Vanished

Dana

"Damn," he sighed. "No snow. Must be nice."

I added some half and half into my cup and gave it a quick stir. "Yeah, imagine that."

Ron looked deep in thought as he took a sip from his coffee.

"Maybe in ten years I can hit Florida like the snowbirds from up here. My neighbors have a condo in Boca, and man, that seems to be the right thing to do."

I pictured a bunch of old couples playing bridge and shuffle boards and had to take a drink from the coffee to avoid laughing.

"That's a good plan," I said after I put the cup back down. "You won't need a snow blower either."

"I'll trade the snow blower for a golf cart."

"There you go."

Ron laughed as I left for my office, feeling good about how the conversation went.

I placed the coffee cup on my desk and pulled out the chair. It was surreal to think I only had another week left. There was a lot of stuff for me to go through before then, and it was already Friday. Most of what I had to do wasn't even related to my actual work, but to the need to erase as much of my current identity as possible so we could start all over again. 

It was a couple of hours later when a loud ruckus in the hallway near the elevators caught my attention.

"Oh my god," I heard Sylvie scream.

I was instantly on alert. Something unusual was going on, and I needed to find out what it was. I got to my feet and carefully peeked out into the hallway.

A couple of my fellow employees were already out there, and Ron peeked his head out of his office at the same time as me. We all watched the crowd that had gathered around Sylvie's desk in the reception area, which was near the elevators. My boss was there and so were several other managers, including Ron's. They appeared to be focused on a couple of police officers that stepped out of the elevators.

Sylvie cried into her hands, and one of the female HR managers tried to console her.

"What's going on?" Ron asked as he stepped out of his office and came to stand next to me.

"I don't know."

"Must be something serious if the cops are here," he commented.

"Yeah." I thought the same thing.

We watched as a couple of the managers led the police officers over to a conference room. Sylvie wiped at her face with a tissue while the female manager patted her on the back.

Steve came our way with a concerned look on his face. He'd been in the crowd near the elevators.

"What's going on?" Ron asked when he got close enough to hear us.

Steve stopped in front of us and took a deep, shaky breath. "They're saying Dana got hurt on her way in to work this morning."

My body stiffened immediately, and an icy dread came over me. I realized I hadn't seen Dana all morning, and that was uncommon. Usually, she stopped by my office for one reason or another, and despite the fact that it usually annoyed me, I hoped my suspicions were wrong.

Ron wrinkled his nose. "What do you mean? Did she fall or something?"

"No." Steve shook his head. "They're saying she was shot," he whisper shouted like it was some kind of secret. "Can you believe that? Who the hell would shoot at her?"

Fuck.

That was just what I been afraid of. That someone would hurt her because they wanted to get to me.

Ron's mouth fell open. "What the fuck?" he gasped.

"Is she okay?" I asked.

Steve nodded with a serious expression. "It hit her arm, so they say she will be. The cop said she's in surgery."

I had cold sweat running down my back when I went back into my office and shut the door behind me. After pacing the floor, back and forth, for several minutes, I picked up the phone and called my brother.

"What the actual hell?" he exclaimed after I told him what I knew.

"It has to be him, right?" I demanded, like my brother knew anymore about what had just happened than I did. "It's too much of a coincidence for it not to be."

"Probably. I'll check the cameras and see what I can find. But Bro, you better be extra careful."

My thoughts exactly and that was fucking scary.

It got quiet for a second, and I didn't rush him. I knew he was thinking. So I continued to pace back-and-forth in my office while a million thoughts passed through my head.

Was it my fault that Dana got hurt? Was that bullet meant for her, or was it actually meant for me? Or was that a warning?

"Let me pick you up after work today," my brother said. "I think we should go straight to the cabin."

I didn't even hesitate. "Alright."

It made sense. We needed to hide away and regroup. Because whatever this was, it was likely related to our dad somehow, and we needed to find out why.

"Can you get out early?"

I huffed. "At this point, I'm considering not going back at all next week. What freaking difference is it going to make?"

I'd already given my notice, and it wasn't like I was starting at another company.

"Yeah, this shooting is a little too close for comfort."

"Exactly, and it's not like I'm staying with BioloGen, anyway."

My brother snorted out a chuckle. "You know what you need to take care of. If you feel you're done with that, then don't go in next week. We can stay in the cabin until we're ready to move."

I knew what he meant. I needed to make sure I'd erased as much of myself as possible.

"Yeah. We'll see." I glanced at my watch. It was shortly after 11 am. I had a lot of work to do if this was to be my last day.

"Let's meet at 3:30 at the corner where I dropped you off last week."

"Okay, and Sport..."

"Yeah?"

"Bring the guns."