Goode Things Take Time

Untitled Part 21

When he says my name it sends a shiver down my spine. "I never gave you my name. How did you know?" I asked. On the radar it registered two objects flying steadily on either side of us, flanking both sides, too close for comfort.

"Oh." He says "My boss told me."

"And your boss is...?" I asked cautiously, noticing that the cockpit voice recorder had been tampered with.

"Your mother. You have quite the bounty on your-"

But he doesn't finish. He can't. Because I have my hands around his neck, strangling him. The plane starts tilting to the side and I push him down as hard as I can and then jump into the pilots seat. I put on the headset, but instead of a flow of normal flight information I get silence. "Abigail!" I yell, and she comes darting in.

"Zach what the hell?" She says. I press the autopilot button.

"The guys with the circle. So are those two helicopters." Her face goes white.

Suddenly the guy grabs her leg and she screams trying to shake him off, but his grip is like iron. I get up and kick him on the side of the face. Hard. His eyes roll up into the side of his head and a bruise is already forming. I bring him into the back of the plane and tie him up with a seatbelt. I couldn't bring myself to throw him off the plane... yet.

"This is bad Zach." She said and I nod. The helicopters are drawing closer, trying to figure out whats going on.

"Get ready for a bumpy ride!" I say and Abigail screams, burying her face in her hands. I send the plane into a nose dive, heading down into the nearby mountains. Helicopter's can't descend or ascend as fast as a jet so I'm at a slight advantage.

But not much of one.

I hear a beeping sound and look down at the radar to find a rapidly approaching red dot coming towards us. I send the plane up and the missile skips over us landing into the chopper on our left sending it into a downward spiral.

"Oh my gosh!" Yells Abigail as I send the plane lower and lower into the mountain range. I dart between hills, flying as low as possible, but the other helicopter seems to have disappeared. After about 20 minutes of nothing appearing on the radar I manage to say words.

"Abigail, where am I going to drop you off?"

"Drop me off?" She says, dazed. I nod, but she doesn't say anything further.

"Abigail." I say. "Where?"

"I have a house in the Hampton's. We could go there-"

"Not we. You. And you can't go there. You have to get off the grid and stay off the grid. Get a disguise. A new name."

"I'll be back." She says warily and I sigh in frustration. She disappears for a good forty minutes.

When she comes back, I don't turn around to greet her. I keep my eyes on the dark skies around me. "Where have you been?" I snap. The smell of peroxide hangs in the air. "And what is that smell-" I turn around and am momentarily silenced by the girl in front of me. I can hardly recognize her.

"Drop me off in Pinehurst. It's a town in North Carolina. From there I'll hop on a train until I get to Cavendish, Canada. My parents own a shipping port there. Then I'll ride stowaway on a boat until I get to the family plantation in Kuantan. There I'll work as a laborer until I hear the coast is safe."

"Abigail" I say, in awe "Are you sure you're not a spy?"

She smiles. "Not yet." She gazes out the window, her face taking on a far-away dreamy quality. "But maybe someday."

We land in the middle of a grassy field in North Carolina right before midnight. We're in the middle of nowhere on a private piece of land owned by a friend of Abigail's parents. The sky is clear and the moon is full. Around us, a million fireflies light up the night sky around us.

This time, we shed no tears while saying goodbye because it wasn't goodbye. It couldn't have been. I knew I'd see her again someday, and she'd be stronger. She was no longer that girl I rescued that hot July day. She was tougher. I knew she'd be okay.

"I'll see you around Zach" She says with a wink, disappearing off into the night. We didn't tell each other to stay safe, to be careful. Safe and careful were no longer a variable in our lives.

I turned around walking in the opposite direction she did, trying to make my way into a town. We left the plane and the pilot there, stranded. There was nothing we could do with it.

I walked five miles into town, and in the dark, it looked just like Roseville. It was an all-american town with an old-fashioned main street and a gazebo. I curled up inside of it and finally went to sleep.

Authors Note: Hi!!!! What do you guys think of Abigail now? Do you think they'll meet again? Is she good or bad?