Chapter 31 #2
My eyes widen at the admission, but I lean forward a bit. My dress is sticking to me as the temperature increases. The Texas heat isn’t bearable without air-conditioning.
“I can’t imagine, really. That must be hard. Do you have siblings?”
He sets his gun on the table, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. “Yes, I have two sisters.”
“Wow, that must be fun. I always wanted a sister. What are their names?”
“Helga and Polina.”
“Oh . . . wow. Lovely. Are you an uncle?”
This brings a grin to his face as he nods. “I have two little nephews—twins. They look just alike. One is a little bigger, but the other will catch up soon, I think. I’ll teach them to play hockey when I go back.”
I smile to encourage him to continue on, my mind scrambling to come up with how to use his vulnerability to escape with Becky.
The dropkick seemed to help a bit, but we need something more effective to get out.
We’d have to take the stairs or hide. Hiding is probably our best shot since he could shoot us while we tried to hobble down with our hands zip-tied. Fifty-six floors is a long way.
“I bet they love their uncle Nik,” I say as he grows quiet.
Becky shifts next to me, and I turn to see what she’s doing.
She speaks up. “You know, I have low blood sugar. Would you mind if I ate a piece of this cake? I’m afraid I could pass out.”
His eyes laser in on the dessert. “Is it chocolate?” He reaches for the gun as he says it, his face hardening.
My muscles tense up as Becky rushes to explain, “No, no . . . it’s red velvet. The cream cheese frosting looks delicious. Norman’s birthday was yesterday, but he—”
Nikolai relaxes, hand releasing the gun as he waves at her. “I don’t care. Eat the cake, big woman.”
Becky slowly stands up, reaching for the plate. “Would you like some, Kate?”
I stare at her, wondering why she’s trying to play hostess at a time like this. I can’t imagine eating with the churning in my stomach. “No . . . no, thank you.”
She moves toward me to get closer to the cake instead of pulling it to her side. I would push it toward her, but if I move, my bloody wrists will sting.
Becky comes alongside me, filling the space between me and Nikolai. He seems distracted, head tilting back toward the heavy footsteps in the hall. They pass by without stopping to talk to us.
Becky chats as she cuts the cake. “Norman is in finance, and one time, he actually asked me out. I didn’t say yes because he wanted to go eat Mexican food. I mean, can you imagine the gas I would have had on the drive home?”
I don’t really know where she’s going with this story, but I nod along.
“I would’ve evacuated with everyone else, but I just couldn’t imagine going down all those stairs. I figured the power would be back on before long.” She serves herself the biggest piece of cake I’ve ever seen.
It nearly covers the plate. I feel sick, just watching her. The scent of the sugary icing mixes with our sweat and body odor to create a stench that I hope I never smell again. She scrapes all the icing off so that the only thing left is the red cake.
“I don’t like the icing,” she says.
This is so weird . . .
The next moments happen in slow motion. Becky picks up her plate, pausing momentarily before she smashes the enormous red dessert straight into Nikolai’s face.
He reacts immediately, jumping up and back.
He angrily wipes at his face, swiping the plate down to reveal the red stain on his skin.
His eyes blaze as he reaches for his gun.
I jump up, fear spiking in my veins. “Becky! Why did you—”
Then, something happens. Nikolai’s red face turns crimson and begins to swell.
“Kate! Run!” Becky grabs my arm.
I’m paralyzed by the shock of seeing our captor begin to crumble down the floor, clawing desperately at the sticky red cake stuck to his skin. He looks like he’s literally dying . . . from cake.
“Kate! Let’s go now!”
I finally give in to her tugging, and we sprint out of the room. Becky must have kicked off her shoes because she’s barefoot, like me.
“Should we go for the stairs or hide?”
My question is answered when gunfire rains down on us from behind. We both scream, turning the corner toward Luke’s office in the nick of time.
Becky leads us to the only place left to go—our boss’s office.
We both run in, slamming the door shut and turning the lock.
I doubt that will hold them out, so I run toward the desk.
Luke has to keep a gun in here. He always has one on him and in his kitchen drawers, so I’m praying his desk is the same.
I frantically pull on the handles, sifting through the contents as Becky tries to shove a leather chair in front of the door. My hand is digging through the third one down when I feel the cold metal, a brief sigh of relief coursing through me.
“Thank hell.”
I pull out the steel weapon, checking the safety. I never imagined I’d benefit from Luke’s shooting lesson, but I send up a prayer of thanks for it.
“You got this, Kate Dawson.” I point the gun up at the door. “Move out of the way, Becky.”
She’s finally got the chair in front of the door, but she turns to see the weapon in my hand before clambering toward me. “Where’d you find a gun?!”
“Desk. I’m going to shoot whoever walks through that door.”
“You got this, sugar.”
“The cake thing was . . . weird.”
“You asked me to do some research. He had a profile on a porn site that was some kind of hook-up meeting place where people could discuss their sexual . . . preferences. He specified that he enjoyed food play but was severely allergic to cocoa.”
I remember now how he tensed up when he asked if the cake was chocolate.
“Red velvet isn’t quite the same as chocolate . . . but it does contain cocoa powder,” Becky explains.
I turn to face her, shocked to realize that Nikolai was incapacitated and we escaped because of this woman’s insane online stalker skills.
“How—”
My question is cut off by a heavy thud against the door.
I grip the gun harder, trying to remember everything I learned through the haze of my anxious thoughts.
My palms are sweaty, knees shaking. I’m struggling to keep the weapon up as the old cut in my forearm begins to hurt with the effort along with my bloody wrists.
The door shoves open, a dark shadow entering.
My finger squeezes down hard on the trigger, the loud shot echoing through the office. I hit my mark, and the man’s body collapses to the ground to reveal another shadow behind him. I raise the gun back up, ready to fire again before—
“Kate!” Luke’s voice carries toward me as he jumps over the dead man, rushing at us. “Kate, oh baby.”
I drop the gun, a sigh escaping me as I crumple into his embrace. A sob seeps from my lungs. The relief of seeing him alive and the renewed hope that I’m going to live through this evokes a strong swell of gratitude.
“I—I’m okay. Becky is too.”
Becky starts to say something before another man breaks into the office. Luke raises his gun and takes him out with one shot to the head. His lifeless body falls to the floor.
“Let’s get out of here,” he says.