Chapter Twenty-Two
My bloody hand stings as I bend my wrists as far as they’ll go while trying to pick at the shoestring binding me.
It’s tight, but I dig at it with a fingernail until it begins to give.
Then I shove my finger between the strings and work at them.
Slowly, it begins to loosen but by the time the door opens again, I’m still not free.
“Alright, let’s continue our chat,” Red says. “Who told you?”
“Told me what?” I ask as I work the string down until I get it past my thumb before pushing it down to where it can fall free. Before it does, I gather the string up into one hand and hold it tightly.
Red slams his hand down on the table, making me jump as I stare at him with wide eyes. I really wish Lane was here. Which is a stupid wish, but he seems to give me a boost of confidence that I feel like I can’t find on my own. And right now, I could use a big heaping dose of confidence.
“Answer the fucking question. I’m only going to give you five more seconds to answer, or I will make you answer,” he says as he makes a show of slowly getting up.
I watch with wide eyes as he walks around the table and sinks his fingers into my hair before yanking my head back, so I’m looking up at him.
“Did Lane tell you what I did to him?” he asks quietly as my stomach clenches in fear. “No? You want me to show you? You want to hear about how I had my men drag him down into the basement, strap him down…just think about it, Felix. Think about how strong Lane is and what I did to break him.”
I’m shaking as I stare up into his cold eyes, absolutely terrified of what he is going to do to me. The thing is…do I even have anything worth saying that will sate him?
“Oh, Felix, you should have heard the way Lane screamed when the acid was poured into his eyes. The way he shook as we broke that man down—”
“Please, I don’t know anything,” I whisper.
He snorts as he lets go of his grip on my hair and walks back over to his chair. “Oh, trust me, you know something. How about I give you a moment to think about it? Want me to continue my story while we wait?”
I jump up and flee for the door. The big bodyguard takes one step to the right, causing me to slam into him.
“No! Please, I don’t want to die, please!” I cry.
I paw at the man as my left hand slips under his jacket and grabs his gun.
I pop the strap off the holster and slide it out before either can notice.
I turn my body and drop down into a ball, so I can cover the gun up.
I slide it down into my pants as the man grabs my upper arm and drags me back over to the table. He shoves me hard onto the ground.
“Sit the fuck down before I have your fucking legs broken!” Red yells.
“I told Price that if negotiation goes well, I’ll give you to him.
But I never fucking said what shape you’d be in.
The thing is, I was being kind to you guys.
I warned you to stay out of my shit. Instead, I think it made you guys more fucking adamant.
And I told you what would happen if you didn’t get them to back off.
The thing is, I can cover all of this up so fucking easily.
And really, it doesn’t matter how many of my men I have to use in order to do it.
There are more that will replace them. You guys cannot take me down.
And if I don’t fall, none of this falls. ”
Sobbing is much easier than it should be as I crawl up into the chair and face the man. The bodyguard goes back to the door so now my two enemies are in a perfect line. If it was like in a video game or movie, I could down them both with one shot. Too bad I’m not a macho video game hero.
Under the table, I slide the safety off the gun and wait for the right moment. Red leans forward, but I wait until he puts his hands on the table. He easily could have a gun even if he is never involved in any of the action.
“Tell me.”
I nod like I am finally giving in. “O…Okay. So…it was Lane’s idea, not mine,” I say. “I thought it was a bad idea. I really thought it was a bad idea. I told him I didn’t want to do it.”
He sighs and folds his hands on top of the table. “Get on with it.”
“Okay,” I say as I pull the gun up and aim it at his face. “I’ll blow your motherfucking head off if either of you move.”
Red looks surprised and then furious. “Owen, where’s your fucking gun?”
“What? He…” he reaches for it, and I wave the gun triumphantly.
“I said don’t move,” I growl as I slowly stand up. I’d seen enough movies to know that he could push the table at me and it would make me dramatically drop the gun and it would be game over for me.
I back away so he can’t reach me or hit me with anything. Then I toss the shoestring over to Red. “Tie your bodyguard up and grab the car keys from him.”
The string slides across the table, and for a moment, Red just stares at it.
He seems to think about the situation before giving in with a nod. “Fine,” he says grudgingly. He stands up and grabs the string before walking over to the bodyguard and wrapping the shoestring around his wrist. He ties it tightly as I watch him very carefully.
