argument with her.
Dru stayed awake for the rest of the trip, watching the scenery. They stopped at a truck stop for brunch.
“What do you want?” Drake asked her. The plan was for them to eat in the car. Drake was going to run in and quickly buy some food.
Dru normally would have opted to skip eating, because it wasn’t healthy food, but with the baby coming she couldn’t skip meals anymore.
“A chicken sandwich, french fries, and a soda.”
Drake soon returned with their food and they hungrily devoured it. She hoped Drake hadn’t noticed how quickly she had eaten. She knew he was going to eventually find out about the coming infant when she started showing, but she wanted to postpone it as long as possible.
They arrived in Seattle a half hour before they needed to so they decided to look for a motel. They found one on the east side of town and checked in to it.
“Where do we have have to be at twelve, Drake?” Dru asked him as they got back into the car for the appointment.
“One of my father’s friends lives in Seattle and I thought we’d pay him a visit. I scheduled an appointment with him at his office.”
“Isn’t that kind of dangerous? If he knows your father is looking for us it could create a problem,” Dru warned.
“That is why you are staying in the car while I go and check on him.”
“I am not. If we need someone waiting in the car then you’ll do it.”
“But you don’t even know him!”
“I’m willing to bet you haven’t seen him in the last five years!”
“Four.”
“There isn’t a difference. Either I’m going with you or you are staying in the car.”
“What if we have to make a quick exit?” Drake asked her.
“We’ll leave the car running.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea. Then we won’t even have a car to come back to!”
“Not if we lock it.”
“Then the keys can’t be in the ignition.”
Dru rolled her eyes at him. “Here, let me see the keys.” Drake handed them to her.
“This,” she said, pointing to a black box connected to the key ring, “is an automatic key opener.” She pulled it off the ring. “Step One: Lock the car. Step Two: Go in the building. Step Three: Run out while unlocking the car; drive away quickly. Very simple.”
Drake scowled. “I just love your sense of humor.”
She raised her eyebrows, hearing the sarcasm in his voice.
“I am going in there with you. That’s why I’m here, to help. If you think that I’m here just to sit in a car while you take care of everything, you’re wrong.”
“Well, then I guess I’ll have to let you come along,” Drake assented.
“No, Drake, you don’t seem to understand this. There is no ‘I’ll let you come along,’ you have no authority over me!”
Drake didn’t reply and when Dru threw a quick glance at him she saw he was staring straight ahead, his strong jaw clenched tensely. When they arrived Dru quickly pulled her seat belt off and jumped out of the car, eager to get out of his presence.
As Dru pushed the call button for the elevator, Drake started talking. “By the way,” he started, “we’re supposed to be engaged.”
“What?!” Out came Dru's cry.
Drake steered her into the elevator. “His secretary asked what type of appointment it was going to be and the first thing that came to my mind was-”
“I will not play along with this.”
“You only need to while we’re in the waiting area. As soon as we get into his office the facade will be gone.”
Dru glared at him, not refusing or consenting to the plan. They got of the elevator and headed toward the office of his father’s friend. A nice looking woman of about fifty greeted them. “He’ll be just a few minutes. He’s with another client at this moment.” The nameplate on the corner of her desk said Martha Stevenson. Martha returned to her typing.
After a few seconds the door opened and a man left the office. Drake and Dru stood up and walked into the slowly closing door.
“Hello, we were here for an appointment about joining our finances,” Drake said while offering his hand.
Without looking up, he said, “Yes, nice to meet you. I’m Jonathan Reynolds.” Mr. Reynolds looked up, for the first time seeing who they were. A countenance of recognition crossed his face briefly before he punched a button, saying, “Martha, call security.”
Dru heard the soft reply. “Yes, sir.”
Drake promptly grabbed Dru’s hand and- though there was no need to- pulled her out of the room. Together, they raced down the hall, hearing the treading of security men’s feet behind them. The elevator was coincidentally waiting for them at the end of the hallway and they breathlessly ran into it, pressing the button to immediately shut the door. They were soon rushing out of the building’s lobby and into the waiting car, speeding away.
They got back to their motel and sat down to rethink their plan. “We were lucky,” Drake commented.
“We won’t be lucky next time,” Dru warned.
“No, we won’t. We can’t just walk in like that.”
“How many more ‘friends’ does your father have.”
“About five good ones, and then a number of acquaintances.”
“We should probably forget most of the acquaintances and go with the friends. But the question remains: how will we do it?”
“Maybe we could arrange some kind of meeting place.”
“Yeah, that’ll work,” Dru said corrosively. “Can’t you just imagine their reply? ‘Sure, we can meet in the bar down the street. My friend is only trying to kill you, but we can overlook that today.’ Uh-huh. That’ll work just fine, Drake!”
