Committed Chapter 14

The hair had fallen back into Ariadne’s face.  She took in quick breath and locked her eyes ahead of her.  She risked taking one of her hands off the steering wheel to shove the rogue strands of hair behind her ear.

            “Hold on,” she warned Paris.

            Paris tightened his grip on the door’s handle and braces himself against the dashboard with his other hand.

            “Would it help the situation if I told you that you are super-hot right now?”

            “Shut up Paris,” Ariadne replied.  But, against all odds, a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.  It did make the situation a little better.

            The street Ariadne was aiming for was up ahead on her right.  There was one other street between her and it.  She pushed the speedometer almost to 80 km/h and glanced at her rear-view mirror.  The police cruiser was too close.  They passed the first street on the right.

            “There’s going to be a bump.”

            “Like a bump-bump or a crash-bump?”

            “The latter.”

            Paris cursed under his breath.  “Oh, this is going to hurt.”

            Time was running out.  The police cruiser was still too close.  Making a split second decision, Ariadne flicked on her turn signal.

            The reaction was almost instantaneous.  The police cruiser slowed, dropping back a couple meters.  It was enough.  It would have to be.

            Ariadne started to take the turn, checking her rear-view mirror for the split second when the police cruiser committed, then she yanked the wheel back.

            As the wheels spun in the opposite direction and they started to come out of the turn Ariadne grabbed the emergency brake and jacked it up.  Tires began to scream as the SUV whipped around, the back and spinning around.  The police cruiser tried to compensate and failed, streaking past the back of the SUV and narrowly avoiding a collision.  There was a bark of tires on cement over the now combined sound of squealing tires as the cruiser rode up over the curb.

            Feeling her muscles strained against the momentum of the vehicle, Ariadne dropped the emergency brake back down and stomped on the accelerator.  The change in momentum snapped her to the side, her neck aching from the sudden movement, but she ignored the pain.

            Backtracking to the first street they’d passed, she turned left onto that street and gunned it down the road.  Ahead was a major street which would take them in to the city, far away from these smaller residential streets that would ultimately suffocate them in a prolonged chase.

            “I don’t see them,” Paris said, turning to look behind them.  “Can I start howling with pain now?”

            “Sorry,” Ariadne apologized.  “How’s your arm?”

            “It feels like someone jammed a white-hot poker into the wound, but I’ll live,” Paris assured her.  “Nice moves.”

            “Thanks.”
            “Where did you learn to do that?  Summer School for the Fast and the Furious?”

            “Driver’s Ed,” Ariadne replied.

            “You had a way better instructor than I did.”

            They turned onto the major street, pulling in behind a taxi making its way downtown.  Ariadne loosened her grip on the steering wheel and forced herself to bring their speed down to something that would draw less attention.  Ariadne glanced over her shoulder and pulled over to the right lane.

            “We need to ditch the SUV,” Ariadne said.

            “Good call, they definitely won’t forget that.”

            “If they’re sticking with the story that you kidnapped me then they’ll be putting out an APB for this vehicle and for us.”

            “Okay, you definitely didn’t learn that at Driver’s Ed.”

            “No, just from watching TV,” Ariadne assured him.  Ahead, there was an off ramp to a different subdivision, one closer to the city.  Ariadne pulled the SUV off the main road and turned onto the first street they came across.  Parking the car at the side of the road she climbed out and chucked the car keys as hard as she could towards the nearest house.  The keys dropped into a cluster of bushes beneath the front house window.

            “Um, okay, that works,” Paris said as he climbed out as well.

            “The SUV was my mom’s car,” Ariadne offered as way of explanation.  “We’re calling a taxi.”

            “Where are we going then?” Paris asked.

            “I don’t know.  If we’re taking turns I guess it’s your call to make this time.”

            “Okay, how about the library then.”

            “The library?”

            “Yeah.  Right now Janus has the entire advantage.  He knows all about us.  Maybe it’s time we learned a little bit more about who we’re dealing with.”

            “I’m willing to accept anything right about now.”  Ariadne pulled out her phone and checked in her contacts.  She had read the taxi-cab phone number off the side of the cab they’d pulled in behind earlier.  Recalling it from memory, she dialled and quickly requested a taxi pick up.  She gave them the house number of the house she’d thrown her keys at and hung up.

            “They said it’d probably be five minutes.”

            “Okay,” Paris said, dropping down to sit on the ground in front of the SUV.  “Can we maybe take a nap until it gets here?”

            In response, Ariadne dropped down next to Paris and leaned back against the hood of the SUV.

            After a brief period of silence, Ariadne said: “I’m sorry my mother drugged your coffee.”

            “Trust me, that was not exactly how I imagined meeting your parents for the first time.  But it’s certainly going to be an interesting memory.”

            “What a terrible impression that must have given.”

            “Nah, you should see my parents.”

            They lapsed into silence again.

            “My Mom was going to give me over to Janus,” Ariadne whispered.

            Paris didn’t reply.  A beat passed and then he reached out to wrap his injured arm around her and pull her closer.  For a moment, Ariadne felt as though the warmth of his body beside her was the only thing that was keeping her from losing it.

Janus stood over Crete Helen’s body, waiting.  When his cellphone rang he removed it from his pocket and listened with displeasure.

            “She got away from you?”

            “Yeah, that bitch can drive a car.”

            “Do not call her a bitch.”

            “But you-“

            “I do not pay you to insult her.  However I choose to address her should not be considered a free ticket for you to demonstrate the same disrespect.  The two of you need to get back here.  Now.”

