19. Cole

“Wow, Dad, you”re unrecognizable!”

I turned around to see my daughter walking in from the bathroom, all dressed and ready.

“You look different as well, kiddo,” I said, but she shook her head.

“You look way different. You”re wearing a baseball hat. You never wear baseball hats.”

“Well, it”s a new life,” I said. Back at the apartment, my walk-in closet was filled with dress shirts, slacks, ties, loafers, and blazers. But now, I was in a flannel shirt, scuffed boots, and washed jeans — I looked like a hillbilly.

Getting on my haunches I touched my daughter’s hair. She was seven, but it felt as if she was growing up too fast. It seemed only a short time ago that her mother and I were picking out everything she wore. Now she was able to put herself together so immaculately.

I adjusted her pink corduroy jacket, the cute flowery tank top within, and her black jeans.

“We match,” I smiled as I noted her brown boots.

“Yes, we do,” she said, smiling, and my heart swelled.

“I loved her so much it hurt. And this alone was all the confidence and confirmation I needed that I was doing the right thing. I needed to protect her with my life and give her a normal childhood. Eventually, I would deal with every single threat that stood in her way. But first, we had to run from immediate danger.

“Alright, we’ll be leaving soon,” I said as I rose to my feet. “Go check to ensure that you didn’t leave anything.”

“Okay,” she said and skipped off.

The phone rang just then. It was my real estate agent returning my call.

“I”m sorry I missed your call, Mr. Rossi. I was stuck in a meeting.”

“No problem. Just wanted to let you know that you can proceed with the sale. Everything in it is for sale.”

“Oh! That’s great news! Thank you for choosing us. You’ll be glad to know we have many people on our books who would line up for a property like yours.”

“Sure,” I replied. “Sell it as quickly as possible and as discussed payment can only be made in Bitcoin.”

“Yes, I can see that in the notes. That’ll be no problem.”

“Are you moving far away?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s time for a change,” was all I gave in response.

“That’s nice. I wish you the best of luck wherever you”re going,” she said.

“Thank you. You won’t be able to contact me on this number after this, so deal directly with my solicitor.”

“Yes, we have his contact details.”

“I’m ready,” Anya said, and I wrapped up my call and picked up our luggage.

“Let”s go,” I told her. “We’ll get something to eat on the way. You haven’t had lunch yet, have you?”

“No,” she replied.

We hurried out of the building, got into the newly upgraded car, and began our journey together towards our future in Bison Ridge, a tiny town nearly five hours away with a population of less than five thousand people. It was just the perfect place for me and Anya to hide out for a while.

I hated having to uproot her, but needs must.

As I had done all morning, I constantly checked the rearview mirror to ensure we weren’t followed. It was such a huge weight off my chest we finally left the city.

* * *

“Look, Daddy, look, Daddy,” Anya yelled excitedly. “Is that a horse and buggy?”

“Yup.”

“Oh! Wow,” she said, turning her head to stare at the horse and cart. “Are we going to live in a place where everybody rides horses?”

“No, that man is Amish. The Amish don’t believe in using cars or electricity. We’re just going to live in a normal town.”

She was instantly curious about the Amish and their customs, and for the next half an hour I was fielding questions about them. Eventually, she fell asleep and I drove in silence. As we reached the intersection that led to Bison Ridge, I saw the signage for Stormy City and felt a strange tingle run up my spine. Ah, Montana. She was like a delicious cool breeze on a hot day. But she had blown away.

Where are you now?

At first, it had been hard to force myself not to think of her because she came into my head so much, but as the weeks went by it hurt less and less.

She was gone and that was that.

When we arrived at Bison Ridge, I woke Anya up. “We’re in Bison Ridge, honey.”

She came awake instantly and looked around her curiously. “Oh look, there’s an ice cream place, Dad. It’s pretty. We should go.”

“Perhaps tomorrow. We should settle into our new home first.”

We left the main street and drove towards our house. As I turned into the driveway, Anya swung around to face me, her eyes were shining with delight.

“Oh wow, Daddy. You didn’t tell me our new house is called Duck’s Pond.”

“It’s called that, but there are no ducks here.”

She looked disappointed. “No?”

“Sorry.”

The evening sun was slanting onto the house and it looked absolutely stunning. I was too stressed and anxious the previous times I had come and had not realized how lovely it was around here.

“Is that it? Is that our new home?” Anya asked enthusiastically, hanging her head out of the window.

“That’s it. Do you like it?”

“Yeah, I like it. It looks like one of the houses in my Fairytales For Princesses book.”

I stopped the car in front of the house and got out. We stood side by side looking around. It was greenery as far as the eye could see. We had no neighbors within viewing distance and that was exactly how I wanted it. My daughter put her little hands in mine as we stood before the two-story house. I turned to meet her gaze.

