21. Katerina #3
He pivots smoothly out of the way, my knee missing its target by inches.
Before I can recover, his arm hooks around my waist. He lifts me clean off the floor like I weigh nothing.
I thrash wildly in his grip, nails scraping down the side of his face as I claw at him.
My fingers catch skin this time, dragging hard enough that I feel the resistance give way beneath them.
Blood wells instantly along the shallow cuts.
He grunts once, more annoyed than hurt.
“Christ,” he mutters under his breath, but his hold doesn’t loosen.
Still carrying me like a misbehaving child, he steps backward into the tunnel and drops me before shoving me forward.
I stumble and catch myself on the side of the wall, my feet skidding as pain prickles at the soles from the loose pieces of debris littering the tunnel floor.
I turn just in time to watch him wrench the door closed behind us.
The heavy wood slams back into place with a dull echo that reverberates down the narrow passage and plunges everything around me into darkness.
Panic spikes through me again. But before I can react again, he flicks his flashlight back on. The beam slices through the darkness, sweeping down the length of the tunnel in a long arc before settling briefly at my feet.
He exhales sharply through his nose. His voice is flat when he speaks. “Unless you actually want me to shoot you to disable you, start walking.”
The calm certainty in his voice makes my stomach twist.
With nowhere left to run and the door sealed behind us, I grit my teeth and start moving.
The concrete is brutal under my bare feet.
Each step sends a jolt of cold and pain shooting up through my legs, but I force myself to keep going.
Turning back isn’t an option now, not with him looming so close beside me.
He stays almost shoulder to shoulder with me as we walk, close enough that every time I shift direction even slightly, his body blocks the movement.
He knows exactly what he’s doing by giving me no space to try another desperate sprint back toward the house.
The beam from his flashlight bobs slightly with each step, guiding us through the tunnel as it slopes gradually downward beneath the estate. The walk feels like forever. In reality, it’s probably only a few minutes before the tunnel finally begins to slope upward again.
The storm door comes into view ahead of us, already open.
A set of metal-rung stairs leads upward through the circular shaft toward the world above.
Cold air pours down through the opening, carrying snow with it.
A violent shiver runs up my spine, my arms clamping instinctively around my torso in a desperate attempt to trap whatever warmth remains in my body.
Before I can hesitate, his hand closes around my arm and drags me forward. I stumble on the uneven concrete.
Suddenly, I’m airborne again. He lifts me like I weigh nothing and tosses me over his shoulder.
“What the hell?” I hiss, my voice echoing sharply through the tunnel.
He ignores me completely.
Without even glancing down, he pockets the flashlight and grips the metal ladder with one hand while the other steadies me across his back, then he starts climbing.
The metal rungs clang softly under his boots as he ascends.
I cling to him because I have no choice, my arms instinctively wrapping around his shoulders while my legs tighten around his waist so I don’t fall backward down the shaft.
A few seconds later, we break through the surface.
The world outside hits me all at once. Cold air slams into my face, stealing the breath from my lungs. Snow whips sideways through the storm, swirling wildly beneath a pair of bright headlights that cut through the darkness. A black SUV waits just a few feet away with its engine already running.
I blink at the sight of it, confusion cutting through the fog of adrenaline.
That’s… not what I expected.
An armored transport van used for prisoners? Yes. A military convoy? Absolutely. Not a regular civilian-looking vehicle.
Before I can question it further, he carries me straight toward it. When we reach it, he swings the back door open and suddenly, I’m tossed inside. I land hard against the leather seat, warm air rushing around me from the vents as the heated interior envelops my freezing skin.
I scramble immediately toward the opposite side of the seat, pressing myself against the door as he climbs in beside me, slamming it shut once he’s settled.
The locks click automatically.
My eyes snap toward the front of the vehicle to where another man sits behind the wheel.
I don’t recognize him either.
He doesn’t even turn around.
“All set,” the man beside me says casually. “Head back home.”
The driver nods once.
Home?
I stare at the man sitting beside me as the SUV pulls smoothly away from the storm cellar and continues down the snowy road ahead. Then I glance out the windshield where flakes continue to rage across the dark countryside.
A knot tightens slowly in my chest.
Where the hell am I going?