Chapter 297 - Gregory Light (6)

It's early Monday morning. Sun is not up yet. Greg is sitting in a silver Audi, in front of Jeff's apartment building and holding a new type of pneumatic syringe gun which Rebecca got him from her veterinarian friend. The gun has space for six medicine dosages, that means he has six shots for four bodyguards. He tried it out in Rebecca's garden, and he is confident that if he gets within five feet, he will definitely hit the target.

The gun is small enough to almost fit in his palm. 'Perfect, it will stay hidden.' The gun makes some noise, but if used on the street, regular noise from traffic and people will cover up the sound.

Greg adjusted air pressured chambers to deliver enough anesthetic to knock down a grown-up person for few hours. Once needle hits the target, it takes about a second to administer the medicine from the chamber and in no more than five seconds, target will be sedated.

So now he only needs to wait for his opportunity... JoAnna to come out, like on Friday, with her four bodyguards. He will take down the guards first... and then JoAnna. Greg owns a vacation house at Lake Tahoe, he purchased it earlier under a different name. 'That place is perfect. Once I get my hands on JoAnna, I will take her there... no one will find us.' He knows that driving there takes about seven hours... he has enough anesthetic with him to keep her unconscious until they reach there. After that, it won't matter... his vacation house is isolated in the forest. There is nowhere to run. And even if she cries for help, no one will hear her. His plan is perfect!

Greg cringed when he remembered previous day. In the afternoon, he just finished trying out the syringe gun in the rose garden, when Rebecca approached him. He ignored her at first, and she began fussing. Rebecca complained how he is cold toward her, even though she allowed him to stay in her house and provided him with information and things he needed without asking anything in return. Greg was on the verge to tell her off, take things he needs and leave, but then he remembered how he still needs her... he is not sure when he will get a chance to approach JoAnna, his sweet JoAnna. Greg knows that this is a game of waiting, and it might take days, maybe even weeks until he finds his perfect chance. He can't afford to offend Rebecca at this point. He steadied himself, forced a smile and spent the rest of the afternoon coaxing her. But with every passing minute, she was smiling more, approaching closer... Greg knew that Rebecca reached her limit of patience and it was time for him to show her how grateful he is for her hospitality and effort so far. He can't avoid her anymore.

That evening Greg did what he did for the last three years whenever he was with a woman. He imagined that he is with JoAnna. The only thing he needed to be cautious of, is not to call out her name, and the act went as usual. He finished quickly, dressed up and left Rebecca's bedroom with an excuse that he is used to sleep alone. Greg went to the guest bedroom and took a long shower, scrubbing himself vigorously. He didn't want Rebecca's scent lingering on his body. He wants to smell fresh when he meets JoAnna.

Greg jolted himself back into present when parking garage door opened. One older couple drove away. Greg sighed, kept the syringe gun on the passenger seat and continued gazing toward garage door entrance.

…

Sun was out and JoAnna woke up when she felt Jeff's arm tightening around her. He was mumbling, and his face was frowned.

'He is having a bad dream.' JoAnna listened to his mumbling and could hear him say. "Don't go... Anna, stay... don't go...".

JoAnna felt pain in her chest hearing him say those things. She caressed his cheek and kissed him gently. "It's just a dream... I'm here. I'm not going anywhere… I'm right here…", she chanted softly.

He jolted out of his sleep and looked at her for a second with eyes full of pain before embracing her tightly.

She whispered, "It's OK. I'm here... it was just a bad dream. I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here…"

His hold tightened and he sighed. It took some time before he relaxed.

JoAnna looked at his face which looked troubled, "Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head and kissed her. "Just a dream."

After some time, JoAnna reminded him. "I'm not sure what's the time, but I think you should get ready for work." She reached to the side table and got both of their phones. Once powered on, the phones started beeping with notifications. JoAnna sighed thinking how the weekend was nice, just the two of them with no one else to disturb them. She first checked messages from Sarah and held her breath.

Jeff was going through work related email when he noticed that JoAnna's hands are trembling. "What happened?"

"Gregory Light is here…", she said weakly.

"What?!!" He got off the bed and looked at her phone. He put his arm on JoAnna's shoulder. "Let's call Sarah and see what is going on." He tried to calm her down, but he was anxious himself.

JoAnna called Sarah on video chat.

"How come he is here? I thought you emptied his accounts?" JoAnna panicked.

"Calm down..." Sarah advised. "He got here on a flight on Thursday morning, and we emptied his accounts on Thursday evening. Also, we emptied his offshore checking accounts, he still has his US checking accounts and credit cards which he can use to make purchases, it's not like he is completely out of money. Greg's US accounts didn't have large balances, so we let him keep that money because US banks would notify him immediately as soon as his balance is low. We didn't want to alert him in advance that something is going on. For offshore accounts, it will take days, maybe weeks before they notify him or low balance... We discussed all this when we planned our move. Did you forget?"

"Yes... I forgot... now I remember. Sorry, I just panicked." JoAnna took a deep breath. "You are confident that he is here?"

"Yesterday I tracked his phone to Beverly Hills area. I was not able to locate his exact location before it disconnected. Greg was either staying or passing by, but he is in Los Angeles area since Thursday."

JoAnna did her best to stay calm. "Do you think he is after me?"

Sarah gave a small nod; her expression was grave. "That is the only conclusion we have. Because of timing... The tabloid photos came out early on Thursday morning, and that same day at 11:35 AM he was on a plane for Los Angeles. It seems too much to be a coincidence. He is in LA for four days, not using his bank cards for any payments, which is telling us that he is up to something. Sophia advises that you leave area until we find him... I know that is not an easy decision to make. If you decide to stay, I will come and be with you while Jeff is at work. I can work remotely without any problems."

"Thanks... I need to think about this and will get back to you." JoAnna disconnected from the video chat absentmindedly.