It’s Friday morning at 6am when James makes his way to Enterprise rentals. He’s going to pick up the cube van.

“Sir I am sorry all our grey cube vans are rented out. We only have one pink minivan left.”

“Are you serious? I call you guys in advance and you’re like ‘We have 1 grey cube van left’. Why would I accept a pink minivan? I have special business to do.”

“This is all we have left. There must have been an error in the system.”

“Well I’m out of options. Just hand me the keys.”

James drives home with the pink minivan. The pedestrians are staring at James. One woman gives James a funny glance. He pulls into the driveway of his house. It’s now 7am.

He makes his way to the basement, and turns on the computer. He puts on the headset and presses a button on the keyboard. “Hello. I gave you directions last night. There’s been a slight change. Instead of a grey cube van you will see a pink minivan parked in front of the Esso station.”

“Haha pink,” the driver says.

“Nevermind that. Just do your job.”

It’s 10am and the prisoner van pulls into the Esso station. The female officer gets out and walks to the Tim Hortons. This is when the driver unlocks the back of the van and tells Michael there’s been a slight change of plans. He takes Michael who is dressed in an orange jumpsuit and walks him over to the pink minivan.

“Damn he wasn’t joking,” the driver says to himself when he sees the minivan. He opens the rear door.

Michael says, “what the hell is this. Is this some sort of joke? Hey what the hell man.”

The driver forces Michael into the van. He takes off his handcuffs and then puts the zip ties around his hands. He then blindfolds him. The driver shuts the door.

James is in the driver’s seat of the minivan. He says to Michael, “hey.”

“Wait, your voice is kinda familiar. I swear I’ve heard it before.”

“Oh yes you have.”

That’s when Michael starts screaming, “Let me out of here. Anyone?! Someone call the cops!”

James comes to the harsh realization that he forgot to buy duct tape to put over Michael's mouth. James is startled. He pulls out of the parking lot quickly. Hopefully no one has heard Michael.

“Hey just shut up will you. You’re going to lose your voice.”

James decides he will take Michael to the Comfort Inn in New Market. They are a reasonably priced Inn that he has googled. It’s a 40 minute drive to get to the Inn from the Esso station but he decides to go back to his house quickly.

James arrives at his house and gets on his computer. He opens the I.D. Tech software. He sees a function called ‘Memory Wipe’. He clicks on that.

(Select the time frame you would like to wipe) the notification box says when it pops up.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

James selects Thursday evening and Friday morning.

*1 hour later at the Comfort Inn.*

“Hello Sir. How many days would you like to book?”

“I’d like to book the entire day and night please.”

“Okay your total is $75. And how would you like to pay?”

“I’ll use my credit card.”

James taps his credit card and makes his way to the minivan that he had to park on the side of the street away from anything. Michael is still screaming.

“Listen. I brought you a change of clothes. That orange stands out as if you’re hunting deer. Just put these clothes on. I will cut the zip ties. The reason I broke you out of jail is that I want to use you for something. Be thankful you’re not in London.”

“Why should I trust you? Maybe you’re plotting to kill me.”

“I’ve thought of that, but that’s not really going to happen.”

James takes the blindfold off Michael as well as the zip ties. Michael looks at the face of James.

“Hey what the hell. Aren’t you that man I saw in the courtroom?”

“Yes I am. I am the son of the man you killed. Anyways we are going to walk to the Inn and find our room. Just act normal.”

Both James and Michael are sitting down in the room of the Inn.

James reaches for more zip ties.

“Hey what the hell man.”

“I don’t trust you which is why I’m putting these back on." James puts zip ties on Michael's hands and legs and then takes a piece of cloth and puts it in Michaels mouth. “This is just so you don’t scream out.”

“I will come back later. I have something to do. Don’t worry you’ll get to eat dinner.”

It’s now 2pm. Another 2 hours until James has to make his way to the police headquarters to replace the syringes he has stolen on Monday.

James isn’t thinking straight. He drives to a variety store and buys a pack of cigarettes and a bic lighter.

“That will be $16. Do you want any snacks or drinks?”

“No thanks.” James taps his debit card.

He pulls out one cigarette from the pack. “I guess this won’t kill me. After all, I have cancer that is supposed to kill me in 5 months.”

It’s now 3:59pm. James is standing outside the police precinct with the syringes in his pockets. He drops a lit cigarette on the ground and steps on it. He looks at his watch as the clock strikes 4pm. James rushes through the doors. He has more time to spare as he’s not downloading anything to his USB.

James walks down a hallway that is never used by anyone. He makes it to the basement and opens up the door. Derrick has gone home. It’s just him all alone. He takes the syringes out of his pockets and puts them in the cabinet. He then opens the door.

The auditor is standing there. James’ heart is pounding.

“Oh hey James. Didn’t think I’d see you here today. Thought you were sick.”

“Well yes. Still not feeling too great but I forgot something so I just came back.”

“I see. Well hope you feel better.”

James is outside the precinct. He desperately grabs another cigarette from the pack. He puts it in his mouth and lights it.

“Somehow I just keep getting lucky,” says James to himself.

*back at James’ house*

“Hey James. What’s up with the pink van in our driveway. Where’s your car?” says James’ wife.

James is eating dinner with his family. That’s when he tells his wife “The car broke down. The dealership gave me this one while my car is being fixed. Anyways I will be meeting a friend tonight.”

“Okay just don’t get in any trouble. What was wrong with your car?”

James just stands there and thinks “I’m probably going to be the most wanted man in the entire country. Yeah I think I’ve caused enough trouble.”

“Well the car has an engine issue. They won’t tell me much about it.”

*earlier that day at 12 pm*

The prisoner cube van pulls into London’s maximum security prison. It makes its way to the front entrance. The corrections officers walk to the back of the van. They open the door and don’t see anyone sitting in the back.

“Warden I think we have a bit of a problem. The inmate has escaped the van,” the correction officer says in the walkie talkie.

“Question the 2 officers who were in the van. Man this is extremely bad” the warden replies.

“So you were saying you pulled into the Esso gas station?”

“Yes we always do that at 10am.”

The corrections officers hand over this information to the lead investigator.

“I want every road blocked off at a 30 mile radius of this Esso station,” the investigator says to his entire team.

“We will find them within this radius. Shut down all transit… that means trains, busses, and airports,” says the investigator.

The Inn is 12 miles outside this radius. James has thought this through. He knows the procedures that take place whenever an inmate escapes.