This is a continuing adaptation of Judith McNaught's novel, Perfect.

Trust Me

Chapter 3

Jax closed his eyes for a moment and then reopened them.  Nope, the stars were still there.  He jumped down from the edge of the dumpster where he’d been perched and turned to face his finder.  Knowing he would find either a police officer or the warden himself, his head hung slightly lower in an effort to stall what was to come.

“Hey, mister, did you lose something?” the voice asked him, curiously.  “Do you need help looking?”

Dazed, Jax looked up to see the sixteen-year-old boy standing in front of him.  The kid was wearing a brown apron and looked like he possibly worked for the grocery store.  The boy was approaching, looking very curious now.  Jax shook his head and forced words out of his mouth, “No, I think I got it,” he lied.  He was really hoping the kid wasn’t going to ask what ‘it’ was that he was looking for.  He kept his head low, so the boy would have a harder time describing him if it came to it.

The boy nodded and stopped his approach.  “Okay, good.  I just saw you out here and wondered if I could help,” he explained.

Jax smiled politely.  “I appreciate the offer, but I’m good.  Thanks, though.”

“No problem.”  The kid turned and walked back into the store.  The back door shut firmly behind him.

The door closed, Jax had to brace himself against the dumpster to prevent his legs from giving out on him.  He leaned on it for several long moments.  He’d been absolutely certain that he’d just been caught.  The tremors of terror were still running through him.

Once he’d finally caught his breath, he realized he was starting to get behind in his schedule.  It had taken longer to find the bag than he had expected.  He checked his watch.  He had about forty-five minutes before Roy was probably going to get the warden back to the car.  Half a mile up the road, there was a truck stop on the edge of town.  In theory, there was a car waiting there for him.  The keys in his pocket were supposed to go to that car.

Looping the duffle bag over his shoulder, he took off at a quick pace from the alley.  He kept his head low and the black cap pulled down on his head.  To any other passerby, he wouldn’t look out of place.  No one would even give him a second glance.  He hoped.

Fifteen minutes later, the truck stop was in sight and he could see several cars in the parking lot.  The hand in his pocket nervously jingled the keys as he walked.  The other hand kept brushing against the gun in the other pocket and he had to restrain himself from flinching every time he touched it.  There were four cars parked along the front window of the restaurant at the truck stop.  Two trucks were filling at the pumps.  Three other cars sat off to the left side as if they were possibly employee cars meant to be parked out of the way.  He was looking for a dark blue sedan with Pennsylvania plates.

As he got closer to all the cars, he stopped short.  Not one of the cars in the lot matched the description he’d been given.  Swearing under his breath, he walked closer.  One of the trucks pulled away from the diesel pump on the other side of the lot.  Almost as if it had been done intentionally, as the truck left its spot, the blue sedan appeared behind it.  He felt his entire body relax and couldn’t stop a small smile from coming to his lips.

Hurrying to the car, he inserted the key in the lock and rejoiced when the lock popped up.  He threw the bag on the front passenger seat, quickly following it.  Knowing he had very little time left, Jax put the key in the ignition and turned it.  Nothing happened.

“What’d you think?” Lois asked.  “Is it still the same old dive I thought it was?”

Brenda laughed.  “No, it’s actually quite nice.  I think it would be perfect for a venue spot.”  She was sitting in a booth in a local truck stop talking to Lois on her cell phone about the meeting she’d just had with the club owner.  She took a sip of her coffee and glanced outside.  The gray skies were darkening considerably and she knew that was her cue to get going on the road.

“Did you book it, then?”

“Yeah, kind of.  We’ve got a tentative date set for February.  I told him we’d have to see what our other plans are and confirm it for him later this week.  Is that okay?”

“That’s great, Bren!” Lois agreed.  The ringing of the door bell sounded over the phone.  “Bren, listen, I’ve got to go.  Someone’s at the door.  But you be careful driving back, okay?  That snow’s going to start any time now.”

