Chapter 3

<Gavin Forrester>

We're all standing on the porch at midnight dressed in completely black clothes and ski masks. Blaze is holding a flashlight and handing off heavy objects to each of us. He hands Victoria a baseball bat and something to scratch the paint numbers off with. He hands me a hammer and hands Slick a heavy looking oar. He hands his brother a hockey stick and keeps a saw for himself.

Blaze throws a sack filled with other supplies over his shoulder and begins to walk down the steep stairs. We all follow quickly behind so we can still see where we're going. He leads us down the familiar path we took the first night we got here until the private jet comes back into view. We all stop and Victoria lets out a deep breath next to me.

"What exactly are we going to do to the plane?" She gives me an apprehensive look before walking towards the plane.

"Beat it up beyond all recognition, take out the vital parts such as the engine and anything that could link us to it. Then we'll throw out the pieces in various places so no one will ever be able to put them back together.

"That could take forever." Victoria groans as she picks up her baseball bat.

"Get started and it won't." Blaze chuckles as he drops his bag and pulls out a butane lighter. "I'll start melting the wings off and then Jeffrey, you'll cut them up so they'll be easier to fit in trash bags. The rest of y'all will beat up the body of the plane."

Slick, Victoria and I walk into the physical body of the plane to begin our work. Victoria takes her bat and drives it through the nearest window. The glass breaks and rains down on the grass below. Slick goes into the cock pit and begins to destroy the control panel.

I help Victoria break the rest of the windows and tear up the leather seats. Luckily, the plane is small so destroying its interior doesn't take very long. Slick cuts all of the wires so it can't be tracked and then we all go back outside where Blaze and his brother are busy cutting apart the wings of the plane.

"What do you want us to do about the rest of the plane?" I ask with uncertainty.

"Take out the engine and anything that's flammable. I don't need an explosion 'cause that'll draw some attention." Blaze chuckles as he hands another piece of a wing to his brother who tosses it into a pile.

"Y'all are so stupid for leaving your plane here." Jeffrey mutters and continues tearing apart the metal of the wings.

"Thanks, I thought we we're past that." I roll my eyes and follow Slick to where the engine is.

Slick pulls out a pair of wire cutters and other tools to help us take apart the plane. He begins expertly cutting wires and handing me parts of the plane. I set them in a small pile so that Slick can deal with them later. After about 15 minutes, Slick comes out of the engine compartment covered in oil but with a smile on his face.

"It's done. Now, I need you guys to go and bury these parts somewhere in the forest where no one will ever find them. I'm going to help Blaze take apart the wings. Be back soon if you want to watch this plane go down in flames." Slick has a devilish look in his eyes which scares me.

Victoria pulls off her ski mask to reveal some messy red hair and a scared expression. She picks up a few plane parts and a shovel from Blaze's bag of supplies but she almost drops it due to the shaking in her hands. I can see the fear evident on her face. She's never done this many illicit activities at once and it seems that she's scared out of her mind.

I remove my ski mask and place my hand on hers, gesturing for her to let go of the plane parts. She drops them with a clang and I pick them up as silently as possible. We walk a few yards into the forest where the stars become the only light. I hear Victoria step on a twig behind me and squeal a little in horror.

"Please be quiet, sweetheart. We can't get caught." I whisper and try to pick a perfect spot to bury the engine.

"You think I don't know this? Despite what you think, I do know what I'm getting myself into and I made my own dumb decision to get involved, okay? You don't need to treat me like some naïve child who still doesn't know the entirety of what they've done." Victoria sticks the shovel into the soft ground and begins digging with angry motions.

"I don't mean to treat you like a naïve child. I've just been in this a long time..."

"Gavin, I helped you escape jail, I stole a private jet and now I'm destroying evidence in a felony man hunt. We're all involved in this whether you like it or not. Your past doesn't matter in this situation because this started with a dumb decision made by me." She glares at me and continues digging.

"What was that dumb decision was that? Getting involved with me? Falling for me?" I whisper in a strained, hurt voice.

"Shut the hell up, Gavin Forrester. I'd never regret that, I helped you escape Attica for goodness' sake. I meant, I sent you the bobby pins and if I hadn't done that than none of this would've happened..."

"And I'd still be behind bars. Is that what you want? Because if it is, tell me and I'll march straight back to Attica and turn myself in." I grab onto Victoria's shoulders which makes her drop the shovel. "Look into my eyes, I want to know why you're really mad."

"I don't want you behind bars, I want you to be free; you know that right?" Victoria turns to face me and places her hand on my cheek.

I nod and wait for her to finish answering my question.

