Las Vegas Savior

The waiter brought their food and they ate in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.

“How do you think he found you the last time?” John asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve been wondering the same thing myself. I’d been at that diner for almost 5 months and never saw anyone I’d recognized or I would have been gone long before he got anywhere near me.” Emily said.

“Did anything out of the ordinary happen a week or maybe two before he showed up?” John asked.

“I caught a virus and was sick as a dog for about a week. I had only gone back to work a week before and nothing out of the ordinary happened all week long.” Emily told him.

“When you went to the clinic, did you have to show ID?” John asked.

“Of course. But how could he find out about me showing my drivers’ license in Idaho?” Emily asked. “I paid cash for the office visit as well as at the pharmacy for the antibiotics and cold medicine I bought. Nyquil is great stuff! Helped me sleep really well.”

The wine waiter came around and asked if they would like to sample some of the house wine but both of them declined.

“That’s almost definitely the way he’s been finding you. I’d almost bet that he’s shown up every time you’ve shown your drivers’ license somewhere. Am I right?” John asked.

Emily had just put a bite of steak in her mouth and she chewed slowly as she thought about it and then she nodded “I think you may be right. It’s such a natural thing to do that I had never thought about it before.

I went to a doctor when I was in Phoenix last year for a yearly check up at the clinic and they required me to show my license and about a week later, Derrick and the bald man showed up.

They had come around at the gas station I was working at as a cashier in the convenience store. They showed my picture to the person who was on duty at the time and without knowing not to, she told them that I was due to come on duty in about an hour. Then Cindy got suspicious when she started questioning them about why they were asking and then she spotted a gun under one of their coats.

They went out of the store and she picked up the phone and called my cell to warn me that some men had come in looking for me. I described them to her and she confirmed that it was them and I told her “Thanks Cindy. It was nice knowing you but I’m going back underground. I hope I can ask you a favor? When I get somewhere safe, will you western union my pay to me?”

I got in my car and drove north for almost two days before I had to stop again. I was so broke I couldn’t afford to fill up my car again so I called her and she sent my money, then I kept driving as soon as I could fill up my car. I drove for part of another day and then found a job waiting tables in a small café in North Dakota.

Cindy wanted to know more but I told her that for her own protection, it was better that she not know any details. Cindy was nice. She told me that when they came back an hour later, they had acted pissed when she told them that I had not showed up for work.” Emily grinned at him. “And she thanked me for the overtime she got to make that day.”

“Did she know your story?” John asked.

“No. The only person I’ve ever told, besides you, was Shelly, the woman I worked with before I came here. Shelly has become more like a sister, than just a friend. I’m going to miss her.” Emily said sadly.

“Well, maybe when we get you clear of this, you can go back and pay her a visit.” John smiled at her.

“Oh, I would like that very much.” Emily smiled back.

“Speaking of family. Do you have any?” John asked.

“An older brother, Jake. He’s in the Navy overseas, the last I heard. And an older sister, Connie. She lives in Portland with her husband and their two kids.” Emily answered honestly.

“Why didn’t you go to your sister when this all started? She would have hidden you, wouldn’t she?” John asked.

“Yeah, more than likely but I couldn’t put her and her kids in danger like that. I wouldn’t put it past Derrick to use them to get to me or to kill them outright to hurt me if he knew about them.” Emily said.

“They don’t even know about any of this. I’ve never told them. It’s safer for them if they don’t know. I haven’t talked to my sister in over 3 years. I was too ashamed to admit that I had gotten mixed up with someone like him. Someone like my father.” Emily watched John’s face as what she had said sank in.

“Your father was a criminal?” John asked in surprise.

“Not the way you might think of as a criminal, at least he wasn’t when I knew him. I haven’t seen my father since I was 15 years old and I pray that I never have to see him again.” Emily said passionately.

“Okay. So your dad won’t have your vote for father of the year. Do you mind if I ask why?” John was almost reluctant to ask.

“Let’s just say he was a cruel and abusive man.” Emily said and then kind of got a strange look on her face before she added with a condescending laugh “But I guess I should be thankful for the lessons he taught us. I probably wouldn’t be alive now if he hadn’t taken us on those camping trips.” John watched her face as a wealth of emotions played across her face and he wondered what she was remembering.

“Camping trips?” John asked.

As they finished their meal, Emily told him about her childhood and growing up with her father’s strict rules and his abuse of them all. About learning to survive on little or nothing and of how she had used it to stay one step ahead of Derrick for the past 3 years.

“Wow, sounds like you’ve had it rough your whole life. Any idea of where your father is now?” John asked.

“No! And I don’t want to know. He made my life hell growing up. I never want to see that sorry SOB again for as long as I live.” Emily said vehemently.

