Justice For The Billionaire's Daughter

HUNTED

OLIVIA

I don't need anymore to tell me that I am in danger. I also don't need to wait and find out who these people are. Quickly but silently I close the trunk of my car and stealthily go back to the driver's seat. Then I press the button on the remote control and the door to the outside rolls up as I start the car, then step on the accelerator.

The machine jumps into action, and I aim it towards the exit but just then the headlights capture a man who has just stood in the middle of the door. His hands are holding what can only be a gun. He's trying to stop me but there's no way I'm going to sit back here and face certain death. I sway the car to one side just as a shot dims one of the headlights, and as he aims to shoot again the car is at the door. I'm not worried of gunshots, my car is bulletproof.

With a bout of fury I aim the car at him, hitting him at the knees. The force hauls him up and he lands on the hood of the now speeding car. He rolls and falls as I drive towards the gate to the compound. I can hear him screaming in pain as others shout instructions. If they get me I'll be dead meat.

Fortunately the gate is open, just the way the police car and the fire engine left it. Behind me I can see a flurry of activity but I'm too busy navigating the speeding car to concentrate on anything else.

I go through the gate at very high speed, you gotta love this machine, it has the ability of accelerating from zero to one hundred kilometers per second in only six seconds. The road is deserted at this hour of the night and I take full advantage of this and hit the accelerator. I remember the last words of a dying man. The men looking for me, led by one Michael, are too dangerous and that I should run. “Run Olivia, run." The warning keeps repeating itself inside my subconscious.

The dirt road from our property goes through a deserted forest, before it joins the major highway that leads to the city a few kilometers away. I hope that Michael is not pursuing me, or if he is then he is not fast enough to catch up. For that reason I keep the car at top speeds of more than one hundred and forty kilometers per hour. Just as I round the last bend bend so that I hit the final stretch to the highway, I notice that there's a car behind me, but some distance away. The determination these men have knows no barrier, but I swear that they won't get me.

“Oh my goodness, please don't let these people get me when I am almost done running away from them.." I say a silent prayer as my car hits a bump which sends it flying. I must have concentrated on the accelerator and forgotten about this bump, which was put in place by my father to warn drivers about the perilous road ahead. One mistake and a speeding car will easily go off the road and head towards a deep ravine.

Luckily, my car grips the road again and I speed happily towards the highway. Once I get there I am certain my pursuers won't differentiate my car from the many vehicles traveling in all directions.

I glance back just in time to see a major spectacle. The car behind me has hit the same bump and missed the road, and now the headlights can be seen going down the steep slope, plowing through the shrubs as it heads into the deep ravine. I stop my car and step out.

The speeding car rolls several times before it reaches the bottom of the ravine, then it bursts into flames, illuminating the area around it. I can now take a breath, as I look with satisfaction what has happened to my enemies. I just hope that their boss Michael has perished in the fire, just the way my father did. But then that would mean that I'll never know why they did what they did. I want Michael alive for his day of reckoning.

I switch off my car's headlights and relax by the roadside, watching the burning car in the deep ravine. Then the questions come back to me.

Who are these people? Why do they want me dead? Why did they kill my father? Are they after his money or his company? I keep on wondering but I can't find a good answer to any of the questions. In their conversation they said about some files they had taken away from my father before killing him. Which files were those?

The fire in the ravine subsides then slowly goes off. Alfonso, my father's faithful bodyguard, what happened to him? I ask myself. And these men, where were they hiding when the police were in the compound? Why didn't the security guards see them? Is this an inside job? Was my father betrayed by the people he entrusted his security with? This looks highly probable and by escaping I may be playing into the hands of the perpetrators of these crime. They may want to see me gone so that they may grab our property.

Maybe I should drive back to our house and see what I can find out, I decide, but just as I am about to get in the car I notice two other cars approaching, from the direction of our property. This road leads to our property only, and there are no prizes for guessing who these vehicles belong to.

Just how many adversaries do I have?

I get back into my car and drive away, hitting the highway after only three minutes, then I drive towards the city. I need to get away. This city is no longer safe for me and I am only alive because I am lucky. My father and sister, and maybe Alfonso, weren't as lucky and they are now dead.

The highway is busy even at this hour and my car mingles with many others and I am now certain that my pursuers will have a hard time pinpointing me especially in this night.