"I'm mad that everything is against us. I thought if we escaped then all of those problems would be left back in New York but they followed us and got worse. You are the subject of an international man hunt. My parents are still on the run and the media can't keep my name under wraps forever. Soon enough everyone will figure out that the Police Chief's daughter is missing and then not only will the FBI be on your tail but mine too. We were here for 3 days before everything began to unravel. I just don't want to lose you again. I'm scared out of my mind that they'll find you and put you back behind bars. I don't want to fight this hard for it to all come crashing down." Victoria wipes the tears from her cheeks and stares down at the forest floor.

I pull her in close to me and run my fingers soothingly through her hair.

"Victoria, I knew I was asking a lot of you when I asked you to send me those bobby pins and runaway with me but you chose me, you chose to save me over saving yourself. You could've left me in jail and I told Blaze that if you didn't want to be involved in the scheme then I didn't want to get out but instead you dropped everything to help me. I promise on my own life that I won't let anything happen to you and I won't do anything stupid to get myself caught. Don't be scared, princess, I won't let anything bad get to you or to us. You've risked everything for me and now you have to let me take care of things from here on out." I run my thumb under her eyes and lean in.

"I love you." She mouths as she places her lips on mine.

My fingers tangle in her hair as we continue to kiss. I push her up against the tree and feel her arms wrap around my waist. She pulls apart for a second and pushes some dyed black hair away from my eyes.

"I have to protect you too, Gavin, we both have to pull a little weight if we want to make our relationship work." Victoria says gently and looks deeply into my eyes.

"Victoria, my only wish for the rest of my life is to keep you by my side and I'm willing to do anything to make our relationship work. I love you like crazy and I never want to feel this for anyone else." I lean in so our lips are just barely touching.

"You can be extremely romantic when you want to be." Victoria smirks and places her hand on my cheek.

"Well, it's easy when it's the truth." I place my lips on hers and pull her in as close as possible.

"Noah, Allie, this is not the last time you'll ever see each other's lips. Please bury the damn parts before the cops come and take us all the way." Slick shouts and then goes back to the clearing.

Victoria and I laugh a little as we release each other and finish burying the parts. Once the last grain of dirt is back in place, we walk, hand in hand to the clearing, where Blaze, Jeffrey and Slick have taken apart most of the plane. The scrap metal is in a pile and Jeffrey seems to be cutting apart the rest of it.

"What are you guys going to do now?" Victoria asks solemnly.

"Set this metal on fire." Blaze states simply as he pulls out a few more butane lighters and pairs of gloves.

"You're kidding, right? You could set the whole forest on fire!" Victoria shouts incredulously.

"Shut up, munchkin. I was only kidding. We're going to melt the metal down and roll it up as small as possible until each piece is unrecognizable as part of a plane. Now, everyone, put on your gloves, turn on your lighters and pick up a piece of the plane." Blaze demonstrates and brings the flame of the lighter to the metal.

