ESCAPE

Chapter 3

Rey had to think fast, the smoke was starting to enter the office and the air was becoming unbreathable. There was no sign of the building’s sprinklers system coming on, yet another suspecious occurance Rey would have loved to get answers for.

It was an old building but that did not excuse such negligence. They had probably stopped working a decade ago and someone had been too cheap to get them maintained. This worked in the favor of the person trying to kill them right now.

Rey was certain Mack Michaels was behind this, he was trying to cover his tracks. And right now that meant killing Rey and Daisy in the office together with all the evidence. They had to get out of here and find somewhere to hide while they figured out what to do.

Mack was a man with enough connections and resources to be feared. Rey doubted that it was a coincidence that the companies’ last three accountants had just resigned and vanished off the face of the earth. They had to escape or they would find themselves in a similar fate.

Daisy didn’t faint, but she looked as pale as a ghost and he was sure she was having a panic attack, though she was trying very hard to hide it and appear calm. Rey respected her for that. He did actually like Ms. Daisy Drew. She was always smiling and chatting with everyone around the office every time he saw her. But they had never really spoken before, and right now he wasn’t sure if he could trust her, but since they were in this together he had little choice on the matter.

“Daisy, breath slowly,” he advised.

“Why? You scared I will finish all the oxygen in the room?” she answered breathlessly.

To say that Daisy’s response caught him off hand would be an understatement, seemed the bad situation was bringing out the worst sarcasm out of her.

Ignoring that response, Rey returned to the doors and windows to figure out an escape.

The lobby right outside the office was completely engulfed in flames, the window could be opened but that was a third floor jump, bones would break. Quickly scanning the office again he spotted an old fire extinguisher tacked between the two file cabinets. “Yes!” he shouted with a bit of relief. He reached for it and turned to Daisy. “Stay behind me, I will use this to try clear a way for us out of the building.”

Nodding her head in agreement, Daisy moved to stand behind Rey and waited for him to start moving. Keeping her head down and holding on to the back of his shirt, Daisy blindly followed him through the door and into the burning lobby. She could hear sounds from the extinguisher going off beforen being drowned up by sounds of furniture cracking in the fire.

As they passed her desk, Daisy made a move to grab her bag which she had left on her desk. But to her shock she noticed her handbag missing where she had left it. She momentarily stopped to have a closer look but Rey didn’t take a minute to wait for anything, he kept moving and she had no choice but to follow. they moved together till they reached the door to the emergency stairs.

Once inside, Daisy let go of his shirt and started running down the stairs after him. Rey’s long legs allowed him to take two at a go while Daisy followed, out of breathe behind him, as she tried to keep up.

Upon reaching the ground floor, Rey unceremoniously grabbed Daisy’s arm and guided her out through the side service door instead of the main entrance in the front.

“What the hell?” Daisy exclaimed, trying to pull back her arm but failing miserably. “Where are we going? Let go of me. What’s going on?” she frantically demanded.

Rey tightened his hold and dragged her to his car which he had left at the back of the building on instinct earlier that morning. He unlocked the car and pushed her towards the passenger seat.

“Get in fast before whoever set that fire realizes we are still alive,” he said through his teeth.

That was enough to get her complying without argument. Rushing over to the driver’s side, Rey slipped smoothly into his seat and drove away from the building before any of them even had their seat belts on. Creating as much distance as possible between them and main street where the offices where located was the first priority.

“We should go to the police station and report this,” Daisy demanded, but her demand was met with silence. “Did you hear me? I said drive us to the police station so we can report the attempted murder on our lives so that they can protect us.” When Rey still didn’t respond, Daisy’s composure started to c***k, “God damn it! Say something!”

“Did anyone know you were coming into the office early today?” Ray queried politely.

“No, I mean yeah my next door neighbor saw me leave, but no not really. I wanted to get an early start on the days’ work with the pending reports so I could knock off on time, its Friday.” Daisy said the last past almost like a whisper of despair. She was realizing the day wasn’t going to be like anything she imagined. She could literally watch her happy thoughts disappear in the rearview mirror as the car sped out of the central town.

“I spoke to a police detective this morning,” Rey said with a frown on his face and fell silent again.

Daisy waited, and when no further explanation fell out of Rey’s thinned out lips, she rolled her eyes in exasperation and said, “And? I mean feel free to fill in the blanks here.” The sarcasm was hard to miss.

“Do you have to be so sarcastic and irritating?” Rey responded.

“I don’t know. Do you have to be so cagy and mysterious?” Daisy shot back.

Rey shook his head, he would never admit it, but he enjoyed her fiery tongue.

“I discovered something in some company documents that didn’t sit right with me, so I called the police and spoke to a detective to better understand what should be done. He advised I gather evidence before I made an official report to the police and other relevant authorities, seeing as how the matter was sensitive and needed to be handled with care. I mentioned that I could try and get something this morning before office hours.” Rey paused and took a breath. “I think who ever tried to kill us was informed of my intentions by the detective,” he added.

He turned his head giving her a quick glance to gauge her reaction before turning back to focus on the road. He could see she was trying to piece things together and draw her own conclusions.

“What did you discover that merited a death sentence?” Her voice was shaking as she asked the question.

“I don’t think you can handle anymore bad news for now, why don’t we leave this discussion for later, after we have found a place to lay low and plan.

“Don’t you think you are a better judge of what I can handle or not? Just tell me,” Daisy demanded.

Rey remained silent, it was no use responding and agitating her further, and he had no intentions of sharing the details of what he knew for now. Focusing ahead, he increased the speed of the car and hoped she took the hint and stayed quiet, at least for now.