Close Your Eyes: Book Three

Chapter Eighteen

The Rav4 is silent as Liam drives on the interstate.

I sit next to him, glancing behind me at the car seat where our son is asleep.

My Mom went to Canada to see a friend of hers from college, and my Dad is in Maine at his brothers house. Mason went to his sisters in New Jersey, and Sofie went to Georgia to see a cousin. Noah took Matthew and went to North Carolina where his friend from college lives, and Aria went back to her Dad's house in Hawaii.

And Liam I are on a thirty hour car ride with a newborn driving halfway across the country to Iowa.

I know Liam is terrified, but he hasn't told me because he doesn't want to freak me out anymore than I already am.

"If that isn't them, what's the plan?" he asks finally. "Where are we going? What are we doing?"

I planned for this a very long time ago, I just didn't expect to have a husband and son when we escaped.

"Before you and I started dating, I was in college with Sofie and I was pretty comfortable with technology. I had a nightmare while you were with Maria that they escaped from prison and took me back. I uh, I was pretty miserable because I was having nightmares every day, so I went online and found an online support group for kidnapped victims and we all became internet friends. I really connected with this girl from Australia and I followed her on Instagram. We mostly communicate through liking each other's photos, but I'm not really consistent on there. Anyways, I told her if her kidnapper ever came back for her, I she could come to where I lived and hide there until it was safe. She told me the same thing. I had thousands saved from the ice cream shop, so I withdrew all of it and hid it in the right taillight."

He looks at me.

"You have two thousand dollars cash in the taillight of this car?"

"Yeah."

"So we're going to withdraw more money and go to Australia," He nods.

I look out the window for a long time as tears fill my eyes.

"No," I whisper. "No, if they're free and they're not dead, you and Theo are going to Australia. I'm going home."

"What?" he looks at me. "Are you crazy?"

"They want me, Buddy," I say softly. "They want to kill me. They're not going to stop until they get what they want. They're going to come after everyone I care about. If they're out there, I'm going to make myself easy to find."

"No. Absolutely not!" he says frantically. "No, Savannah. That's not happening."

"It's not just us anymore, Buddy. We have a little boy, and little boys need their father. I've escaped them before. I know how they think. I can get away again."

"You just said they want to kill you."

"If it comes to that..." I trail off. "If it comes to that, that's how it's supposed to be."

"No. We are going to Australia."

"No Buddy, I'm not going with you guys. I need to protect you guys, even if it kills me."

"No." he says.

"If it were switched, you're telling me you wouldn't do the same thing?" I whisper.

He looks at me, and then he puts on his signal and gets over to the side of the road.

The Rav rolls to a stop.

He turns to me and looks right into my eyes.

"I'm scared," he whispers.

"So am I. If it comes down to it, I need you to promise me you'll let me go. For Theo."