She nodded her head even though she knew Lois couldn’t see her.  “I will, Lo.  I’ll see you in a few hours back at the house.”  She flipped her phone shut and put it in her purse.  Signaling for the waitress, she gathered her belongings.

Five minutes later, Brenda had paid for her coffee and was out the door.  Out of habit, she glanced around the parking lot on her way to her car.  Frowning, she watched as a man in a blue sedan pounded the steering wheel of his car furiously.  Seconds later, the man got out of the car, grabbed a bag from the front seat, and slammed the door.  She smiled, thinking it was kind of amusing.  But when he turned and walked her way, she picked up the pace to her own car.

Rounding the driver’s side, Brenda frowned.  Her front tire was flat.  Opening her car door, she put her purse on the front seat and went back to take a closer look.  Upon inspection, there was a nail in her tire and a slight tear around it.  Grabbing her keys, she opened her back hatch to get the spare tire from under the floor boards.  A few minutes later, she was still struggling to free the tire from its holding. 

“Do you need some help?” a slightly accented voice came from behind her.

She whirled around to find the man she had just been watching behind her.  He was holding a black duffle bag in his right hand and his black cap was pulled low on his forehead.  She could barely see his eyes under it.  “N-no, I’m fine, thanks,” she said, turning quickly back to the tire and hoping he would go away.

Jax sighed under his breath.  After the car’s battery had been dead and he had blown off a bit of steam on the car’s steering wheel, he’d had to think to come up with a new plan.  He needed someone to get him out of here.  Even if it was just to the next town, he needed to be gone in thirty minutes.  Someone was going to come looking for him.  He’d seen the lady in distress and thought if he could help her out, she might feel like she owed him a ride.  It was as good a chance as any.  But when she shied away from him, he tried a new approach.

Lifting his baseball cap higher on his head, he spoke again, “I think I could help you, ma’am, if you’d let me.  It looks like you’ve got a full sized spare tire there, so once it’s changed, you’ll be on your way.”  He kept his tone gentle and friendly, belying every panicking emotion he was feeling.  If he had to, he’d use the gun in his pocket to force her to give him a ride.  He knew that’s what it was there for.

Brenda turned again, brushing her dark brown hair out of her eyes.  The man had somehow turned friendlier, definitely better looking, in the past few seconds.  At the very least, he no longer looked like a stalker.  She smiled, grateful he had persisted.  “Okay, yes, that would be great.  Thank you.”

She stepped to the side and let him take over.  Within seconds, he had the tire and the jack out of the car and in front of the flat tire.  As he started to change the tire, he had to force himself to calm down and think clearly.  If his hands shook too much, she’d think it wasn’t just from the cold wind blowing.  She might get suspicious.  “Where are you headed?” he asked, making polite small talk.

Shivering and rubbing her hands together to warm them, she said, “South, Port Charles.”  Thinking he was being very kind to be doing this in the freezing cold and with no gloves, she made herself talk to him and be polite.  Keeping the conversation going, she told him, “I saw you with your car over there.  Is something wrong?”

He glanced up at her from the tire and smiled slightly.  “I think the battery is dead.”  He turned back to the wheel, tightening the lug nuts to finish up.

When he smiled, Brenda could have sworn she had seen him somewhere before.  He looked very familiar, but she couldn’t place him.  Dismissing it, she replied, “And I take it you have somewhere to go?”

Jax stood up, rubbing his hands together to get the feeling back in them.  He picked up her tire and returned it to the back of her SUV.  Placing the jack in with it, he answered her, “Actually, yes, I do.  In fact, it’s not too far from Port Charles.”  He was lying, of course, but she didn’t know that.  He needed to get going, though, so he needed to speed up the conversation.  “I don’t suppose… No, I can’t ask you that.”  He tried to make it sound like he had no intention of continuing his request.

She shook her head.  “No, go ahead.  Ask me.”

He bent down and picked up his duffle bag from where he had left it.  “Well, it’s just that I’m a little stranded now that my car won’t start.  And I was sort of hoping – “

“You were sort of hoping that I could possibly give you a ride, right?” she finished for him.  She’d had a feeling he would ask her, or not ask her as the case was.

