Quiet Servitude Pt. 06a3

Author's Notes

Before reading this story please be aware that that some people would label this work as obscene and pornographic in nature. It contains several themes including transgendered, homosexual and lesbian issues in addition to graphic sexual descriptions.

To make the action flow more freely and the stories light-hearted, I have taken a socially naïve approach and have not included the usual protections that intelligent people would choose such as condoms, birth control and out safeguards against sexually transmitted diseases. Such risky behavior as those exhibited by the characters of this story should not be followed.

If any of these topics make you uncomfortable please look elsewhere.

If this sounds like a story you might find interesting, enjoy.

With the exception of the main character Stacy, after whom I modeled a lot of my own psyche wanting to capture how I would feel in situations developed in the story, all other characters and circumstances are completely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or places is completely coincidental.

NOTE:

Quiet Servitude Pt. 01

Quiet Servitude Pt. 02

Quiet Servitude Pt. 03

Quiet Servitude Pt. 04

Quiet Servitude Pt. 05 \

Quiet Servitude Pt. 06

Quiet Servitude Pt. 06a1
Quiet Servitude Pt. 06a2
Quiet Servitude Pt. 06a3

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Chapter 20 - Friday, October 8th - 11:03 a.m.

The phone continued to ring, the noise echoing through the home. After a minute, the noise stopped and the house returned it quiet state, save for the breathing of the furnace that kicked on every so often to keep it at the perfect temperature for the occupants who would never return again.

"That's strange." Christa said quietly to herself as she dialed another number.

The ringing was different, but the result the same. No one had answered at Debbie's house and she didn't answer her cell phone which never left her side.

Christa set the phone back in the cradle of her hotel room and would call again later after a refreshing dip in the pool, just outside the balcony from where she sat in shade enjoying the hot afternoon. She rose to her feet and was halfway to the door when her own phone began to chime.

"It's about time!" she smiled, knowing that Debbie wasn't about to let a delicious week of torturing her ex-husband go by. She snatched it up wanting to hear all the delicious details of what had transpired since their last call.

"Hey Deb!" she laughed into the phone, knowing Debbie was the only one who knew where they were staying at the moment. There was no reply from the other end of the phone, only silence. She was about to hang up when she heard a weird gurgling sound coming from the other end and a raspy voice began to speak weakly.

"Christa?" the voice croaked as though about to expire. "He shot Glenn . . . he's dead . . . I can't believe he shot me!"

It sounded like Debbie but she couldn't be sure. The only person who had this number was her as she clutched the phone, wondering what to say?

"Who? . . . Who did it Debbie? Who shot you?" she pleaded, knowing in her heart who 'he' had to be.

There was nothing but an uncomfortable silence building on the other end of line.

"Damn it Debbie. Tell me who did it!" she literally screamed into the phone, tears building in her eyes.

And then a familiar voice, cold as rock, came on the line.

"Hello dear." I said. "Time again for our weekly call already? Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?"

Christa's heart seized in her chest, keeping her from taking anything but shallow breathes as she gasped for air and stars began to circle in her head.

"Cat got you tongue? That's understandable I suppose."

"What . . have you done?"

"I killed the bitch. What do you think I did? I couldn't put up with this hell you two were nice enough to create for me and I just thought I'd dish out a little payback so I popped them both. Look absolutely brutal here. Walls look like a God damn Jackson Pollack masterpiece bitch and I'm hoping to redecorate at your place in the near future. Ta ta." I said and hung up.

Christa couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Stacy has this number!" she exclaimed, her extended honeymoon suddenly coming to an end.

Then she heard the lock on the hotel room door click and her heart began to pound as she saw it swing open towards her and a person strut towards inside. Even though her eyes had seen it was Terry, whose real name was Jeff , her brain couldn't make the connection so quickly and he was almost to her when she felt the strength drain from her body, slumping to the bed, the phone still clenched in her white knuckled hand.

"He did it. . . ." she said, staring at her reflection in the black television screen.

"Who did it? Who did what?"

"Stacy. She killed Debbie and her husband!" suddenly springing to her feet, dropping the phone.