“I meant under another person’s name.”
Dru sighed. “I guess.”
“Now, we need to take care of more practical things. We both need clothes.”
Dru’s face lit up. Shopping could take care of nearly any problem-- at least for a little while.
At eight o’clock that evening they returned to their motel rooms.
Each had enough clothes for one week, luggage, toiletries, and very sore
feet. They had stopped at a restaurant before returning to the motel
and eaten. As soon as Dru entered her room she fell across the bed,
exhausted.
The next morning Dru awakened to a knock on her door. “Who is
it?” She asked groggily.
“It’s time to get up, Dru,” Drake said. “We need to get some
stuff done and it’s already past eight.”
Eight? Dru thought. I slept for twelve hours!
“Give me twenty minutes.” Dru took a quick shower and dressed in one of her new outfits. Today it was a white tee-shirt and blue-jean overalls. She pulled her wet hair up into a bun as she didn’t have time to blow-dry it, or for that matter, even have a blow-dryer. She took care of a few other things and then went to Drake’s room.
They went out for breakfast and discussed the day’s plan.
“We need to get a car,” Drake said, “and get rid of this rental now that they’ve seen it.”
“Okay. You can pick out a car and I need to take care of a few things so I’ll do it while you get the car.”
“Where are you going?” Drake asked her suspiciously.
“Not telling. My personal life is not any business of yours.”
“Then, don’t you want to help pick out the car?”
“No.”
“Where will we meet?”
Dru hesitated for a moment before replying. “At the motel. We can put our stuff in the car and head down to Portland as planned. And, I need some money.”
Drake placed five hundred dollars in her outstretched hand. “Is that enough?”
“Plenty.”
“I’ll see you in three hours.”
Dru stood up and left Drake staring after her. “Let him think what he wants,” she muttered, “I promised Cade I’d see a doctor and I will.”
She took a cab to the nearest medical center and looked on the directory for an obstetrician. Finding one near the end of the list, she took the elevator up to the doctor’s office.
After waiting for twenty minutes she got in; it was only luck that the doctor was not fully booked that day. Dru skillfully evaded questions the doctor threw at her about why she had not previously seen a doctor and other related matter.
After finding out her baby was doing fine, and that it was probably a girl, Dru headed to the pharmacy the doctor had recommended for the prescribed vitamins.
She called a cab and alighted at the motel. She knocked on Drake’s door. And knocked again. She looked at her watch and saw he had another ten minutes before he was supposed to be back. She went into her room and started packing her stuff into the new luggage. She let the door open so she would know when Drake returned.
Within a few minutes he popped into her room. “You ready to go?” He asked her.
“Just about. Have you already packed?”
“Just finished.”
“What kind of car did you get? Nothing too flashy, I hope.”
“I’ll not make any promises,” Drake said.
Dru glared at him as she was walking from the closet to the bed.
As a result she tripped over the open suitcase and ended up sprawled across
the floor. She felt a hard pull in her abdomen. “Oh, shit!
The-” Dru caught herself before Drake heard what she would have said.
The baby. Dru decided she should be careful from now on- for herself
and the baby!
Drake looked down at her and smirked, and then started laughing.
“What’s so funny!” She demanded.
“You. First you trip over luggage, of all things, then you start cussing!”
“Shut up and help me with the suitcase,” Dru scowled.
“Why can’t you carry your own suitcase? I’ve already got my own to carry!”
“Because it’s heavy.”
“Ugh!” Drake sighed, picking up the suitcase.
Dru smiled within. Normally she would have carried her own stuff, and normally she would have insisted that she carry her own stuff. But now, it was different. By the doctor's orders she was not to lift heavy things anymore. All these rules. . .
Dru walked out of the motel to see a black Ferrari sitting in the parking lot. “Drake, you didn’t.”
“Sure did.”
“You idiot! This would attract more attention than walking around with a green face! We’ll attract the attention of every crook in the country!”
Drake shrugged his shoulders. “And then when they start chasing us we’ll leave them eating our dust.”
Dru scowled at Drake and stepped into the car. It was nice though. The interior was all black, the cushions black leather. Dru looked behind her and saw Drake stuffing the luggage in the trunk. Once he was finished he got into the driver’s seat and started the ignition.
“On to Portland,” Dru whispered as she fell asleep.
They arrived in Portland at around three in the afternoon. Before even going to a hotel they stopped and rented a car, leaving the Ferrari in the parking lot. They left for another of Mark Burke’s friends in a green Jaguar. When they pulled up in front of an office building Drake stopped the car and got out of the car. Dru didn’t.
“Aren’t you coming?” He asked her.
