Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
AUDRY
I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going. In fact, I was quite done with thinking for the day. I wandered around looking for a coffee shop. I knew what the overall plan was, but at the moment I just wanted to give my heart a chance to break in peace, and without any witnesses. And maybe get some consolation cake.
I found a coffee shop with outside seating and sat down, watching the traffic go by. A waitress came up to me to take my order.
“Yeah, I'll have a black coffee, with chocolate fudge cake if you have it.”
She smiled at me and nodded before going back into the café. I continued to stare at nothing, trying my best not to think. The urge to get up and go back to Marco was strong.
Just what is it you think you'll find if you look?
I had no answer.
The lady brought my order, and I looked up with a slight smile. “Thank you,” I said.
I picked up the cup and took a sip. The coffee tasted like ash in my mouth. I didn't bother to taste the cake. The food was in to-go containers, So I just picked them up and walked away. The street was relatively quiet, it being early on Saturday morning. I figured I could walk a few more blocks and then take an Uber home.
I wasn't too eager to get there because then I would have run out of reasons not to think about what I had done. I was already second guessing myself and I wasn't sure if I should or shouldn't take that as a sign that I was doing the wrong thing.
A black van suddenly stopped beside me. I turned, frowning and wondering what the driver was up to. The back door opened and a man jumped out. He grabbed me by the elbow and pulled.
“Ack!” I screamed as he hustled me into the back of the van. “What the fuck?” I exclaimed loudly.
Someone else in the van slapped my face. “Shut up!”
I did, but only because I was in shock. I had no idea what was happening or who these people were. I opened my mouth to demand that they explain what was happening, but decided not to.
This was not a situation I could argue my way out of. I didn't know what kind of situation this was. I leaned back, staying quiet and still and try to take note of everything around me.
There were three people in the back of the van with me, all of them armed. Their faces were covered by balaclavas, they had on combat boots and protective armor. Whoever they were, they fancied themselves to be some kind of militia.
I had no idea what this kind of person would want with me .
Did they pick the wrong person?
I could imagine that whoever was their leader would send his minions out after some girl who rejected him. Maybe he thought he'd impress her with his off the grid living.
“You've got the wrong girl,” I said hoping for some reaction. All three men ignored me. “Who are you after? Give me a name.”
No one said a word.
“My name's Audry. Are you after a girl named Audry?” I persisted.
They didn't even bother to look at me. I was beginning to think that if they had made a mistake, they were willing to stick by it, and make the best of things. Maybe their leader would show me his impressive gun collection and ask me to go out with him instead. Personally, I wasn't into it. Furthermore, I did not have time for this.
Why did the most random shit always happen to me?
We took a sharp turn, graduating from travelling on tarmac to gravel. Either we had arrived, or we were going off grid. Each of these options could be true. I hoped it was the former. The car came to a stop.
Thank fuck! I thought with relief.
Soon I would hopefully know what this was all about.
The door opened and one of the men grasped my arm holding me a little too tight. I tried to yank my arm away from him, but his hold was unbreakable. I stumbled along, as he propelled me down a long corridor, to a yellow wooden door at the end. The place had a very Mexican feel to it, and I began to wonder if maybe some drug lords had decided to kidnap me because they saw me come out of Marco’s apartment building. Of course, they had no way of knowing which apartment I had come from, unless they followed us yesterday. I tried to decide on a strategy if this was the case, but the truth was, I did not know anything of use to anyone. They would be wasting their time with me.
We reached the yellow wooden door and the guy with me knocked.
“Yes? Come in.” An ominously familiar voice said from the other side of the door in a Russian accent. My heart sank. This could not be happening.
The door opened and I was thrust in. There was a man in a white suit behind a large mahogany desk staring out of the window. He turned around and gave me a gold toothed grin, his fat beringed fingers clasped behind his back. The white suit straining across his meaty shoulders, buttons fighting to stay closed, over his stomach.
“Well, well, well, look who decided to join us today,” Aleksandr Yegorov said.
I was so fucked.