I caught a flight shortly after, amazed that I could make a call and be on a plane within three hours. I suppose not having to think about anything other than a change of clothes and a laptop helped with that. The numbness that I was so used to came creeping back, letting me sit in on the plane for hours without a single thought. When I landed and turned my phone back on, I saw that Jasper had tried to call me once forty minutes ago. That meant that he knew my mother was dead, which also could have meant that he saw what I had done, tracked my phone and my spending and was boarding a flight here now.

Even if he did, I had about eight hours to get what I needed.

The first thing I did was rent a car, making sure that it was one of the most common cars ever produced. Flash would do nothing for me here, and once I was driving, I scoped the area out for other white RAV4 SUVs. A discrete license plate swap was carried out in the back of a Walmart and part of me felt back that Jasper would undoubtedly follow my transactions and sick local law enforcement on this poor citizen who just happened to be part of my scheme. Some power creature was going to be slammed against the hood of their own car and questioned for hours over something that took me two seconds.

At the Walmart, I purchased myself a few blankets and pillows and snacks so I wouldn't have to tie myself to a hotel where I could be found. The less traces I left, the better.

Then I was hunting for a weapon that wouldn't raise any red flags. Sure, I technically could own a hand gun, but my certification hadn't come from a standardized gun course that other weapon-toting Canadian took. That last thing I needed was for a shop owner to call the local police to confirm that I could in fact, have a hand gun. So, I ended up at an electrical supply store. If nothing else, my purchase here would only serve to confuse the hell out of Jasper. And I really didn't want to go up against a man like Axel empty handed.

The man behind the counter repeatedly looked me up and down and asked me if I was sure about the size of the wire and that I only needed a foot of it. I just nodded and grinned, hoping that I didn't look entirely crazy with airplane hair and death rotting the sane parts of my mind. As I left the store, I admired the hefty weight in my hand. Perhaps not as efficient as a gun, nor as glamourous as baton, but it would slice through the air, no doubt. It had the flexibility to slice skin and the rigidity to break bones. Perfect.

The rest of my day was spent sitting outside a café, putting my computer science courses to work. Sure, Jasper would find out where I was eventually. He worked with some of the best techs in the industry. They would unravel my VPN and network web in less than a week, I was sure of it. But I didn't need a week. I just needed another twenty-four hours.

Then Axel would be coming for me.

After that, I didn't particularly care what happened. I was angry. I was here to avenge the leader in my life, the one who had shown me the path that I needed to follow. I should have been doing everything in my power to keep Jasper away from me so I could do what needed to be done.

But I was still holding on to my cell phone. I needed to get rid of it. It could be tracked. I knew that. But I couldn't make myself get out of the car and do it. My shaky fingers had unlocked it. My background was a picture from years ago, Dexter and I at a family friend's party. I was wearing one of the first outfits I had designed. He was wearing a hoodie that was so old the sleeves were fraying. But I was grinning beside him and his arm was around my waist.

I flicked through my pictures, somehow able to repress the death of my mother, but not this. There was a picture of us on a hike, standing by a blue lake that looked like something out of a painting. I was beaming at the camera. Dexter was looking at me.

I had a picture of his new rally car from Zara that I had excitedly texted to my dad.

I had a video of Dexter snoring on my couch with Inkwell napping on his shoulder.

And pictures that I swore I was going to use to advertise the free kitten that Dexter had shown up with. I should have known I was done for the second I saw those big, innocent eyes and the adoring way that Dexter cradled the cat. Inkwell was permanent the second he came into my life.

I closed my eyes then, phone clutched to my chest. For a moment, just a fraction of time, I let myself believe that was my life. I was the girl who came home to drink fine wine beside my man who liked his cheap beer just fine. We went to separate cafes because his drinks were not enough for me and mine were too much for him. I designed impressive gowns that dropped jaws and then climbed in the passenger seat to squeal each time the car drifted. He was the man who dressed up to support me each time I show-cased a new piece and loved to talk cars to me though he knew I didn't always understand.

I had pulled up his contact before I even knew what I was doing. And he answered, because of course Dex would.

"Lonny?" he whispered.

"Hey," I sniffed.

"Lonny, God, I've been trying to get ahold of you for days. Listen, I'm sorry... Lonny, are you crying?"

"Yes," I admitted, I just hadn't realized I had been so loud.

