For the rest of the day at the office, Donna didn’t see Keith because he never stepped outside his office. Not like she wanted to see him, it was quite the opposite as she would not want to be put in an awkward position facing Keith after what had almost happened in his office. She had been idle in her office, wishing that the time would fly by quickly so she could rush out of the office, out the building and into her car to go home, but time had passed by so slowly she felt like she had been sitting there for eternity.
Her phone buzzed once it struck seven and she was quick to pack. Normally, she would have had to check in with Keith to ensure that he didn’t need her for anything else before leaving but she didn’t want to do that. She didn’t do that.
She grabbed her bag and shot out of the office, paced uncomfortably in the elevator as it made its way down and dashed out of the building, throwing goodbyes to Laura at the reception as she hurriedly left. She was quick to find her midnight blue colored venza parked in its usual spot; right beside Keith’s and sat quietly in it for a while just catching her breath and clearing her head, she didn’t quite understand why this incident would be such a big deal to her, why she would allow it bother her so, but it did and she prayed earnestly that everything would be as normal by tomorrow.
She eased her car out of the parking lot and into the drive way, the ride from the company to where she lived downtown in Hontari was about twenty minutes drive but she had spend thirty minutes on the road now and was beginning to get paranoid. She wanted to believe she was mistaken but there was a car tailing her, she had noticed it following her about ten minutes after she had left Ortho Speare and had rounded the intersection twice now but the car was still behind her.
It was a midnight black Mercedes Benz, like the ones Keith owned. She knew it could not be Keith, she bit her lower lips and glanced at the car through the rear view mirror, no, it could not be Keith, if he needed her he would have just called. Besides he had no reason to tail her. It had to be someone else.
Her grip on the steering wheel tightened, she knew she could not go home right now, not when this car was following her. She tried to guess who it might be but no one came to her mind, she knew if she was not able to shake the car off her trail then she might just end up driving in circles until the person got tired or until she ran out of gas.
On instinct she checked the fuel gauge, she had a near full tank and she let out a sigh of relief. She took in a deep breath and let it out through her mouth slowly, she remembered the gun Keith had made her carry was still in the glove compartment, she nodded her head once and looked at the car again through the rear view mirror, it maintained a reasonable distance from her but was still too close for comfort .
She stepped on the gas and took a left in the opposite direction she should be going, the wide road branched into a narrower dirt road and she took it, she didn’t consider the fact that there were no street lights here, it had not occurred to her because the lights from the car’s headlight was powerful enough already, she had something in mind and needed to get this person off her tail. And fast.
When she had driven a few miles down the narrow dirt road, she crunched the brakes and the car came to a dusty halt, she rushed out of her car with the gun in her hand when she heard the other car come to a halt just behind hers and she came to a stop by the driver’s side of the other car. She lifted the gun and aimed to the driver’s side window. Her body was tensed
“Get out of the car right now!” she yelled on top of her lungs, she had the gun pointed to the driver’s side window, the safety was off and her finger was hot on the trigger. She had never been grateful for the gun because she had found it totally unnecessary and uncalled for when Keith had insisted on her keeping one, but now she was relieved she had kept it.
“I am not afraid to shoot and I will if you do not step out of the car right now!” She trembled, deep down in her heart, she knew she would not be able to pull the trigger, heck, the gun was not even loaded, she had dumped the bullets in her bottom drawer back home.
The area was quiet and dark, the only lights that lit the place were from her car’s head light and the car which had been tailing her.it was only now she reasoned that driving to this place to face the person behind the wheels of the car had been a worse mistake. So many bad thoughts swam though her head, what if the person had a gun too? What if it was a man who could easily overpower her? What if it was someone who wanted her dead, this was pretty much a perfect spot.
She turned her head to her car, the engine was still running and the car’s door was still ajar, she could dash into it and make a run for it. She considered that strongly but then the door to the car who had been tailing her clicked open and pushed out. Donna squeezed the handle of the gun and swallowed hard, readying herself to face the person.
He had smirked at her from where he sat inside the car, wondering from where she had borrowed this bravery. He had made it all to obvious that he was following her and he knew that she had known, it wasn’t to scare her but he had wanted her to know, but what he had not expected was to see her pull out a gun and a part of him wondered if she could really pull the trigger.
He had shaken his head, he would not want to test that is he was the one standing at the end of the barrel. He pulled the inner handle of the car and pushed the door open, he noticed her hand tremble then and he slowly stepped out of the car, shutting the door.
“Donna.” He called her name.
Donna could not believe her eyes when she looked at him. “Jeremy? You?!”
She lowered the gun but her anger rose. “What the bloody fuck?! what were you trying to achieve? Scare me?!”
“Calm Donna,” He approached her slowly. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to talk to you.”
“Yeah?” she fumed. “And what about? What do you want to talk to me about, Jeremy?!”
He hesitated, “Not here… it is not conducive enough…”
“Yeah. No shit!” she turned away from him in her anger and stormed back to her car. Jeremy was quick to run after her and stop her before she got in.
“Please Donna,” he begged. “Just…” he let out a sigh. “I came by your office today but was told you had gone out.”
She rolled her eyes, “And? Why would you even come look for me? Why do you want to place attention on me, Jeremy? why would the CEO of The Aviary come all the way to Ortho Speare to specifically talk to a secretary?”
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking…”
“You never do.” she pulled open the door to get in but he stood in her way, not allowing her to shut the door. “Move out Jeremy.”
“Can you please give me audience Donna, just a few minutes I promise.”
She sighed and rubbed her forehead with her fingers, she was tired and needed to shower, she needed to get out of here and get home and she most definitely did not want to be here any longer, especially not with Jeremy.
“Tomorrow. At the office.” She said to him, pushed him out of the way and shut the door.
Jeremy smiled and stood aside as he watched her car roll out and drive away from him, he would not need to be following her again, she had agreed to see him tomorrow and that was enough for him right now. He walked to his car, got in and shut the door, turned the wheel and drove out, completely oblivious of the person that had been tailing him.
The person remained in the shadows long after the dust had settled having heard their agreement to meet up tomorrow. There will definitely be a meeting up tomorrow, it just would not be the two of them.