At the bottom of the hill, I told Sally to turn down a back road that I remembered led back into Stull Junction. It was a longer route, but less traffic. I figured her car looked like Swiss cheese at this point. The woman said nothing as her mechanical movements explained to me; she was close to the edge.

You’ve gone through hell and back, lady!

I leaned forward with my arms resting on the back of the front seat. I did not know what to say, so I just gave her directions to my apartment. I deliberately kept my voice calm, hoping to reassure her. But I’m not sure she even heard me.

“We’ll drop your car off a block away and walk to my place. You and Adele are taking the train out of town.”

Sally barely heard Lane’s voice. Even the road noise along with the engine’s hum failed to register as she remained numb. Her mind barely understood her destination. Only the calm voice coming from behind her gave the woman something to steady her raw nerves. Each turn along familiar streets reminded her of an instance of time when she and Joe happily drove along to a destination. Steeling herself, Sally forced the surging emotions away. Instead, she felt an overwhelming need for sleep coming to her. The urge to stop the car, then lay down and cover her head to welcome the blackness, became nearly overwhelming.

“Sally! Pull over there,” the voice broke through her scrambled brain.

She glanced over at the pointing hand and turned the wheel.

“Yeah, pull behind that truck,” I told her. “You can see the building from here.”

Sally and I arrived at the apartment a few minutes later. From the look on the doorman’s face, I knew I looked like shit. Blood on the side of your face will get that reaction from folks. Sally’s robotic movements didn’t help.

“An accident,” I explained to the man in the green uniform as I led Sally to the elevator.

When I got the front door to the apartment open, Adele came out of the kitchen. She saw Sally and her confused expression immediately turned to shock when she saw me.

“Honey, what happened? How bad are you injured?”

She rushed toward me, and the concern made me self-conscious.

“I’m alright,” I assured her as she hugged me.

“We’ve got problems.” I started toward the hallway, then remembered Sally.

I introduced them, but Sally gave Adele a vacant look. Adele looked at her, then at me as I grappled with how to explain, then finally blurted it out.

“Antonio’s thugs caught us at her house. Her husband is dead.”

That’s when Sally broke down.

~~~

It took a while for Sally to calm down. After Adele got a drink for Sally, she sat with her in the dining room while I explained the situation.

“If they catch Sally, they’ll take her to Antonio. I’m on the hit list, so I need you to leave town.”

Adele stared at me, and I saw the bitterness in her eyes. I nodded and took a deep breath.

“I know!”

I should have walked away from this like you wanted!

I went to the bathroom; hearing Sally say something to Adele, but I couldn’t hear most of it.

While I looked over my injuries in the bathroom, I noticed a trail of dried blood on the side of my face. After pulling off my hat, I carefully pulled out a sliver of glass that remained in the skin.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“No wonder the doorman looked at me like that,” I mumbled to myself.

I cleaned off the worst of the sweat and blood from my face, then looked at my ragged suit. I slid out of my jacket while heading into the bedroom. I looked in the closet for another suit and I wasn’t worried about how well it fit me.

A few minutes later, I’ve got pants and a new jacket on as I walked out of the bedroom. Remembering the box of .45 shells in the library, I walked into the room and pulled them from the drawer. After refilling the magazine in the pistol, I put the box into my lower jacket pocket.

Now, just to get Adele and Sally out of this city.

I went back into the dining room, where Sally sat alone. She looked at me with red, tired eyes.

“I don’t know what to say,” I started, then I ran my fingers through my hair.

“There’s nothing to say,” she said. “Joe saved me. All I can do is grieve and pray that I can find some way to pay back Antonio.”

Sally dropped her head, realizing the impossible idea. However, I didn’t forget that weakness that Antonio had. But it would wait for later.

I felt Adele’s hand come around my waist, surprising me.

“I’m sorry,” I told her.

“I know you are. She explained some of what you went through while you were cleaning up in the bathroom.” Adele put her forehead between my shoulders. “We can talk later, but tell me what you are planning now.”

I turned around and hugged her. Sally observed us, then took another drink from the tumbler in her hand.

“I already have tickets for Sacramento waiting at the station.” I pulled Adele back to look at her face.

“Once we get there, we’ll need to avoid Antonio’s men, as I expect that bastard will have his people looking for Sally and me. I hate to do this, but they won’t be looking for you. I’m asking that you get the tickets, then we’ll board at the last minute. It’ll be tough and things can go wrong. I’ll understand if you can’t do it. But no matter what, you must leave this apartment and get out of town.”

Adele forced a smile.

“Give me a few minutes and I’ll pack a few things. Do you have any cash?”

I grunted and shrugged.

“Not enough, I’m guessing.”

She patted my chest.

“That’s why you need me.”

“That’s not the only reason.” I frowned at the idea.

But isn’t she right?

Adele chuckled at me before hurrying to the back of the apartment.

As I stood there, I felt Sally’s eyes on me. I looked over.

“When you get to Sacramento, I want you to stay with Adele and me. We’ll figure out something, I swear.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Lane. I knew what we were doing was risky. But today was the first time I’ve seen Joe so brave. He wanted to protect me...” Sally looked away, composing herself.

“I’m sad, but I’m also incredibly proud.”

She stopped as a strange look came over her.

“Does that make me sound like a terrible wife?”

I slowly shook my head. Even I saw how her husband found sudden inspiration to become something more in her eyes. I might be young, but I’m pretty damn sure that a lot of men carry the hero instinct.

“No, I am sure that he wanted to leave you that memory of him becoming a hero.”

~~~

The three of us stood in the apartment’s atrium building next to the elevator about twenty minutes later. Adele handed money to me, and I asked about it after putting down two suitcases.

“I keep an emergency stash, if you must know,” she said with a huff.

I smiled and kissed her on the cheek after calling her a goddess. She blushed slightly at my efforts.

“Enough of the fun. We need to get your car,” I whispered.

“Let’s have the doorman bring my car around the back of the building. There’s a service entrance,” Adele explained.

“That’s why I married you.”

“I thought it was my money,” she smirked, gave him a wink, then walked over to the doorman.

“You get along well with your wife,” Sally commented.

“It’s getting better,” I said. “Lane Dagger’s been such an ass. I had doubts she’d ever trust me again.”

Sally’s peculiar look at the way I spoke about myself in third person missed my notice. My focus centered on the doorman leaving the building. Adele came back and led us to the back of the building.

Our luck held as Adele drove away with Sally and me sitting in the backseat, scrunched down out of sight. After a couple of blocks, Adele told us that no one was following the car. I lifted my head and looked behind with a feeling of relief.

Well, one step through the gauntlet, I thought.

All of us remained quiet as Adele drove. I expected trouble around every corner until I finally sought diversion by mentioning our next step of getting aboard the train.

“Someone will watch for us, even if nobody recognizes this car,” Sally pointed out. “I can’t think of a way to walk through the station. It’s not like we can hide among the crowd. It’s not that busy, as I recall.”

“That’s true,” Adele agreed. “But won’t these men look for you and Lane out front of the building? I mean, it’s hard to see how they can monitor the entire platform.”

“I suppose,” Sally agreed.

“Sorry, but with my luck, we can expect them outside the front and on the platform,” I said.

“We should have a plan soon. Here’s the train station.” Adele turned onto Depot Avenue, which ran next to the two sets of railroad tracks. The squat red brick building came into view. On the closest set of tracks, a train engine hooked to a half-dozen cars sat along the main platform of the station.

“Pull over into a parking place here,” I suddenly told her.