The Assignment

Chapter 4

Have you ever experienced that paralyzing feeling like you can't move fast enough when you're terrified? It's like you're involuntarily moving in slow motion and you're screaming at yourself to hurry up, but you can't seem to run any faster. Your heart is racing faster than you are, and all the sights and sounds around you start to fade into one big blur, in which you can't decipher what the hell is even going on around you. All you can think about is that you're not going to get away fast enough, and whatever or whoever is chasing you is going to catch you. I'd been through that one too many times in my young life. I hadn't intended to go through it again this soon. But that's exactly how I felt, panting as I tried to run down the stairs, carrying my overnight bag that suddenly felt like it had been stuffed with bricks. The adrenaline flowing through my body was making me dizzy and I knew a migraine was on the horizon. I knew that the longer it took us to leave Joey's house, the bigger the risk was of that man in the Cadillac returning and potentially capturing or killing us.

It only took us about five minutes to grab what we needed and head for the door, but five minutes easily felt like five hours. Joey changed clothes in a matter of seconds, already in jeans and a casual tee by the time I had reached the bottom of the stairs with my bag. He hurriedly rolled his uniform into a big ball and tossed it in a duffel bag, making sure not to include his radio or anything electronic he would normally wear with his uniform that could possibly pinpoint his location.

I watched with wide eyes as Joey unlocked the closet door to reveal it wasn't even a closet. He'd turned the tiny room into a gun safe. There had to be between twenty and thirty guns inside, along with two machetes and a ka-bar that looked like it could scare off the devil himself. Joey quickly placed eleven pistols in his bag, followed by about a dozen small ammo boxes. He slid another pistol into his waistband under the back of his shirt and threw on a jacket, concealing the ka-bar that I was heavily intimidated by in the front of it.

I followed Joey to another room where he opened a drawer that held several cell phones. I was convinced he'd been prepared for the apocalypse. What else could he possibly have all this stuff for? He grabbed four phones, sliding one into his back pocket and putting the other three in his bag.

"You still got the burner I gave you earlier?" He made sure, earning a nod from me.

The burner phone was in my hip pocket.

Joey slung his bag over his shoulder and motioned for me to follow him. My nerves were zapping with electricity as I itched to get out of the house. Every second longer that we were there felt like a second closer to something bad to happening.

We jogged across the front yard to the silver BMW. I was scanning the entire street, hoping and praying that the Cadillac didn't come back around the corner while we were in the driveway. Joey grabbed my bag from my hand, throwing it into the trunk along with his, and motioning for me to get in the car. I wondered how in the hell he could carry such a heavy duffel like there was nothing in it. I felt an ounce safer once we were both finally inside the vehicle.

Joey slammed the accelerator so hard, my body lurched backward. I felt like a magnetic pull had my back glued to the seat. When I looked over at him, I couldn't believe he looked so calm. Being a police officer had obviously given him enough experience with traumatic situations that he had no trouble keeping his cool. He had a determined look in his eyes and I could see the pumping pulse in his neck, but he didn't look one bit intimidated. Meanwhile, I was desperately trying to keep my wits about myself, but my heart was pounding in my ears and I wanted to crawl into a dark hole and hide until the danger subsided.

Joey hadn't driven very far when we parked in front of a small, run down duplex a few miles from his house.

"What are you doing?" I asked, scanning the neighborhood for anything that looked suspicious.