Chapter 2
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“My name is Hayden Waterford. I’m here to help.”
Andrea blinked through the darkness. “Hayden?” she cried out, thankfully muffled by his hand over her mouth. She pulled her mouth free and frantically asked, “It’s you?”
He studied her in the dim light. “Do I know you?”
She felt a lurch in her heart at his words. “Yeah, you do,” she snapped. Then she remembered. “Although you knew me as Ann.”
Just enough grief filled her tone that he had to pause. “Ann? What the hell?” Then, as if mentally shifting out of the shock, he snapped, “I don’t know what the hell this is all about, but we have to get you out of here, and right now.”
She followed his lead as he quickly pulled her through the maze of the warehouse district.
At one point in time, she felt the creepy guy, who she thought of as the Hulk, coming up behind her, and her fear overwhelmed her.
She’d never felt anything like it before.
Hayden wrapped her up tight and pulled her into a dark alleyway.
Against her hair, he whispered, “Shh. Not a word.”
She didn’t need to be told, but just knowing she wasn’t alone was huge. As soon as she could, she breathed ever-so-slightly.
He nodded, pulled his hand from her mouth, and whispered, “I’ve got a car. Let’s go.”
She followed him to a vehicle, though he didn’t give her much choice. As he went to put her into his vehicle, she balked. “I have to get my car.”
He frowned at her and asked, “Where is it?” He nodded at her reply, adding, “We’ll get it tomorrow.”
His tone was final, and it was clear that he wouldn’t brook any argument on that. Frustrated, but understanding to a certain extent, she got into his vehicle, and he quickly pulled out and got them away from that warehouse area.
As he drove, she looked at him and asked, “Did you really not recognize me?”
He glanced over at her. His gaze narrowed as he took another look, and she saw the moment recognition hit. He swore.
“Not quite the reaction I was hoping for,” she muttered.
He snorted. “And yet you know perfectly well it’s the one you’ve been expecting.”
“Maybe. It’s been a long time.”
“Yeah, it has been, but considering you’re using a different name, maybe not long enough,” he confirmed, swearing again. “Did you know I would be coming?”
“No, I didn’t know, but Lena mentioned Mason, so I mentioned your name.
Still, I knew it was a long shot. Back then you were doing some special ass training and gone half the time.
Still, I figured it couldn’t hurt to tell them that I knew you at one time.
I apologized for causing anybody any trouble and just asked that, if you were around, maybe you could give me a hand.
I figured you might want to help an old friend.
” She tossed her dark auburn hair out of the way.
“Guess I was wrong.” She looked ahead, hating that the tears were trying to choke her.
Surely it was a stress reaction, not about him. Just the stress.
He glanced over at her and added, “We’ll deal with that later.” He took a quick left turn. “First off, do you know who these guys were and what they were up to?”
“Not them necessarily,” she began. “I got a text message to meet somebody in the warehouse. That it had something to do with Cleo and the missing girls. Initially I wasn’t planning on going.
No, that’s dangerous. If they want to talk to me, it should be in the daytime, blah, blah, blah.
” She waved her hand animatedly. “And then I got the idea that somebody’s life could be in danger, so I should probably go. ”
“Bloody hell,” he muttered.
“That about sums it up. So, I don’t know where my brains were at that moment, but my thought process was right, at least in terms of motivation.”
“You just didn’t carry your thought process through far enough.”
“Potentially,” she noted.
“Did you see anybody else there? Anyone who could be in trouble?”
“I didn’t really get a chance to see anything, except that I know the chump left in charge of looking after me was told to not let me talk anymore, as in not saying anything …
ever. Two other men were there, but they left early to take care of Cleo, the first missing student that we know of.
They told the Hulk to silence me. I didn’t see anybody else.
They also talked about taking care of Arlene so all the power passes to them.
” She sighed. “I was afraid she couldn’t be trusted. ”
“You know about Arlene?” Hayden asked.
She turned to him. “Yeah, I met her on the London campus, and I now hear she’s back on the New York City campus. She was a witch to all the students, seemingly jealous because they all came from easy street. But to be involved in human trafficking? Oh my God.” She shook her head.
“So, presumably those guys didn’t expect you to come out of that warehouse alive.”
“If I wasn’t expected to come out alive, maybe somebody else is back there who’s also not expected to come out alive,” Andrea suggested, frowning at the thought.
