Chapter 94 - Pawn Shop

Jasmine

"I promise I will be back around five." Rajun declared.  "Thank you." I said hugging him. I needed to make him trust me. Maybe if he trusted me enough, I could make a run for it.

"I really have to go now." He said. "Do not open the door for anyone." He warned me. "You will be safe." He said. "How?!" 

"I can not protect myself." I pouted my lips. "I will teach you how to handle a gun when I get back. But for now, nobody can come in, unless it is me." He said.

"Or you would be letting them in... I know you are smarter than that, aren't you?!" He said. 

I nodded. 

Benjamin

I washed my face and brushed my teeth. I still felt sick. I needed to find her and I needed to go to the border between America and Canada.  This whole place was surrounded by cops and the inside of the house was no better. 

"How could I ever leave this place?" I muttered under my breath. My phone rang and I picked it up. "You have done a good job!" My grandfather said from the other line.

"What?" I said unsure of what he was saying. "I saw that you found her." He told me. "How?" I asked. I immediately gave up. Stupid question, he shadowed my every move. 

"We have located her." My grandfather told me. "I have send people." He said to me in a calm voice, like he did not have a care in the world. I knew better than that. 

Jasmine

I looked on my watch and an hour had passed, when I heard a knock on the door. "Princess, we are sent by your majesty, the Sultan of Saudi Arabia." A man said in a heavy voice. 

"Open the door." He said. "Open the door!" He shouted. I was scared. They did not sound like they were coming to save me anytime soon. 

I pondered what to do. I looked at the air shaft that was above the pale wooden desk. I climbed on top of the desk an tried to open it. It was stuck.

Behind the door I heard the man calling for me, again and again. It took all my might, and I finally managed to take it off.  I did know if I fit through it, or where it would lead, but I did not have much of a choice. The men certainly would not fit in here. So maybe I had an advantage over them.

I climbed in and crawled into the shaft. It was much more narrow then the tunnels in Benjamin house. It was full of spiderwebs as well. 

I crawled towards the light. I saw another woman sitting at the desk of the reception. If I would climb down now… would they scream?

If I did not climb down now… what would happen then?

I did not really know, so I did it any way. I pushed against the shaft and it cracked a little. I saw the receptionist eyeing me. 

I gestured for her to be quiet. She picked up her phone and started dialing. I sighed. I had to get out of here. 

"I am princess Jasmine." I said. She narrowed her eyes and kept on talking to someone on the phone.

I ran as fast as I could and I heard a big bang. They probably entered our bedroom. 

I ran out the motel and I was on the street again. I did not know where to go. I did not have any money, so I could not travel. 

I saw a store called 'pawn shop.' The lettering on the store said that you could sell your gold. Looking at my watch, I made a plan.

This would give me more than enough money to go somewhere, anywhere.

I stood in line, nervously looking behind me every now and then. When it was my turn, I took off bangle watch

"It is fake." The woman behind the desk said. Her breasts were hanging out of her shirt and her neck was full of golden necklaces.

"I can assure you it is not." I told her. "Do you have the paperwork then?" She asked skeptically.

"No, I don't miss." I said nervously looking behind me again. "You seem to be in a hurry." She noticed. "I could ask my boss to come look at it, or just give you 200 bucks now." She said chewing her gum like her life depended on it.

"Sure, fine." I said. She smiled while she looked at the watch and handed me two bills of hundred. I had never held money in my hands before.

"Can I leave through the back please?" I asked looking at the door behind her. 

"Are you in trouble?" She said laughing. "Did you steal this watch?" She asked me suspiciously. "No it is mine." I said. 

"Can I please go out through the back door." I urged.

"Fine." The woman snapped. There was a line behind me, but the woman led the way through some closets. "You can leave through there." She said. 

"Now go on!" She commanded me. 

Benjamin

"I need to be there. I need to be there, so she knows she is safe." I said to my grandfather pleadingly. 

"That is not a good idea." He said. "I don't care." I told him. "I am telling you, let me see my wife." I said making clear I was not joking around. 

"Go to the roof, the heli is prepared." My grandfather said knowing this was going to happen. He was prepared for my insanity. 

I packed a bag and when I wanted to go up, I bumped into Saphira. "Uhm… I need to go." I told her. "Where are you going?" She asked me as she was holding on to me.

"Out." I said. "I will come with you." She said without thinking.

"No you will not." I told her. "Yes I am." She said carefully. "You seem to be in a hurry, so I guess you don't have time to argue with me." She said half-smiling. 

"Alright." I snapped. 

On the roof were at least ten officers and a pilot already sat in the pit. It probably was a good thing that I was not flying myself right now. 

We got in the heli and Saphira's eyes grew wide. "Have you never been in one?" I said through the headset. "No." She said and looked a little scared. "Here." I offered her my hand when we went up in the air. 

She took it eagerly. 

It took an hour or two before we reached another small airport. We entered a small private plane. We hadn't spoken much since we left the house. Now and then Saphira tried to make small talk, but I was not really up for it.

Jasmine

I had taken a bus across the border. I think I was in Canada about now. I did not have any plan on how to proceed. When I got off the bus, I took another. The sign said it would take me to Regina, wherever that was. 

I slept on the bus, mostly. People minded there own business and the bus was quiet, besides the music that the bus driver had on. 

I did not have much money left. Just a little over a hundred dollars. I could not believe the watch was worth so little. Or maybe she tricked me. That made much more sense to me. 

I placed my head against the window and closed my eyes again.

Benjamin

Saphira and I landed in a little town. I took out my phone. "Where is she now." I grumbled to my grandfather.

"She escaped out of the motel." My grandfather said with a strained voice. "She escaped from the people who captured her. That is good." I said smiling a little. My smart wife.

"And from us mostly." He rushed through his words.

I looked at Saphira and my heart sank.

"What are you trying to tell me?" I asked my grandfather. 

"We don't know where she is." He said in a shaky voice. That was very much unlike my grandfather. He always stayed calm. This was bad.

"The watch." I said. 

"She sold it as a pawn shop, we think." He said.

"You think?!" I roared. 

"What. Is. The. Name. Of. The. Shop." I spoke.

"Mason's Pawn shop." My grandfather said. I cut off the line. I was so angry.

"What is wrong?" Sierra asked. 

"They could not rescue her, because she made a run for it." Saphira seemed confused. "Why would she run from the people who wanted to recue her?" She frowned. 

"Your guess is as good as mine." I said. I told the driver that he should take me to the pawn shop. 

We entered the store and it looked utterly filthy. I walked right up to the man behind the glass, passing people that were in line. I heard some people mumble something, but I truly did not care to listen to what they were saying.

"A woman came in here, selling a 18 K cartier bangle watch set with diamonds." I said. "You should wait in line." The man scoffed. "I think not." I told him. 

A few of my guards walked in as well. The man behind the counter started to get nervous.

"We thought that it might be stolen.." The man said nervously.