Taking A Chance
Chapter 11
"More Delays"
Nancy's face was ashen as she put her car into reverse and mashed down hard on the gas petal. The car sped quickly backward as Nancy struggled to keep it going straight and the car pursuing them seemed to go even faster, making the wreck inevitable. Joe squeezed his eyes shut and held on tightly to the strap over the door beside him as Nancy whipped the car suddenly to one side.
Joe opened his eyes just in time to see the dark blue sedan roar by, missing them by mere inches! Nancy whipped her father's car around, jammed it into drive and raced forward again as the dark blue sedan turned around behind them and raced after them.
"Hold on," Nancy said grimly. "They're serious about this. We're going to have to come up with another plan – or get these guys off our backs."
Joe agreed. "We've got to do something. They could have killed all of us back there. You, me and them! What are you thinking?"
"I'm not sure," Nancy admitted as she looked in her mirror. The blue sedan was still behind them but, while they were in a residential area, didn't seem to want to get any closer. Nancy felt her stomach churning anxiously within her as she drove and she hoped – prayed – she wouldn't get both of them killed.
"Head back out to the interstate," Joe suggested. "We'll get off in a couple of exits, lose them, then race back here. If we can get back here before they do, we won't have to worry about what they do. I still can't believe they're working so hard to keep us away. Doesn't it make you more determined to find out what's wrong?"
"Totally," Nancy grinned. "I'm not about to back down now!"
Joe laughed. "Not that you even know the meaning of the words back down, Drew. Let's get out of here!"
Nancy raced them back to the interstate and merged with the traffic she found on I-70. The blue sedan merged about four car lengths back and Nancy quickly changed lanes several times to put more distance between her and their pursuer. Two exits later she left the interstate and raced down the back streets she found until she was sure that the car was no longer following her.
Joe navigated, using a local map that Nancy's father kept in the car, and got them, finally, back to where they wanted to go. The home of James and Diana Fleming, located in St. Charles Missouri.
Joe felt nervous butterflies beating a rhythm within his stomach as he stepped out of the car and he walked with Nancy up to the front door of the beautiful, villa-style home before them. Not too large and not too small, it reminded Joe of the kind of place where a young couple might raise a family and he wondered what Frank would think of their interruption into his new life.
"Ready?" Nancy asked him, quietly. She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it, before she pressed her finger down on the doorbell.
"Ready," Joe agreed, though he wasn't so sure about that. Still, he had come this far and he was determined to go the rest of the way. He had to find his brother and prove he was alive. He held on tightly to the packet his father sent him.
The door opened a few moments later and they faced a young woman about Nancy's age. The young woman's dark hair swept back into a ponytail and she was wearing a fluffy white bathrobe.
"Can I help you?" she asked them politely, eyes inquisitive.
"Miriam?" Nancy asked astonishment in her voice. "Miriam Alman?"
The woman started for a moment before composing her features. "I'm sorry; you must have me confused with someone else. My name is Diana. Diana Fleming."
Nancy frowned and watched the young woman as she reached to close the door. Nancy put her foot into the door jam before the woman could close it.
"I don't ever forget a face, Miriam," Nancy said. "And you are definitely Miriam Alman. You're even wearing the same earrings you wore the day I met you. That party in River Heights, remember?"
Miriam/Diana glared at Nancy as she tried to push the door shut again. Finally, she gave up.
"What do you want?" Miriam demanded. "Why are you bothering me?"
Joe, who was wondering just what happened to their plan to pose as journalists, wanted to know that as well. Nancy was changing the plan on him faster than he could keep up!
"I think you know why we're bothering you," Nancy smiled at her though the smile didn't reach her eyes. "We've come here to get what's ours."
Now Miriam did try to slam the door and Nancy winced when the door jammed into her foot. She maintained her position though and Joe stepped in to help her, holding onto the door to keep it from closing.
"I don't have anything of yours. Now leave before I call the police!" Miriam demanded.
"I don't think so," Nancy smiled. "Or rather, feel free to call the police if you'd like. I have a rather interesting story to tell them, though. Now, are you going to let us in or are we going to stand here and draw the attention of your neighbors?"
Miriam looked from Nancy to Joe and wilted. She stepped back and let them into the house. Joe closed the door behind him as he stepped into the room and looked around. The parlor was beautifully furnished with modern photographs on the walls, sconces along the walls and a small love seat set in front of an equally small fireplace.
"What do you want?" Miriam asked again as she folded her arms and stood against the far wall. "Why have you come to bother us?"
"We know who James Fleming is," Joe glared at the young woman. "What we don't know is why he's come here and become James Fleming."
"He's my husband!" Miriam hissed. "And I'm not giving him up. I've loved him since the very first time I saw him and he doesn't even know who you are anymore!"
Joe wondered, though. At this point he was not at all inclined to believe a single word the woman told him. He doubted she knew how to tell the truth anymore, living such a fantasy life as Diana Fleming as she was. She probably convinced herself daily that Frank was her husband, that he loved her and that he would never leave her.
Regardless of what the truth was.
Nancy looked no less doubtful and she stepped toward Miriam.
"I think you want to believe he doesn't know who we are," Nancy said. "But we aren't going to know the truth until we talk to him, are we? Where is he?"
"He's at work!" Miriam exclaimed. "He won't be home until this evening. You have to leave now!"
"I don't think so," Nancy smiled as she walked over to the love seat and settled into it. "I think we'll just wait here until he comes home. You could call him and tell him that you need him home right now."
Miriam shook her head insistently. "I can't do that! He would get in trouble at work."
"Lady, I don't care," Joe said. When she flinched he softened his tone a bit. "Look. Frank Hardy is my brother. I'm closer to him than anyone on the planet and I have the right to know the truth."
He paused and was about to say something else when the door of the house flew open again behind them and two men stepped into the room.
"Step away from her," a rude voice ordered them. "Right now!"
Nancy and Joe turned toward the two men and saw that they both held very powerful looking handguns in their hands. They raised their hands and stepped away from Miriam as she ran toward one of the two men.
"Shoot them!" Miriam insisted. "They're trying to take James away. Shoot them now!"
The man she stood near smiled and raised his handgun right at Joe and slowly began to squeeze the trigger.