He smiled again, a lopsided grin.  “Well, yeah, actually.”  He kept his voice light, but he was beginning to panic again.  If she said no, his plans would go up in smoke.  He’d be caught in a matter of hours.  They’d throw him back in prison and if he guessed correctly, the warden would take care of him in private.

Brenda thought he looked like a nice enough guy.  He was wearing clean blue jeans, though they hung a little loose on him.  His black leather jacket was impeccable on him and it was very obviously expensive.  The only thing that looked out of place was the hat on his head, but she couldn’t really fault him for that.  She knew she should never give hitchhikers a ride, but this man wasn’t a hitchhiker, exactly.  He’d had no intention of needing a ride until his car hadn’t started.  She was going the same direction.  And he had changed her tire for her.  She convinced herself to trust her thoughts and began to nod.  “Okay, I suppose some company wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

Jax had refrained from letting out a huge sigh of relief, instead, he covered it with a friendly smile.  “Thank you very much, Miss - ?”

“Brenda,” she finished.  She paused for a second, getting the flash of recognition again, and a nagging voice in her head about giving strangers rides.  “Just call me Brenda,” she said, passing over her feelings of doubt again.  He walked over to the passenger door and got in before she could realize she hadn’t gotten his name.

An hour later, they were headed south with Brenda’s CD player playing quietly in the background.  It’d been a quiet ride since it started snowing.  A few minutes out of the parking lot, it had started up.  It was light, at first, but the further they drove, the more it picked up.  Jax thought it was best to keep quiet and let Brenda concentrate on the road.  Besides, he needed time to figure out how he was getting to his safe house now that his plans had changed so drastically.  After all, they were headed in the opposite direction from where he needed to go.

Brenda glanced sideways at her passenger.  She’d been keeping her eyes on the road for the last hour and he hadn’t seemed too forthcoming with information.  He’d kept his eyes directed out his window and didn’t say a word.  He didn’t seem to notice when she looked at him.  Braking, she moved into the other lane to avoid a car stranded on the side of the road.  The snow had disabled several vehicles along their way so far.  She was staying at a steady speed and driving carefully to stay out of danger.

The CD started over again and Brenda reached for the stereo system to shut it off and find a radio station.  Jax’s hand shot out and stopped her.  He needed to make sure she didn’t hear any news bulletins about his escape.  By now, he was sure the news was breaking all over the place.  The last thing he needed was for her to connect the prison escape to him.  He already had a funny feeling about the way she’d been looking at him before.

“What was that for?” Brenda asked.  She took her hand away from his.  He’d caught her in the middle of reaching for the radio.

Jax turned his head to look at her, smiling slightly.  “I just like the silence, if that’s okay with you.”  He punched the button to turn everything off completely.

“Okay, fine,” she agreed, though she didn’t really want to.  Driving in silence made her nervous.  In the snow, especially, she liked to have music to concentrate on instead of the danger on the roads.

A few long minutes passed as they moved steadily along the highway.  Finally, Brenda broke the quiet.  “You know, I don’t even know your name.  I mean, I should have asked a long time ago, but I wanted to get moving so we could beat the snow.  And now, since that’s no longer a possibility, I think I should ask.”

Before he had a chance to answer her, flashing red and blue lights interrupted them from behind.  Jax’s mouth went dry.  His hand clenched on his knee as panic coursed through his body.  He’d been seen.  They’d been caught. 

Brenda slowed down and started to pull off to the right of the highway.  Jax wanted to shout at her and tell her to keep driving.  He could tell her that.  He could force her to do just that.  He did have the gun in his pocket, after all.

As the car came to a stop on the berm, the police car that had been behind him them suddenly sped up and went around them.  “There must be something going on up ahead,” Brenda said as a few more police cars followed shortly behind.

