Amanda knocked on the door. Sherri answered moments later. “Oh my goodness! Amanda! u are soaking wet! Come in! Come in!” She gently grabbed her shoulder and pulled her in. Sherri was about Amanda’s height, with straight brown hair and sea green eyes and lightly tanned skin and spoke with a Mexican accent. She helped her with her jacket. “Oh Amanda! Your eye! Tell me what happened! No wait, first we must get u into some dry clothes. Come!” She led her to a bedroom and laid out some dry clothes and a towel for her and left her to change.

    About ten minuten later Amanda emerged from the room in the dry clothes with the towel wrapped around her head. Sherri then took her to a chair that was set volgende to a radiator. Once Amanda was sitting she covered her with a blanket and gave her some soup. Sherri examined her bruise and put some medication on it. Meanwhile, Amanda just ate and thought about her last pregnancy.

    It was about a jaar ago. She and Hans were so thrilled to hear the news. About six months in, she and Hans were able to hear the heartbeat. They’d sit on the couch, she’s have the end of a stethoscope to her stomach; Hans would press his ear against it. They’d just sit there in silence listening to their unborn child’s heartbeat. But sadly in the middle of her third trimester, she miscarried. They’d tried as much as possible during the last jaar to get pregnant again. She only wished it hadn’t happened now.
    

Once she’d finished eating, Sherri asked once again what had happened to her. Amanda sighed. “Sherri, I don’t want to put your life in danger. I don’t want Hans to hurt u too. It’s bad enough I’m coming to u for help. All I need is a place to stay with someone I can trust. I need to disappear soon though. And I need a new look. Do that and I’ll leave. Please Sherri?” Amanda pleaded. “Of course. u saved my sister’s life. I owe u everything.” Sherri answered. “Just tell me what u need.”

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    Amanda just had the bandages removed. She slowly opened her eyes. The light stung a little after going a whole week without being able to open them. She looked in the mirror. The surgery paid off. She now had green eyes instead of blue, and she didn’t have worry about the contacts falling out. She just sat there, admiring how different she looked with straight brown hair and green eyes. She turned to Sherri. “Are u sure no one will recognize me?” She asked. “Of course. I barely recognize u myself. And we’ve been vrienden ever since we were hired as nurses six years ago. If I don’t recognize u no one will.” Sherri assured her. “Oh but Hans will if he got close enough. That’s why I’m changing my name and leaving the country.” Amanda told her. “Okay, u need to tell me what happened. This is ridiculous. This past week you’ve been acting really strange and u haven’t told me anything. What did Hans do to make u need to do this?” Amanda sighed. “I didn’t want to tell u because I didn’t want u involved in this meer than u are now, but I suppose you’ll find out eventually anyway.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a newspaper and gave it to her. The main headline read:

CAPTAIN LEELAND MURDERED ON DENMARK MILITARY GROUNDS

    Underneath that, two pictures were shown. One was of Hans, his name beneath that in bold, and volgende to it was a picture of another man, someone named Alexander Fahlcon. The artikel read:

    Captain Leeland was found dead on a military base in Copenhagen, Denmark. Sergeant Alexander Fahlcon was found at the scene of the crime and was tried and found guilty and was sentenced to death for the following morning. After being placed in high security, Sergeant Hans Gruber broke Fahlcon out. It is a mystery to where they are now, and there is a $10,000 bounty on both of their heads.

    “Oh honey…I’m so sorry. I wondered where all of my newspapers were going. I guess that’s why u didn’t want to watch the news too?” Amanda nodded, remembering how she’d change the channel as quick as she could when the news was on. She’d just told Sherri she wasn’t interested. “Look Sherri, I need to go. I need to get out of this country as fast as I can. I already have my fake ID and passport. Thank u for being so good to me.” She grabbed her bag, hugged Sherri, and headed toward the door. “Goodbye and good luck Amanda.” Amanda turned to her at the door. “Amanda Taylor no longer exists. I am now Elizabeth Shields. Good bye Sherri.” And with that she was gone.