Page 39 of Caught in the Middle

'Ah, hey girls!' she said excitedly, 'Where are you guys heading to then?'

A few of them beamed up at her clumsily, clearly they had been in the airport pub for a while.

'Going to Ibiza on our girl’s holiday!' The gaggle of women cheered at the word 'Ibiza', and Lucy feigned excitement.

'Amazing!' How long you going for?' She tried to appear interested and remain calm as she made small talk with them as they left the bathroom in their huge group. As one of them held open the door for her, she positioned herself behind the tallest one, and prayed that Austin wouldn't see her from the table they had been sitting at.

As she followed them across the airport, she didn't dare look around her. She simply concentrated on plastering this silly grin on her face, and feigned interest in how these their friend Sasha needed this holiday because she was going through a bad breakup.

Her heart was pounding as she quickly glanced up and realised that she was on the other side of the departures lounge. She quickly wished them a happy holiday, and scuttled off to hide in an alcove nearby. Her heart was in her mouth as she frantically scanned the airport for Austin, almost being sick every time she caught sight of any man with blonde hair.

'Now what,' she muttered to herself. If she left via the door she came in, that was going to be risky. If Austin had realised she wasn't coming back, there's no doubt he'd be waiting for her outside.

She racked her brain with what to do, looking around her for anything that could throw her a lifeline.

Ah, the rrivals hall!

She quickly jogged over to the escalator that lead to the other side of the airport, which had a totally different exit. She knew it wasn't the best plan that she's ever thought of in her life, but right now, it was the only chance she had of getting out of here without being caught. Hopefully they'd be a taxi rank outside, she'd hop in and ask the driver to take her to…

Well, she'll think about that in a minute. One thing at a time.

She bolted it down the escalators, thanking God that it wasn't suspicious at all to be seen hurrying around an airport. In no time, she was in the arrivals hall, but she knew she couldn't breathe a sigh of relief just yet.

Austin could appear at any moment, and even though he had been nothing but nice to her, she knew that there must be a reason why Oliver trusted him to be able to defend himself and Lucy against Joey Leonardo's hit men.

She felt like she was in a daze when she stumbled through the revolving door and out into the autumn breeze. She could breathe a little easier as she scuttled across to the taxi rank. Her heart pounding, she just had a few more steps to go.

She pulled up the hood on her fleece, to try and shield her face from the security cameras, and made eye contact with the taxi rank assistant, who was helping people get into their taxis.

Thank God there is a huge queue of them, she thought as got into the line. There was only two groups of people in front of her, and they seemed to be being carted off fairly quickly.

Let’s just hope it's quick enough, Lucy thought, holding her breath.

Now she was just second in the queue. She was so close to freedom she could taste it. She still didn't know where she wanted to go, but she felt like it didn't matter - she'd just say the first place she thought of, she had so much money on her that she really wasn’t limited.

The assistant shut the boot of the taxi and waved it off with a standard customer service smile. He waved the next taxi forward, and turned to Lucy. 'Just for one?'

She nodded, but a lump began to form in her throat when she saw the car.

It was a huge black Range Rover, with blacked out windows.

A little extravagant to be a taxi.

The driver’s window rolled down to reveal an old, Asian man in sunglasses. He nodded at her, and motioned for her to get in.

Before she knew it, the assistant had grabbed her bag and tossed it into the boot of the car. 'Have a safe journey,' he quipped, guiding her towards the passenger door before turning his attention to the next in line.

Lucy look around, nervously. She knew deep down that the chances of this just being a normal taxi in the circumstances she was in was very rare.

Still, where was she going to run to? Back into the Airport? She'd probably missed her flight now, and Austin would definitely be waiting for her.

She screamed internally as she reached for the door handle with a shaky hand.

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