”Do you think you can be happy here, Anya?”

It took her a while to make up her mind. ”I don’t know yet,” she said truthfully. ”Does it have good WIFI?”

I laughed. ”You bet. Brand new fiber optic internet.”

“Then we’re cooking,” she said with a big grin.

She went exploring while I checked out if the expensive high-tech safety measures and alarm system, I’d purchased to be built during the extensive renovation worked the way they were supposed to.

”The house is Gucci, Dad.” The use of that slang word told me Anya had genuinely given her seal of approval.

“Have you chosen your room?” I asked innocently.

“Yeah, the one next to the big bedroom,” she said with immense satisfaction. “The one with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs painted on the walls.”

“That is an excellent choice. I’m glad you like it. Did you know if you sit on the bed you’ll be able to see the big ancient oak tree on the field yonder,” I said, relieved now that I knew she liked the house. I had entertained niggling worries that she would hate her new accommodation. After all it was a total change of everything she had ever known or been used to. But she showed genuine enthusiasm about her new living conditions.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she squeezed my hand.

I knew then she was scared but trying to be brave. Clearly, the suddenness of the move had scared her, but she was such a considerate soul that she was trying to hide it.

I got on my haunches and embraced her. “I”m sorry I uprooted you from everything you know and brought you here where you know no one and everything is so unfamiliar to you.”

She shook her head. “Don’t be sorry, Daddy. It’s going to be okay.”

Her sweet innocent warmth made my chest feel like it would burst with love. “How about I show you our super-secret room?”

“We have a super-secret room?” she gasped, her eyes widening.

I nodded. “We sure do. Let”s go.”

I took her down to the basement through the invisible door hidden within wall panels, down a small, narrow corridor where the lights automatically came on, until we came to a thick blast-proof steel door.

She stopped and slapped her cheeks with amazement. “Oh wow! It really is a secret room!”

I had asked for steps to be built under the identification device so it was at the perfect height for her, so as soon as she stood before it, it lit up.

“I”m going to register your face,” I told her. A blue light started scanning across her face.

“Now this is what we call the panic room,” I explained.

She turned to me with a frown. “The panic room?”

“Whenever you feel panicked, maybe when I”m not around or you can”t reach me, or you feel like someone might be trying to intrude into the house for any reason, no matter how small, you run down here. Don”t grab anything because that will waste your time. You stand in front of the camera exactly here. It will recognize your face and open the door for you.”

I activated it and immediately the door slid open with remarkable speed.

She looked around at what was technically a cube-like studio apartment. It was quite claustrophobic, but she seemed to find it thrilling. “Daddy, this is a great place for vibing,” she gushed.

“I”m glad you like it, but there are some things I have to tell you, so come sit with me?” I pulled out the table and the two benches from the wall.

“Whoa,” she cried impressed.

“There’s a bed you can pull out over there too, but you have to remember that I didn’t put any of this in place to be exciting or fun. This room is designed to save our lives. You know, we’re in the middle of nowhere now. We have a few neighbors, but we don”t completely trust them yet. There might be bears or cruel people around, so I want you to always know that if you run in here you”ll be safe. Nothing can get through to this room. The walls are reinforced steel and about ten feet thick. So nobody can get in here if you don’t want them to. Do you understand me?”

She looked intensely at me for a few moments before she nodded. “Okay.”

“This also means then that you can never tell anybody about this room. It’s our secret. Okay?”

She nodded so hard, she looked like she was in danger of giving herself whiplash.

“No one can hurt you while you are in here. So if ever you have to run in here never open the door no matter what the person outside tries to tell you through the video feeds over there.” I pointed to the six screens on the wall.

“I understand, Daddy,” she said. “I will never tell anyone; it”s our secret.”

I smiled and then leaned my forehead against hers.

“Okay, now it”s time to go to the fun part,” I told her.

“What?” she asked eagerly.

I laughed. “This room is full to the brim of toys, snacks, food, drinks, clothes, actually everything you could possibly need. I pointed to all the drawers lining the other side of the wall. “You actually could live in here for two weeks if the need arises and not want for a single thing. And that’s why I told you that if you have to run in here, never bother to look for anything else. Just come straight in here to save time so no one has the time to follow you. The doors will automatically seal when you shut them and after that, nobody can get to you. When the danger has passed and you need to open it to go out, use your face once again. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I do,” she nodded again and smoothed her hair.

Then I showed her all the food and told her all of it was for emergency purposes only and that she wasn’t allowed to ever to come down here and eat them otherwise.

She nodded, and my heart for the very first time in a long while felt somewhat at peace.

“And now … how about we go get some ice cream from the Frozen Strawberry?” I asked.