"I wish you guys would have told me you were in one of these private rooms. I searched the library three times." Ryan complained.
"My bad. But you should have realized we would be somewhere private.” I countered.
“Whatever,” he said with a sarcastic roll of his eyes. “Anyways, I came through big time. I also brought the pizza bag. “
Good job.” Olivia said. “Where is all of it?”
“Well there is a little bit of a catch.” he said. “There is a red car out there that has been tailing me. The driver is a tough looking dude that is parked in the library parking lot. I have a feeling he is friends with Mr. Explosion that we met earlier. We are going to have to try to find a way to get it all into your car without him noticing.”
“These guys are everywhere. This in unreal. Anybody have any ideas.” I said.
Olivia was looking out the window of the room when she suddenly stood up, “I got it. But your uniform might get a little dirty.” She said to me.
Chapter Nine
After she finished telling us her plan, Ryan and I agreed that it might just work. The librarian was a little confused when we begged her for a trash bag, but she eventually gave us one. We watched through the window of the library as Ryan headed out the door of the library. He took some library books to his car to make it look like he came here for a reason. He opened his front door and put the books in the car. Then pulled the trash bag out of one of the books that he took. We saw him discreetly putting everything in his backseat into the trash bag. He then drove over to the dumpster by the dorms and threw the trash bag in there.
We watched as our stalker started his car and followed Ryan out of the parking lot and out onto the main road. We waited a couple of minutes to be sure and ran out to the car and drove to the dumpster. I climbed over the edge and pulled out the trash bag that Ryan left for us. Everything was in there and intact, but there were a couple extra things for us. “Ryan actually threw all the trash in his car in here too.” We looked at each other and smiled.
We went to dinner at Pizza Hut. It was around 8 when we arrived. Some people can’t eat when they are nervous. That wasn’t the case for me. I put down a personal pan pepperoni pizza and some breadsticks in record time. Olivia nibbled and I could tell she was getting really nervous. “Everything is going to go perfectly fine. I promise.”
“That’s what Trevor said.” she said.
“We are going to have home field advantage. They don’t know we are coming. I should be able to get in and out quickly. Everything will be fine.” I tried to reassure her.
“You better be right or I’m going to kill you.” she said with a smile. “What time do you think we should head over there?”
“I was thinking around ten. Gives us enough darkness and it is still early enough for someone to be ordering a pizza.” I said.
“Sounds good to me.” she said. I couldn’t help but get caught up in my feelings for her as I looked into her eyes. I had to keep her safe. I couldn’t live with myself if I let something happen to her. She was only in this mess because of her big heart and I was determined to get her out it. I checked my watch and realized it was time to get the show on the road.
“Let’s do this thing.” I said and stood up and we made our way to the car and drove off to Trevor’s apartment. I drove slowly because we had some time to kill before it was 10. When we arrived, the red car was still outside keeping patrol. There was a cafe across the street. Olivia had been there before and decided this would be as good a place as any to watch from. I dropped her off and drove down the road out of view and changed into the delivery man uniform. I had the Pizza Hut shirt, khakis, a visor, and the pizza bag. I put the car topper on the roof and took a couple deep breaths. The biggest thing was to act as if I belong and to not let the man see my face. I don’t know how well they knew of me, but I didn’t want to take the chance that this guy knew my face. I hadn’t been nervous at all until this moment. My house blew up and it barely fazed me. I was so worried about Olivia I forgot to realize that I don’t even have a home right now. I hadn’t responded to my family all day. I’m sure they were worried sick. And now everything was riding on me. My life and Olivia’s. Even Ryan was a part of this now. I had to suck it up and make sure I didn’t screw anything up. I was going to get it done. I promised myself that and also kept telling myself that once I got out of this, I would live my life to the fullest no matter what.
After giving myself this pep talk, I put our plan into motion. I pulled up and parked outside the apartment. I did my best not to look at the man in the car and kept my head down the whole time. I rang the buzzer to Trevor’s room and waited a few seconds before I did it again. Obviously there was no response from the room, but I said, “Pizza” into the speaker to try and sell the act. I then put the key in the lock and turned the knob as quickly as I could. I got it open and stepped inside. As I headed towards the stairs, I glanced outside and saw the man in the car playing on his phone. I smiled as I made my way upstairs. “Like taking candy from a baby.” I said out loud to myself.
Chapter Ten
The elevators were out in the building so I had to take the stairs up to the fifth floor. Even with my cardio workout, taking these quickly caused me to be a little winded when I reached the top. After I caught my breath, I headed for apartment 5F. I got to the door and took one more deep breath. I put the key in and went inside.