“I’m tired. I’ll wait for you in the car.”
Drake was shocked. After the fight she had put up last time he had expected she would be coming up with him.
“Are you sure?”
Dru nodded.
“Then I would suggest being ready to drive away quickly. I’ll
probably end up running out.”
Once again Dru nodded. Drake walked away, wondering exactly why
Dru was not coming up with him. She wasn’t the kind of girl to let
a little tiredness stop her. Actually, she had been tired most of
the time lately.
“Something is wrong with her. Cade said she was always tired before, but never slept. Now she is sleeping all the time!” Drake mused.
Drake could almost recall Drake’s exact words. “I think she’s finally gotten out of her depression, but Ivey said she still doesn’t sleep well.” Drake had almost laughed at those words of Cade. He was so naive, Cade that is. He still thought everything would turn out right in the end.
Drake knew otherwise. He knew that both he and Dru would be dead within the year. This was why he had so objected to Dru coming with him, on his hunt for his father. Dru was so beautiful, he didn’t want to waste that beauty with death. He didn’t want to waste Dru on anything. Why couldn’t she just stay away from him and this mess!
Drake looked back and saw her scrambling into the driver’s seat before
he entered the building.
Dru placed her fingers on the steering wheel, trying to visualize herself driving the machine. She had never driven anything this powerful or expensive before. She looked up and saw Drake vanish into the glass building.
After waiting five minutes for Drake Dru began to get warm. It the middle of July and Portland was experiencing a heat wave. Dru rolled the window down only to be attacked by a wave of hot air; she immediately rolled the window back up.
After another ten minutes the air became stifling. Dru looked at her watch. Dru turned the keys in the ignition and pushed the air condition to high. Another ten minutes passed and she began to worry. Where is he? Dru wondered. Dru drove around the parking lot, convincing herself she was doing this only to become used to the car.
An hour had passed since Drake went into the building. Dru was really agitated now. “I should have gone in with him,” she said to herself, “anything would be better than sitting here by myself.”
A movement caught her eye. Drake was finally coming out of the building.
Dru leaned over and opened the door for him, as not to waste any more time.
After putting a safe distance between them and the building, Dru said to Drake through clenched teeth, “What happened?”
“It was weird,” Drake began. “He didn’t even know why I was there. I had to explain everything to him.”
“Maybe your father didn’t see any purpose in letting him in on the plans.”
“No, there was something that wasn’t quite right. He said that Dad talked to him only two days ago. But Dad did not mention anything about what has recently happened. He said Dad told him he was calling from South Africa.”
“Maybe we should rethink our strategy.”
“That’s what I think, too.”
“Why don’t we check into a hotel, get a suite, and order room service,” Dru suggested. “That way we will not have to worry about any eavesdroppers.”
“Good idea. Let’s.”
After checking into the hotel Drake announced he was going to take a nap. Dru decided to do some shopping. She needed a blow-dryer and other odds and ends.
Coming out of a department store, Dru noticed a woman following her. Dru remembered seeing her in the store. Relax, she told herself, I’m just too suspicious.
The lady had long blond hair braided in a plait down her back. She was too far away to tell the eye color, but Dru could see they were dark. The woman was extremely tall; or was it Dru’s viewpoint looking from so far away?
Dru continued walking to the Jaguar, forcing herself not to turn around and see if the lady was gone. Seconds later, Dru gave in to the temptation and snuck a peek. The lady was closer now.
Dru started into a slow jog and noticed her follower do the same. Dru wrenched the car door open when she got to it and locked the door behind her. Less than a minute later Dru was turning out of the parking lot and noticed the lady was in a car still following her.
She decided not to go directly to the hotel and drove around the city for a little while. After a half an hour of that, Dru began to get panicky. She stopped at an official-looking building and ran inside to use a pay phone.
Dru found a little piece of paper in her purse where she had written the hotel’s phone number. She was soon connected with Drake.
“Drake! I’m in trouble!”
“Where are you?” He asked.
“In a building. I’m using a pay phone.”
“Street names?”
“I don’t know, I can’t see them!”
“Get in the car and get on the street. Come back to the hotel.”
“But she’s following me! She’ll see where we are staying and it’ll all be ruined and-”
“Who’s following you?”
“That lady. I don’t know who she is, but she has blond hair and she’s really tall!”
“Just come back to the hotel. I’ll have our stuff waiting in the lobby. And for heaven’s sake, be careful!”
They hanged up and Dru eventually returned to the hotel. Drake quickly shoved their suitcases in the back and hopped into the passenger’s seat.
“Go back to the rental place and we’ll get the Ferrari again.
We’ll get out of here as soon as possible.”
.
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