Chapter 18 #2
Thanks to one of those tall safety lights common with many rural properties, Natalia had a fairly good view of the few acres surrounding her. It was immediately clear that she was somewhere in the middle of the countryside, and there wasn’t anyone living close by.
Small lights flickered in the distance through a thick patch of trees across a connecting field. They were the only signs of life that she could see, and they were easily miles away.
The keys.
That man had brought her here, which meant there had to be a vehicle around here somewhere. She just needed to find it.
Natalia kept her body close to the stone building as she slid along its perimeter around to its front. The gun in her hand was steady as she looked left and then right. With no threats in sight, she took of running toward a car she’d spotted out front that was parked several yards away.
It sat parallel along the two-lane road that ran along the front of property. When she reached the vehicle, Natalia immediately rounded its front bumper and went to the driver’s side door.
She tried to open it, but found it locked. With the gun in her right hand, she began fumbling with the keys in her left. There was no fob, so she searched through several keys for one with the same brand on it as the car.
Her heart filled with hope when she found it, and Natalia rushed to slide it into the door’s lock. She turned her wrist. Pulled open the door. And then—
A bullet slammed into the upper part of her back, just below her left shoulder.
Natalia’s entire upper body jerked from the impact as the keys fell to the ground by her feet. The driver’s side window shattered as the bullet exited from the front of her chest, and Natalia fell forward against the side of the car.
A rush of white-hot, fiery pain began to spread. The bullet’s damage had rendered her left arm and hand all but useless.
In her state of shock, she looked down at the epicenter of her pain. Thanks to the bright light mounted high above, she could easily see the frayed fabric of her hoodie.
The bullet had gone straight through her body before shattering the window’s glass. She’d been shot. But…by who?
Natalia spun around, using her good hand to hold the gun out in front of her. Her heart raced with fear and the will to survive as her strained gaze scanned the small field across the road.
It was dark, but she could make out a line of trees lining the back of the flat, grassy patch. Trees and grass, but no signs of a shooter. He was out there, though. And he was waiting for the next opportunity to strike.
Screw that!
Natalia crouched down to retrieve the fallen keys, working fast since she was forced to hold both them and the gun in the same hand.
You have to find cover. Get your ass in the car and drive the hell away!
Her mind raced through the plan. The window may have been shattered, but that wouldn’t keep the engine from doing its job.
Natalia kept her eyes on her immediate surroundings. Staying low, she laid the pistol and keys on the ground next to her, so she’d be able to use her hand. It was a risk, but one that was necessary if she wanted to make it into the car.
Reaching blindly behind her, she kept her eyes glued on her immediate surroundings as she attempted to open the door. Tears of pain and relief rushed to the surface when the door finally creaked open.
Natalia grabbed the gun and the keys, groaning in pain as she maneuvered her wounded body into the seat behind the wheel. With her head bent down, she placed the gun in her lap and focused on the keys.
Blood marred the jingling pieces of jagged metal, but she ignored it and inserted the key into the car’s ignition. It wasn’t until she was met with dead silence that Natalia realized—
The car has no power.
She’d been so busy focusing on getting inside the car, she hadn’t noticed the interior lights staying off when she’d opened the door. But now, despite her multiple attempts, the engine refused to even turn over.
It didn’t so much as click. In fact, there was no sound of any kind. The car was dead, and she would be, too, if she didn’t figure out another plan fast.
A second shot came from the field’s direction. Rather than hitting her, the bullet struck the hood of the car, dead center.
He’s playing games.
Well, she wasn’t interested in being his pawn any longer. Her only focus was finding her way back to Jagger.
That would be admittedly harder now, without a car to drive her away. And unless the pain in her shoulder was affecting her hearing, that last shot had originated from a spot much closer than the first.
On to Plan B.
Making it up as she went along, Natalia painfully crawled across the console and opened the other door. She half-slid, half-fell from the car to the ground, landing with an audible moan.
Ignoring the pain and blood consuming her left shoulder and arm, she used the vehicle’s frame as a shield while she gave herself a minute to look around and think.
Lure him inside the building and take him out there.
It was the only plan she could come up with. She just prayed it didn’t end with her dead.
Natalia sent up a silent prayer before rising cautiously to take a quick glance through the window for her shooter. She watched and waited, not hearing anything but the leaves blowing in the breeze.
She had to make a run for it. It was the only way she could make it out of this mess alive. And the longer she waited, the less time she had left.
With her back against the car, she pulled in a deep breath. And then she took another. Thoughts of Jagger threatened to send a rush of tears to her eyes, but she held them back knowing this wasn’t the time.
Later, when she was home and curled up in his arms, she could let herself break down and cry. Or she could just kiss him senseless and hold him close until the fear of losing what they’d recently found floated away.
For now, her focus had to be on inside the building. Preferably without getting her head blown off in the process.
Sounds like a pretty good plan to me.
Refusing to stall a moment longer, Natalia readied her position while studying the path from the car to the building. Fear, nerves, and pain threatened to take over, but she tuned them out and counted down from five.
When she got to one, she took off in a dead sprint. The muscles in her legs worked hard, her boots moving fast as they covered the grassy earth.
Natalia turned around and took a few random shots as a way of providing cover. She felt a sense of relief and accomplishment when she made it to the building’s front door.
Her bloody, trembling fingers managed to turn the knob without dropping the gun. The wood creaked on its hinges as she opened the door, and she started to step inside.
A crackling sound came from directly behind her a fraction of a second before she felt the pain. The jolt of electricity searing through her every nerve rendered her helpless, causing the gun to fall from her hand.
Every muscle in Natalia’s body contracted from the current racing its way through her system. The recognition of pain combined with her awareness of what was happening created an unpleasant wave of déjà vu.
She’d been tased. Again. Just like when she’d been taken from her car on her way to Homeland. Only this time, Natalia managed to find the strength to open her eyes.
A man’s face appeared, and a sense of familiarity nagged the back of her mind. But the remnants of shockwaves still making their way through her system caused her vision to blur and his features to appear distorted.
His gloved hand moved toward her face. Terror consumed her when she realized he was holding a syringe.
Not again!
She attempted to fight him off, but her body was simply too weak. A flash of a stinging pain struck the side of the neck as the needle pierced her skin. Three pounding heartbeats later, Natalia’s battle to remain conscious was lost for a second time that night.
The last sorrowful thought Natalia had was of Jagger. She’d come so close to finding her way back to him only to be bested by some psychotic freak. Now she was going to die here, in the middle of nowhere with no one to keep her company except a killer.
And the worst part of it all was, she still had absolutely no idea why.