"She killed them?"

Christa started darting around the room throwing their belongings in their suitcases.

"Christa! Talk to me. Who was that on the phone?"

"Stacy. It was Stacy. She killed them both! We need to get out of here!"

"This is nuts. Even if she did, she can't get us here."

"She knows the number. She can find the hotel. We need to get home." She said, her face suddenly draining of color. "We'll need to switch apartments too, with no forwarding address. They have our address here when we registered. We'll have to leave there too."

Clothes continued to fly as they packed up without another word and changed before heading down to the lobby where Terry was checking them out. He was contemplating slipping the clerk a hundred dollar bill and try to get the info erased but even if a reservation is cancelled, the info still resided in the hotel's secure system.

"We can't remove the data from the system Sir and I can assure you that no unauthorized personnel have access to it either."

He nodded. They would have to move unless they wanted to keep looking over their shoulders. Maybe it was all a bluff they couldn't take the chance.

While he continued with their departure arrangements, Christa slipped off to the payphones and frantically fed it with all the loose change she could find. Dialing information, because 911 wouldn't work, she was connected with the police station a mile from the Hennessey household. The switchboard picked up the call a few seconds later.

"Hello. Yes. Hello. I need you to send an ambulance to 1266 Lincoln immediately. There's a chance there could be at least two gun shot victims at that house. Please. Just send someone now. Please."

"Ma'am. Please calm down. Let's start with your name."

Christa hesitated, unsure what she should do.

"I can't tell you that but please, can you just send someone."

This time there was a hesitation from the other end of the line.

"I can assure you ma'am that there isn't anyone there. Everything is alright now."

"Please. You don't understand."

"I do ma'am. The tragic murder/suicide that occurred there yesterday was shocking to us all. Most of us new Glenn and his wife and it will take a while to sink in."

"Yesterday?" Christa asked, now thoroughly confused.

"Where are you calling from ma'am?" the police operator asked.

Suddenly aware that the seconds were ticking away and that the police would know her location, she hung up the phone and walked quickly towards the front door where she met up with Terry and the luggage. Christa stopped when she heard the payphone ring behind her. Fearing that someone might answer it and see her, she slipped on her sunglasses and the pair slipped melted quickly into the crowd.

I hung up the receiver of the pay phone at the bus stop and smiled with extreme satisfaction. There was no intention on my part to track anyone down at the moment but knowing the number that Hal had provided prove irresistible. It wasn't much, but if scaring her was enough to keep me going, then it was worth it.

The clock over my shoulder was nearing 11:30 and my next bus was getting ready to leave from it's terminal in Chicago. The Windy City was a large bussing hub and no one would have a clue on whether or not I had back-tracked to the south-east, turned to the south-west or headed for the Great Plains. I climbed on the bus and headed off on the next leg of my journey.

Chapter 21 - Friday, April 1st - 10:45 p.m.

I was uncomfortable in the strange bed but couldn't roll over. I kicked off a reading light on the desk next to me and felt the sleeping pill finally starting to kick in, my breathing becoming more regular and shallow. The tendrils of sleep began to tickle my brain as the worries of the day began to fade away.

"Your nurse friend just came out on break and confirmed that she's inside." Terry said as he stared at the small, brick building from his perch under a nearby tree. From his vantage point, he could see the entrance to the medical facility as only a few employees came and went this late at night.

"She actually went through with it?" Christa asked.

"Clip and snip she said. Stacy, or should I say Amanda Taylor went through surgery this morning and now has an 'innie' instead of an 'outie'."

Terry could almost imagine her nodding as the silence grew on the call.

"What do you want me to do?" he finally asked.

He listened for a few seconds.

"Yup. I'm on it. Call you in a few."

He snapped the phone closed.

I had been asleep but something had brought me around, much to my dismay. The pill had calmed me down but now that I was a awake again, it would have just the opposite affect. I was feeling groggy and confused but fidgety and unable to sleep at the same time. I was determined to get back to dreamland even with the voices of passing nurses roaming the hallway right outside my room. They poked there head in occasionally to check on me but something was different as the door to my room opened silently and someone slipped inside, keeping the room light off. My head swung over in that direction but my gaze was blurred and it was too dark to see anything. I could sense movement coming towards me but no one spoke and the room was still dark.

