'Choppers' he said. Not Chopper, as in single, but choppers, as in plural.
"Why more than one?"
He did remember there was only one person needing rescue. Did he need another one for himself? Was he leaving me?
I don't know why that bothered me so much. Hadn't I wanted to get away from him before?
So, did he want to ditch me now? Because of that?
I started to spiral.
That wasn't like me. I didn't have panic attacks. I didn't do, 'hysterical'.
"Stop panicking. I'm not leaving you."
I instantly calmed.
No. It wasn't in his nature to leave someone in danger.
Wait, how did he read me so well? That frustrated me to no end. How could he read me so well when I can get practically nothing from him? That was so not fair!
That realization made me sulk for a few moments, but we had a lot more time than that to kill, and Li sucked as a conversationalist.
Somehow I had managed to keep my emergency bag with me. It had been slung crossways over my shoulder and, thanks to my zip tied hands, it had stayed there.
I took it off now and felt the relief of it's absence.
Going through it, I pulled out two water bottles and handed one to Li. He surprised me by taking it. He found a place near the window, but just out of sight, and settled in.
I suddenly didn't know what to do with myself. This was his show now. It wasn't up to me to think of what to do next.
That made me very antsy. I didn't like the thought of someone else having control of my life. Where I go, what I did.
Somehow I had to get some of that control back. Control was power. I needed some power back in my own hands. But how to get it.
I brought out my laptop and sat cross legged on the floor with it.
"Don't worry, I'm offline." I anticipated his objection.
I needed information, but I was not going to get it externally. And as depressing as it was,I had to create a murder board…. for myself.
I had to pull from memory everything that brought me to today. Somewhere in all that muddled mess was going to give me answers to get out of this muddled mess.
It started with my parents mysterious disappearance. No. It had started before that, with their odd behavior that lead to the hiring of Cho Chan Li.
I was the youngest of five children and yet I was the only one graced with a glorified babysitter, I mean bodyguard.
I never understood why. Out of the five of us, why I suddenly need protection.
There was nothing to differentiate me from my brothers and sister….. save…
….save one thing. The inheritance from my paternal Grandfather, Grandpa Sounder. We all inherited something different.
Out of all the children born to Margret Sounder, I was the one Granpa left his late Wife's Sapphire necklace to.
But it still didn't make sense why that cause, would have all of this effect. The need of a bodyguard, my parents disappearance, and everything that ensued from there.
The necklace wasn't very valuable. It was an Antique, a bit scuffed up, and it needed repairing.
Nothing about it screamed 'kill my owner so you can own me!'
I couldn't 100% rule out my siblings but I think I could rule them out 99.9%. They just loved me too much to hurt me. Unless they were the worlds best actors I think I can take them at face value.
If I couldn't trust them, who could I trust.
And than there was Uncle Stephan and his family, who came so quickly in response to his brother's and his sister-in-law's disappearance. How did they factor in?
My Aunt and cousins seemed harmless enough.
Uncle Stephen was definitely suspect. His actions were nothing if not suspicious.
Aahhhhh!!!!
I knew there was something that either I was missing, or something I didn't know. I briefly wondered if Li knew anything. They must have told him something when he was hired. That was something I would need to ask him.
This wasn't good. Angie was too distracting. His job was security. His focus should be on their environment.
On every movement in his peripheral vision . Every disturbance in the tall grass around them. Every shadow that didn't stay in its place. It should be on all the ambiant sounds, listening for any changes. Picking up anything that wasn't natural to the area.
It should not be on monitoring her every breath; listening for her heartbeat, or on the twitch at the corner of her mouth.
He definitely should not be focusing on that twitch.
"What are you doing?" He finally asked after she had been silent, with her eyes closed, for a solid 15 min.
"I'm creating a murder board in my mind." She surprised him by saying honestly.
"When I get it more unscrambled, I will be able to put it down in a way that's orderly, logical, and hopefully understandable." She frowned.
"I just hope it leads to whoever is behind all this so I can get justice."
He did not like how that sounded. Like it was a forgone conclusion that she wouldn't make it out alive.
"You've never been a defeatist. Why start now?" Did she have no faith in him at all?
" Defeatist? Me? Not likely. But I have always been pragmatic. Don't you think the situation calls for that?" And she sent him the most brilliant smile.
He couldn't answer. Not because of her words, but because of that smile. He didn't want to admit how much he had missed it. Missed her.
He needed to return his attention to their surroundings. That is where his focus had to be
And his brain, his brain needed to be thinking on more practical matters.
It needed to be anticipating any unforeseen occurrence. Otherwise, how was he going to prove himself in her eyes. Prove that she didn't have to be so very…. pragmatic.