by Sara Schoen
The small flashlight just wasn't enough for me to investigate the papers accurately enough. I could really only use it to skim the words and titles of the files before I stuffed papers into my pockets or folded the file so I could take it with me. I scanned a few more files to find more sheets to take back with me, and then placed them back where I found them. I was running out of room in my pockets so it was time for me to leave and take what I had found. I was about to turn and leave when the lights suddenly flicked on around me.
I froze momentarily, hoping it was Raider playing a joke on me or that this had been a test run of the mission to see if I was capable enough to handle it. However, when I turned around I noticed a tall pale girl with long blonde hair and bright white teeth that could blind someone in the dead of night. She wouldn't have scared me, but she wasn't alone, and the people with her terrified me. Two well-built, large men, who reminded me more of body builders than cartel members, were behind her and had rather upset expressions etched across their face at the sight of me. They had larger bicep muscles than my head, and I knew they meant business by the dangerous gleam in their eyes.
I looked back over at the girl, all she did was smirk at me, blinding me with her teeth. “I thought we had an intruder.”
Chapter 20
“Why are you here?” the girl questioned with authority deep in her voice. I would typically have needed to bite my tongue to prevent a smart-ass remark from escaping my lips, but this time I was frozen in my spot by fear. I wasn't sure what to do, or if I should do anything. There was a part of me hoping that this was a test to determine my worth in the agency, but that idea quickly faded the longer I was with the girl without Raider or Demon walking in and laughing at my expense.
“What are you doing here?” a voice repeated, growing angrier because of my lack of response. I saw her look at the men behind her, her lips were moving, but I wasn't hearing her as my thoughts raced wildly.
Where were Spit Fire and Raider? They were supposed to be here for me if I got into trouble. It was their job to make sure I got out of here. So how come they weren't here now? Were they captured too? I shook my head at the thought, Raider would never let that happen to him. He was too proud and would die before getting captured. Spit Fire would lay low until danger had passed, that is if they were even in trouble.
Maybe they hadn't seen these people coming in. They could be causing the distraction I had been told about, or they could have been forced to leave me behind. I felt a shiver race up my spine at the thought. Demon wouldn't leave without me, I said to myself in an attempt to calm my nerves, but I knew that Demon would be sedated if it meant saving the majority of the team. If that happened, it meant that I was on my own. Waiting for someone to save me was only going to get me killed, but how was I going to get out of here?
I glanced around for some way to get out, but there wasn't a clear exit. There was no way to see through two built men that were blocking the doorway and were preventing me from leaving as I had planned. I looked around the room, trying not to alert the people watching me as I looked for an alternate route. There were a few air vents, but not large enough for me to fit through, and no windows in the room for me to squeeze out of. Something deep inside me knew that it was because they didn't want anyone to harm their boss, but now it was a hindrance to me.
“What are you looking for?” she asked, interrupting my train of thought. I could see the curiosity and hesitation in her eyes as she stepped forward to attempt to take the files from my hand. She grabbed for the files, but I pulled back and held the files close to my chest as if they were important to me, little did she know that I had parts of them in my pockets. “Give me the files!” she demanded, narrowing her eyes at me.
My only answer was a small chuckle that escaped my lips as a plan formed in my head. It wasn't the best plan I’ve ever had, but it was better than nothing. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as I seemed to laugh for an unknown reason. I looked at her two goons as they took a few steps closer to her and me. Following their motions, I backed against the wall, as if I was scared, urging them to move closer to me. When they were only a few feet from me, I threw the files into the air and pushed off the wall.
I took three quick steps before I jumped over her goons with the same move that I had used against Demon and Whiplash when I first woke up in the agency. I landed lightly on the other side of them and took off running while they stood behind me completely bewildered at how I managed to escape from them. Although that didn't last long. As soon as I was out the door the girl ordered them after me, but she didn't know what they had coming when it came to chasing me. I was hard to catch, even when I didn't know where I was or how the building was laid out.
Once again, I was in a maze of hallways and corridors running away from three people chasing me. This was apparently becoming a habit for me, but this time I had more to run for. I was running for my life, and my teammates' lives, but also for the lives of others that would be affected by them when they moved. I had to make it out alive so I could warn my team and stop the cartel from hurting more people, but the only problem was that I had no idea where I was going and didn't have time to stop to get my bearings. I took the first turn I came to, while trying to remember how I came in so I could get out.
I'm going to die, I thought solemnly to myself as I turned a corner to see one of the girl's goons waiting for me. I had a strange sense of déjà vu as I turned around and ran in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, I knew how this would end if I followed the pattern that I had done at the agency, but I had a new plan.
When I came around another corner, I ran into the girl and her other body guard. I stood frozen for a second before I noticed that there was an open air vent in the ceiling further down the hall. It was twice my size, but smaller than the two bodyguards this girl had. I could easily get in there, but the down side was so could she. She was slightly taller than I was, but the space wouldn't have been tight for her and she could easily follow me if she wanted to. Although, unlike her, I had the training in combat if that’s what it came down to. I could handle her, but her friends would be another story.