"What's going on?"

"I think I made a bad decision."

"Alright, that's okay. We all make bad choices sometimes. It's not the end of the world."

Oh, how wrong he was. Because I was going up against a man I didn't know, trying to prove something I didn't entirely understand. And while men like Axel could pull a trigger without even blinking, I had never taken a life before. And, honestly, I wasn't sure that I even had a chance. I wasn't even taking a knife to a gun fight; I was taking a hunk of metal wrapped in plastic.

"I fucked up, Dex," I sobbed, burying my face in my free hand.

"It's okay, Lonny. Where are you? I'm going to come get you."

"You can't. I'm on the other side of the country."

"Just tell me what's going on. We'll get through this together."

"I just want to tell you that I was wrong. I was wrong about everything. I don't hate you. I could never hate you. You tried so hard for me, even when I tried to cut you out of my life."

"I'm always going to be here for you. What I did wasn't right either. Now, what's going on?"

"I love you, Dexter. And I'm sorry. For everything. If I make it home, I'll try to fix it."

There was a moment of nothing. Then a sharp inhale of realization.

"Where are you? Is Jasper with you? Lonny!"

"Goodbye, Dex."

I could still hear him screaming my name when I hung up the phone and the sound didn't stop when I shut the phone off, pulled out the sim card, and stomped on it.

The tears continued to roll down my face all night after I had found a discrete corner to park the car on and attempt to sleep. I stared at the fogged windows all night, wishing I was home, that Dexter was with me with his arms around me and that my mother had come back to us, laughing that we had ever been worried about her.

But that was not reality. My mother was not coming home. And I was either going to leave this province in a casket or victorious.

I forced myself to sleep. The next day was going to be awful and I needed every ounce of my strength for it. But alone, in the back seat on a rented car, lying to everyone I loved, it was hard to get even an hour in.

When I woke up, the world had frozen over. As if it had taken on my icy heart, frozen pellets were falling from the sky, neither liquid nor solid, but cold and unforgiving. Perfect. Just perfect. Freezing rain was exactly what I needed. It meant the one road in and out of Big Pond would be less trafficked. And the less eyes, the better.

I drove cautiously to the café I had been at yesterday, only feeling satisfied that their wifi reached my car while parked a bit away and that the roads were dead. Nova Scotia was notorious for rapid weather changes and it seemed the locals knew that it was best to hunker down.

I absently chewed on a half-frozen granola bar while I checked my laptop. How depressing. My last meal could be this bargain brand bar, in an ice covered SUV, with not a single caring soul around. Jasper and Alistair had been right. The agent life wasn't glamourous or glitzy at all. It was lonely, cold, and taxing. I wondered why my mother never told me that this was the reality of the life she had picked for me. there was no jewels or dresses or seducing wealthy ambassadors.

Then, my laptop pinged.

Axel was on the move. And he was coming right towards me.

It was my last chance to back out. It was the only way that I could guarantee that I would come away from this alive, that I would follow my mother into a shallow grave dug by someone who spat on me.

I put the Toyota in drive and traversed the open roads.

The highway was just as dead as I hoped. But I knew he would come. Because men like that thought they were too good to die in a car crash. And if he was coming for me, then I was going to make myself look vulnerable and desperate. If I had interpreted his words correctly, he was looking for someone who needed a hand, someone who was down on their luck. He needed the opportunity to look like a hero, a deal that was too good to be true.

I pulled my car over to the side of the highway, turned on my hazards and popped my hood. I left my jacket in the backseat, but grabbed the chunk of wire. I didn't know if I was shivering from the cold or anticipation when I set the wire on the exposed engine and hunched over, my back to the wind that drove frozen darts into my spine.

Tears were in my eyes once more, but I didn't blink them away. I needed them. I was a helpless, dumb young woman after all. Fresh out of a break up with nothing to lose and nowhere to go. Perfect for a human trafficker.

A red Cadillac pulled up. Not too flashy to be associated with an absurd amount of money, but not tragically humble either. It slowed down, hazards blinking away. I repressed the smile on my mouth and sucked back a dramatic sniff instead. I even slapped the grill of my car for dramatic effect.

"Darlin, do you need a hand?"

"Oh yes, please!" I exclaimed into the wind and stared into the eyes of the man who murdered my mother. 

~~~Question of the Day~~~

What current trend makes no sense to you?