I debate between going to a hotel in the city or going to my mother's house, but then I remember that she has a new lover and I quickly dismiss that thought. I don't want to spoil her happiness with these bad news. I wonder whether she really cares for our father anyway, or us for that matter.

I decide to find an hotel, get a room and sleep away the rest of the night. In the morning I'll decide what to do.

The Marble hotel is situated deep in the city center, just a little distance from Forrester incorporated. The staff there know me because this is the same hotel where we hold our conferences and where our guests live when they visit us. Our guests have rated their rooms as the best they have ever seen, and now it is my time to find out.

I drive my car to the basement parking and disembark, then using the lift I go to the reception. I am very lucky because I had left my credit cards in my bag, now in my shoulder.

It's three o'clock when I finally get to my room. I quickly get into the shower after plugging my phone into the charger. My bag has everything I need especially this phone charger. The phone has multiple missed calls, but I ignore them even without bothering to find out who they are. I need this shower more than anything else. Water always has a very great cooling effect on my nerves and this bath tub is no different. I close my eyes and feel my body cooling down and relaxing. Only when I realize that I am dozing do I get out of the water and dry myself.

Minutes later I sit on the bed ready to sleep but my phone starts ringing again. It's an unknown number and when I pick up it's a man speaking.

“Hallo Olivia, where are you?" He asks in a husky voice.

“Who am I talking to?" I ask.

“Someone who wants to protect you from the bad men after you." He answers.

“Protect me from what?" I ask, now getting more worried. He sounds creepy.

“Listen Olivia, you need to tell me where you are so that I can organize for your security or evacuation. Bad men are looking for you and if they get you before I do, you will die. Just tell me where you are." He says. I quickly hang up after realizing my mistake, and maybe it's too late, I may be in hot soup already.

The moment I picked up his call I may have advertised my location to him and right now they may be using the signal to pinpoint the location, but I take solace in the fact that I wasn't on air for long. I don't buy his narrative that he is a good man. He calls again and this time I pick up, aware of his intentions and ready to throw him off the rails.

“I need to protect you Olivia. Just tell me where you are. Please." He pleads.

“I am at the Marble hotel, room number 240." I say. Quickly he hangs up and I rise from the bed, my phone in my hands. I put on some fresh clothes then untuck the beddings, coiling the duvet to look like a sleeping human. Then I cover it with bedsheets before leaving the room and going back to the reception to book another room.

With my belongings I move to the other room just down the hallway from room number 240, then wait for the obvious. Something tells me that I won't wait for long.

At 3:45 am the obvious happens.

I hear men talking outside in the hallway and suddenly a mighty blow shatters the door to my former room. Then I hear gunshots, several of them, some loud, others muffled.

“Let's go. It's a trap. The b***h lied." A man shouts. I can remember the voice, the same voice in the forest, telling me that I can run but I can not hide. Michael.

Footsteps stampede on the stairs as they run downwards, escaping from what they think was a trap I laid down for them. Other guests have now woken up and they are milling around the hallway and I think it's safe to join them.

The door to my former room is ajar, having been broken at the lock. The lights are on in the room and the floor is full of spent cartridges. The duvet on the bed has several patches where the bullets went in. Well, that could be me. I could be the body in the bed, riddled with bullets, dead, just like my father and sister.

The group at the hallway has grown big, and they are talking about the increased insecurity in the city when I slip away into the other room and grab my bag. I walk to the lifts and moments later I am in the basement parking again, just an hour after I arrived. My cars hood is still warm to indicate the little time that has elapsed.

I have now made up my mind. I am going away from this city. I am going to leave all our family's wealth behind and seek another life. I know exactly where I am going and I ain't looking back. A time will come when I will return to find out the truth behind all that has happened.

My father has a very close friend who lives in a faraway city. He has always told us that should we face trouble then we can approach that friend of his. I have been to his home severally and I am always treated like a daughter. I'll go to the airport, abandon my car and fly away to that distant city. Something tells me that once I am out of sight of my enemies they'll stop pursuing me.

The road to the airport is clear in these wee hours of the morning and by 4:30 am I have already booked a flight. The plane will leave some minutes past noon and I was just lucky to find a seat. I brush away all the questions about the latest events and look forward to the life in front of me. I relax at the departure lounge and doze off.

Maybe, just maybe, I'll call mum, my only living relative, and tell her where I am, but that will happen once I settle.