When I walked in, I realized I didn't know anything about Trevor. It turned out that Trevor and his roommate were big movie fans. They were posters all over the walls. There was a Scarface poster, a Star Wars poster, a Star Trek poster, an Iron Man poster, and many others. The kitchen was off to the right and straight ahead was the television with a couch facing the television. The posters covered almost every inch of the wall space in the living room. There was a dvd stand with hundreds if not thousands of dvds and blu-rays. The television was on a media stand with a Wii, Playstation 3, and a XBox 360. Along the back wall were two doors which I knew from Olivia to be two bedroom doors, with Trevor’s being on the right
Everything just seemed so normal. I don't know what I was expecting but I had thought of Trevor as the enemy and a bad guy. It hit me that he wasn't the bad guy. He lost his life saving Olivia's life and trying to make up for a mistake he made. I felt guilty thinking so much about getting this second opportunity with Olivia because this man lost his life. Now I knew I needed to take these people down for Olivia and Trevor's memory.
After I caught my bearings, I noticed for the first time that someone had searched in here. They were dvds on the floor, papers on the floor, the sofa cushions were turned out and it looked like the kitchen drawers had been raided. I just hoped they hadn’t found the flash drive.
I made my way into Trevor's room. His room wasn’t as exciting as the living room. There was a full size bed against the back wall by the window. To the right of the door was a television stand with a 32 inch television and dvd player. He had a night stand with an alarm clock and lamp on it. His closet was off to the right next to the television stand and his desk was to the left of the bed along the left wall. I went over to the desk and crawled on the floor. Olivia explained that the secret compartment was on the bottom part of the desk. I really hoped that the flash drive would still be there when I opened it. I found the compartment and was startled to see that it required a four digit combination lock to open it up. At least the flash drive would still be in there since the compartment was still locked.
I regrouped after the initial shock and gave Olivia a call. “How is everything going in there?” she asked with anxiety in her voice.
“Well I’m in. That’s the good news. But I do have some bad news.” I said.
“What is wrong?” She said with some panic in her voice.
“I found the secret compartment but it requires a four digit pin to open it. Did Trevor ever tell you what it was?” I asked.
“What? A four digit pin? No he didn’t say anything
about it. I can’t believe he didn’t say anything about it. What are we going to do?” She said.
“Well it is probably a number that means something to him. Maybe his birthday, or his parents birthday, or ATM card pin number if you know that.” I said hopefully.
“Let me think for a minute.” She said.
“How is our stalker friend down there?” I asked.
“He is still playing on his phone. He doesn’t suspect anything. Hopefully we can get you out of there soon though because the longer that car sits there, the more likely he will discover something is going on. Okay I have one, try 1-1-1-4. That is his birthday.”
I lined those numbers up without success. “No luck.” I said.
“Damn it.” she exclaimed. “How about 1-9-8-4?”
“Nope.” I said, the concern starting to show in my voice. “I cannot believe we came this far and are going to get stuck like this.” Then something hit me. “Wait a minute, I might have an idea.” I put a pin in. 1-0-2-2, Olivia’s birthday. I heard a click and when I pulled, it opened and a flash drive was taped to the top of the door. “Got it.” I said almost in shock as I pocketed the flash drive.
“You did! You are amazing. What was it?” she asked.
“Your birthday.” I told her. I could tell it hit her hard. I gave her a second to take it in and regroup. “Now where do you think I should look to try and find information on our boy Charlie?”
"I would say that his desk would be a good place to start." That's what she thought. Once I got up off the ground and looked at his desk, I realized that it had been heavily searched. Papers were strewn everywhere. His laptop was open and on. All of the drawers were open and a mess. I searched through the drawers trying to find a clue. Most of what I found were receipts and information about video games. I called Olivia back. She didn't answer. I started to panic a little. I kept looking for a few minutes when my phone rang. it was Olivia. "You are a hard woman to get a hold of." I said jokingly.
"I'm sorry. The waitress would not stop talking to me. Have you had any luck?"
"No," I answered," and I don't think I'm going too. I don't know what we are going to do."
"Did you look on his computer?" she asked.
"It just loaded up. Do you know this password?" I said hopefully.
"I got it this time. s-a-b-1-7-8-1-7-8." she said confidently. "Don't ask me what it means though because I have no idea."
"I bet Trevor didn't know what that password meant." I said. Once I was in, I started going through his My Documents file to see if anything stood out that would help us. Unfortunately, nothing did. I pulled up his email and looked through his contacts. Nothing. I then looked at his recent email and was about to give up on the computer when I saw a folder titled help. I searched through it for a little bit and then sorted by name. I saw one e-mail to a Charlie. The email’s subject line said password help. I was about to click on it when Olivia said," Jake, get out!"
"What's going on Olivia?" I asked with concern.
"He must have gone in when the waitress was talking to me but the man in the car is gone. I'm on my way in." she said.
"Are you sure he isn't just stretching his legs?" I asked.
"I can't find him, just get out." she begged. I closed the laptop and took one last quick look at his desk. Then as I turned to leave the room, a loud noise filled the quiet room. The click of a gun. "Olivia"
"Yeah?" she said.
"I found him."
Chapter Eleven
The man took the phone out of my hands and threw it against the ground. It shattered into hundreds of pieces. "C'mon man, my buddy just got me a really good deal on that phone. Was that really necessary?" I said sarcastically. I don't think he was laughing.
