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Let's see how this version of Sam and Andy are doing...
Chapter 8- Escape to Safety.
Sam shut his laptop down and put it away. He would have to wait until later to delve deeper into Anrea McNally-Collins' life.
He grabbed a few items and shoved them into his duffle bag before heading for the bedroom.
He knocked much louder this time, so that he would be sure that she heard him.
He opened the door to find Andrea sitting up looking a little disorientated.
"We have to go. Now".
"Go?" She seemed taken back by the words we and go being strung together but somehow managed to grasp the concept of what he was saying.
She flew off the bed, her hand reaching for her shoes. "Jared". She picked them up and called the child who stirred at the sound of his name.
"Where are we going?" She had her back facing him while she scrounged around for a few of their things and shoved them into one of her bags.
"I'm taking your car to lead them away, and you're taking the kid somewhere safe" Sam said and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out the note that he had scribbled before coming in here and held it out to her.
He held out a single key to her too, one that would unlock the only place he could think of sending them to now. "Here's the key, alarm code and address are on there. My cel number is there too, and a number for a friend. If you need anything or suspect that you've been seen, call that number. The guys name is Jerry Barber, he'll help you".
"You know Jerry Barber?" She sort of gasped it out, her hand already clutching the paper and key.
"Yeah? Do you?" Sam was squinting at her.
"How do you know him?" She rushed out, sounding slightly skeptical.
"He's my best friend. Do you know him?" Sam answered her question and repeated his own.
"Yes. He's one of... He's one of the detectives that has been helping us". Her words were so quietly spoken that Sam guessed that she wasn't sure if she should tell him that or not.
"So you trust him?" Sam was trying to figure their connection out, and add a name to the guy chasing her. If Jerry was helping her, and he was at Fifteen Division, as was Guns and Gangs, then chances were it was her real ex-husbands base of operations too.
"Yes" she replied before scampering away and finishing the task at hand.
Sam watched her shuffle around, the conversation effectively having been brought to an end but still running through their minds. She just had a look on her face that told him that she was thinking about all of this.
Ten minutes later Sam ushered them out the door and over to his truck. He helped her load her bags and blankets in while she strapped Jared in the back.
Against his better judgment Sam knelt down and took hold of a gun strapped around his ankle and held it out to her. She shied away but he took hold of her hand and put the gun into it because right now there wasn't much more that he could do to help them if they ran into trouble and he wasn't around.
"Go straight to that address. I'll be there in a couple hours. If I'm not there by tomorrow morning, call Jerry and tell him to come get you".
Andrea's face clouded over in slight traces of worry while she tucked the gun into the back of her jeans. "If you're not there by tomorrow morning?".
"It's going to get pretty hot" Sam said after a moments thought. He had put two of his bags and his laptop into his truck too and knew that Jerry would find them if anything happened to him.
"Why Jerry?" Andrea asked as she leaned against the back of his truck and fished for answers while holding out her abandoned cars key.
"Why not?" Sam didn't really have an answer other than that. He'd know Jerry for most of his life and trusted him more than he trusted most people. "Just call him if you need something".
Sam started backing away while checking that he had Andrea's car key in his pocket.
"So, where am I going?" Andrea asked deflecting the subject.
"Somewhere safe" was his plausible answer. It only earned him a squint of her eyes in return.
"My um, my house" Sam said adding definition to his previous answer.
"Your house?". Andrea choked the two words out, her voice raising an octave as she spoke.
Sam nodded, but only marginally. He did not want to escalate this moment into a more heated one right now.
"You're kidding right?".
Sam gave her a look that told her that he wasn't kidding.
"I can't go to your house".
"Sure you can". Sam countered while reaching over and opening the trucks driver door so that she'd take it as a sign to get into the vehicle.
"But.."
"Look, that's the only place I have to hide you right now. I have no idea what's really going on, and I can't help you until you tell me everything. That leaves you one other choice- stay here until they come for you and Jared, and trust me, you will regret it".
Sam took a calming breath after surprising himself by actually saying what he was thinking and even saying so many words at once. He really wasn't a talker.
Andrea took a step back and stared at his bad side flashing, he had lost his cool for a moment and anyone would clearly have seen it.
"Look, just trust me okay. They will never look for you there, and for now you'll be safe".
Sam spoke and then backed away before doing a complete one-eighty turn and walking away. He couldn't force her to seek shelter in his home, but if she wanted to stay alive, and keep Jared safe he knew he'd find her there.
Andy watched Sam walk away until he reached the end of the curb and hailed a cab. He got in and drove away, Andy wondering what she was getting herself into here.
She'd always had trust issue, it was just something that had been drilled into her since she took her first breath in this world. Over the years her dad had explained why she couldn't trust people, or anyone for that matter and it hadn't ever really made much sense until recently.
Weeks before her fathers death she had come to learn why he had repeatedly told her to trust no-one, no matter what. Had had stressed the point that you yourself were the only person that could be depended on.
And now, here she was trusting a complete stranger who held her and Jared's lives in his hands because he knew what her next move was going to be, he knew where they were going and that was the one and only thing that had kept them alive this far.
The anonymity of her identity and keeping Jared secluded from the world had helped, but mostly her failure to trust people had been a key factor in keeping them safe.
Climbing into the truck Andy closed the door, peered over the headrest at Jared and started the truck before reversing out into the street.
Stopping at a red light a few blocks away, Andy scanned the street for signs of anything familiar, or known but found nothing so she reached for the paper that she had dropped into the centre console before unfolding it to scan the address Sam had scribbled down for her.