A chill moved through me even with the heavy blankets lying across my form as my hand drifted the cord they had passed me in case I needed anything. Desperate now to signal for the nurse, I gave up on stealth and began fumbling in earnest for the cord.

My hand wrapped around but before I could tug, I felt a strong pair of hands seize my wrist and hold it in place. Completely drained from the surgery, I couldn't even fight back against the force. I was trying to fill my lungs full of air to attempt a scream when I heard voices right outside my door, shadows from several feet dancing under the crack. It seems that both of us in the room held our breath in anticipation, one hoping that they barged in and one hoping they wouldn't.

Thirty seconds later, the people in the hallway drifted away and we were left alone. I was hoping this was only a nightmare and I'd wake up but it felt so real. Maybe the drugs were causing it.

I tugged again but to no avail as I wondered where this was leading.

My fears, it seems, were completely unfounded when the small light on the nightstand snapped on and I stared up into a beautiful face I hadn't seen in over six months.

"Hal?" I said as he stared and smiled down at me.

"Hello love!" he whispered.

"What's going on? How did you get in here?"

"Let's just say that you and I have a friend who works here, who tipped me off that you were here." He said. "The problem is that your ex and her beau also have a source in here that tipped them off and unfortunately, they've called the cops who will be here any minute."

The lights snapped on and a voice boomed from behind us.

"Four minutes to be exact." The nurse said as she stepped into the room.

"I don't know what they told you Angie, but they were all lies." I slurred.

"Nothing personal." She said. "But they paid well for the tip."

The nurse stepped up closer and smiled smugly at Hal who smiled back.

"Nothing personal either." He said, punching her with a left cross just as she recognized what was coming. She hit the floor like a sack of potatoes.

"We need to get you out of here to some place nice to recover." He said as she dropped me gently in a wheelchair and placed the nurse in the bed in my place. Finding the hallway clear, we turned a hard right and made our way to a back entrance. Hal had bypassed the alarm and we slipped unnoticed into the parking lot and into a waiting sedan with heavy tinted windows. Once I was seated in back and strapped in, he pulled away towards the exit. We had almost made it to the street when we rolled by the front entrance and my eyes focused on a form that was standing in the shadows under a maple tree talking on a mobile form.

Hal didn't seem to notice and continued to stare straight ahead as we made our way to the street as I stared back over my shoulder. I was still in a fog, but if I didn't know better, that was Terry under the tree.

"Was that Terry?" Hal inquired, his eyes watching me in the rear-view mirror.

I nodded.

"We'll have to switch cars again." Hal replied, completely at ease as though he were describing a trip to the gas station.

It was only two cop cars, but they had the lights on and were headed in the opposite direction, passing us in the opposite direction.

"That was too quick." I said, nervous that they would know I was gone that much sooner.

"Better this way. If that was Terry, he could have noticed and called in the plate on this car. If we passed those cops ten minutes from now, they would have stopped us instead of continuing on."

We turned off the main road and onto gravel, traveling for several miles until we reach an industrial complex. As promised, we changed to an unmarked panel van which Hal had loaded up for our comfort and a long haul. He wiped down the other car like a pro and climbed into the driver's seat.

"Ready to go?" he asked, but I was already asleep.

Terry watched as the two squad cars pulled in up front and three of the officers walked inside as the fourth swung around back. Ten minutes later, they were back out front and rolling away empty-handed, much to Terry's amazement. He popped open the cell phone and speed-dialed.

"It's me. They left already. Stacy must have gotten out."

Silence.

"I don't know what happened. She'd be in cuffs by now if she were in there."

Silence.

"Look. I'll find out what I can and call you back. . .Wait. Someone is coming this way. Might be our girl."

The nurse approached and glared at Terry while she rubbed her chin, a bruise already beginning to form.

"Give me the phone." She demanded. Terry complied.

