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"To get me to leave you out here alone."
"I wouldn't be alone," I argued.
"Yeah, what am I, chopped liver?" Luca retorted.
"No, but he's still weak, you said it yourself."
"I'm still strong enough to take you, asshole," Luca said and I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Alessandro just scowled but there was an underlying smile, a fondness for his friend.
"I never did thank you for saving my life," Luca's sincere words surprised me.
"I was just doing my job." I smiled at him.
"Knowing Alex, you were doing your job at gunpoint."
I chuckled. "Only for a little while. He had to put the gun away when I hooked him up to an IV."
"Smart." Luca pointed at me playfully as if to sayI see what you did thereand I laughed.
The men filed out of the motel and loaded into their cars, while we sat, waiting on a few stragglers when a thought crossed my mind.
This might be my only chance before we are on the tarmac.
I cleared my throat to speak. "Um, I need to use the restroom before we go."
Alessandro studied me for a moment before nodding. "Okay." He turned from me to Luca. "We'll be right back."
Luca gave a nod and Alessandro got out of the car. I tried to open my door, but it wouldn't budge until he rounded the car and opened it from the outside.
"Safety locks. Just in case you had any bright ideas."
His firm grip latched onto my bicep, pulling me out of the car, and he guided me around the corner to a motel room with the door propped open.
One of his men was just walking out as we neared the room and Alessandro gave him a nod. “Is that everyone?”
“Yes sir. I made sure that the room was cleared and wiped down. Shouldn't be any fingerprints anywhere. It's probably the cleanest motel room around.”
Alessandro chuckled.
The fact that the men wiped down their fingerprints worried me. I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Alessandro led me inside, his hand moving from my bicep to the back of my neck as he guided me through the room.
“If you have to touch anything, wipe it down afterward. We don't want to leave any evidence behind.”
“Evidence? Of what?” I looked back at him with concern as he pushed me toward the bathroom door.
“Evidence that we were here,” he said flatly as if I should have known. “And make it quick. We need to get to the air strip.”
“Okay.” I walked into the bathroom and locked the door. I frantically looked around for something, anything that would offer me hope in escape, but my choices were limited. I found a small nearly empty shampoo bottle in the shower and quietly filled it with water before sticking it between the seat and lid of the toilet, letting the water trickle into the basin to buy some time in case he was listening.
I looked around the bare bathroom, noting the small, high window. I was surprised that Alessandro hadn't worried about leaving me in a room with the window. Perhaps he hadn't paid attention. Or maybe he thought that I was too afraid or too under his control to dare attempt to run. I wasn't sure, but I didn't have time to consider it too deeply. I quietly flipped the small trash can over and placed it under the window before using it as a step. I struggled to open the window and barely managed to squirm my way through but before long I found myself standing on the other side of the motel in a small alleyway. I crept along as quickly and quietly as I could. It wouldn't be long before Alessandro would realize that I had slipped away, and I needed to be as far as possible before he did. Or at least in front of enough people that he couldn't make a scene by trying to get to me.
I rushed down the alley, coming out on the other side. There was an empty parking lot and a gas station on the other side. I would have to pass by the parking lot without any cover to make it to the gas station where several people filled their tanks. Once I was there, I was sure that I could find help from someone, or if nothing else, borrow a phone to call for help.
Alessandro wasn't stupid. He was trying to fly under the radar, and he wouldn't make a big scene in a public place if I could get myself around people. I looked both ways from the alley when I suddenly heard Alessandro's voice to my right. I glance over to see him coming around the corner of the motel at full speed. I couldn’t hesitate. I had to run.
I darted at a full sprint, straight across the empty parking lot toward the gas station. My legs burned as I pushed my body to its limits. But Alessandro gained on me. His legs were longer than mine, and his powerful body was like a machine. I glanced back at him for only a moment as he got closer. My foot caught on the uneven concrete, and I stumbled forward. I tucked my arms and angled my body so that I rolled instead of slid across the concrete which helped but bits of gravel and rocks still tore my clothes and scraped my skin as I tumbled to a stop.
