The skies were light blue, and the sun was brilliant. Tall, green grass waved back and forth in the hands of a gentle wind. Few tires crunched down on a road bathed in light, and the little traffic heading west barely disturbed the area around it. We were home free.

Adrenaline continued to fuel Adrianne's veins. His heart beat with every step on the gas. Glances in the rear view mirror in search of company hardly calmed him down as few cars weaved back and forth behind him. Droplets of sweat gently slid down his face, and his damp hands continued to grip the steering wheel before him.

“Adrianne. Relax.” A siren's voice stirred him out of his deep thoughts. “We're not being followed. We're home free.”

“Are we?” His eyes peeled away from the rear view mirror to glance at the beautiful woman beside him. “Are we home free, Dane? The cops could be on us in a heartbeat, or the feds.”

“But they're not. It's a beautiful day, and we got away with it.” A soft hand touched his. “We got the money, and nobody knows that it was us that just robbed that bank.”

“Maybe you're right.” Adrianne took in a deep breath and exhaled. “We're almost at the air strip now, and then Cayman Islands, here we come.” A brief smile crossed his face. “My father used the same air strip a few times.”

“Have you heard from him?” Dane studied Adrianne. “Is he out yet?”

“Like I would know that. For the last twenty years, I haven't heard anything. No letters. No phone calls. Nothing.” Adrianne shook his head. “He should just rot where he is.”

“He's your father, Adrianne.” Dane pushed a blond strand of hair out of her face. “He's just like you.”

“Yeah? Well, we didn't caught, did we?” He glanced at Dane. “We're home free, remember?” Their eyes met for a long moment. “Home free and away from this damn place.”

Pulling into a half vacant lot, Adrianne cut the ignition to the car. He pulled a handkerchief out of his shirt pocket and began to wipe down the dashboard and steering wheel. Dotting his face with the handkerchief, he then proceeded to fold it into a nice square before placing it back into his shirt pocket.

Moving quickly, he and Dane exited the car. They each carried a black duffel bag. Their black shoes disappeared among fields of grass. Their business attire gave the appearance of professionals, but their motives were beyond legal.

Pulling open a large, glass door, Adrianne froze in his steps. An older man brushed past him and headed for a cab. Something familiar about him held Adrianne's gaze. Still holding the door open, he continued to watch the man get into the cab and disappear down the road.

“Adrianne, what's wrong?” Dane once again took his hand into hers. “What is it?”

“That man that got into the cab...”

“What about him?”

“I think that was my father.” He stared at Dane. “I think that was him.”

“Adrianne, he's in jail.”

“But what if he got out, Dane?” Adrianne let go of the door and watched it close before him. “What if he's going home?”

“Adrianne. You can't go home. The police could've figured out our identities already. The feds could be waiting for us there. We have to go.” Dane opened the glass door. “We have to go.”

“I can't, Dane. If that man that just walked past me was my father, then I have to know. I have to go home.” He started to move away from her.

“What about the money?” Dane now looked at the bag in his hand. “What about the money?”

“Look, Dane, you have your cut. Get on the plane. Go to the Cayman Islands. I'll meet you there.”

“Not unless you're caught like your father was.” Dane bit her lip. “Maybe I should take your cut with me. It'll be safe with me.”

“Think I was born yesterday?” Adrianne walked up to her. “This heist wouldn't have been successful, if it wasn't for my plan. You were the second man, Dane. The second man.” He held the strap to the duffel bag tightly in his hand. “I'll put the money in a safe place. Don't worry about that or where it is going. Just get on the plane. The pilot's waiting.” He quickly turned around and headed for a cab.

“You're a smart man, Adrianne, but you're making a fatal mistake. You're going to get caught or worse.” Dane saw that she was now being ignored. “This is a mistake, Adrianne. This is a mistake!” She watched Adrianne get into a cab. “You fool.” Her eyes followed the cab until it disappeared from view.

“Where to?” A voice shattered Adrianne's thoughts. “Sir?” A pair of eyes glared up at him through the rear view mirror.

“Bus station. It's a quarter mile down the road.” Adrianne laid a hand on top of his duffel bag.

“You just left the air strip, and you want to go to the bus station?” The taxi driver shook his head. “Problem with the lady?” Adrianne glared at him. “A woman looking like that can only mean trouble.”

“She's no saint, but she's no trouble either. We just had to go separate ways for now.” The taxi driver shook his head. “Look, just drive the cab, and you'll get a nice tip.”

“Yes, sir.”

The cab ride continued on in silence. Adrianne fell deep in thought, replaying that brief encounter with the older man. Every time he tried to focus on the man's face, it grew blurry, and it only frustrated Adrianne more. Rubbing his eyes, he sighed, and his hand continued to hold the bag next to him.

“We're here.” Adrianne looked up to see the bus station outside. “Eight-fifty.”

“Keep the change.” Adrianne handed the man a hundred-dollar bill.

“Thank you, sir.” The driver watched Adrianne exit the car. “Have a beautiful day.”

