Chapter Thirty-Nine Nic
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Nic
A gun.
I paid enough attention in high school English class to remember that once a gun appears, it’s only a matter of time before it goes off.
I have to get out of here.
“There’s been a misunderstanding,” I say, holding my hands up in front of my chest. “I’m clearly in the wrong place. If you don’t mind, I’ll just grab my phone and get going…”
The gun is dangling by Luke’s side. “Actually, I do mind,” he says.
My hands are shaking. I shove them into my jeans pockets.
I need my phone. It’s so close, sitting on the edge of George’s desk just a few feet away, but Luke’s between me and it.
“What’s that?” I say loudly, eyes on the empty hallway behind him.
“What?” He twists toward the door, and I dart forward. I reach out, fingertips brushing the case…
For a moment, I think I have it. Then it starts buzzing, catching Luke’s attention. He turns, grunting when he sees me. I lose my grip, and it drops to the floor with a clatter.
Luke shoves me, and I fly back, slamming into the sharp edge of the windowsill, pain shooting down my legs. I stumble forward, one step, two—then something hard crashes into my skull, and my vision explodes white. A scream rips from me, long and loud.
“That was a very, very dumb idea,” Luke says.
I shrink back against the wall, sinking down into a crouch, hand pressed against my throbbing head. Trapped. Helpless.
He pulls a phone from his pocket and presses it to his ear.
“Hey,” he says. “We got a problem. I just walked into my office and got a nasty surprise. What? No—A person. A man. He was in George’s office.
Looked like he was going through his computer.
You gotta get down here so we can figure out what to do with him. ”
I gulp a breath as Luke hangs up.
“And now, we wait,” he says, swiping my phone off the floor.
It disappears into his back pocket—along with any hope I have of getting out of here in one piece.