When she didn’t get a response, she glanced over at her passenger.  He was breathing hard and his face was white.  His hands shook on his legs while he stared at them.  He wouldn’t meet her eyes and he didn’t say a word.  “Are you okay?” she asked, concerned.  She reached for him to get his attention, but he flinched away.

Jax swallowed hard.  The lights were back to dancing in front of his eyes, only now that the police cars had passed them by, they weren’t going away.  He felt nausea rolling in his stomach and he closed his eyes to prevent it from rising.  He struggled to catch his breath, but the air in the car was getting to him.  He felt closed in, just like he had in his prison cell for two years.  Opening the door, he ran from the car into the snow on the side of the road.  Once at a safe distance, he bent over and emptied the contents of his stomach.

Brenda watched from her seat through the open car door.  She’d thought he was a having a panic attack of some sort, but this looked like it was more severe than she thought.  He took a few steps back towards the car and then stopped, bending and placing his hands on his knees.  She got out of the car to see if she could help.

Jax braced his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath again.  The cold air was making his head clear, but slowly.  He’d had two encounters like this in the past few hours.  He needed to get to that safe house.  There was really only one way to do it.  He was going to have to force her to drive him there.

He jumped when he felt a hand touch his shoulder.  Standing up quickly, he saw Brenda next to him.  She looked concerned and confused.  He didn’t want to scare her before they got back in the car, or she would never get in.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

Nodding, he took a deep breath.  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.  You’re still pale.”  She took his hand in hers, feeling how cold it was.  “And you’re still shaking.  Do you feel okay?”

Surprised at how warm her hand was on his, he met her deep brown eyes.  The snow was swirling around them and he saw her shiver.  He nodded his head again.  “Yes, I’ll be fine,” he said.  “I think we can go now.”  He followed her back to the car.

Once they were back on the road, Jax took off his cap, ran his fingers through his hair, and replaced it on his head.  He saw Brenda glance at him as he moved.  He still felt shaky and a little bit panicked, but he forced himself to get over it and stay over it.  Brenda’s eyes went back to the road.  He slipped his hand into his right jacket pocket and grasped the gun in his hand.  He gathered his strength.

“Brenda, I really didn’t want to have to do this,” he started.  “But I need you to turn around.”

Startled, she began to turn and look at him, automatically slowing down and taking her foot off the gas pedal.  “What do you mean you need me to turn around?  Did you forget something?”

“No, not quite,” he said quietly.  He had the gun in his right hand, trained on her to make his point very clear.

Brenda’s eyes went downward and grew wide in sudden fear.  “Oh my God!  What the hell are you doing with that?”  She put her foot on the brake, directing the car to the berm again.

“Don’t slow down.  Keep driving.”  He kept his voice calm.  “You don’t understand, Brenda.”

A million thoughts were running through her head.  She didn’t want to make any sudden moves and she knew she wanted to listen to him so he wouldn’t have to actually use that…that thing on her.  She eased her foot back onto the accelerator and turned back to watch the road.

“Good.  Thank you.  Now, see this exit coming up on the right?  Get off on it and turn around.  We’re going the other way.”  Jax suddenly felt like he was in control of the situation.  He’d already pulled his trump card and she was listening to him.  Knowing that, he felt a sense of calm come back over him.  All signs of weakness disappeared.  There was only one goal now and he couldn’t stop until they reached it.

“Who are you?” Brenda asked, her voice filled with fear now.

Jax grimaced inwardly as he noticed there was no longer any tone of friendliness in her voice.  Now, she was afraid of him.  He didn’t answer her question.  He knew she didn’t really want to hear the answer.

Brenda glanced at him again, searching his face for some clue as to his identity.  His aqua blue eyes were cold as they focused on her completely for the first time.  All at once, an image filled her head.  One she’d seen before, about two years earlier.  She’d seen those eyes before.  “Oh dear God,” she breathed as the name came to her and she remembered it all too clearly. 

