Duskwood Mysteries

Part 10

After that I don't even know how I was in a car. I could feel the car moving and voices saying something. After what seemed like an eternity the car stopped. It jerked me back to the truth. I saw that Jake had a tight grip on my hand. I turned to see him have a distraught look in his eyes. "Jade?" he began "Please say something." I blinked a few times and looked around. We were on the side of an empty road. No one or nothing in sight. Just trees. "Where are we?" I asked. "Just outside a town called Maryville." He responded. I mentally tried figuring out where Maryville was. What was I thinking? I don't have a map fixed in my brain. "Ok that's it," he growled. I couldn't process it when the sound of the car horn exploded in my brain. I literally jumped and hit my head to the roof of the car. My ears hurt and I stared at Jake, "What the hell? Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Are you out of your mind?" I screamed on the top of my voice. "I'm not out of my mind but I will be in a moment. You haven't said a word in the last 3 hours and I have been talking like a freaking psycho to a statue who breathes. What was I supposed to do? Please enlighten me." He yelled. I sighed, "I was in a shock ok?" "I get that but don't shut me out. I can fix broken or frozen computers not computers without power." He blabbered. "Huh? You are not making sense." I said. "I know. I mean I don't know." He said feeling embarrassed.

That literally caused me to break into a riot. "Are you sure you are a hacker? Heard of a power cable?" I said between laughs. I saw him getting a little bit annoyed but then he started laughing too. "What can I say? You drove me to the brink of crazy. Alright now that your horrible sense of humor is back, lets go?" he asked. "Where exactly?" I queried. "This stretch of towns have a lot of inconspicuous motels. No ask no tell policy. Take your pick." He said handing over his phone with the maps app. Multiple pins were displayed showing the motels that were lining the area. I looked over and pointed to one. "This one." "That's not a motel. It's a bed and breakfast that showed up because I searched for lodging." He said. "Exactly." I said "Its too predictable for you to be in a motel. If you want to give a run to your pursuers you have to be unpredictable." "Well well well look who's back. Smart choice." He said his eyes twinkling. "Thanks," I said beaming immensely. But then it dropped, "You already had that place chosen didn't you?" "Now why would you say that?" he giggled. I rolled my eyes. We started driving again.

Finally, I asked, "You knew there were security cameras in the building. But how?" "When you are as paranoid as I am, you always find out who is watching you. I had scrubbed the place before visiting. I made sure that both the traces of us being there was removed and it didn't seem like a bad idea to use the cameras to our advantage. When I said I would keep a watch I was using the cameras to make sure no one suspicious was getting in. I dropped my guard down when we were leaving." He said. " So how did you know that the intruder was coming to the apartment." I asked. "I didn't. I mean I did not know for sure. When we reached the elevator banks, the elevator was on the 4th floor and going down. I pressed the button to our floor and the elevator passed through our floor to the below floors. Normally it would not bother anyone but the only reason that happened was someone below our floor pressed the button for the elevator." He said. "So there are multiple tenants in the building." I replied. "So my love, what tenant would come to his house at 2 am in the morning. Duskwood is a sleepy town, even the youth don't stay up past 9 pm. It was a calculated guess, a gut feeling or a suspicion you could say. The person coming up definitely did not have the right intentions." He concluded. "And the stairs going up? Was that to distract the intruder?" I asked. "No. It was another calculated move. I did not know if there were multiple people. Also, what if the intruder changed his mind and decided to take the stairs? Another thing, the intruder would have even checked the floor to be sure we weren't hiding in the corridors. The best option in that case was the roof." He replied. "But what if the intruder would have come up to the roof?" I asked curiously. "I took a risk. It was a possibility, but I had a contingency plan and I hoped that the intruder would want to be quick. So, he didn't bother to check the other floors. That would be too time consuming." He said.

I sat in awe at the detailed plan the Jake had thought of. He was so thorough. I owed him my life. And even after the horrific incident, he was calm and collected enough to make an escape. That is I am assuming he was calm and collected as I was definitely out of the zone when this happened. "What was the contingency plan?" I asked. "You don't need to worry about it Jade. We didn't have to use it and I hope I never have to." His eyes narrowed and his shoulders tensed. "What happened?" I asked. "Lilly." He mumbled. "She was the only one who knew where I was." I said quietly. "Yes." He growled. "Either she told someone or she is working with the intruder or she is the intruder." "I don't like either option Jake. Lilly did this? But why? The trust on my friends is fading away. Who are we supposed to believe?" I asked. The haunting realization hit me painfully. "Right now? Absolutely No one." He said.