"She's gone. Some guy helped her." The nurse said, relaying the details. "I still expect the cash for the tip."

Terry took the phone back as the nurse turned on a heel and walked back towards the building and out of the chilly, night air.

"Yeah." He said.

"It was Terry. He must have gotten her out before they arrived. A car passed me a few minutes ago but I didn't catch the plate."

"Drive around and look for it." She instructed.

"Don't want me to call in a tip so the cops are looking for it?"

"How are you going to explain why you're doing it? Just drive around and look. Probably a lost cause but the town is only so big. Give it two hours. After that come back here."

He hung up and headed for his car to begin the fruitless search. We were already across the state border and well on our way to our next destination as I continued to sleep comfortably in the back of the van as it gently rocked its way down the road with my knight in shinning armor behind the wheel.

"I'm coming back. Didn't find any sign of them. Cops don't look overly concerned either since they only have one car out according to the scanner and it's doing leisurely turns around the other side of town."

Terry hung up the phone and turned onto the interstate and left the Rockies behind him in the review mirror as he turned towards the lightening sky in the east.

Chapter 22 - Saturday, April 2nd - 9:18 a.m.

I hadn't come fully awake when the truck slowed and left the interstate, but the aroma of food and my empty stomach was enough to draw me from my sleep. Remembering we were technically on the run again from the law I lay quiet until we picked up speed and were safely under way again.

"Bacon egg McCroissantwich or pancakes?" Hal asked, setting the bag on the floor between the seats without pulling his eyes from the road.

"What if I want both?" I asked teasingly.

Hal didn't respond but simply held out his own sandwich, already open and half eaten. My stomach was still doing flip-flops so I decided to go with the stable cakes smothered in maple syrup. When those were gone, I tried for a more comfortable position and started on the greasy sandwich. I hadn't been allowed any fluids since my surgery and drank down the milk and orange juice with gusto. When breakfast was finally completed I bagged it all up and lay back down.

"How did you find me?" I finally asked.

"Only so many places to have surgery like you had and it just took a little bit of cash with the promise of more to find you. Tough part was waiting."

I nodded, staring at the top of the moving vehicle.

"What if I decided to not go through with it? Did you know where I was before scheduling it?"

"No. You did a pretty good job covering your tracks since leaving Detroit. Didn't pop up on the usual radar screens any way. Seems our 'friends' also had a pretty good idea you would end up at one of the surgical centers here in the states as well.

"I was going to compliment you on your methodology but since they figured it out too, I'll just keep that to myself."

"I expected you would cruise through surgery and disappear again into the wood work but alas, Christa and Terry were tipped off too quickly for you to make your escape."

"You were just going to let me disappear again?" I asked, disappointed.

Hal chuckled again as he was often apt to do.

"No. You weren't going to get away from me again. I was going to sweep away anyone following you and then tail you home, wherever you've been keeping yourself lately. Hope it wasn't too nice of a setup."

I smiled at the thought but knew he couldn't see it.

"I can't go back there, can I? This seems to be becoming a habit."

"Only one or two more moves and you can call it quits for a while I think. And the smart answer would be no. My contact informs me that the approval procedures are pretty strict and that the hospital needs to confer with the doctor who approved you for surgery. Since you registered under the identity that I gave you, I can assume that the hospital and the doctor are both aware of your living arrangements?"

I nodded to myself. "I did give the psychologist a bogus address but he found out I wasn't there. Told him I had just moved and had to give him the new address. Not sure if he believed me or not but he kept me on and we worked through it until we were both convinced I truly wanted the surgery."

We rode in silence before I spoke up again. It was strange, but since my escape from Detroit I really didn't have an opportunity to just talk to anyone.

"Guess I won't be going back then?"

"Even if you had managed to leave for home uninterrupted, I would have caught up with you and tried to convince you of the dangers of going back. They had a source in the hospital as well and can only assume they would have been waiting for you there. If I were them, I would have waited for you there. They got sloppy and impatient."

"No loss I can assure you. It was a dump."

"I figured it had to be if you managed to scrimp away enough cash to have surgery. No worries though. We still have cash on hand for our grand escape."