A loud sound pierced the silence in the car.  They both jumped at it.  Jax saw Brenda’s hand move towards he purse and he connected the sound with a cell phone.  Pulling her purse out from under her hand, he reached inside and withdrew the small phone.  The caller ID proclaimed Lois as the caller.  He hit the Off button and immediately silenced the phone.  Turning the phone over, he took the battery off the phone and slid it into his pocket.

“Hey!” Brenda protested.  He turned to look at her.  She shut up.  It had been an instinctive reaction to his actions.  She didn’t want to anger him.

“Lois called,” he told her.  The sarcasm was apparent in his voice.

“You think that’s funny?” Brenda asked.  He was infuriating her.  He was holding a gun on her, telling her what to do, and now Lois was going to be worried about her, too.  She had no idea what his plans were for her, but she did know he was scaring the living daylights out of her.  She took a deep breath, silently berating herself for giving him a ride, for thinking she owed something to him for changing her tire, for not trusting her instincts.

Brenda slowed the car when they got off on the exit ramp.  Turning left, she re-entered the highway going back the same way they’d been going.  The snow was continuing to pile up and there were more and more stopped cars on the side of the road.

They drove in total silence for over half an hour.  Brenda replayed the recent events over and over again in her head.  It had been stupid of her to volunteer to give him a ride in the first place.  She knew there was always a chance that the person who helped her wasn’t just being a good Samaritan.  But she had an inherent trait in her that made her want to trust her instincts about people.  She had thought he was a good man.  Thinking back on it, she remembered her first thought was to ignore him and change her own tire.  Not having recognized him at first glance and then dismissing the thought, she had let a convicted murderer get into her car.  Glancing at the gun in his lap, she wished she could go back in time now.

Discreetly sliding her gaze up to his face, she studied him for a moment before turning back to the road.  His features were cold.  His jaw was clenched.  He didn’t look particularly angry, but he no longer looked nervous in any way.  A little while ago, when he thought they were being pulled over, she had seen true fear on his face.  He’d been scared.  He certainly wasn’t anymore, but now she knew he did have a weakness in him.  She could use that to her advantage, she thought.

She saw a sign for the town they’d started their journey in coming up on the side of the road.  It was fifteen miles away.  He shifted in his seat and she saw him notice the sign.

“Get off at the next exit,” he commanded.

The first exit to appear was only three miles later.  She did as she was told since the gun was pointed back at her.  Jax looked around at the darkening countryside.  He didn’t know the area, but he knew where they were. 

“Do you have a map?” he asked.

“Oh, don’t even try to tell me you don’t know where we’re going.”  She wanted to take back the comment as soon as she’d said it.  She saw his jaw clench tighter as if he was refraining from saying or doing something.  She didn’t need to provoke him.

“Do you have a map?” he repeated in an even tone.  She reached into the pocket on the door beside her and handed him a map of New York.  He knew he’d scared her again, but now he didn’t even care.  He needed to find a way around the town ahead of them and to the Canadian border.  The safe house was just before the border in the uppermost part of the state.  They were too close to the prison and the origin of his escape right now, though.  There would be police everywhere and they would probably have roadblocks set up, too.

Quickly, he scanned the map.  He located the town and the prison.  Slightly below them, the route they were currently driving on was marked in red.  It was a county road and not a state highway.  They were traveling west on it.  “Stay on this road,” he said, but he didn’t offer any further instructions.

“It’s a country road,” Brenda protested meekly.

“So?”

“So, it hasn’t been plowed yet and the snow is getting worse.”  She wasn’t having any troubles driving just yet, but she was also trying to get him to let her stop the car.  If he did, she would have some chance at getting away from him.

“You have four wheel drive, don’t you?” he replied, knowing she did.

She knew she wasn’t going to win the argument.  Flipping on her headlights, she drove west.  As she drove, she tried to remember all the articles that had been written on him two years ago.  She knew he’d been convicted of murdering his ex-wife who had been cheating on him with a business partner.  She also remembered that the main evidentiary point had been his threat that he would rather see her dead than give her another chance.  Then again, she remembered thinking he wasn’t capable of it and that he had steadfastly denied doing it.  Now, sitting here with a gun aimed at her, it certainly seemed like he was.

