I could feel the sound of Sawyer’s feet hitting the  ground as he ran down the steps out the back door.  I felt defenseless as he carried me, but he was strong. Running In front of him was Elisa, he was very close behind her, guarding her. She opened the door into the cool afternoon heat of Miami and headed out the back doorand down the street, away from the house.

“My car?,” Elisa whispered.

I tilted my head back and saw Caine and company were just making their way to the front door.

“Yeah,” Sawyer agreed

In the front of me  I saw a little green car the bleeped when Elisa pulled out her keys.

We were lucky that the drive way barely allowed enough room for Sawyer’s Ford which meant anyone else had to park their cars on the street or as Elisa had, a block behind the house.

  Sawyer put me on my feet and I climbed into the backseat , he sat on the passenger side and  directed Elisa to drive backwards down the  street.

I had to admit she was good. She drove a quarter of a mile backwards on the one-way street until we reached the dirt back road that was the “scenic route” to Miami.

“Where am I going ,exactly ?” she asked

“Let’s go to your place.” Sawyer said.

Things were still slightly fuzzy but, I could see we were headed into an apartment complex not too far from the Sawyer’s diner.

All the buildings that made up the complex were simple brick square buildings they reminded me of the pictures I had seen in books of the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  The buildings probably held thousands of people but, they seemed out of  place in the small town on San Costa. Sawyer had pointed out them out to me this morning and said they were part of the gentrification of town. Had it really been this morning he was driving me to show me where he worked.

Elisa’s apartment was a large loft. Pushed in a far corner was a bed covered by a grey net hanging and the living area had a couch and 2 chairs none of which matched. The only door in the place was painted a light purple and had a sign on it that said Powder Room. By the time we had settled in I was  feeling less groggy but still had no memory of what happened between Caine attacking me and waking up in Sawyer’s house.

“Do you want some water or anything  ?,” Elisa asked me.  I could sense she held some hostility towards me.

“No, Thanks,” I answered

After a minure of staring she walked over and picked up a phone off the cradle.

“Who are you calling ?,” Sawyer asked,alarmed.

“The police,” She said

“You can’t”,” said Sawyer and took the phone from her

“And why not?”

He stared uneasily at her.

“Okay, that guy who tried to hurt Julianna , his name is Simon Caine, he is the leader of United Light,” he explained.

She stared blankly at him.

“Simon Caine,” Sawyer repeated

“Is he related to Richard Caine as in the Sheriff ?”

“They are Brothers.  And Caine’s  other brother Martin is head of Internal Medicine at Univeristy of Florida and he is married to Illia Jansen, the district attorney of Florida.”

“So . . .”

“So that’s just the beginning Caine has lots pull which makes him above the law and we shouldn’t waste time calling the police. Caine could kill us and no one would ever know.”

“Why would he kill us ?”

“It’s a long story, let’s just say I think those guys in the trucks had way more than roofies and a taser.”

“I have time,” Elisa said, ”Explain to me what is going on.”

She took a sit on the couch on the farthest side from me.

Sawyer ran his hands through his curls and looked up at the ceiling like he expected answers to fall from it.

“Okay” He agreed and took a seat next to her which put him in between both of us.  He pulled his hand around her shoulders and kissed her above her ear. In the process his arm grazed my leg and I felt something.

“Just don’t let this change how you feel about me.”

“I can’t promise anything,” she said. “But I’ll try . .  .you just told me your married you can’t throw a bigger curveball than that.”

“My parent’s like Julianna’ s were stupid enough to fall for the ideas created by United Light-“

“My parents are not stupid,” I interrupted. I have no idea where that came from but, Sawyer  knew nothing about them and I felt an urge to defend my parents.

“I mean-,right . . .sorry, anyway Caine’s goal has always been to create some kind of Utopian society so he can be in control. He created  this world, the United Light through money and lots of it. He gets most of it  through bribes and intimidation and he inhabits his world with people like our parents. One thing he is used to is always getting his way and when he doesn’t or when people piss him off he gets rid of them.”

“No one pissed him off,” Elisa noted

“You did,” he said, “ You tried to kill him.”

I had never fully trusted Caine to begin with but the allegations Sawyer were making seemed very harsh. I always knew Caine had control issues but, my parent’s trusted him and that is why I trusted him despite the fear I had.

“Are you sure about this ?” I asked

I knew it was a dumb question but, it had to be asked

“Positive,” Sawyer said,” Caine gave me an ultimatium. I had to either had to become a tranquilitylight and help him with his intimidation and murders . . .  or marry you.”

“Tranquility light ? ” Elisa asked

“It’s like a police officer except they have to do illegal things and answer obediently to Caine.” Sawyer answered.

“I can’t believe this,” Elisa said,”You’re married, you’re family is apart of a crazy cult I mean did you think this stuff would never come up ?”

“No- I mean I did  but,I hadn’t thought it through and I planned on giving it time. I had no idea he would be checking on us so soon.  I just learned all this a few weeks ago Elisa and by then I had already – I started,-- I mean I just stopped letting my brain think, I’m sorry.”

Bzzzzz ! Bzz !

“What’s that ?,” I asked

“That’s my intercom,” Elisa answered.

“Are you expecting anybody  ?” Sawyer asked

“No,”

Elisa walked towards her terrace door and peered down.

“Holy crap,what the hell ?,” She exclaimed. “ Those guys they ‘re here. They’re ringing every apartment.”

“How did they find us ?,” Sawyer asked

“I don’t know,” Elisa said “I’ll call security and tell them—“

“Call. The phones.” Sawyer went into his pocket and took out the sleek black phone identical to the one he had given me on my first day here.

”These were gifts, I never knew who they were from,” he explained  “ They have a  GPS feature, Caine is probably tracking us using these, that’s probably how he found Julianna at the restaurant.”

“Give them to me,” Elisa ordered and headed for the bathroom

“I’ll dispose of these while you think of a way for us to get out of here. And just so you know there is no back way out of here.”