Mickey had carved out a small little niche, a hole in the wall so to speak where he didn’t have to worry about all the vile things that happened in his past. A witness to a murder, and he ran. Lucky for him almost 2 years before that, he began the process outlined in the book how to disappear forever and never be found.

And 3 years later he still hadn’t been found. He changed his appearance enough that anyone who saw the missing person pictures of with the caption have you seen this man? He wouldn’t be recognized.

What he didn’t count on was the determination of the murderers to never be caught. And being a criminal organization, they had their fingers in so many different pies that the two-million-dollar reward for finding him would be his undoing. And the organization that was after him had all kinds of technology to create different pictures of what he could possibly look like.

And late one night as Mickey was sipping on a beer, on his balcony, sitting in darkness, he saw the truck pull up across the street. Gently put the beer down on the deck, as he watched three men got out of the truck. He knew exactly what they were here for, they were here for him. He knew it because of the way they looked around as if being careful  about witnesses. That and the fact they were carrying guns.

While there might have been the possibility, there could be someone else they were after, Mickey wasn’t going to take any chances. He stepped 2 feet inside the apartment grabbed his own gun and waited for the three men to get inside the building. At that point he dropped his rope ladder over the side of the railing.

It took him 10 seconds to slide down and he ran off in the night.

*   *  *

Inside the apartment, the deadbolt slowly turned and the would-be assassins gained entry. They immediately, checked at the first bedroom, and found it was empty nothing at all inside. The bathroom itself was empty as well as the bedroom where Mickey actually slept in. On the floor was a foam mattress and a sleeping bag. But no Mickey.

The three men each cursed, they couldn’t believe they had missed their target. They went out onto the balcony, and found a half drank beer bottle and the rope ladder that was slung over the railing. They cursed once again realizing they had missed Mickey by minutes if not seconds.

Their boss will not be pleased, they knew. It was the first time in 3 years that anybody had a lead on him. As they made their way out to their truck, one of their phones rang, and the man answered it. He gave the report to their other end of the line, that they had missed on Mickey and were going to start driving around the town to look for him.

They knew they had their work cut out for them, Mickey was no fool, he had stayed hidden for 3 years and  knew how to escape sticky situations. He would not be so foolish to stick to the streets, as the saying goes roads are for people who like to get ambushed. He will likely find a forest trail if he stays on foot.

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