An hour later, her gas tank was getting low and she had absolutely no idea where they were.  Her captor had kept the map out and on his lap, but he hadn’t given her a direction yet since they’d exited the main highway.  She saw a sign indicating a gas station a mile ahead.  “We’re running low on gas,” she said quietly.

Jax glanced at her gauge to make sure she was telling the truth.  The needle was pointing at a spot below the quarter-tank line.  They’d been driving for over three hours now.  “Go ahead and stop at the next gas station,” he agreed.

The lights up ahead grew brighter as they got closer.  She slowed the car and pulled into the station.  She could see an attendant in the store to the right, but there were no other cars in the lot.  “Are you going to let me pump the gas or are you going to do it?” she asked.

He had been thinking about just that.  If she decided to run, he’d have to use force and the attendant would see them.  She couldn’t use a credit card because when she was discovered missing, they would trace it to this point.  He couldn’t afford that.  He took a twenty dollar bill from his jeans pocket and motioned for her to get out of the car.  They would both do it, if that’s what it took.  He would just have to accompany her.

They got out of the car and Brenda went to the gas tank to begin filling it.  Jax stood, leaning against his door, as if he was watching her or getting a breath of fresh air as she got the gas.

“What do you think I’m going to do?” Brenda asked boldly.  Her hands shook as she held the gas pump in her hand, filling the tank.  She kept her eyes glued to the dollar meter, watching it go up.  “Do you think I’m going to try to run for it?  Or am I going to tell the attendant as I’m paying for this gas that a mad man has me held captive at gun point?”

“I don’t know, you tell me,” Jax responded, icily.  So, she thought he was a mad man?  He supposed she had a right to think that.  Not too many sane men would hold an innocent woman as a hostage.

“I wouldn’t do that,” she said quietly.

“Brenda, you know as well as I do that I don’t trust you any more than you trust me.  So, pardon me if I don’t take your word for it.”

The gas pump shut off as the tank was full.  She put the handle back and turned to cap her tank.  “I suppose you’re coming with me to pay?”

“You suppose right.”  He took her hand, lacing their fingers as if they were well acquainted.  He had to give the attendant the appearance that they were fine.

The door jingled as they entered the small store.  The young man looked up from his magazine.  Jax kept his eyes averted and his head down, making it look like he couldn’t keep his eyes off his girlfriend.  Brenda handed the twenty over.

“Pretty nasty weather out, isn’t it?” the kid said as he made change for the bill.  “Hope you’re not headed too much further.”

Brenda had jumped when she’d been spoken to, but she collected herself when she felt Jax’s hand tighten on hers so that she would give a response.  She forced a smile and said, “No, not too far at all.”

“Have a safe trip,” he told them as he handed back their change.

Brenda smiled in thanks while they turned and walked back to the car.  Jax finally let go of her hand when they got close to the car.  He watched as she started to walk around to the driver’s side.  She stopped at the back hatch, though.

“Brenda, what are you doing?” he asked, coming around the car.

She had the hatch up and was rifling through her CD collection.  “Just finding something new to listen to,” she responded lightly.  She had an idea, though.

“Whatever,” he replied, walking back to the passenger side and opening the door.

Her right hand continued to make the noise as if she was still looking through her CDs, but her attention and her left hand went to the tire iron that hadn’t been put away properly.  Her fingers went around it, grasping it tightly.  She knew that if she could just catch him off guard long enough, she had a chance of knocking him out.  Grabbing a random CD, she closed the hatch and started towards her door.

When she opened it, Jax was not in the car.  In fact, he wasn’t even standing next to his car door any more.  Curious, she bent over and looked through the passenger window to see if she could see him. 

Suddenly, a hand went around her left wrist as another hand jerked the tire iron out of her hand.  She whirled, her wrist still trapped.

“Bad idea, Brenda,” his eyes were flashing with cold anger.  “Very bad idea.”

 

Chapter 4