Protecting Her(103)

“Then tell me who you are.”

“If I tell you, you must agree to follow my instructions.”

“Okay. I will.” It’s a lie, but what’s he going to do? He can’t force me to follow his orders. I’m in a public place. I’ll just go find security as soon as he hangs up, or I’ll call the police.

I hear his voice again. “How do you like your steak?”

My breath catches and the phone slips from my hand.

It’s Jack. Jack’s the man on the phone.

I quickly pick up the phone and put it back to my ear.

“Don’t say anything,” he says. “Just do as I told you. And hurry. The limo is waiting out front.”

I walk down the hall to the women’s restroom. I go inside, past the small room with the couches and chairs, and head to the stalls. I stop at the first one and go in and shut and lock the door. Hanging on the hook on the back of the stall door is a black backpack. I unzip it and find a long-sleeve black dress, a black and brown patterned scarf, black heels, and a short black wig.

The dress I’m wearing is an emerald green sleeveless dress with a jacket. There’s gold stitching around the sleeves of the jacket and the neckline of the dress. My shoes match the dress; heels in the same emerald green.

I quickly change into the other clothes, tying the scarf loosely around my neck. My hair is already up, so I slip the wig over my head, adjusting it and tucking in the stray strands of my hair, hiding them. I stuff my dress, shoes, and cell phone in the backpack, then walk out of the stall. I take a deep breath as I look at myself in the mirror. It doesn’t even look like me with the jet black hair that frames my face, curling around my chin, bangs straight across my forehead.

Why is Jack doing this? Why did he say I would die if I didn’t do what he said? Is Jack not the man I thought he was? Can I trust him? What if I can’t?

I consider not meeting him out front, but my gut tells me to do it. Jack was like a father to Pearce. He was like a grandfather to Garret. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, would he? I hope not. Then again, he hasn’t spoken to us since he moved here. Why wouldn’t he talk to us? What has he been up to the past few years? Did he get himself in trouble? Get involved with the wrong people? But what does that have to do with me?

There’s noise in the hallway. I need to get out of here. Am I really doing this? I could just change back to my original clothes and go back to the conference room and wait for Wingate and his staff to finish up, then ride to the airport with them.

What should I do? Part of me feels like I should trust Jack, but the other part of me doesn’t.

I’ll call Pearce. Why didn’t I think to do that earlier? What is wrong with me? I go back in the stall and take my phone from the backpack. But the screen says ‘service disconnected.’ Shit! He canceled my cell phone service? How did he do that so fast?

I return the phone to the backpack and leave the stall and walk out of the restroom. People are coming and going from the conference room, while others are strolling up and down the hall, talking on their phones. Should I stop someone and ask for help? But Jack said not to talk to anyone. He told me to go straight to the hotel entrance.

Dammit! I don’t know what to do. This is crazy! It doesn’t make sense. Why would someone be trying to kill me?

A woman goes around me on her way to the restroom. I step out of the way and move down the hall a little. I need to make a decision. And fast.

I take a deep breath and replay Jack’s words in my head. This is not a joke. If you want to live, if you want to see your family again, you will listen to me. You will follow my instructions.

I start heading to the front of the hotel. I’m doing this. I’m putting all my faith in Jack, trusting that he wouldn’t do this unless he had to. Unless he really thought my life was in danger.

When I get to the hotel entrance, I spot a woman wearing a green dress out of the corner of my eye. I glance over and gasp when I see that she looks just like me. Like I used to look until I put on this disguise. She’s my height, my size, and has the same color hair, and it’s pulled up just like I was wearing it earlier. And she has on the exact same emerald green dress I had on, and the same shoes.

I watch as she hurries out the door and gets in a black Mercedes that has a driver. The car drives off, and behind it I see a black limo with a driver wearing a red bow tie. I go outside.

The valet approaches me. “Do you need me to call you a car?”

I smile at him. “No. I already have one. Thank you.”