Michael's Little Problem: Part 2
Chapter 10
Miami, FL
Lily Sizemore POV
It was a warm afternoon when I finished cross country practice and headed towards the school. Practice had been boring because Pete was out of town visiting his grandparents for the weekend, and I was ready for a nice relaxing day lounging on the couch when I got home. It had been a tense couple of weeks because of what was going on in Michael's life, and I hadn't gotten much time to relax between keeping up with my normal routine, which Michal insisted I did, and living at the loft for a couple nights with grandma. Living at the loft had been interesting to say the least. Michael had a lot of strange visitors including an ex-girlfriend of his named Sam. Fiona didn't like this at all and I was thankful she left after a few days. Michael seemed to be planning something, but whenever I asked him about it he would say he couldn't tell me because it wasn't safe. Michael thought it would be best if we stayed at the loft until things cooled down and he had only just given us the okay to go back home a couple days ago. It had been nice being home again after living in the tense atmosphere of Michael's loft, but I still had a feeling something bad was coming no matter how hard I tried to put it out of my head.
As if on cue, two men in suits appeared and made their way over when they spotted me. "Are you Lily Sizemore?" One man asked with a stern sounding voice. I instantly went on the defensive.
"Um, yeah. Did you need something?" I asked, trying to play dumb. I knew these were people that had something to do with Michael.
"We just wanted to ask you a few questions about Michael Westen. You know him, right?" The men looked at me expectantly and I felt my stomach drop. I knew I had to get away as fast as possible. I thought fast and answered.
"Sure, I know him. I'll be glad to answer your questions, but I really have to go to the bathroom. You know how it is; I just got out of a long practice." I tried to look embarrassed.
The men looked like they weren't buying my excuse and I grew even more nervous. I could feel my hands shaking and I prayed they didn't notice. "Of course we understand. Take your time, we'll be waiting right here." I smiled and scampered into the athletic entrance to the school. I ran into the girl's locker room and tore open my locker. I reached for my cell phone and opened it so I could call Michael. I hoped he would know how to help me. I panicked when I saw I had three missed calls and two text messages, all from Michael. The first text read where are you? The second text read, CALL ME ASAP. I frantically dialed Michael's number on my cell and it rang a couple times before he answered.
"Lily, are you okay? Where are you right now?" He asked, his voice urgent.
"I'm at school, I just got out of practice. Michael, there are men here who want to talk to me about you. I said I had to go to the bathroom and I ran into the locker room. What should I do?" I asked, hoping he would say it was nothing to worry about, but knowing I was wrong.
"I was worried about this. Something has happened and Carla is on to me. She wants to bring you in to get leverage over me. Just stay right where you are for now. How many men were there?" He was talking very fast, and seemed like he was doing multiple things at once.
"Just two came up to me. Do you think there are more? What do you mean they want to bring me in?" I felt the tears coming on and tried to hold them back. Now was not the time to start crying and I knew I had to be tough.
"They want to take you away to try and lure me in but that's not going to happen, okay?" Michael assured me.
"Okay, what should I do?" I asked, running my hand through my hair.
"Okay, Lily, there are most certainly more men out there somewhere. I want you to leave the locker room and take a look outside to see if you see more. Make sure you aren't seen. Can you do that?" He spoke more slowly and I could tell he was trying to keep me calm.
"Do I have any other choice?" I asked, trying to work up my courage. What if they were waiting outside the door?
"No, I'm afraid not. You can do this, Lil." I nodded like he could see me through the phone and opened the door to the locker room. The locker room was located in a separate hallway from the entrance, so I edged towards the end of the wall so I could peek towards the windows. When I looked, I saw there were about ten men, obviously waiting for me to come back out. There would be no escape through that entrance. I went back into the locker room and reported back to Michael.
"There are about ten of them so I can't just walk out. Should I just go to the other end of the school and exit?" I asked, waiting for his response.
"No, you can't. They might be in the school already and we can't risk it." He paused for a second, thinking. "Okay, plan B. Do you see any vents big enough for you to fit in?"
