It was the day I was to depart Los Angeles for my next Grensfeld Industries appearance. Grensfeld had scheduled me to appear in a video with a pipeline inspection team to be filmed above the polar circle in Alaska.

I prepared for the trip, following my standard routine of ritualized dread, but there was also something energizing me, counteracting the negative feelings. This trip was unique.

My bodyguard Jim needed to attend a wedding, which conflicted with my trip's schedule, so Emily hired temporary Alaskan security for me. I would meet the local bodyguards there. That meant it would only be Reggie and me jetting off to the great north.

But I had other plans for Reggie.

What Reggie didn’t know…what no one knew…was that it was finally my Independence Day, the day of my big break. Everything was carefully planned. I was going to disappear from the face of the earth and live free again.

Sadly, Reggie couldn’t come along. It was time for the two of us to part company. I would bitterly miss waking up to tumblers of hot coffee that he prepared and left by my bed, but it had to be. I would be boarding an airplane bound for Alaska as planned, but I needed Reggie to remain behind in Los Angeles.

Please understand that I felt horrible for doing it, but when Reggie wasn’t looking, I slipped a plastic baggie containing a quarter-inch of powdered sugar into his jacket pocket, immediately before he passed through the passenger security screening at the airport.

Moments later, I gathered my things, having waltzed through my security screening without incident, and began to walk to the gate. Behind me, I heard Reggie calling out in shock and protest as a growing crowd of security officials took an interest in him.

I took my seat on the airplane and was relieved to see the cabin door eventually close with no Reggie aboard. I was alone, free of my keepers. I shifted nervously in my seat throughout the flight, mentally rehearsing my next moves.

After landing in Anchorage and making my way past the final security checkpoint on the way out of the airport, I spotted the two men Emily had hired to serve as my temporary bodyguards. Even if one of them hadn’t been holding a sign with my name on it, I would have identified the pair immediately. The first was the Jim type. The guy looked like an advertisement for protein shakes. He was all muscle. The other was small and alert. He looked feral. He was holding the sign.

I feigned a move toward the waiting bodyguards, then took off at a sprint down the airport terminal. The men gave chase, after a brief pause, bewildered by the turn of events.

We began to draw the attention of airport employees as we ran through the terminal. I heard one woman calling over the radio for security assistance.

In my planning, this part of the escape had gone smoothly. I had pictured myself being able to creep stealthily away from the airport. In reality, the situation was disastrous.

My heart was pounding in my chest. Not only did it look like my plan was going to fail, but I was beginning to think I might get myself arrested or even shot if security got jumpy.

Out of further terminal to run through, I waited an eternity for a set of automatic double doors to open widely enough for me to squeeze through. Once outside, I scanned my surroundings to formulate a plan. I began to race forward across the lanes of traffic, peeking over my shoulder to see how close my pursuers were getting.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

In fifty feet there was a parking garage structure I could duck into, but until reaching it I would be completely out in the open.

I heard one of the bodyguards exiting the terminal. He was not far behind me.

Suddenly, a black Cadillac Escalade sped past, only to come to a screeching halt directly in my path, blocking me. I froze.

The rear passenger door opened. A figure inside shouted, “Get in!”

I was having trouble processing what I was seeing. I hurriedly jumped in and slammed the door shut behind me. The vehicle lurched forward and we raced away from the scene.

I stared at my fellow passenger in complete shock.

“Pater?” I gasped.

“Are you surprised to see me, child?” my father prodded, wearing a self-satisfied grin.

“I don’t understand. What are you doing here?”

“I came to save you, child.”

“What do you mean by 'to save me?”

“Your goal is to disappear today, right?”

I was stunned.

“How do you know that?”

“Reggie has been on my payroll for some time. He alerted me that you had bolted. I was in the northwest on business, so I was able to jet to Alaska before you.”

My assistant Reggie was a rat? He worked for my father? That made me feel slightly better about what I had done to him with the baggie of powdered sugar, but I was still feeling guilty.

“Is Reggie o.k.?” I asked sheepishly.

“What you did to him was devious, cruel, and self-serving. I’m very proud of you. But, yes, he is fine. The authorities determined his innocence quickly enough, and the generous bonus I paid him will ensure his silence regarding the rubber glove incident.”

My father beamed, radiating self-satisfaction.

“So I repeat my question,” he spoke, “do you want to disappear?”

“Yes, but from you too,” I pointed out.

“Don’t be ungrateful, Terrence,” my father chastised me. “I will free you from Dave Elmer, and that’s all that matters.”

No. It was the only thing that mattered to my father. But arguing with him was pointless.

We drove some distance to an empty field where a running helicopter was waiting. Climbing in and taking off, we set a course into the Alaskan interior.

For most of the flight, my father was expounding at length about my livestream’s performance, and the positive effect it was having on his whiskey distillery investment.

When he finally paused to breathe, I jumped into the conversation to plead Pamela’s case. (However I felt about her, I didn’t want to see my father spread even more misery in the world, after all.)

“You realize that you are ruining Pamela’s life by causing so much tension between her parents, right?” I challenged him.

“Who is Pamela?”

“Come off it, Pater. I know you’re investing in her film. I know that you're the money behind Cloutbus. I know all of it.”

“You didn’t know about Reggie,” he gloated.

My father pondered the situation for a moment.

“I’ll tell you what. Thanks to your freakish popularity, my McDunn Whiskey investment has paid off handsomely. To make you happy, I might be willing to unload my stake. But there is something I would want from you first.”

“I want you to appear at GoblinFest, in Milwaukee,” he explained. “It’s the launch of McDunn’s football season marketing campaign. The festival should drive the distillery’s valuation much higher. That would be the right time to cash out anyway.”

“So that’s my offer. If you’ll agree to appear at GoblinFest, I’ll sell my stake in McDunn’s after it’s over. And without my financial backing, McDunn’s won’t be able to afford to expand Cloutbus, who will pull their offer on Dave’s house. All your problems will go away.”

I was stunned by his lack of awareness.

“My problems will most certainly not ‘go away.’ Thanks to you, I am stuck in a conservatorship, remember? But it would make Pamela’s life easier.”

“Is it a deal?” my father pressed me for an immediate answer.

I agreed to his terms. I wanted to ask what I was supposed to do at this GoblinFest of his, imagining I would find my responsibilities quite degrading, but I ran out of time.

It was at this point that a beefy member of the helicopter flight crew approached me and began to strap a harness around my torso. I struggled to act cool, but I had a sinking feeling, one soon confirmed when my father said goodbye, and I was heaved out the open door of the helicopter to be lowered to the ground, dangling by a cable, in a small gap between the trees.

I closed my eyes and imagined being at home in bed until my feet hit the ground and I found myself surrounded by men working for my father who had been waiting for me. Signaling my safe arrival to the crew in the chopper, the men led me off through the forest to my hideout while the helicopter retrieved its dangling cable, and then flew away.