“How are we supposed to find him? We don’t know where Mikey went and we don’t know the area. We’re screwed.” Bob sighed glaring out the passenger window.

They had been driving for hours and for all they knew they were headed in the opposite direction.

“Well what was the license plate number? Can’t we track it down with that?” Ray asked from the back seat.

“How Ray? What, are we gonna call the cops and say our friend is off to kill his brother who is a convicted murderer who broke out of prison the night before he was supposed to get the death sentence? Everyone would be screwed. We’re not doing that.” Frank sighed getting frustrated.

“Well out don’t hear you coming up with any bright ideas.” Ray hissed back.

“Fine. What if we called the car rental place? The car had a built in GPS maybe there’s some type of tracking device that they can fine the location.” Frank said.

“That’s not a bad idea. What’s the number?”Ray asked as Bob started search through the glove box for the renter’s agreement.

“The numbers on here.” Bob said passing the paper back to Ray.

Ray dialed the number and after a few rings, a woman answered the phone.

“Hi my name is Raymond Toro and a few friends and I rented 2 cars through you earlier. One of our friends took off with one of the cars. Do you think there’s any way you could track the location down through the GPS for us so we could find him?”

Ray tapped on Bobs shoulder asking for a pen the recited the license plate number. Taking the pen from Bob he scribbled down the address with a smile.

“Thank you so much ma’am you’ve been a huge help.” He said before hanging up, “Here’s the street name. She said it was way far out with lots of trees around and that the city would probably be pretty empty.” Ray handed Frank the paper with the name ‘Echo Rd.’ scribbled across it along with directions on how to get there.

“Do you think it’s a far drive from here?” Bob asked.

“It doesn’t look like it,” Frank responded, “We’re about a half an hour or so away. I just hope by the time we get there it’s not too late.”

Jaydee shook the blankets on the beds trying to get as much dust off as she could. The house was cold and dirty. First thing tomorrow she was going to see if Gerard would let her go into the city to pick of cleaning supplies.

“I know it’s not much right now but we could make it into something. We may have to be here for a while.” Gerard said sitting next to Jaydee on the rickety bed.

She looked up at him and smiled, “As long as I’m with you I’m happy. I can make this a better living environment after I clean it up. Is Peyton ok?”

“Yeah I put her in the room across the hall. She’s busy organizing her stuffed animals on the bed. Don’t worry I dusted it off first.”

Jaydee smiled again. “I’m gonna go check on her.” She said stepping down onto the cool hard wood floor and walking across the hall to Peyton’s room.

“Look mommy!” She squealed pointing at her nicely organized toys that she neatly placed on her bed.

“Good job sweetie!” Jaydee kneeled down and hugged her tightly. “Do you like it here with me and Daddy?”

Peyton’s face lit up at the word ‘daddy’. “Yeah!”

“Would you like if we stayed her for a while?” Jaydee asked the smiling child.

“Uh huh!” Peyton said jumping up and down.

“Good. Want me to tuck you in and read you a story before bed?”

“Yeah!”

Jaydee smiled and helped Peyton into bed and began to tell her a story.

Meanwhile Gerard had a weird feeling in his gut. He looked out the bedroom window and saw to bright lights through the trees on the road then suddenly flick off. Maybe it was just paranoia but he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching them. He followed her instinct and locked all the doors and windows. He didn’t want to take the chance. After a few minutes Jaydee came back into their room and laid on the bed next to Gerard.

“It feels good knowing that everything is going to be ok.” She said smiling up at him.

“I won’t let anything happen to this family. I promise. I’ll die before I let that happen.”

The thing that scared Gerard the most was knowing that this wasn’t going to last forever.

And in the end, he probably would die for the people he loved.