"What?" I asked. Was he crazy?
"Look along the walls and on the ceiling. If you see one big enough, you need to pull the screen off. Do you still have that swiss army knife I gave you?"
"Yeah, I still have it." I scanned the walls and didn't see one I could fit in. I looked up at the ceiling, and just as I was about to give up, I saw one on the far side of the room that looked just big enough for me. "There's one on the ceiling."
"Okay, go lock the door to the locker room." As I ran towards the door to lock it, he kept talking. "Use the knife to unscrew the vent and climb up. Put your phone on speaker so I can direct you." I switched the phone to speaker and ran towards the vent. It looked pretty high, and I decided to try and climb on top of the lockers to reach it. I put my hands on the top of the row of lockers and started to climb by putting my feet on the door handles. It was hard work, and I felt my muscles protesting as I pulled myself up with my arms. I finally managed to wriggle onto the dusty surface of the top of the lockers and I took a few deep breaths.
I jumped when I heard Michael's voice, forgetting he was on the phone. "What are you doing? Keep me posted."
"I just climbed on top of the lockers, and I'm about to unscrew the vent." I relayed while I fished for the swiss in my pocket.
"Okay, try to hurry, Lil." Michael said.
"I know." I tried to keep the edge out of my voice. I worked quickly, and in a couple minutes I had the screws off and the vent fell to the ground with a loud clatter. I heard the door to the locker room jiggling and stood up to look into the vent. My heart dropped when I saw I would have to jump to get in. "Shit, it's too high. I don't think I can do it without help and I can hear the door jiggling." I looked at the opening to the vent and measured the distance. If I dove forward I could probably manage to get my stomach in and then wriggle the rest of the way. What if I missed though? It was a long way to fall.
"Lily, you have to do this. If I could help you, I'd be there in a heartbeat, kid. Trust yourself and just jump for it. You don't have a lot of time to waste here." I took a deep breath and steadied my feet. I heard the lock jiggle again, and it was all I needed. I took a leap towards the vent.
"Holy crap!" I gasped when my stomach slammed into the edge of the vent with my feet dangling underneath me. I almost fell but I managed to pull myself up with my arms little by little. "Okay, I'm in." I gasped so Michael would know I made it. As soon as I said that I heard the locker room door burst open and I immediately started crawling. The men would know exactly where I went since the covering of the vent was on the ground, but I was reasonably sure none of them would be able to fit into the small opening so I was safe for now.
"Michael, they know I'm in the vent!" I frantically whispered.
"That's okay, Lily they still don't know where you will come out. Just keep moving as quickly as possible." Michael reassured me.
I could barely breathe through all of the dust in the vents, but I crawled along the metal tunnel and stopped when the vent went off in three different directions. "Michael, there are three different directions. Which one should I take?" I whispered because I wasn't quite sure where I was. I could be right above one of the bad guys for all I knew.
"I don't know, you're gonna have to guess. Try left and see where that takes you." He said briskly. I groaned.
"Okay." I replied as I took the left path and crawled through the tunnels. After a few minutes, I reached the end of the tunnel, but I could see that it was way too high off the ground for me to jump out. "Shoot!" I exclaimed, "I have to try another way."
I heard Michael's voice again, "Just stay calm, Lily. You still have time. Go back and try the middle tunnel. It has only been a few minutes even though it seems like longer." I huffed, but crawled back to where I started and took the middle path. After some crawling, I realized that this tunnel was sloping down, which seemed promising. When I came to the end, I realized I was only about ten feet off the ground and the area outside looked like some sort of gated maintenance yard.
"I think I can get out here, Michael. I don't see anyone around; I'll be in some sort of gated maintenance area. I'm right across the street from that grocery store we used to go to before Fi punched that cashier who was hitting on her." I said, trying to lighten the mood and not sound panicked about the ten foot drop.