Without a second thought I slipped my hands into my back pocket and turned on a heel to race back toward the other guard. When I was just around the corner, I jumped from the floor and from the side wall to the ceiling. The gloves stuck solidly to the ceiling and let me hang for a while. I had made it just in time for them to race past me down another hallway without noticing me. Once they had passed to follow after me, I dropped to the ground with a light thud as I silently thanked them for having high ceilings and being so single minded they hadn't thought to look up.
When I started to make my way to the open vent I heard the goons meet up and start racing back toward me. I took off at a full run when one man said that he saw me. I didn't turn around, I focused on the open vent so I wouldn’t miss when I jumped for it. Once I was about a foot from the vent I leapt into the air and grabbed onto the edge of the open vent hole. The ledge was starting to bend as I pulled myself up, suddenly I wished I had done more pull ups than the ones required to pass gym class. I managed to pull myself up as I felt finger tips touch my ankle. That sent fear deep into my system as a new sense of urgency raged through my veins. Forcing myself into the vent, I hit metal a few seconds later and immediately started crawling through the vents, terrified of how I had almost been caught.
“Why the hell did you leave the vent open?” the girl cried as I inspected my shirt, feeling my skin blazing from an injury. My shirt sleeve and torso had ripped, there was blood dripping from the rips in the fabric. I glanced around to see that I had cut myself on a stray metal fragment from the rough entry into the vent, but I was alive and that's what mattered right now.
“We had to get merchandise and other questionable things out of it before the move,” I heard one man respond, watching his words in case I was still able to hear them. He didn’t want me to know what had been in these hallways, which m
eans they had connected who I was with and what we were after.
“That was supposed to be completed yesterday!” she yelled. “Go find her! She can't be allowed to escape or she will make our lives a living hell. Get moving!”
I chuckled lightly as I followed the vent in an attempt to find a way out. I was unsure of where it was going, but I could only hope that it led me away from them and back to my team.
The metal was causing a racket as I traveled through the ducts. No matter how carefully I moved, the metal would clank and pop with each subtle movement I made. I was sure that the goons could follow me easily by listening for me. I tried not to think about them, or my team, but the thoughts wouldn't stop creeping up on me. I was wondering why neither Spit Fire nor Raider had come to help me. It was their job, but they hadn't come and now I was on my own. I was alone with three people that seemed ready to kill me.
I had a few words for them if I make it out of this alive, I thought to myself as I crawled through the metal vent.
I heard other voices traveling through the ducts with me, and none of them sounded friendly. I was sure that I couldn't get out of the building by crawling around in the vents because I had seen very few options for escapes to the outside. I began to plan for the next opening that came and hoped it was close to an outside door. I had refused to take the first few, knowing that they would assume I would come out of the first opening. They would learn quickly that I wasn't coming and had moved on, then they would be after me again. When I finally found another vent hole, I glanced through the grated opening to see a long hallway. I couldn't see anyone in the hallway, but I didn't have a full view due to the cover.
I have to take a chance, I thought as I lifted the cover off to open the hole. There was enough room for me to squeeze through and drop to the floor. I took a deep breath, and dropped down to the floor. I quickly glanced around my surroundings. I was in the middle of yet another hallway, and now I had to decide which way to go so that I could get out. I could go to my left or right, but I couldn't see where either side led and was stuck at a crossroads. As my internal debate continued I heard the voice of two men coming from the far right end of the hallway.
Well I guess I'm not going that way, I thought as I raced toward the left end of the hallway. As I turned the corner I ran into one of the men and the girl followed close behind.
“Get her,” she ordered, sending the man after me with those two simple words.
“Oh crap.” I groaned as I quickly retraced my steps and ran back into my crossroads, but as I turned back into the hallway it was clear that I hadn't thought my plan through well enough. This was ending up just like when I first woke up in the agency and I didn't see another way out of it as I came face to face with other goon. He was racing toward me, while his partner was chasing me. On instinct I jumped over the man coming at me, as I had done to Damon and Whiplash, and raced on when they collided in the center of the hallway.
The girl was unhappy with them, yelling at them to chase after me, as I raced down the hallways and quickly hit a dead end. I could hear them behind me, chasing after me, and telling me that I should just give up. There was no hope for me, they had the whole compound on alert and I would be found along with whoever I came with. Their taunts kept coming as I raced into a side hallway and attempted to escape.
“We can either kill you now or later, you're just delaying the inevitable,” the girl said when they cornered me into another dead end. I turned to see her and one of the body guards coming closer to me, closing off my exits effectively this time.