Taking a left at when the light turned green Andy drove towards the more suburban side of town, which in her mind did not fit with the man she had met at all.
With Jared sleeping in the back seat, Andy had time to draw a picture in her imagination of what Sam's house would look like, the kind of furniture he owned, the colors of the walls and curtains. She pictured a house that looked more like a prison or a dungeon and let out a stiff giggle at her imagination running wild.
Really- just because he was bad-ass and slightly trigger happy didn't mean that his place of solitude was something out of a mid evil time zone. Andy chastised herself as she turned into a neat street and slowed down looking for the correct number.
Slowing down to a cruise, Andy took stock of the street and noted the cars that were parked in driveways as she familiarized herself with the neighborhood.
Reaching the house that bore the right number, Andy stared blatantly at the front of it in surprise.
It was average, and didn't stand out in any way. It was well kept and had fresh paint on the outside walls, with numerous windows aligning the front.
The grass that was visible around the side of the house had recently been trimmed and the soil beds had blooming flowers.
Observing the area once more, Andy found nothing suspicious so on a whim she pulled to a stop and parked.
She climbed out of the truck and palmed the key that Sam had given her. Her hand ran over the back of her jeans where the gun he had parted with rested in the waistband, and then she scampered to the back door and opened it to retrieve Jared.
Deciding to come back for their bags she carried Jared to the front door, unlocked it and stepped inside.
Deactivating the alarm with the four digets that Sam had given her, Andy closed the front door before taking her new surroundings in.
She found an enterance hall that didn't divulge much, but once she stepped into the lounge she was breathless.
The house was immaculate and well decorated even though it was kept spacious. Clutter had been avoided and with the entire scheme going on, it worked really well. The room was warm and cozy in shades of browns and beiges, trimmings in black and white.
Who would have pegged a guy toting a gun to be so...homey?
Setting Jared down on the couch, Andy walked around the rest of the house and checked for escape routes like a paranoid criminal. She secured the doors and windows mentally as locked and then took a moment to herself while staring a photo of a woman with dimples and long dark curls.
It was a life-size portrait of her torso that hung on a wall around a corner out of view.
Strange place to keep a portrait, but then again Sam wasn't exactly the average kind of person that you came across every single day.
Venturing back outside to retrieve their bags, Andy did one last look at the street before shutting them inside and re-activating the alarm.
After finding a room that would definitely be considered the spare room, Andy put their stuff in it and then headed for the kitchen to see if there was anything that she could label food hidden in it. Jared would be hungry when he woke up.
After helping herself to coffee and sticking a TV dinner in the microwave Andy sat down next to Jared and watched him sleep.
He had lost so many of his childhood features in the last few months that it was heartbreaking. His face had become hard and withered and he hardly ever managed a smile these days.
It was more than enough punishment for a person to endure...
...
Sam stared up at the windows, darkness encasing his house.
It had been a while since he'd been here, but it still looked the same as he remembered.
Turning to the left he let his eyes take in the street, he did the same turning to the right.
He was in way over his head, and he knew it.
Letting out a sigh Sam crossed the tarmac and reached his front pavement.
He was tired and frustrated.
Letting his hand reach out for the fake rock key holder Sam wondered what he'd find when he stepped inside. His truck was here, so Andrea had obviously at least made a stop here, if they hadn't stayed.
He'd picked her car up from her old motel and driven it back to it's registered owner where he handed her the key and thanked her for letting Andrea use it. When the sweet old lady had told him that Andrea had paid for it he told her that Andrea now had a new car so she was returning the old one because she knew that it had been sold because the woman needed the money.
The old lady had been rather surprised by Andrea's generosity, but accepted possession of her car back without putting up too much of a protest.
Slipping the key into the door, Sam inched it forwards after turning the handle, a staggering beep filling the doorway as he stepped inside.
Switching the alarm off, the noise stopped and Sam closed the door.
He could smell coffee and something that resembled food, but he wasn't sure exactly what it was.
Clearing the enterance hall, Sam looked around the lounge to find no sign of Andrea or Jared when he was suddenly staggering off his own two feet and then hit the ground heavily.
His head hit the wooden floor with a jolt, and a familiar sound echoed really close by- the sound of a safety being slipped off...
Blinking a few times to clear his blurry vision, Sam looked up into the barrel of his own gun pointed in his face by a hand that didn't even waver as it held on to the metal.
"Are you crazy?" Andrea whispered as the gun disappeared. "I could have shot you". She backed away leaving him sprawled on his back on the floor.
Squinting in the dark to find Andrea's silhouette Sam leaned up onto his forearms and watched her clip the safety back on before setting the gun down and running a hand over her face.
"I told you I was coming back here" Sam said sitting up while still trying to fathom exactly how she managed to drop him to the floor.
"You can't just sneak in here Sam, not even if it's your own house". She sounded angry.
Her hand reached out and snapped the gun up before it disappeared down the hallway with her, a few illegible words muttered as she walked away.
The electrifying moment left Sam staring into thin air as his mind reran the last minute of his life.
The fragile, broken Andrea McNally had gotten the upper hand and managed to sneak up on him, drop him onto his back and shoved a gun into his face with a steady hand and without flinching.
Why was this image so wrong?
And who was she really?
Because she sure as hell wasn't weak, untrained, or the average daughter of a dead cop.
*****Thank for reading. I seem to think that Andy's keeping some pretty heavy secrets, what say you?
Okay, so who's still here & wants more?
Have an awesome day!
Jelly Bean Jenna©