He slowed the car’s speed, then looked at her. “Did you hear anyone else? Any crying? Any kicking of something trying to get free? Anything like that?”
“No, I didn’t hear anything. The other two guys seemed to have Cleo at another location—but … I don’t know that for sure,” she admitted, raising both hands in frustration.
He looked at her for a long moment and then nodded. “Okay.” He stared out the window.
She asked, “Could we at least go home?”
“And where is home?” he asked, glancing at her. “I mean, when you’re not wandering around barefoot in the dark with crazy people after you.”
She stared at him for a moment and then snorted. “Most of the time, I have a perfectly normal life, you know?”
“Yeah, most of the time,” he quipped. “And then there’s the rest of the time, when you’re not explaining who you are to the people around you. When I met you, I thought you were backpacking around Europe, working at dress shops for some money, looking for art inspiration.”
She deserved that potshot, but, right now, she didn’t feel up to taking that shit from anybody, and she again felt the tears welling up.
He groaned, clearly seeing the tears coming. He asked, “Where do you live?”
She gave him the address, and he quietly drove there.
It was different than the studio she’d lived in while in London, back when they were together, where she’d been living like a poor starving artist. Hell, nothing had changed now either.
Depressed at the reality check, he pulled up to her apartment building, and she pointed to the side.
“There’s the underground parking.”
He noted where the ramp was tucked away and drove and parked in a visitor space. He exited and quickly came to her side, opening the door and helping her out. Keeping an arm around her, he led her to the elevators, his gaze constantly moving to confirm they were safe.
“Did you have your wallet, phone and keys on you when you were taken? Do they have them now?”
She winced and nodded. “Yeah, they do.”
“Any empty apartments around yours?” he asked.
She frowned at the question.
He sighed and explained it to her. “Those guys could come after you. Depends on what you saw. Depends on how important it is to them that you not talk,” he added, turning to face her. “So, absolutely they could come back for you.”
She winced. “You never could tell even a half-truth, could you?”
“No point in lying to you, in telling you that you’ll be fine, not if I can’t back that up,” he stated.
“Yet I get it. You want somebody to write this off as less of a big deal so you can relax. I can’t do that because I don’t know what the hell trouble you’ve gotten yourself into.
Now do you know of an empty apartment in this building or even on your floor? ”
“My neighbor moved out earlier this month. I haven’t seen the cleaning crew in there or the usual painters and whatnot before they rent it out again. It’s right next door to mine.”
“Show me,” Hayden snapped.
She led the way up to her apartment, pointing. “That’s mine. The one farther down the hallway is the empty one.”
Hayden nodded and checked for any witnesses before he picked the lock on the empty apartment and pulled her inside. “Your neighbor left furniture behind?” he asked.
Andrea shrugged. “She was behind on the rent, so maybe she did.”
Hayden whispered to her, “I’ll go check out your apartment and at least grab some shoes for you, plus a change of clothes. I can only be in there for thirty seconds max, so tell me if you need anything else.”
“My laptop? And my glasses. Both are on my bedside table. And that purse at my front door.”
Hayden nodded. “I’ll be right back. … Will you still be here when I return?” he asked. When she nodded, he slipped out quietly, shutting the door behind him.
True to his word, he was back in less than one minute. “Are your feet cut up? I brought some antiseptic for them and some bandages and some socks, plus tennis shoes, if we have to run again.” He put a change of clothes near her. Then just watched her, trying to figure her out.
Andrea collapsed onto the chair in the middle of the living room and felt the tears well up again. “This isn’t exactly how I thought things would go,” she began, trying hard to not completely break down in a chaotic nightmare of bawling.
He sat down in the chair beside her, eyeing her in concern. “I’m not exactly sure what you were trying to do down there, but I really hope that you’ve realized this isn’t something you should be pursuing.”
“Oh, I hear what you’re saying,” she agreed, her tone sharp.
“But you’ll still go after some story to get a byline?”
She snorted, sitting up straight now and glaring at him. “It’s not about the story. It’s about the women. They need help.”
“And we’re working on it, so back off.” He stared off in the distance. Then he turned to her. “I was told to pick up Andrea. What the hell are you doing using a fake name? Which is the fake name? Ann or Andrea?”