I had gotten lost in the maze of hallways and corridors, and frankly I didn't recognize any of this as the building I had originally been in. There was a different tile style on the floor and different colors on the walls, and the only thing that I could think of for how I got to a different building was that the vents connected the buildings together. I had gone up in the vent from the other building, but because I didn't drop down from one of the first vents I had crawled into another building. In simple terms, I was royally screwed.
I had made a good run, but now I was stuck at a dead end with rooms around me. As a last choice I ducked into a room, but when I stepped into the room I was suddenly lifted off the ground. I felt a pair of strong hands wrap around my biceps and hold me as I struggled to escape. The lights flicked on to show one of the goons that I had lost track of.
“You're not going anywhere. You're done running,” he grumbled as he put a knife to my neck, before he added, “for good,” with a breathy laugh.
Chapter 21
I was forced into a large, empty concrete room with nothing but saw dust from wooden boxes that must have once been in here covering the floor. There were no windows, only three lights that were used for the entire football-field-length room, and the two exits were blocked by each of the men. As far as I could tell there wasn't a way out this time and they were making sure that I wouldn't get lucky. The man that grabbed me stayed with the girl, who they called Tessa, and stood in front of me in hopes I would answer their questions.
“Tell us what you are doing here,” the girl ordered again. I hadn't answered the first few times, but after her goon punched and kicked me I went along with a lie.
“I was moving the files for transfer. The boss wanted them moved before everything else to prevent exactly what could have happened tonight if I was actually after the information. You came after me without letting me explain, and with guns and threats there was no way I was going to stop. I was employed to test you guys; I had almost done it too. Your boss won't be happy to hear about this.”
“Don't lie to me,” was all she said. Her eyes turning dark and uncaring the longer I stared into them. She had clearly been in this business too long. I looked into her green eyes as I tried to assess how to handle this, but was coming up short. She seemed proud, confident, but there was something else, and I would have to exploit it to get out of here. There wasn't anything clear except that she had to be in control, if she didn't have control she was scrambling to get it. I had used that before, and lost. Now I needed something else to manipulate.
“I'm not lying,” I said, but I could see in her eyes that she didn't believe me. I didn’t miss the slight gleam her eye that said that I was taking this too far, and if I was going to play games, then so would she.
“Then let me ask you some questions,” she vaguely replied. “Who is our boss? You know the one that supposedly hired you to do this job.”
“Sam Hicks,” I said without hesitation. I saw her straighten up slightly at the mention of his name, but she continued as if there was nothing wrong.
“And what were you looking for?”
“Nothing, I was just here to take files out of the room and if caught to escape. If I was captured I was supposed to not ask for Hicks, and suffer whatever consequences may occur,” I answered smartly as I waited for her next question.
“I hate to be the one to tell you this,” she sighed, pausing momentarily. “But whoever gave you your information is wrong.” She allowed a few moments of pause to allow the information to sink in.
My heart started to race, and my pulse quickened to a dangerous rate as she leaned into tell me what I got wrong. I didn't respond, I let her finish her monologue.
When she realized I wasn't going to reply she took it on herself to get me to say something. “Sam Hicks isn't our boss. He isn't even the second in command in this family.” I felt my face scrunch up in confusion at the way she said family, but I tried to ignore it. “He's a low level hitman we have. If we don't want to get our hands dirty then we send him out, but we can dirty our hands ourselves as well.” When I still didn't respond to her words she asked, “Well? You were lied to and you have nothing to say?”
I didn't answer, I stood still and refused to speak. I had learned a long time ago that talking can only get you into trouble and I didn’t want that here. I had to think of a way out, and I had to be alive to do it.
“Does the cat ha
ve your tongue or are you just upset you lost?”
I felt a smile twitch onto my lips at her words. I figured out what I could exploit, her fatal flaw in this moment in time. She was competitive, she had to win at everything; just like she had to have control. If she had control then she could win, and that's what mattered to her because if she lost in this business it meant more than just a few hundred dollars. That was why she hated that I escaped the first time. She had lost control, she had me cornered and failed to keep me contained. That's why she brought me here, to contain me better, but she failed once again. She gave away more than she intended and now she would suffer for it.
“What is so amusing?” I let a laugh slip through my lips, but that only made her angrier. She didn't understand, and that made her think that I had a plan or I knew something she didn't, she was starting to lose control again. “Tell me what's so funny!”
“How about we make a deal?” I offered bluntly, replacing the smile on her face to a look of pure confusion and shock.
“You are in no position to make a deal. We have you, we can kill you at any minute. There's nothing you can offer us to make a deal worth my while.”
“If you wanted to kill me you would have done it by now,” I bluffed. I actually didn't know if they would have, but since I was still alive it was a good guess on my part, and technically not a lie. When she didn't answer, and none of her goons shot me, I took it as an acceptance of my offer to at least hear me out. “You ask a question, I answer then I get to ask you a question. First one to catch a lie gets what they want, you can get rid of me and I can leave out one of these doors, but if you call it a lie and it isn't then the other person wins.”