Entering the bus station, Adrianne made his way to the lockers. Selecting one in the mid-section, he popped in a quarter and removed the key. Opening the locker, he tossed in the duffel bag and then proceeded to lock the door. Giving it a nice, strong tug, he was reassured that the only way to reopen it was to use the key, which was now held tightly in his grip.

“Lucky number 17.” Adrianne stared at the key in his hand. “Good luck to you, Dane, if you've followed me here.” He pocketed the key.

Sitting behind a counter surrounded by a bullet-proof window, an elderly man stared up at Adrianne. In his hands were a couple of twenty dollar bills. Schedules for bus routes were spread out before him.

“One-way ticket to Chester.” Adrianne pulled out another hundred from his wallet. “What time does the bus depart from here?”

“Five minutes.” Adrianne raised his eyebrows at the man's response. “Gate Seven.” He plucked the hundred out of Adrianne's hand and replaced it with a ticket. “You better hurry.”

Moving quickly, Adrianne made his way over to the gate. He handed the driver his ticket. Stepping quickly onto small, black steps, he now made his way through the bus and into a seat toward the back.

Nodding off, Adrianne felt the bus come to an abrupt halt. He nearly hit the seat in front of him, but his knees kept him in place. The woman sitting in front of him turned to glare at him as his knees continued to press into the back of her seat. With a brief apology, he moved his knees away from her.

Feeling somebody take a seat next to him, Adrianne almost smiled. Her strawberry perfume filled his nostrils. Her blond hair glinted in the sunlight. Her soft skin touched against his hand.

“Dane.”

“You're a fool, Adrianne, but you're my fool.” She turned to look at him.

“Where's the money?”

“In a locker near yours.” She continued to hold his hand. “I just couldn't let you go.”

“So I see.” He touched her face. “Because you love me?” She turned toward him. “Is that it, or is it the money?” He was surprised by a warm kiss.

“Does that answer your question?” She looked into his eyes. “You and your trust issues, Adrianne.”

“Well, after my father abandoned me twenty years ago, I just can't trust anyone.”

“So I see.” Dane sat back in her seat. “What about your aunt? She raised you, didn't she?”

“Yeah. She raised me along with her own children. They just never really accepted me because of what my father was.”

“And you became him.” Adrianne looked away. “Why do you want to find him? He didn't write to you or call you for the last two decades. What makes you think that he's going home?”

“Because he once said that if he ever got out, he would come home.” Adrianne took Dane's hand in his. “I have to know. Did he ever think about me while he was in there? Why didn't he write to me, call me? What am I to him?” His eyes held Dane's gaze. “I want to know, and I will know.”

“You could still get caught.”

“As the same for you. Why didn't you get on the plane?”

“Because I couldn't let you go.”

Smiling, Adrianne looked out the window. The clear, blue skies met his gaze. The sunlight felt good on his face. Tall, green grass waved as the bus continued to drive on by. It was a beautiful day, and sleep was just as beautiful as it stole Adrianne's mind away.

Now stepping off the bus and into a brilliant light, Adrianne could see nothing before him. As his eyes adjusted to the scenery, what he saw left his heart cold. His hands curled into fists, and an icy finger wrapped around his throat. All his eyes saw were a sea of police and the F.B.I. with guns drawn and aimed at him.

Moving slowly into the bus, Adrianne felt something metal push into the back of his head. A click echoed into his ears. A sound of thunder was followed by blinding pain.

Sitting up in his seat, Adrianne turned toward Dane, who slept beside him. He shakily wiped the sweat off his face. Letting out a deep sigh, he turned to look out the window and realized that his stop was coming up.

Gently shaking Dane by the shoulder, he watched her stir out of her sleep. Her beautiful eyes held his. Her blond hair still smelled of strawberries like her skin. Was she all that she appeared to be?

“We're here.”

“You okay, Adrianne? You look pale.” Dane sat up in her seat. “Bad dream?”

“No. Come on. The bus is stopping.”

Standing up from his seat, Adrianne followed Dane off the bus. He was blinded temporarily by the bright sunlight. As he lowered his hand from his face, he half expected the police and the F.B.I. to be waiting for him with their guns drawn and aimed at him. Instead, he still saw a beautiful day with no threat in sight.

“You okay?” Dane watched Adrianne rub the back of his head.

“I'm fine.” He looked at her. “Let's walk.”

“Walk? How far are we walking? I can't walk in these high heels.”

“It's only about a mile down the road, Dane.”

“A mile? Adrianne. There's no houses in sight. We're at a bus terminal.”

“I know. Let's walk.”

Moving away from Dane, Adrianne started to follow the road heading west. He watched as cars passed him by. His eyes continued to scan the area as he whispered to himself that nobody knew where he was except for Dane. He was safe, at least for now.

Feeling Dane walking close behind him, Adrianne wondered if it would be her to betray him. Was there a gun waiting in her pocketbook? Did all she care about was the money? What about all those nights, where they laid together talking of the plan and spending the rest of their lives together? Was it all lies after all?

“Adrianne.” He hardly looked at Dane. “We're in a cemetery.”

