something else, something I
couldn’t quite grasp.
The man smiled the most gregarious smile,
and asked again, “Can you walk with me? I’ll help you, but I need
to get you out of here.”
He seemed sincere but I was too shaky, too
unsure.
“ I know this
man, Claudia.” It was Tony Braga. He laid his hand gently on my
shoulder. His expression appeared kind, concerned. “I was the one
who rang him. Do what he says. You can trust him.”
A simple,
faint nod from me was all it took. The man threw his strong arm
around me and steered me towards the gate, out of the complex and
into his car. Once in, I covered my eyes with my hand, the gruesome
images of what I had just witnessed plagued me.
“ Claudia,
are you okay?” I removed my hand and looked at the man. He was
still outside, crouching on one knee, his arm resting on the other,
his troubled eyes staring at me. They were the most incredible
blue, like glaciers sparkling in the raw sunlight, intense and
quite mesmerizing.
“ I know this
may sound a little, well… forthright at the moment,” the blue-eyed
man said. “But whatever’s going on, I’ll find out. I promise
you.”
Strangely, I believed him.
He
straightened up and began to move around the front of the car. I
studied him as his long, lean body slid into the driver’s side, as
he gradually swung towards me. His handsome face had a rugged
quality about it, but in a way that didn’t conceal the natural
warmth and compassion that projected from him. That smile of his
was still present, revealing dimples on both cheeks. His hair was
short; the tips of its fair color, seemingly sun bleached and
mussed about in that gel-spiked fashion.
Who was this man?
As if
reading my mind, he answered my question.
“I’m Saul Reardon,” he stated calmly.
The Saul Reardon.
I recalled
the meeting I had failed to attend and worse still, failed to
apologize for. I could feel the embarrassing blush swarm my face.
“Oh,” was all I could say as I looked away.
Once again, he appeared to read my mind.
“Claudia, I think you have more important issues right now, don’t
you?”
He was
right, of course. I shivered as reality hit back.
“ Here,” Saul
Reardon said as he placed a black jacket around me. It smelled of
leather and woody scented cologne. “You’re probably still in shock.
This will keep you warm.”
Warm? I very nearly laughed at the absurdity of it. It
was probably over thirty degrees outside! Nevertheless, he was
right; the jacket was soft and felt oddly soothing against my cold,
bristled skin. Before either of us said another word, police sirens
wailed in the distance.
Saul gripped onto the steering wheel. “We
need to leave,” he said. “Sadly and not surprisingly, the police
will take one look at your car, put one and one together, and get
three. So, is there somewhere safe I can take you until we sort
this out?”
I quickly
weighed up my options. There was my family, whose
over-protectiveness and recent strange behavior caused me much
discomfort. There was Mel, whose own family I’d already suffocated
with my perpetual messes. There was Milo, and although I still
needed to question him, any long-termed presence with him would be
about as comforting and as beneficial as a wet sponge in a deluge.
Attempting to select the lesser of three evils, my shoulders
finally slumped.
Saul
noticed, but didn’t seem troubled by it. Instead, he simply started
his car and sped down the street in the opposite direction of the
oncoming sirens. “Like that is it?” he replied with that salient
smile of his. “Well, as long as you don’t mind being up in the
mountains for a while, I know the safest location for
you.”
I was wary of his answer. “And that is?”
“My place.”
Chapter 11
Claudia
December 26, 2010
12:35 pm
THEY ARE
GENERALLY the same, my dreams, the same
scenario, the same sequence of events and the same central focus, a
large, intimidating door .
I am standing at the
couldn’t quite grasp.
The man smiled the most gregarious smile,
and asked again, “Can you walk with me? I’ll help you, but I need
to get you out of here.”
He seemed sincere but I was too shaky, too
unsure.
“ I know this
man, Claudia.” It was Tony Braga. He laid his hand gently on my
shoulder. His expression appeared kind, concerned. “I was the one
who rang him. Do what he says. You can trust him.”
A simple,
faint nod from me was all it took. The man threw his strong arm
around me and steered me towards the gate, out of the complex and
into his car. Once in, I covered my eyes with my hand, the gruesome
images of what I had just witnessed plagued me.
“ Claudia,
are you okay?” I removed my hand and looked at the man. He was
still outside, crouching on one knee, his arm resting on the other,
his troubled eyes staring at me. They were the most incredible
blue, like glaciers sparkling in the raw sunlight, intense and
quite mesmerizing.
“ I know this
may sound a little, well… forthright at the moment,” the blue-eyed
man said. “But whatever’s going on, I’ll find out. I promise
you.”
Strangely, I believed him.
He
straightened up and began to move around the front of the car. I
studied him as his long, lean body slid into the driver’s side, as
he gradually swung towards me. His handsome face had a rugged
quality about it, but in a way that didn’t conceal the natural
warmth and compassion that projected from him. That smile of his
was still present, revealing dimples on both cheeks. His hair was
short; the tips of its fair color, seemingly sun bleached and
mussed about in that gel-spiked fashion.
Who was this man?
As if
reading my mind, he answered my question.
“I’m Saul Reardon,” he stated calmly.
The Saul Reardon.
I recalled
the meeting I had failed to attend and worse still, failed to
apologize for. I could feel the embarrassing blush swarm my face.
“Oh,” was all I could say as I looked away.
Once again, he appeared to read my mind.
“Claudia, I think you have more important issues right now, don’t
you?”
He was
right, of course. I shivered as reality hit back.
“ Here,” Saul
Reardon said as he placed a black jacket around me. It smelled of
leather and woody scented cologne. “You’re probably still in shock.
This will keep you warm.”
Warm? I very nearly laughed at the absurdity of it. It
was probably over thirty degrees outside! Nevertheless, he was
right; the jacket was soft and felt oddly soothing against my cold,
bristled skin. Before either of us said another word, police sirens
wailed in the distance.
Saul gripped onto the steering wheel. “We
need to leave,” he said. “Sadly and not surprisingly, the police
will take one look at your car, put one and one together, and get
three. So, is there somewhere safe I can take you until we sort
this out?”
I quickly
weighed up my options. There was my family, whose
over-protectiveness and recent strange behavior caused me much
discomfort. There was Mel, whose own family I’d already suffocated
with my perpetual messes. There was Milo, and although I still
needed to question him, any long-termed presence with him would be
about as comforting and as beneficial as a wet sponge in a deluge.
Attempting to select the lesser of three evils, my shoulders
finally slumped.
Saul
noticed, but didn’t seem troubled by it. Instead, he simply started
his car and sped down the street in the opposite direction of the
oncoming sirens. “Like that is it?” he replied with that salient
smile of his. “Well, as long as you don’t mind being up in the
mountains for a while, I know the safest location for
you.”
I was wary of his answer. “And that is?”
“My place.”
Chapter 11
Claudia
December 26, 2010
12:35 pm
THEY ARE
GENERALLY the same, my dreams, the same
scenario, the same sequence of events and the same central focus, a
large, intimidating door .
I am standing at the
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