Locked( Book 1)

Chapter 15

When Wesley said those five words, my heart leaped. We were running from the FBI because A scared man told the FBI about Derek and his team. Not only that but now we were considered to be in danger. But we honestly weren't. Riley looked at me. And Chloe held to Noah.

"We are in; let's take this bastard down whatever it takes," Riley said. Chloe looked at her and me and nodded. Derek looks at us. Wesley arches a brow for some word from Derek. Derek nods.

"Alright, safe house it is," Wesley says. Derek begins grabbing his paperwork while Wesley pulls me to the side. I could see the fear in his eyes. He purses his lips and hugs me out of nowhere. Maybe the fear of us running away was getting to him. Derek looked over, noticing, and Riley and Chloe saw, too. Noah and Matthew weren't paying attention, looking out the window.

"Just in case I don't make it, I want you to know you are the greatest person I've ever met. And I want you to know I care about you a lot, so I will do whatever it takes to protect you, even give my life," he said, making my heart skip a beat. Derek was right. He was right. This made things difficult.

"Wesley, I care about you too, so no one is dying," I said. He nods.

"Okay, let's move," Derek said, opening the door to the basement level.

We all stayed close together. Derek is leading, with Riley behind him and then Matthew. Chloe was next, and Matthew, me, and Wesley were in the back. Wesley was loyal; he would do whatever it took to keep us safe. And if he did love me, he would keep my family safe. By any means. Like Derek. I knew Derek had feelings for me. But because of Wesley, he wouldn't act upon them. But I was torn in two directions and didn't know how to go.

"Okay, this way," Derek said, guiding us to the left, into another secret room, where we stood in what looked like an elevator. And there were buttons like an elevator. We must've been an elevator going down.

Once we reached the very lowest point, we stepped out of the elevator into what looked like a sewer tunnel, but it wasn't being used. It didn't smell like a sweetener tunnel, but it did look like one. Wesley and I looked at each other, and he nodded. Derek stopped in front to tell us the plan. And, like always, I was a lethal part of the plan.

"Okay, here's the plan: we have a safe house about ten miles north of here in the middle of the woods; no one has been there for fifteen years, but it should keep us safe. Wesley, you will scout ahead and make sure it's clear for us to go on," he paused, looking at Riley and Chloe.

"You two, we may need medical and moral support, so stand back as far as possible should something go wrong." And he looks to the boys. Who seemed more angry than anything.

"You two, we may have to use your genius tech abilities to throw them off, so you two go with Wesley but stay behind him. I'll watch the elevator girls stay behind me and Addison; we will need you for moral support, especially Wesley," he said. Wesley notices the change in his voice. I knew what he was doing. He wanted me to tell Wesley I felt the same, but I didn't. He cared about him as a friend, but that was all I felt for him.

Wesley followed Derek's orders and scouted ahead, with the boys staying about four feet behind him. They had no idea what they would be doing but were willing to help get us to safety. Riley and Chloe visited close together. And I stayed to myself. Waiting for someone to speak or call out. But I waited for only five minutes, which was only one, and finally, Wesley yelled for us to come on.

Derek stayed in the back behind me. I tried not to look back, but keeping my eyes from wandering to him was hard. I was falling for him hard. In the short time I knew him, he had proven trustworthy and mistaken. But he didn't see what I saw in him. He put himself below everyone, which wasn't healthy for him or anyone else.

Once we were close to the edge of the woods from below, Wesley opened the door before him, peaking out to ensure we weren't followed from above. Everything was safe. We had walked at least eight miles and would have to walk 2 miles into the woods to reach the safe house. They wouldn't find it by opening the door, and Derek would make sure it couldn't open. Once it was safe, we came out from a large tree. The door looked like the tree bark. That was clever. Derek thought of everything.

"Okay, we walk two miles north of here. The safe house is a large cabin built by my family years ago and sold to me under an alias," Derek said. I was surprised. Wesley leads the group again. He must've known where the cabin was. Or Derek may have told him.

We walk further into the woods, and my stomach begins to growl. I only ate some of the day. We only ate something after we left. Even though we should have, if we starved to death out here, that would be bad. Derek hears my stomach growl.

"When we get there, remind me to fix us something to eat," he laughed. No one else was paying attention.

"So you have food at the cabin," I asked. He smiles and is so handsome in his suit and tie, holding a gun. It was sexy.

"Yes, princess, I said no one had lived there for fifteen years; I never said I didn't go there; where do you think I ran to all the time? I made sure to stock the house with food in case we needed to hide away," he said. I was impressed. He did think of everything. And that's what I liked about him. He, too, was resourceful like me. We had a lot of similarities.

"I'm starving, so I would love to eat," I laughed. Wesley stopped, looking ahead to ensure we were still heading in the right direction. There was water running nearby; I could hear it; it sounded like a creek bed, a large one.

Up ahead, I could smell a hint of fresh water, almost like a spring. The weather was 72 degrees and perfect for sitting outside watching the sky, but we were on the run from the FBI until further notice, so sitting outside wasn't the best idea. Up ahead, I could see a cabin-type home.

Two stories with an extended front porch. A frame windows at the top, there were 3 of them. The steps were wooden in the middle of the porch. A swing sat on the porch, and a couple of rocking chairs. It looked beautiful, like someone had been taking excellent care of it.

"This is so beautiful," I said. Derek nods. Wesley walks inside to ensure no one is hiding in the cabin. There was a creek bed to the back of the house. Woods all around. The creek was beautiful, too. Three, maybe four layers of rock bed with water running over them in 3-4 different places. Rocks or boulders all over the place to sit or stand. It was like something you'd see in a magazine. And it was hidden from above because the trees were so tall they met together. Even if the leaves were gone, there were so many branches you would have to get down so low to see it.

"Okay, so everyone will have to share a room; there's only three rooms and mine, of course; there's also a bathroom on the lower end and one on the second level," Derek said, ensuring everyone understood. We nod to each other.

"Wesley and I will take turns keeping watch during the day and at night," he said. Wesley came back out. Giving us the all-clear.

We walk into the front room. There are stairs to the right to the next level. There's a kitchen right before you reach the staircase on the left. It is pretty standard. There is an L-shaped countertop with a dishwasher on the right end, a sink in the middle, and bar stools on the left on the other side. There's a stove beside the sink and dishwasher. A fridge sits beside the end of the countertop on the right. This was beautiful. The front room is back under the stairs. It holds one rustic couch, a couple of end tables, and a long table in the middle with what looks like a television set.

There is one room to our right and a bathroom beside it off the living room. It's a smaller bathroom, probably a 10x8. It has a vanity sink, a tub with a shower hose, and a toilet straight back. The room was a large size room with beautiful bay windows. And in front of the window was a place to sit or lay built into the wall, a platform with a cushioned seat and pillows. A bed sat to the right, with a cabinet for clothes to the left. It was beautiful.

"This one is mine," Derek said. As I stood looking at the bedroom. He looked at me and sighed.

"But if you want this one, you can take it."