Stepping through broken gates, Adrianne continued to move past tombstones and graves. His eyes scanned the area, but there was no soul in sight with the exception of him and Dane. All he saw was flowers and weeds wrapped around the stone tablets sticking out of the moist ground.

“Adrianne.” Dane almost stumbled into a grave. “Will you stop!”

“Five years before my father was caught, my mother died.” He glanced at Dane. “Five years later, I lose my father. I was just turning seventeen.” He moved toward a grave set apart from the others and poised on a small hill. “This is where she was buried.” He approached the grave.

“I thought you said that your father was going home.”

“This is home. Our house was taken by the government, and my aunt's house was never home to either one of us. This is home. This is where my mother waits.” Adrianne knelt down toward the tombstone.

“Adrianne, I don't see your father anywhere. We're the only ones here.” Dane put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Maybe you were meant to come here, but I don't think you saw your father.”

“Maybe.” Adrianne touched the tombstone before him. “Are you going to shoot me now?” He felt Dane pull her hand away. “All you care about is the money, and you can't let me go. If I was caught, I could lead them back to you, and my cut would be lost.” He heard the safety being clicked off on Dane's gun. “Fitting for you to come with me here. This is where I want to be. With my mother.” He finally turned to look at Dane, who now pointed her gun at his head.

“I'm sorry, Adrianne, but you're wrong. It wasn't all about the money.”

“Then, what was it about?”

“Starting over.”

“Without me?”

“I have someone else waiting for me. You're brilliant, but I'm not what you want. You were right to not trust me.” Her finger wrapped around the trigger. “Good-bye, Adrianne.”

Closing his eyes, Adrianne waited for the thunder, and when he heard it, the ground shook. Something soft struck the ground. The sound of strawberries was mixed with another scent, something sweet but sickly. Then, all that surrounded him was silence.

“Adrianne.”

Opening his eyes, Adrianne saw his father standing beside him. His gaze shifted over to Dane, who laid in a pool of her own blood. His eyes shifted over to the gun in his father's hand.

“Are you going to kill me now?” He looked back up at his father.

“Adrianne.” His father grabbed him by the arm and hauled him to his feet. “You were always a fool.” He looked at Dane. “Beautiful women are never to be trusted.”

“So I'm told.” Adrianne gazed at his father's hand on his arm. “Neither are you.”

“I'm your father, Adrianne.” He looked down at the gun in his hand. “I never wanted this life for you, but you took it anyway. And now I have to take it from you.” He pointed the gun at him. “All you had to do was to let me go.”

Adrianne watched his father move toward Dane's pocketbook. He watched him dig through it until he found the locker key. He realized that the gun never wavered from him as his father pocketed the key.

“Now, let me have your key.”

“No.”

“Adrianne. I'm not going to ask again.” His father moved closer to him. “Let me have your key.”

“You want my key?” Adrianne pulled it out of his pocket. “Fine. Take it. I hope you choke on the money.”

“It was never about the money, son. It was about you.”

Sirens haunted the air. Tires screeched from a distance. A hundred engines purred somewhere down the road, heading their way.

“If your aunt, my sister had let me talk to you, write to you, this would never have happened, but she didn't. And I couldn't tell you.” Adrianne's father moved closer to him. “I got out two days ago, and before I got out, your friend here had an inmate in the same block as me. He knew what was going down. He told me because he thought I was a good man, and you didn't deserve to die.”

“What are you saying?”

“I couldn't get to you in time, but I knew you would come here. If you saw me, you would come here.”

Dozens of police cars and black SUVs drove up to the cemetery. Men in uniforms poured out into the street. Many withdrew their guns and moved toward Adrianne and his father.

“I'm going back, Adrianne for the robbery.” His father laid a hand on his shoulder. “The cops think you were a hostage in this, so don't disagree with it. Play it safe, and you'll be a free man. Then, go to North Bank, and ask for deposit box 18.”

“Put the gun down!” Adrianne looked at one cop moving closer and closer toward them.

“What about you, dad?”

“I'm going back, and they won't let me out again.” His father slowly lowered the gun to the ground. “I'll write to you. Just let me know where you are.”

“Dad.” Adrianne watched his father get handcuffed and hauled away. “Dad!” A cop grabbed him as his father was moved toward a waiting black SUV. “Dad!”

“Let him go, son. Let him go,” a cop whispered into his ear. “It's over for him.” Adrianne glared at him.

“He was my father.” Adrianne watched helplessly as his father was once again taken away from him.

Days later, Adrianne walked into North Bank. He approached a teller and asked to speak to the bank manager. His eyes moved about the bank and over the many faces around him, but he knew that he was safe. He was believed to be innocent.

“Ah, Adrianne. We've been waiting a long time for you.” The bank manager nearly hugged him. “Your father left strict instructions for you. Come. Your deposit box is waiting.” He led Adrianne into the vault.

Left alone in a small room, Adrianne opened the safety deposit box. What he saw sped up his heart. Tears filled his eyes. A sob escaped his lips.

“Dad.” Adrianne continued to stare at the hundred dollar bills stacked to the brim within the safety deposit box. “Dad.” Tears fell down his face. “Thank you.”