Hide and Seek

Matt hurried into his office, his cell phone cradled against his ear and a coffee on his hand. Outside, phones rang wildly, police officers came in and out and TV reporters tried to ferret out new information on the case of Victoria’s kidnap.

“It’s like I’ve told you before, I don’t care if you have to call every off-duty cop, I want police reinforcement in every hospital and airport in California, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Just do the damn phone calls and talk to whoever you have to,” Matt hung up and groaned. Since yesterday morning he had been working nonstop, contacting with customs and border protection and several police departments. He had also placed a ten thousand dollar reward for anyone who had information about their whereabouts, which had triggered the flood of phone calls.
Matt took a sip of his coffee and groaned again. “This shit is cold,” he threw it into the trashcan next to the door, just before stepping out of his office.
He was about to hold a press conference to release more information about their investigation. So far he had been somewhat reluctant to do it, but today his superiors had forced him to do give in. He understood that it was the people’s right to be informed, but he also knew that in this case it could offer the perpetrator an advantage.
He needed Zacky to relax, let his guard down and make a mistake.
The sliding doors opened and the flashes of the cameras greeted him. Reporters called out his name and questions were asked simultaneously. He ignored every remark and waited for everybody to calm down. Finally, he took his aviators off and prepared himself to speak.

Zacky closed his laptop with a harsh bang. His breathing was fast but controlled, simply because he knew it wouldn’t do him any good to be enraged right now.
He had just finished watching the press conference that one of the detectives responsible for investigating his crimes had just held. He wasn’t sorry about what he had done, to have killed all those people, and he didn’t expect anyone to understand it either. Those murders had simply been a means to an end. Those murders hadn’t meant a thing to him. They hadn’t brought him pleasure or pain.
But Victoria did. He wasn’t afraid of being arrested for killing all those people, he was afraid of leaving Victoria.
He got up, left the room and entered their bedroom, only to find out that Victoria was already up. He closed the door and watched her leave the bathroom few seconds later.

“So?” He asked. Last night he had left the house, returning a couple of hours later with a different car, two disposable cell phones, a hair bleach kit and the pregnancy test. Now, the once bright red haired girl, stood in front of him with his almost snow-white blonde hair up in a ponytail and the pregnancy test on her hand.

“Yeah, these two lines just confirmed it. I’m really pregnant,” she sighed.

“Don’t worry,” Zacky got closer and kissed her temple. “Everything is going to be okay. Are you ready to go?”

She nodded and they headed downstairs. As they stopped at the front door, she glanced at the suitcase and duffle bag that were standing next to it. Was she really ready to go?
After being locked up inside that house for so many weeks, she was suddenly scared of facing the real world. More than that, she was scared of being recognized, scared of doing something wrong or saying something that she shouldn’t. She loved Zacky, she had learned to, but ultimately she was afraid of him and afraid of what he could do if she did something wrong.
Zacky unlocked the door and swung it open. She stood at the doorway for a moment, staring at the pale blue sky, and she smiled. For the first time in almost two months, Victoria felt the sun against her skin. She could smell the ocean, hear and feel the wind, and suddenly everything felt more vivid.

“Where are we going?” She turned to face Zacky, who had already picked up their luggage.

“I’ll tell you everything later, now get inside the car,” He started to walk toward the old, black sedan and she followed him. He opened the trunk and her eyes widened.

“Why do we need so much gas?” She pointed at the three red gas cans inside of it.

“Because gas stations have surveillance cameras,” he closed the trunk and headed to the driver’s seat.
Zacky adjusted the rearview mirror as Victoria took the passenger’s seat. As he drove off the driveway and into the main road, he had the feeling they was being watched, but he knew that that was just his anxiety speaking. He kept telling himself that there was nothing to worry about, that he had been extremely careful, but still, shielded by his sunglasses and baseball cap, he watched intently every car they passed by.

Minutes turned into an hour and neither of them had spoken yet. Victoria looked outside the window, her sunglasses covering the excitement she felt for being outside in the real world again.
“Could you open the glove compartment?” Zacky asked her, snapping her out of her trance. She opened it and immediately frowned. Between two disposable cell phones and a big envelope, two black guns stared at her. “Take the envelope please,” he watched her open the envelope and place its content on her lap. “Those are our new ids, driver licenses and passports.”

“What are those guns for?” She still stared at the guns inside the glove compartment.

“For protection Victoria,” he looked at her concerned face. “Look, don’t worry about it now, but I’ll have to teach you how to use them,” he swallowed hard, “in case anything bad happens.”

Victoria slowly nodded and held her new id for a moment. She was now Ashley Knox, a twenty-one year old bleach blonde woman from Montana. She didn’t like her new name and she already missed her red hair, but she knew this was what was needed to be done. Zacky himself had made sure that every single one of his personal marks, like his piercings and tattoos, were now gone or covered up.
She took a closer look at her new date of birth and smiled. At least he had kept her original day and month of birth.

“Zacky?” She glanced at him before daring to ask the question. “What day is it?”

“Thursday the 23rd, why?”

“Already?” She had really lost track of time.

He smiled, suddenly knowing what that was all about. “Yes, you’ll turn nineteen in four days.”

“Don’t you mean that I, Ashley Knox, will turn twenty-two in four days?”

Zacky’s smile grew wider. “Good girl.”
She continued to look into all the documents and papers on her lap and a giggle escaped her lips once she saw Zacky’s new name. “What?” He asked.

She covered her mouth with her hand. “Nothing,” she smiled at him, “do I have to start calling you Christian from now on?”

“You should, at least around other people,”

“And,” she hesitated for a second, noticing that they now shared the last name. “Are we married?”

“Supposedly,” he nodded. “It’s easier that way.”

The car plunged into silence again. Victoria didn’t know what to think about that, she was about to turn nineteen and suddenly she was pregnant and married? Of course it was a fake marriage of two people that didn’t even existed, but she couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by all that information.
A tear escaped her eyes and she quickly wiped it.

“Oh don’t worry I’m fine,” she waved her hand once she saw Zacky cast a concerned look in her direction. “It’s just these damn hormones. Anyway, you still haven’t told me where we’re going.”

“Staying in California would be too risky, so we’re going to the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. We have to get out of the country as soon as possible,” he glanced at her and laid his hand on her leg. “It’s the best alternative to keep you safe. And once we’re out of here we’ll be able to live a normal life.”

She smiled and held his hand. Living a normal life with Zacky was something that she looked forward, even if that meant being someone else in another country.

Notes