Chapter 33 Pandora
PANDORA
I want to help River, but I know he can handle himself, and it’s more important to get Samantha out.
“Come on,” I say, gripping her hand tight and rushing past the fighting.
Samantha stumbles, but to her credit, she doesn’t complain.
“There’s a car right outside,” I say to Samantha. “We just have to make it down.”
“Down,” she repeats. She’s regained her footing, and her bare feet pad quietly down the hall carpet. “What’s going to happen to… to the others?”
The other women.
The ones I’m not saving.
The ones who get to live in hell for another day or week or year.
“I’ll come back for them,” I say, but even I barely believe myself.
Everybody will be gone next time.
They’ll be moved to a new facility, or the trash, and there’s no way Blaze’s father will trust him with any information anymore.
“Come back?” she asks, echoing me again. “There’s nothing you can do. We should call 911 once we’re out. The cops can help.”
I giggle, trying to imagine what I would even tell the cops. ‘I swear, officer, at some point there were women here! No, I’m not related to those Pavones, why?’
A small voice in the back of my mind—one that sounds way too much like River—reminds me that I could have called my parents and let them handle all of this.
But how many of those women would’ve died in the process?
Not to mention: if it got out that Papa was involved, there’d be outright war with the Bouchards.
I’m not going to let that happen.
My family has nothing to do with this.
“Sorry to tell you this, but the cops are on the take. An operation this big, going unnoticed for how long? Yeah right.” I push open the stairwell door. “Okay, let’s get you to the car. After that, I can, uh. How many guards does this place have, anyway? At least three. Probably more.”
“How am I supposed to know?” Samantha snaps at me. “You’re the one who broke in!”
“Um, with a half-baked plan and mostly winging it,” I point out.
Something moves behind me, and I whirl my head around. Samantha nearly crashes into me on the stairs.
“Why’d you stop?” Samantha demands.
There’s nothing.
I could have sworn I saw a shadow—oh.
Shit.
Really, really not a good time to be losing it.
“Because I’m crazy,” I say to Samantha. “Anyway, half-baked plan. Let’s get out of here. Maybe Blaze will have a good plan. Blaze—”
I stop when I remember that Blaze doesn’t have his ear piece anymore.
Well, we’re almost out, and then I can ask him directly. He should be waiting by his car. From the sound of things, River is still fighting, and I think I heard Asch say he was going to help River.
Which means Blaze is safe, because Asch would never leave Blaze alone.
Not that Blaze can’t take care of himself.
I push open the stairwell door, take a quick peek. Nobody, although I do hear yelling down the hall.
“Almost there,” I say to Samantha. I take her hand again and lead her to the back exit, which is right around the corner.
The door opens easily. I’m a bit surprised there’s no emergency alarm, but I guess it would be inconvenient if fire services were ever called to the building. Better to let everybody inside burn than risk anybody snitching.
Snitches get murder, after all.
All in all, this went off about as well as I expected. Sure, River and Asch had to beat up some guys, but River does that on a regular basis anyway. He’s good at it.
He’s hot at it, too.
“So, the car is…”
Somebody steps out in front of us, casting a long shadow.
He’s holding a gun aimed directly at us.
“Hi, Pandora,” Ezio says.
I open my mouth.
“If you say a single word, I’m going to shoot her.” Ezio points his gun directly at Samantha.
Samantha clings to me, and one glance at her shows me that her eyes are full of fear. I guess she hasn’t been around guns very much.
Or at all.
I nod to let Ezio know I understand.
He taps his ear with his free hand. “Get rid of the listening device. We don’t need anyone spying on us.”
If it was just me, I’d be making noise, but with Samantha here, I can’t risk pissing him off.
Ezio’s shadow waves at me on the pavement.
Christ, now’s really not the time.
I take the earpiece out with one ear. I squeeze Samantha’s hand to reassure her and to signal that she should keep fucking still.
“Toss it over here,” Ezio says. “Your phone, too.”
I shrug and throw the device in his direction. It bounces on the pavement, landing a few inches from his foot. The phone goes a bit farther, and I wince as I hear the screen crack.
Ezio stomps down on the in-ear microphone, destroying the device.
“Do you know how much those—” I start.
“Shut the fuck up,” Ezio barks. “God, you’re an insufferable bitch, aren’t you.”
Considering I’ve barely talked to him, I don’t know how he can say that. Most people wait at least a few conversations before they declare me insufferable.
Also, most people find me funny.
