"Remind me again why we're not following the plan?" Clayton asked, rubbing his head which was beginning to ache.
"Because if we stay here, or anywhere near here, we're screwed," Cynthia Cross replied dryly.
After going over some income figures from the operation, she had called up Clayton and requested a meeting as quickly as possible. As one of the "big-wigs" of the group, and the one who had first introduced Simon to plan itself, Cynthia felt she was entitled to a larger sum of money than had been calculated.
An hour after her early-evening arrival at the farm house, Clayton had change Cynthia's topic of discussion from money to the final step of the operation.
"Screwed how, exactly? Cross, you and I both know leaving the country was not something we wanted to do," Clayton scowled.
Elaina walked towards the office door, two drinks perched atop the tray she was carrying.
With a withering glare, Cynthia spoke,"It's simple. There are a lot of people that know about this pretty little crime scheme of ours. And believe it or not, they're not willing to sacrifice themselves to keep our asses out of jail - especially considering no one's received near the amount of cash they were promised."
Struggling to balance the tray on one hand, while knocking on the door with the other, Elaina carefully placed the tray on the floor.
"And by leaving the country, our chances of being turned in drop," Clayton finished,"But why did you choose Greece for our relocation?"
Elaina's hand froze in mid-air. Greece? Shaking her head, she decided she must have heard wrong.
"It's far from the U.S., but still somewhat close to major European cities. Plus, I've always wanted to go there."
Elaina's eyes grew wide- she hadn't heard wrong. Leaving the tray of drinks on the floor, she turned & dashed into her room. She opened the adjoining door to check on Elizabeth, who was playing contentedly & didn't seem to take notice of her mother. Stepping back into her own room, Elaina pulled a suitcase out from beneath her bed. Opening it up, she began tossing random piles of clothing into it. Her mind was in full gear, thinking of ways to escape.
"So you're turning our escape into a vacation?" Clayton scoffed,"Uprooting Elaina, my daughter, and myself for your own holiday pleasure?"
Leaning forward in her chair, so her elbows were positioned on the edge of Clayton's desk, Cynthia looked the man square in the eyes,"I'm doing this for your own good, so don't give me any mouth. If you want to stay here, fine. But don't call me up from jail asking me to bail you out."
With that final remark, Cynthia Cross stood, turned around sharply, and left the office. The slamming sound made as she closed the door led Clayton to wince. The severity of his headache had increased three-fold from the time that Cynthia mentioned Greece, to the time that she had stormed out of the room.
Clayton opened the top drawer of his desk, and reached blindly to the familiar spot where he kept a bottle of ibueprofen. Shaking the container, he discovered it was empty. With a sigh of frustration, Clayton made his way to the bathroom. After searching through the medicine cabinet twice, and coming up empty-handed, he called for Elaina.
When a few minutes had passed and there was no sign of her, Clayton huffed & stormed into Elaina's room.
"Oh, geeze, Clayton! You scared me!" Elaina exclaimed, whirling around to face him in the doorway.
"Packing, are we?"
"Uh, yes?" Elaina responded timidly, all the while willing the open suitcase to suddenly disappear.
"And why are you packing?"
Elaina's mind entered panic mode. "To be honest, Clayton, I'm planning on getting myself, our daughter, as well as Simon & Taylor the hell away from you tonight. THAT is why I'm packing..."
"I was bringing a tray of drinks to your office and I overheard you and Cynthia talking about Greece-" Elaina sputtered, praying that Clayton wouldn't explode & accuse her of eavesdropping.
"And you thought it would be smart to get a jump on packing?" Clayton filled in.
For a moment, Elaina couldn't tell if Clayton had really believed her excuse, or if he was seconds away from an angry yelling session.
"Smart thinking," Clayton said seriously, with a nod.
With an inward sigh of relief, Elaina plastered on a smile,"I've never been anywhere foreign before. It'll be fun."
"I'm glad you're so enthused," Clayton said, stepping closer to Elaina & smiling as well. Much to Elaina's surprise, he leaned in for what was to be a kiss, when a pounding on the front door stopped things abruptly.
"I'll get it. Don't you go anywhere, sweetheart," Clayton said, rubbing Elaina's arm & winking before leaving the room.
Her heart pounding from the near-kiss, Elaina shook her head,"That's it. That's is so fucking it..."
Zipping up the now-full suitcase on her bed, Elaina grabbed a backpack, stepped into Elizabeth's room, and immediately began tossing random handfuls of clothing into the bag.
Moments later, Elaina heard Clayton calling for her.
With a groan, Elaina picked up Elizabeth & walked into the front entrance, where Clayton now stood with Cynthia Cross.
"You bellowed?" Elaina said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yes, Elaina. It seems Cynthia's car won't start. Seeing as how I don't trust you, nor Rod, to have access to a vehicle, I am going to drive her back to Tulsa in my car," Clayton explained.
"Gee, that's too bad. I hope it's nothing serious," Elaina said dryly, turning her attention to Cynthia before starting to leave.
Grabbing her arm firmly, Clayton pulled Elaina back, "I have sent Simon and Taylor back to their room, and instructed Rod not to leave the doorway. I don't want you getting anywhere close to those boys in private."
"I've been 'close to those boys in private' on a daily basis. Why are you pulling a tough-man move now?" Elaina questioned, shaking her arm free of Clayton's grip.
"I simply don't feel I can trust you anymore. The operation is drawing to a close, and therefore if you had any intentions of attempting an action-movie style escape, you'll likely plan it now," Clayton said bluntly.
"Wow. How very intuitive of you, Clayton. Now shoo! I need to go to work on my top-secret plan in which I climb through a ceiling duct to escape," Elaina said sarcastically, no longer caring if she angered Clayton, "Oh golly, did I spoil it? Oops!"
As Elaina stood, waving cheerfully & instructing Elizabeth to do the same, Clayton and Cynthia stepped out the front door.
Realizing not a minute could be wasted, Elaina darted to the hallway outside of Simon & Taylor's room. Ever the obedient lackey to Clayton, Rod sat in front of the doorway.
"Hey there, Rod. Do you think you could scooch over and let me through?" Elaina asked sweetly, wondering if sheer politeness would be enough to overtake Rod.
"No can do, Elaina. Sorry," Rod said, his tone sincerely apologetic.
"Are you sure?" Elaina asked, biting her lip.
"Yep. Sorry," Rod replied, turning his attention back to the video game magazine he was flipping through.
Damn... Elaina thought. Retreating to the living room with Elizabeth, she frantically contemplated just how she was going to keep herself & her daughter fom being hauled to Greece. To keep Simon from being sent to who knows where. And perhaps most importantly - how to keep Taylor out of jail.
~Chapter 46~ [On Its Way!]
~Chapter 44~
~Chapter Index~
~Home~