“Wow, that’s some serious hate you’ve got going on there. But from what you’ve told me, it sounds like it was deserved. What about your mom?”

“She died just before my 17th birthday. Ovarian cancer.” Emily said sadly.

The waiter came back to clear their dinner plates and asked if they would care for any dessert and both of them declined so he left them the bill and told them to take their time and he would be back for it in a little while.

John pulled out his credit card and left it in the black booklet that held the bill on the edge of the table.

“Now that I’ve depressed the hell out of you with my sad story, why don’t we change the subject and talk about you?” Emily said with a smile.

“Well, my parents are both still alive, as I think I’ve already mentioned, and they have a condo in a retirement community here. I also have a younger sister, Janice, who lives in Maine. I had an older brother and an older sister but they were killed in a car accident when I was 17. Nearly killed my parents too.

The car that hit them hit the back end of my folks’ car from the side and my brother and sister were both sitting in the backseat. Almost tore the car in half and they were both crushed to death but the medical examiner said that they had died instantly, so they didn’t suffer. My dad’s in a wheelchair due to injuries to his spine from the accident. My mother wasn’t hurt as badly but she had to have her knee and hip replaced on the right side and she has to use a cane or a walker now.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Must have been really rough on them to know that they survived when they lost two of their children and for you to have lost your brother and sister.” Emily said.

“Yeah. Janice and I would have been with them but our team had won the football game and our parents had let us go with some friends to a party. An hour after we got there, the cops showed up and told us about the accident and drove us to the hospital.

Both of my parents were unconscious and the doctor was the one to tell us that Michael and Mandy were gone. I’ll never forget having to call my grandparents to tell them. I was crying so hard I could barely talk.

They caught the next flight to San Francisco and stayed with us until my mom was able to come home from the hospital and she needed help so they stayed until my dad came home too. It was another six months before my dad was able to come home.

My granddad helped me build a ramp for my dad’s wheelchair and we did some renovations to the house to make it easier for him to live there, like lowering the sink in the bathroom and converting the bathtub to a walk-in shower without a lip so that he could wheel himself in and out.

I graduated that May and wanted to go to work but my grandmother convinced me to go to college. Mike had been just about to get out of college and Mandy was in her second year. Damn, I still miss them.”

“Where are they buried?” Emily asked.

“They’re not. They were both cremated. We spread their ashes over the San Francisco Bay.”

“There is a place just off the coast of Seattle where I think I want to have my ashes scattered when I go. I rode the ferry out through the San Juan Islands to attend the wedding of one of the girls I worked with when I was a programmer.

It was the middle of July and freezing cold on that boat but the views on the ride over were spectacular. I stayed in a cabin on the mountain above a hotel that sat right on the sound where the wedding was held. It was a beautiful setting when the sun went down. I took my camera and got some beautiful pictures while I was there. I do hope that the camera is still in my stuff in storage.”

The waiter finally came back and got their check and went to process John’s card. He was back in no time and handed John the copy to sign and wished them a good evening.

“Dance with me before we go?” John said, as he stood up and held out his hand to help her up. She looked up at him and then put her hand in his and prayed she wouldn’t step on his toes. John led her on to the dance floor and then pulled her into his arms.

It was so wrong of him, totally unprofessional, but he wasn’t at work right now and this might be his only chance to get his arms around her and he’d be damned if he was going to pass it up.

John was a good dancer and held her close enough that she could tell what he was going to do next but not so close that it could have been considered indecent. She wondered if he could tell that her entire body seemed to tingle wherever he touched her. She purposely did not look at him, afraid that he would see in her eyes how much she wanted him to kiss her.

John wanted to pull her closer, to use his hands to mold her body to his. Her perfume was intoxicating and he felt slightly light headed when her breast brushed up against him as they danced.

He wanted her so bad. Had ever since he had seen her in the doorway of the laundry room. He may have only met her that day but she was quickly becoming important to him and it wasn’t just because of the fact that she was having to run for her life from some very dangerous men but because of who she was.

He had enjoyed himself more today than he had in a very long time. John had thought his heart was permanently frozen after Sharon had broken up with him. But Emily was not Sharon, not by a long shot.

He liked Emily’s laugh, her sassy sense of humor, her hopeful outlook on the future, even though she had been through some really hard shit in her life, not to mention that she was drop dead beautiful and had a body that would make any woman jealous.

She may look good in the dress he had bought for her but he would never forget how she looked in her worn out jeans and the juvenile t-shirt with the kitten on the front. It had shown her very ample breast above her tiny waist, over slender hips that flowed down to some very shapely legs.

As the song ended, John realized that this may not have been such a good idea as the crotch of his pants were becoming very snug but he smiled down at her upturned face and said “Let’s get out of here.”