They were getting ready to move again, for Goldstone this time. He made sure everything was accounted for and left nothing behind.
Ariana was taking a shower. The TV was on.
“This just in, Armand Lombadro was rushed to the hospital this morning by his attorney. He was said to have fallen unconscious in the middle of a meeting this morning and was taken immediately for further examination. His attorney gave a statement that Armand had undergone a lot of stress and pressure following the tragedy on his wedding day, his wife is currently still missing and business is running as usual. The 28 year old tycoon regained consciousness soon after his arrival in the hospital but is now under doctors surveillance before he can be discharged to go home.”
The breaking news was brief and showed footage of the front of the hospital where he was taken and then the shot was back to the news anchor who looked sympathetic and even made a comment, “A lot of pressure indeed … let’s hope everything will turn out alright. In the meantime, the police are still actively investigating the case, we are keeping you updated on this news, stay tune with Lancaster news for the coverage of the Lombardo/Montenero wedding massacre, we’ll be right back.”
Diego turned off the TV. News channels are making the case into news entertainment with catchy taglines. Every little piece of information they could find was being put on air to keep the rating up, misleading public opinion as to what is really going on. Armand Lombardo is now portrayed as this poor little rich boy who had gone through a terrible tragedy and people would only look the other way to find the real culprit.
The news was generating a lot of money for the TV stations, they might even send their own investigative journalists to do detective work just to be the first to shed a light on the case, whether the lead is valid or not. They have to move fast, more people are going to be on their tail soon.
Goldstone was five hours away from where they were, at least according to Diego. Ariana had no idea where she was. The roads look pretty much the same after a while. She laid on the backseat and wandered in her thoughts, played with her long hair. After Goldstone, she will be completely alone. In a weird way, Diego had been her friend for the past 9 days, the only friend she had left.
“I need to pee,” she said.
They were three hours into their trip, finding a place to stop to stretch would be good.
“There’s a gas station up ahead, we’ll stop there.”
They needed to fill up the tank too.
“I think I’m going to buy hair-dye, do you need anything from the store?” she said as she got out of the car.
“No … I’ll get something after I fill up the tank,” Diego was leaning on the car facing the store.
She went in and looked around for women’s hair-dye, it was easy to get carried away and started putting things into the basket. Mascara, eyeliner, hair brush, wet tissue, dental floss, anything she could get her hands on that was essential to her. She was too invested in looking at the stuff on the shelves, she didn’t notice the two men at the other aisle who were looking at her.
When she realized her basket was full, she walked over to the cashier. The two men followed. They were looking at the magazines and the sunglasses display but kept glancing at her, that’s when she realized she was being watched. She pretended to not notice and focused on the stuff she was buying.
Diego came in to pay for his gas and immediately spotted the two men. He walked past them and made eye contact with Ari.
“Do you have a restroom I can use?” Ari asked the cashier.
“Yeah, it’s around the back, you have to go out the door and turn right, take another right … it’s in the back of the building, you can’t miss the sign,” he said.
She nodded, “Thanks.”
“That’ll be $130,” he put all her shopping in a paper bag.
She paid with two hundred dollar bills from the stack she had in her sling bag. One of the men was peeking into it while she did it. She gave him a sharp look.
“Can I leave this here while I go …”
“Yeah, sure,” he knew what she meant.
She walked out of the store to go to the bathroom, the two men followed.
Diego knew it was going to be a problem, he calmly approached the cashier and paid for his gas. “I’ll take this to the car,” he said about the stuff Ari had paid for.
“Are you with the girl?”
“Yeah … can you make it quick?” he fidgeted on his feet, his eyes were wandering outside of the store to look for the two men.
He quickly put the stuff in the car and slipped his gun at the back of his pants. He ran to the bathroom. The two men were standing in front of the women’s toilet, they were waiting for her to come out. He hid behind a wall to see what they would do next, he wasn’t convinced they were Armand’s men, they didn’t look the part and they would’ve snatched her right out of the store if they were sent by Armand.
“Hey lady … are you here alone?” one of the men greeted her.
Her heart was throbbing, she had a bad feeling about them since she noticed them at the store. She didn’t answer.
“You look kind of familiar,” the other one said.
Shit. She thought. They recognized her.
“You must have mistaken me for someone else,” she hurried to wash her hands and walked between them.
They stopped her.
“You’re not from around here, we would know … you’re just passing by?”
“It’s a gas station, yeah … I was just passing by, excuse me …” she pushed them.
“Hey … hey … what’s the hurry … you got something in your bag?”
She glared at him, “What?” she yanked her arm from his grip, “Are you trying to mug me?”
The other man looked closely at her face, “You’re that girl on TV … I knew you looked familiar … they said you’ve been kidnapped.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, obviously I’m not kidnapped … so … back off or I’ll scream,” she started to wonder where Diego was.
“You’re right … it’s her …” he grabbed her arm again, “There’s a hefty reward for your return, I think you better come with us ma’am.”
“Oh man … it is you … isn’t there a $10 million reward for your return?” the other man was shouting in excitement.
“Twenty,” his friend said and held on to her a little tighter.
She was losing her composure, she didn’t know what to do, she stomped on the guy’s foot, pushed him and ran towards the car.
They ran after her.
Diego got out of his hiding and tackled one guy until he fell on his face, he grabbed the other one by the neck and pointed the gun to his head from behind.
The man raised his hands, “Don’t shoot, please.” He tried to turn but the gun was pressed against his head.
“You will do as I say or I’ll blow your head off,” he said, he stepped on the other guy who was down on the ground so he couldn’t turn to see his face.
“When I let go … you will turn around and cover your ugly face with your hands, and you,” he kicked the other guy, “You stay down and don’t look or I will shoot you … do you understand?”
The guy nodded, the one on the ground was coughing from the hard fall.
He slowly let the man go, and walked backward towards the car. The two men did as he told them to. After a few steps, they tried to peek, he shot the ground next to them.
“Hey … hey … take it easy, man.”
“One more try, it’ll be your head.”
“Okay … okay …”
He ran to the car where Ari was already waiting. He stepped on the gas before the two men managed to look at their license plate.
“Fuck,” he muttered lightly.
He was spotted. Whether those two men saw him or not, it was the risk he had to take. He couldn’t shoot them and leave dead bodies on their trail.
“They recognized me,” Ari was hyperventilating from the encounter.
Just what he was afraid of, her face was broadcast all day everyday, the reward was announced over and over on the TV, it will be hard to get out of the country unnoticed.
“We have to change cars … they will report this car, they’ll know you’re not really kidnapped, it’s a whole different ball game now.”