Michael was all business, clearly not in a joking mood. "I can't see how high up you are, Lily, but if you know you can make it just unscrew the vent and get out of there." Michael said, sounding relieved that I found a way out. I pulled my swiss out of my pocket and went to work on the screws. The vent covering dropped to the ground and I took a deep breath while I looked at the ground to assess the height of the drop. It might have been more than ten feet, but there was no sense in wasting time worrying about it so I let myself drop out of the vent.
I tried to absorb the fall by bending my knees so I wouldn't break an ankle (or two) and it worked well. I just tumbled to the side as I hit the ground, but I was relatively unharmed. "Okay, I made it." I said, just so Michael knew I wasn't hurt. I brushed off some of the dust on my clothes and added, "What's next?"
I heard him sigh in relief before he said, "Look through the gate and see if you can see anybody." Michael waited again while I looked. I jumped back when I saw a man in a suit.
"There's one guy. He'll see me if I open the gate." My heart dropped. I didn't have a way to get back into the vents, so if this guy saw me I was out of luck.
"Keep an eye on that guy; he is probably doing a perimeter scan. As soon as he turns the corner and can't see you, sprint towards the grocery store across the street."
I peeked through the gate and the guy was still standing there. "He's still there. He'll see me, I don't want to do this, Michael. There has to be another option!" I shook my head as a few tears rolled down my cheeks. I wanted Michael to be here with me. I wasn't a spy and I would get caught.
"Lily, you've made it this far already and the next part is easy. There are no other options right now. The longer you wait, the more backup they will get. You can do this." Michael spoke urgently and I knew he had faith in me even if I didn't. I looked through the gate again just in time to see the man in the suit disappear around the corner.
"He's gone, I'm going for it." I said. I tore open the gate and sprinted like a bat out of hell towards the parking lot of the grocery store. "Okay I'm here, where should I go? I don't think anyone followed me."
Michael sighed and I could tell he was relieved. "Okay, go into the store before they see you." I sprinted into the entrance of the store before Michael said, "Try not to look suspicious, just act natural. And turn off the speaker phone so it doesn't look like you're talking to yourself." Oops. I slowed down and walked through the store with my phone to my ear. I wasn't even paying attention to where I was going, but I ended up in the yogurt section, of course.
"Where do I go now?" I asked as I pretended to stare intently at a strawberry yogurt.
"I remember there is a back exit just past the frozen foods section. Make sure there are no employees around and take that exit." Michael waited while I stared around the exit to make sure there were no employees around and walked out the back door. It felt great to be outside in the heat after the chilly temperature of the grocery store, and I didn't see any suspicious men in suits waiting for me.
"Okay I'm out of the store." I relayed back to Michael, hoping my ordeal would come to an end soon.
"Okay great. How do you feel about a little running?" He asked. I groaned; running was the last thing I felt like doing at the moment.
"Where to?" I asked, hoping it wasn't far.
"Remember that spot I showed you a couple weeks ago where we meet when things like this happen? You're going to meet Fiona there." I could tell he didn't want to say where it was on the phone.
The spot he was talking about was a restaurant about 3 miles away. "Will I be able to see you?" I asked hopefully.
"It's not safe where I am, Lil. Just head down to the spot and Fiona will be waiting there. I'll stay on the line until you get there, but then I have to go."
"Okay, here I go." I said and began the three mile run to the restaurant.
The run seemed like the longest of my life, but I eventually made it. "I made it!" I said triumphantly, breathing heavily.
"Lily, you did a great job and I'm very proud. Just look around on the street for Fiona's car. Do you see it?"
I scanned the street, and I eventually saw Fiona's black Saab on the corner. She waved and I started to jog over. "I see her. Thanks for helping me out of that mess, Michael."
"No problem, I'm sorry you were in it. Stick with Fiona and take care of yourself, okay?"
"Okay, I will. Be careful, Michael!" I said as I opened the car door.
"I will, Lily." He said before he hung up. I felt a burst of relief when I saw Fiona and she held her arms out for me.
"Lily, you did a great job today, but I'm afraid this day is far from over. Are you up for this?" Fiona let go of me and put her hands on my shoulders.
"I guess I have to be." I replied with a reluctant smile.