After a few hours of tedious labor and one hell of a sleepless night, the plane is physically gone, as if it never existed in the first place. In the early morning hours, with the sun rising in the east, we all walk back towards Jeffrey's house with our supplies and a new sense of relief.

~~~~~

Victoria is asleep in my lap as she's been since we got home from destroying the plane. The clock on the cable box reads noon. I think about waking her up but she looks so peaceful and I'd never want to interrupt that.

She has a little smile on her face and the slow beating of her heart against my leg is calming almost. That all comes to an end when her phone begins vibrating against the coffee table. Victoria is startled awake and picks up the buzzing device. Her eyes widen when she sees who's on the caller I.D.

"Gavin, it's my dad." She sits up immediately and runs her fingers nervously through her hair.

"You can't answer it, he could be tracking you." I point out and try to grab the phone from her.

"He could also be calling as a concerned parent who is worried about his missing daughter." Victoria blocks my hand and tries to answer the phone.

"He's a concerned parent who has the frickin' FBI after me."

"He doesn't know I'm with you." Victoria pleads and turns to face me.

"I'm sure it's not far from his mind." I huff and glare at her.

"He doesn't even know that I know you." Victoria brings her thumb to the answer button.

"He's the police chief, he ain't stupid. He'll figure it out." I stand up and leave her to make her own decision.

I walk out to the kitchen and pour a cup of coffee. Blaze comes in next and points at Victoria who has now decided to answer the phone.

"I told her to not pick up but she wouldn't listen."

"Who is she talking to?" Blaze turns towards her with a suspicious glare.

"Chief Grayson, her father." I throw my hands up in the air in frustration.

"You mean the guy who has half of the cops in the country after us?" Blaze's eyes widen and I nod solemnly.

"We forced her out of her house and made her runaway with us. The least we can do is let her talk to her father. I mean,"

"Shut up, Gavin. Victoria loves you and she wanted to do this. She's a big girl and she made the decision to run away and the help you escape. She can't jeopardize things like this." Blaze cracks his knuckles and walks out from behind the counter.

"She's already on the phone with him, there isn't much we can do now." I shrug and look at him with a defeated expression. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this mess."

"Don't apologize, I know you would've done the same for me. Now, quit acting like we're going to get caught." Blaze goes over to the couch with his arms crossed.

He holds out is hand for the phone. I stand behind him and watch Victoria look sadly at the ground like a little kid who's being punished. Victoria mumbles something to her father and then hangs up.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Blaze pinches the bridge of his nose in an attempt to subside his anger.

"I was thinking, I need to talk to my father. I can't just disappear and leave him to wonder what's going on." Victoria stands up and glares at both of us. "You guys may be able to disappear without a trace but I can't and I won't."

"I get it, you're implying that we don't have people who care about us so it's easier for us to go away." Blaze mutters bitterly. "Quit acting like this whole situation is only hard on you."

"Quit making it seem like I'm the only one who does stuff wrong. I've done everything you told me to. I dyed my hair, I disposed of evidence in a felony man-hunt. I've kept quiet but I'm sorry that I miss the only member of my family that didn't try to kill me." Victoria bursts into tears and rushes out of the room.

"You didn't have to be so harsh. She's just as on edge as the rest of us." I cross my arms and give him a stern look.

"Gavin, we worked too damn hard for it to come crashing down less than a week into our escape. I'll go buy some disposable phones so she can call her dad without fear of being tracked. Meanwhile, can you please turn her phone off so they'll lose our scent and then go get her back to normal? I don't want to have to deal with a crying girl." Blaze grabs the keys to the Jeep and slams the front door shut behind him.

I walk down the hallway to the bedroom Victoria and I share. The door is shut and I try to turn the knob but it's locked.

"Victoria, please let me in. I need to talk to you." I knock on the door and listen for any sounds on the other side of the door.

All I hear is faint sniffles and some shaky breathing.

"Go away, Gavin. I just want to be alone." Victoria takes in a deep breath and then there's no more noise.

"No, we're going to talk, now." I say sternly. "Don't make me knock this door down and I know you're well aware I can do that."

I hear some shuffling and then the door opens. Victoria's eyes a red and a bit puffy. She bites her lips and stares at me. I wrap my arms around her and push us both farther into the room. I close the door behind me and sit down on the bed. Victoria sits down next to me and I put my arm tightly around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry I screwed everything up." Victoria looks down at her lap and brushes some imaginary dirt from her black jeans.

"Hey, look at me." I tilt her chin up and smile. "You didn't screw everything up. We'll figure things out, we always do."

"I just, I miss him. After what happened with my mom and Talon, I liked to know that no matter what happened he would still care. He's not even my actual dad but he still loves me and I couldn't bear to let him think that I was in danger. I wanted to hear his voice and to tell him that I was fine." Victoria brushes a tear from her eye and leans her head on my shoulder.

"What did you tell him?" I ask as I brush a piece of hair from her face so I can kiss her forehead.

"He was angry at first. He didn't like that I'd just disappeared and left him alone to worry. I told him that I was fine and had just taken an impromptu trip. I told him I hadn't run into Talon or my mom. He said that I need to be careful because of the criminals on the loose and I told him that he didn't need to worry or try and find me 'cause I'm fine. Then he hung up and Blaze took my phone away." Victoria bites her lip and looks at me, waiting for my response to all of this.

"I knew you were smarter than Blaze was giving you credit for." I say jokingly and she slaps my arm, obviously not amused.

"I still don't like having everything blamed on me. I'm not the only one who does things wrong around here." Victoria pouts which makes me laugh a little.

"I know, Blaze has just had one too many close shaves with the police in his lifetime and he doesn't wanna end up behind bars again. It's nothing personal against you but he's been a career criminal for his whole adult life and I don't think training someone new in his ways is an ideal situation for him. As you can tell his people skills are questionable." I chuckle and watch Victoria crack a smile.

"I just wish things were less complicated."

"Someday, they will be but for now we're stuck like this." I grab her hand and squeeze it comfortingly. "We're in this together. I'm not going to leave."

"Thanks." Victoria wraps her arms around my neck and leans in close, our lips just barely touching.

"Quit teasing me, woman." I close the gap between us and pull her as close to me as possible.

She deepens the kiss and moves onto my lap. My arms snake around her waist as we continue to kiss.