            “Yeah, yeah,” Officer Seth sighed before hanging up.

            Janus slipped his cell phone back into his jacket pocket and continued to stare down at Crete Helen.  He had not touched her yet.  He was waiting.  Any moment now.  He wanted her to see him standing over her when she first awoke.

            It took her another two minutes to stir, absently brushing the plant off of her face and causing the dirt still clinging to her frame to shift and collapse to the floor.

            She did not open her eyes, however, and Janus felt the familiar rage bubbling at the back of his throat.  At last, he could stand it no longer, and he kicked her, softer than he would have liked, in the side.

            She yelped and sat bolt upright.  She spotted him and turned herself around on all fours in a crab-walk and backed away from him to press herself against the wall.

            “Mr. Menelaus,” Crete breathed, her bottom lip quivering slightly.  “Sir, I am so sorry.”

            Janus smiled.  He thought about how odd this might appear to an outside observer.  A fully grown woman cowering on the ground before a seventeen-year-old boy.  Addressing him as sir.  It was good to see that this woman at least understood to give respect where respect was due.

            It was not really enough to dissuade him from his intentions.

            “You couldn’t keep your own daughter here?  You allowed her to escape from me again?”

            “Sir, I am so sorry.  I understand how important it is that you have her.  I tried my best.  I even drugged Paris and-“

            “So, you are telling me that you weren’t able to restrain your daughter, even with Paris drugged on the floor, and allowed her to overpower her?  You certain do set a new standard for the weakness of your sex, Crete.”

            “Sir, I can get her back.”

            “How do you presume to achieve that?  Your daughter was willing to strike you over the head with a vase in order to escape.  You obviously pushed her beyond her willingness to adhere to your authority.  What do you propose to do that could possibly get her to return to you?”

            Crete’s mouth opened and closed slowly, but no sound came out.  Janus grinned.  He loved the thrill of seeing that fear in her eyes.  A tear was budding in the corner of one of them.

            Janus moved swiftly.  He surged forward like a force of nature, swelling up against Crete’s body.  His right hand had already dove into his sports-jacket for his shoulder holster and pulled out the suppressed pistol, jamming the barrel into Crete’s cheek.

            “Oh, Crete, what have you done?”

            Crete was sobbing, tears rolling down her cheeks now.  One droplet curved onto the barrel of the pistol and sat frozen, as if waiting for what would come next.

            “Please, please,” Crete begged.

            “Do you understand how much it pains me to be away from her?” Janus asked, pressing his chest with his free hand.  “She is my very soul.  I hunger for her like a famished town hungers for the crop giving rain.  Every second I am away from her is like I am being devoured from within by this cruel love.  I spent too long without the knowledge of her and now that I have remembered I will not be kept from her.”

            “Please…”

            “She is even more beautiful and perfect every time I see her,” Janus continued, finding the need to confess to Crete more powerful than he had expected.  There were so few people who truly understood his predicament.  “I hate to use threats with her but she is not in her right mind.  She has been poisoned by this time against me.  But once she has her ring she will return to the woman I have known.  She will come back to me, as she always does, if I just keep up the chase.  She cannot run from me forever.”

            Janus lowered the silencer slightly, considering a new thought.  “Maybe she does desire me, she just wants to see how far I will chase her.  Will I follow her despite everything and still show her the same love and mercy that she has known from me before?  She will be punished, she know she will, for her actions.  But maybe she wants to see the lover before she can face that punishment.  It has been a while.  She needs to remember that I love her even when I raise my hand against her.”

            “I can help you…to make her understand…”

            “No, Crete,” Janus shook his head, slowly pressing the barrel of the pistol against her cheek again.  “Because of you, I suffer without her for longer.  You would have been rewarded if you could have brought this pain of longing to an end.”

            “Please…”

            “No.”

            Janus pulled the trigger.  The wall had caught the bullet, so it would be easy to remove it from the scene.

            When Officer Seth arrived back at the house and saw the remains of Crete Helen’s body he starred slack jawed at Janus, who was standing casually over her.  Antenor arrived a moment later and barely glanced at her corpse.  Janus’ gaze was directed out of the window and his hands were cupped behind his back.

            “I will have fifty-thousand dollars transferred into each of your accounts.  I believe that will be sufficient to keep this matter silent.  This is, of course, an additional payment on top of the original payment for your services.”

            Antenor was the first to speak.  “Of course, sir.”

            “Good,” Janus nodded.  He pulled out his cell phone and hit a speed-dial number.  “Hello.  Were you able to reach him?  Is he on the plane?  ETA?  Excellent.”

            Janus pocketed his phone and felt a moment of satisfaction.

            “What was that, sir?” Seth asked.

            “I do not appreciate curiosity,” Janus informed him.  “But you’ve caught me in a pleasant mood.  Not that I don’t appreciate your continued services to me, gentlemen, but I have sought outside help.”

            “Outside help?” Antenor asked, crossing his arms.

            “A bounty hunter, Officer Antenor,” Janus replied.  “We’re going to put a price on Paris’ head.  He is a wanted man.  He has, after all, kidnapped Ariadne Helen against her will.”

            “Of course, sir,” Antenor grinned, understanding perfectly.  He was already heading back to the police cruiser to use the radio.  “Come on, Ed.”

            “In a minute Han,” Officer Seth replied.

            Antenor shrugged and left the room.

            Janus adjusted his sports jacket.  Ariadne would not keep away from him forever.  He would show her the lengths to which his love would drive him.

            He did not even notice Officer Edmond Seth continuing to stare at Crete Helen’s body.