"Shut up." The man said. I could tell by his voice he wasn't the smartest guy. I might have a chance to outsmart him. What I didn't have on my side was the fact he was about six foot four and 275 pounds. I wasn't going to out muscle him. "Now where is the flash drive?" he demanded.
"I don't know what you are talking about. I'm just here to deliver some pizzas. It looks like I have the wrong apartment. Why don't I just get out of here an out of your way?" I offered.
"Oh really," he laughed, "So this isn't you?" He handed me a picture of me taken outside my apartment this morning. It startled me for a moment. It made me wonder how much about me they knew and if my family was in danger. I regained my composure quickly. "There is an uncanny resemblance. I hope you find the guy." I handed him the picture and made my way for the door when he put the gun in my chest and pushed me back.
"You're not going anywhere. Now where is the flash drive?" he asked again. I had a plan. I didn't have time to make sure it was a good plan. I had to act.
"Olivia!" I yelled out. "We are in here!"
As the man turned towards the living room, I took the laptop and hit him in the back with it. The laptop broke into two pieces, which I realized wasn't good. He didn't fall but he dropped the gun towards the television stand. I went for the gun, but just as my hand reached it, he caught me in the stomach with his foot. It completely knocked the wind out of me. He rolled me over, then started searching my pockets. He found the flash drive. He dragged me to my feet as I finally started to catch my breath. I was not sure what to do now. He had the gun, the path to the door, and the flash drive. Then I thought I heard something. I took a stab in the dark. "Olivia! In Trevor's room!" I shouted.
The man laughed, "Are you really going to try that again?" Now I was certain someone else was in the apartment. I just hoped it was Olivia. I had to keep talking so he didn't hear her.
"Well, you were dumb enough to fall for it the first time." I said.
"Well unfortunately for you, I didn't fall for it this time. I will tell your girlfriend goodbye for you." he said with a grin as he pointed the gun at my head. He turned off the safety and put his finger on the trigger.
"Watch your back." I said casually.
A confused look came over his face, "What?" he said. But before he could get anything else out, there was a thud and he fell to the ground. Standing with a smile where the man was just seconds before was Olivia with a recently used baseball bat.
Chapter Twelve
"Nice swing. It looks like he is still breathing, so not a home run. I'll give you a ground ruled double though." I said with a smile. She ran up and hugged me.
"I'm so happy I made it in time. I don't know what I would have done if he would have ..." her voice tailed off unable to finish that thought. Then she pulled back and we looked into each others eyes. There was a spark that would be impossible to deny. All the years of almosts were bubbling up to the surface. I realized that I had been wasting precious time that I could have spent with her. I could see in her eyes that she felt it too. I almost kissed her, but the fact that we were in her dead boyfriend’s room with a man passed out who just tried to kill us put an end to that thought. Not a fairytale first kiss. Then the moment ended when the man on the ground started to moan. “We need to get out of her.”
“Where is the laptop?” She said. I pointed to the ground where the laptop was in two pieces. “Oh.” I could hear the disappointment in her voice, but it went as soon as it came. “Let’s get out of here. We will figure it out.”
I went over to the attempted murderer and grabbed the flash drive off the ground where he had dropped it. We then took off out the door and hurried down the stairs. We hopped in Trevor’s roommate’s car that was still parked in front of the apartment complex. I drove and we raced off towards the highway.
“We didn’t quite think this all the way through.” Olivia said.
“What didn’t we think through?” I asked.
“Where are you driving to?” she asked. “We have to go somewhere they won’t find us.”
“Good question. You are right, I didn’t think about that.” I said with concern. “Maybe we could stay in a hotel in the area. I wouldn’t think they could find us if we did that.”
“T
hat thought came to me too but I don’t know. We also need to find a car. They know what car we are driving now. I don’t know what we are going to do about that.” Olivia said, making a good point.
I thought about a favor someone owed me and smiled, “I actually might know someplace we can go and someone that will be willing to help us out.” I saw that it was a little past eleven o’ clock. “And I can guarantee he would still be up.”
It took about 30 minutes to reach our destination. He lived out in St. Peters, which was a city about 15 minutes from my home town of O’Fallon. We pulled in the driveway of a good sized two story house. There were three cars parked in the driveway, two more in the street, a mobile basketball hoop flipped over in the street in front of the house, a bike in the middle of the yard, and some beer cans in the grass by the front door. The grass was overdue for a cut and there was no landscaping at all, besides the beer cans. I parked along the curb in front of the house. I didn’t call him because I didn’t want to give him time to think about it and turn us down. I knew if I surprised him in person, he would feel obligated to help me. I made Olivia stay in the car until I could talk to him about our situation.
I went up to the door and after knocking twice, my old friend Jeff answered. There was a lot of background noise since I was correct in assuming Jeff would be throwing a party. “Jake, my savior! Long time, no see. What are you doing here so late?”
“Hey Jeff, hate to interrupt you in the middle of your party." I apologized.