“All right. Both of you. Into the back of that van.” He motions toward a nearby van with his hand. I wish he’d been the kind of loser to motion with his gun, but apparently he’s got enough sense not to aim in the wrong direction.
He also doesn’t come closer. Why can’t he be one of those people who thinks guns work in close combat? I mean, they do, duh they do, but it’d be way easier to disarm him if he was within stabbing range.
Samantha looks at me, and I nod to her. She releases her hold on my arm and starts to walk across the pavement. There are all sorts of rocks on the ground, but she doesn’t complain about the lack of shoes.
She must really be afraid.
“You first,” Ezio tells Samantha as we approach the van.
I grumble, but I hold back while Samantha gets in. I follow her.
It’s a standard white work van, except the back is empty save for a bench on either side. Heavy glass divides the space between the back and the driver’s seat.
There are cuffs and chains along the inside wall.
Like seatbelts, but deadly if we ever did get into an accident.
Ezio is close, and for a split second I consider leaping out and attacking him.
I can already see how that would go: me with a bullet in my stomach, and Samantha probably dead soon after. Either that or back in the hotel. Oh, and with Asch and River and Blaze going on a suicide mission to avenge me.
That’d be kind of romantic, honestly, but I don’t really want them to die on my account.
I dare Ezio to turn his back on me. Maybe while he’s attempting to cuff me, I can disarm him.
I don’t get that lucky.
Ezio simply shuts the door and locks it. I move back to it and attempt to open it, but the doors only rattle.
“Well, fuck me,” I mutter. I reach into my jeans pocket and pull out the manual lockpicks, except I don’t even see a lock from the inside. I guess because these doors really weren’t meant to be opened from inside.
Samantha glances from me to the front half of the van, then whispers, “What are those? What are you doing?”
“I was going to pick the locks, but without locks—” I go quiet when the driver’s side door opens and Ezio slides into the car.
“It’s nice of you to waltz through my doorstep,” Ezio says. His voice crackles slightly, and I realize it’s coming through some sort of PA system to the back of the van. “That really made it easier.”
He starts driving, and Samantha quickly sits down on one of the benches. As we drive out of the lot, I think I see the front door open. Is that Blaze coming out? How much time has passed since I parted ways with River?
“Am I allowed to talk again?” I ask Ezio. “Or are you going to shoot us through the glass? Please do. I’d like to see it ricochet back on you.”
“I would rather you shut up, but I get the feeling I can’t stop you.” Ezio runs a red light, which causes a car to honk at him, but I guess he doesn’t care about that.
Goddamn it.
“Y’know, Romano’s a shit name,” I say, loud enough that I hope Samantha’s earpiece picks it up. “You should consider changing it.”
Not that him changing it had made a difference. Nobody remembers the Romanos anyway.
Ezio’s laughter is unexpected. “You would think so. When did you figure it out?”
“Eh. I asked my dad about you after that weird stunt you pulled at the Halloween party,” I lie.
‘My dad’ sounds so weird to say. Who is that, even? But if I can make Ezio believe Papa knows about him and is going to come after him, maybe that’ll give him second thoughts.
“The stunt I pulled?” Ezio shakes his head. “Why don’t you tell your friend what you did at the party?”
We go over a particularly bumpy road, and I stumble back against the bench on one side.
“Okay, so picture this, Samantha,” I say.
“There’s a douchebag who helped tie down a young woman and fucked her with a glass bottle.
I figure out one of his shameful secrets, and broadcast it over the party sound system.
And also make him piss himself at exactly the right time for extra humiliation.
I’d say that’s pretty appropriate punishment. ”
Samantha stares at me like I’ve grown a second head, then she lets out a harsh sound. “That’s all? I would’ve thought you’d set someone on fire for doing something like that.”
I flash her a smile. “Right? I didn’t even go far enough! Really, I should have tied him down and raped him with a broken bottle and let him bleed out. See, Ezio, Tate should be grateful he got off so easy.”
“Yeah, so easy that Blaze and Rafael beat him bloody and forced him to transfer out.” Ezio shakes his head. “Your entire family leaves destruction in its wake.”
I roll my eyes, then settle against the bench opposite Samantha. “Yeah, yeah. The Pavones suck. Tell me something I don’t know. Like, maybe, where we’re going?”
“I thought about finding a workshop with a table saw. How does that sound?” Ezio says.
My chest goes ice cold. “You’ve got a woodworking hobby, Ezio?”