“Drop the keys and slide them over to me,” I say.
He drops the keys on the ground and they clatter so loudly, it’s almost deafening. He kicks them with his shoe, and I quickly stoop down and pick them up.
“Alright…” Now what? If he has a gun, he’ll shoot me. But I can’t get close to him because he clearly knows some type of martial arts.
“Put your gun on the ground,” I say.
“I don’t have a gun,” he says nonchalantly.
“Slowly open up your suit jacket,” I say. “If you move too quickly, I’ll shoot you.”
He unbuttons his jacket so slowly that I regret saying it. When it’s unbuttoned, he opens it up and carefully turns around as I look for any bulge that could be a weapon. His suit pants and his button-up are tight enough that I think I would be able to see something, but he appears to be clean.
“Alright, let’s go,” I say. “Out the door. If anyone makes a move, I’ll shoot you.”
He just stares at me. He clearly wants me to get closer, but I don’t want to get any closer to him than I already am.
“I said move!” I yell.
“The thing is, I really don’t think you have it in you to shoot someone,” he says.
I turn the gun on the bodyguard and fire it. He cries out as he falls forward, bullet hole right through his lower leg. I don’t want to kill the guy, so I’ll just assume that will be semi-safe. Who the fuck knows. Oh God! What if I just killed the man?
Red snorts. “Alright,” he says as he steps through the doorway and out into the hallway.
“Take me outside,” I say.
“Got it,” he says as he starts walking, but the moment he turns right, I know it doesn’t feel correct. I had been terrified and blindfolded when they brought me in, but I swear we’d turned right into the room.
“You’re going the wrong way,” I say.
“You think I don’t know my way out of my own building?” he asks. “That way we’ll go past guards. This way we won’t.”
“I don’t believe you. Go the other way,” I say, realizing he’d now have to pass me in the hallway.
“Fine, your funeral,” he says as he turns around and starts to pass me. I back up, into the doorway, so I won’t be pinned against the wall if he decides to attack me. He watches me closely as he walks by me without incident.
We start walking toward the front door when a man comes around the corner.
“Don’t move or I’ll kill him,” I snap.
The man quickly looks over at Red for his next order but Red doesn’t say anything, just keeps walking. He reaches the door and pushes against it, but now I have to watch the other man as well as Red.
“He’ll shoot you in the back,” Red tells me as we move through the door.
I want to look back at the other man. I want to see if he has his gun drawn, but I know that’s what Red wants. “Then I’ll shoot you in the head. If he wants you to live, he won’t touch me,” I say.
He snorts as the door swings shut behind me without incident. He starts walking over to a white car with heavily tinted windows.
“Get in the car. Driver’s seat.”
He opens the car door as I see the door to the building open and four men come out. I glance back at Red as he dashes around the open car door and runs to the front of the car. With a duck of his head, he’s out of my line of sight, and I’m suddenly very defenseless.
I hear a gunshot hit the side of the car as I dive into it and slam the door shut. I stick the key into the ignition, but it won’t slide in, instantly telling me it is the wrong fucking car.
I duck down, thanking God the windows are so damn tinted they can’t see shit.
I lock the doors and scramble into the back seat.
I grab the seat release and tug on it. The back seat drops forward, allowing me to crawl into the trunk before pulling the seat back up.
It’s completely dark in the trunk except for the glowing release.
The front of the car is facing the building, which means that the trunk is facing away.
I hear the window shatter, and I jump, startled.
There’s noise surrounding the car as I carefully pull the release while holding the trunk, so it doesn’t pop up high.
I push it up, letting light flood in as I hear another shot hit the car.
I slide out of the trunk and hit the ground as I dive under a truck parked behind it.
I crawl under the truck as I try to think.
What did the car look like that brought me here?
I can’t even remember the color and there are at least twenty cars in this damn parking lot. I pull the key out and look at the Chevy emblem etched into it.
Okay, so it’s a Chevy…and it was a car. I remember that much.
I can see people rushing the car I’d just left as I crawl along the gravel toward the rear of the truck. Carefully, I peek out before moving out from under it to the next vehicle. I lean against the trunk as I look both ways. From here alone, I can see two Chevy cars.
Can I hot wire one fast enough if I’m wrong?