Page 3 of Aaron (Dresden Pride #1)

The first stop they made only switched out cars.

She was given a wig to put on and this time told to sit in the front of the truck.

The man driving didn’t say much, but he did tell her once again to do what she’d been told and she’d be safe.

He also warned her that she’d never get to go back home again if she wanted to stay alive.

“Yes, he’ll kill me if he finds me. He told me that a million times before.

” She believed him, too. Larry was nothing if not a man who liked things to go his way, and that meant her to do what she’d been told to do.

Like dinner was to be on the table and hot for him at six o’clock.

Not a minute before nor after, or there would be hell to pay. Like tonight’s dinner.

It had been one minute before six when he’d come in the door.

Dinner was finished, and she put it on the table for him by six-zero-one.

He’d slapped her so hard that she passed out on the floor, only to be awakened by a bowl of hot water poured on her head.

After that, he took his time telling her what time he’d said and how she’d disobeyed him again.

Also, that he hated hitting her, and it was all her fault.

The mother fucker knew it wasn’t her fault but his own, but she never said a word differently back to him.

That would cause another beating, and she didn’t have the strength to deal with him again tonight.

The second place they stopped, a little after midnight, she was shown to a room and given blankets to use.

The bed was soft and comfortable, but she was too terrified to even close her eyes.

She must have slept some because when she was woken up the next morning for another leg of her freedom, she felt a little better than she did before.

Three more times, they stopped for her to be given a new wig and something else to wear.

She was also given a great deal more money, nearly two grand, to make her way in the new city when she arrived.

Betty didn’t know how long she’d been in the car, but she’d bet that they were miles and miles away from where she’d started.

Hopefully, Larry wouldn’t be able to find her after all this traveling.

“You can’t contact your parents either.” She told the woman at the next house she was staying in that they were both dead. “I don’t want to sound insensitive, but that’s a good thing. No temptations for you to contact them.”

“Yes, you’re right. Do you know how much longer I’m going to be traveling?

I don’t mind, but my bottom is sore from all the sitting.

” She was told that she didn’t know where she was headed, and they liked it that way in case something happened and they were asked.

“Yes, all right. I can see that. You will be careful, won’t you? I don’t want anyone hurt for me.”

“I can tell you that your husband has been arrested and will be in jail for two more days. That’s all I know.

” She thanked her and told her she didn’t want her to get into trouble.

“No worries on that. That’s the reason that the only person who knows where you’re headed is the driver.

They switch out to keep you safe from harm. ”

Having slept better that night, she was ready to go in the morning.

Given a new identity, she was told that she’d have to remember the details of her new life before she was finished traveling.

She promised the woman—no names were ever given—that she’d have it ready to use before the end of the next day.

Hopefully, she was far enough away from her little town that no one would have any idea what she’d been through, nor was going through.

By the end of the third day, she was exhausted.

When the driver pulled up in front of a hospital, she was taken to the emergency room and asked about her injuries.

It had been in her file about herself to say that she’d been in an accident, and she played that well.

After being admitted, another woman came to talk to her.

“You have a house here that you’re renting.

The first four months aren’t going to cost you anything until you’ve got yourself a job.

You’ll need to get one too, as you have to blend into the community that you now live in.

” She asked the name of the place. “You’re in South Carolina, in one of the tourist towns around the beach.

Getting a job should be easy, but you’re to take a week off to get to know yourself by the file and to make sure that you’re healed all the way.

It won’t do for you to show up to work on your first day with a black eye. ”

“I didn’t know that I had one.” She told her that it was fading, so she should be about another week in the hospital before she was able to get out. “They’re keeping me here because of the way I was moved away from my husband?”

“Yes. This hospital, along with many others, is a part of the network that helps people like yourself get out of a bad situation and onto something healthier.” She nodded, not sure what she should say about it.

“It’s all right now. So long as you follow the rules that have been given to you, not telling anyone about the path you’ve been on nor contacting anyone from before, you’ll be as safe as you wish to be. ”

Betty knew that this was costing someone a great deal of money, but she didn’t know what to do about that.

One of the rules that she’d been given was to someday pay it forward if she could and not shy away from someone who might need a night in her home on the way to someplace else.

She would become a part of the network so that she could help others.

It was the least she could do for all that they’d done for her.

For the next seven days, all she did was rest. Taking naps when she wanted had never been anything that she could have done before.

The meals were healthy, and while in the hospital, she was given a cookbook as well as a newspaper daily.

She was to use it to find herself a job, and she wanted that more than anything.

To make her way in this new world that she found herself in.

Excitement for this venture would sometimes hit her throughout the day, and she could barely contain herself.

Freedom had never been anything that she’d ever considered for herself anymore.

The staff treated her well. They never asked questions, but did continue to call her by her new name.

She’d been given a driver’s license when she’d been released, as well as a new address where she was to live.

Whatever she expected from that, a small shack was all she figured she’d get; the beautiful house was a big surprise.

She even had flowers in the front of the porch that had a single rocking chair on the front of it so that she could see the bay from her home.

Betty—or Susan Bash, as she was now to be called thought of herself as one of the luckiest people on earth.

The house was furnished, including food, so she didn’t have to worry about any of that.

The second bedroom was also done up in a way that made her think that it was that way because she was now a part of the network.

She would do whatever they asked of her for being free from Larry, and she’d pay it back as soon as she could in ways of helping out others who might need her.

Going into the kitchen, she wasn’t surprised to find a list of potential jobs that she could apply for, as well as more rules to go by when someone might come to her home with the network.

Those rules were very easy as she wasn’t allowed to say where she was, even if asked, she was to tell the person that she’d find out things on the last part of her journey.

That she was going to be responsible for her own bills, including food, after the four months were up.

There was even a list of the amounts she’d be paying for things like the cable bill and electricity.

She wasn’t afraid to work where she was needed and wouldn’t be late to work or anything forever, either.

Susan was given a chance to do something that few others would have offered her, and she was going to do the best she could from now on.

She was alive and safe, and she was going to stay that way even if she had to do one of the messiest jobs there ever was.

She’d do it with a smile on her face and goodwill in her heart because someone had given her a hand up when she needed it.