She wished she could go back to her old world, the one before she met Rigby Mortimer. The one where she never felt like swearing and felt safe.
But that world was gone, destroyed by his crazy obsession with her. There was no going back.
Her only consolation was that now he wouldn’t know where she was. Way out here in Montana, so far from Ohio, he’d never find her.
Barrett had gone on to talk about OODA loops and some Colonel in the Air Force who had come up with OODA, this Colonel that Ellen was now going to have to look up, because she couldn’t remember what Barrett had said.
That was one problem she’d had since Rigby Mortimer had grabbed her in the parking lot of the school and tried to take her away in his truck. She’d lost the ability to concentrate without thoughts of the attack creeping into her head.
Maybe if I explain to Leah later why I need a notebook… and hey, I’ll bet the other women probably need one too.
Red suddenly smacked her hands together, making Ellen jump, as she shouted “Bam, upside the head!”
Barrett ignored her and kept talking as if nothing had happened. Then suddenly he was giving them homework and the class was near its end.
I’ll bet he’s glad this class is over. I wonder if he regrets signing up to teach us. That would have worn me out. I’ll take teaching the little ones any day over teaching adults who interrupt constantly.
Somehow, a chorus of five-year-old’s didn’t wear her out the way someone like Red could. She’d never been so worn out by a class in her life. Physically and mentally. She wanted to take a warm shower and a long nap.
Sometimes thinking about Rigby Mortimer made her feel tired or maybe it was the fact that she still had dreams that woke her. Then she had trouble going back to sleep because he’d seemed near enough to grab her. Ellen couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept for more than five hours, and this had gone on for months.
She hoped being at the center would help her with that problem.
At least the homework isn’t hard to remember. Since I can’t write the instructions down.
Their homework was to learn how to find and remember numbers on buildings they were in, just in case they needed to call the police and report where they were. It was something which had never occurred to her before.
In her previous life, a lot of things hadn’t occurred to her. She’d sailed along without a care in the world, without any idea that bad men were out there waiting to grab her.
They were all going on an outing Saturday, the women’s first shopping trip to town for any toiletries and things they needed. As the women had just arrived from all over the country, just like her, making their way in disguise, they hadn’t been given a chance to buy things they needed or wanted. Like Epsom salts or bubble bath which were on her list. Both of which sounded very good right now. She hoped a relaxing bath in the evenings would help her to start sleeping better.
This shopping trip will be a strange one, all of us together.
She glanced around the room at the other women. Chyna had taken a small notebook out and was probably writing down the assignment.
Good. I can ask her if I can copy her notes later. I hope she took good notes.
Leah was explaining about the shopping trip. There was a special arrangement in place with the store and a few of the Three C’s employees would go along as supervisors.
That must be for security since Buck would be going and a couple of those Brotherhood Protectors guys. Like the one teaching our class. This simple trip to the local drugstore isn’t so simple.
She sighed.
Are we going to have to be like spies in the movies? Always on the run, looking over our shoulders? This is not the quiet life I wanted. A little house with a white fence, flowers in the yard and my children playing beneath a tree. Half a day at school teaching Kindergarten and the rest at home with my little family.
That she couldn’t have that dream now, or maybe ever, made her sad.
* * *
Travis “Ballistic”Bannerman had lived and breathed being a Navy SEAL for ten years. Through two marriages, two divorces, the birth of one son, and the death of his second ex-wife. For each of the ten years he’d had incredible luck as a SEAL and that luck along with his training and skills had led to the nickname “Ballistic” which had stuck. Many times, bullets headed his way could have and should have killed him. It was too bad his good luck didn’t extend to his love life.
Shirlene, his first wife, had a thing for Navy men and couldn’t stay out of other men’s beds while he was deployed. Their marriage hadn’t even lasted one year or made it past the first eight-month deployment. Though he’d warned Shirlene that he could be sent overseas, on a mission he couldn’t talk about, somewhere even his mother wouldn’t know he was at, his wife had claimed she could handle it. But the fact was, at the end of the day, she couldn’t.
When confronted about the other men, she’d shouted, “I had to talk to someone! You were never there!” The having to talk to someone, that part he got. It was the getting naked and jumping into bed with all those other Navy guys that he could not tolerate.
His second marriage he’d thought would last forever. Linda only wanted him, and she was a great mother. But then, out of the blue, she’d wanted a divorce. He’d loved her with his whole heart and hearing that she couldn’t spend another day married to him had broken his heart. But he still loved her, so, he’d given her what she wanted.
Then he’d walked away and thrown himself into the work of the teams. Twice divorced, he was done with marriage. Now he would just concentrate on the job. In some ways being a SEAL had saved his life. And his teammates who understood him were the brothers who helped him to make it through.
