by Mia Hoddell
“What you going to do? Beat me into submission? Because I can guarantee that my unconscious or dead body will be less help to you than this one. It may be quieter but not helpful,” Cora taunted, uncertain of what Mayana had planned.
“No but semi-conscious is good enough for me,” Mayana said, a sinister smile forming on her face as she signalled for the men to move in on Cora with a flick of her wrist.
The two men closed in on her from either side, advancing quickly.
With her back against the wall, Cora had nowhere to turn. Her eyes searched the space frantically but their bodies filled the entire room.
Taking up a defensive position, she kept her hands out and ready in case she needed to deflect any blows.
“Sure you won’t join us, Cora?”
“Go to hell Mayana,” Cora spat, momentarily taking her eyes from the men in front of her.
That second was all it took.
Before she had time to react, a hand found her wrist, locking around it tightly. Yanking her hard, it released a second later, letting her fly across the small space.
Clattering into the shelves Cora only just raised her hands in time to stop her face smashing into the paint can she had been so fond of earlier. The force the impact put on her hands rebounded, sending her crashing to the floor on her back.
Disorientated by the sudden movement, Cora tried to stumble to her feet only to be kicked in the ribs which sent her sprawling to the floor again. Before she could find any grip, a heavy boot pressed down on her throat. It didn’t take long for Cora to figure out that the more she struggled, the harder the applied force would push into her wind pipe, cutting off her air supply.
Lying as still as possible, Cora waited for what would happen next. She made no sudden movements and drew in long breaths, just in case. She couldn’t see Mayana from her position but she could hear the pleasure in her voice as she spoke.
“How about now? Do you agree to my terms and accept my authority?”
Cora remained silent. She didn’t think the words that wanted to spill from her mouth were the ones most likely to free her.
Silence wasn’t an option.
With the man’s boot hovering over her throat, his leg was blocking all view of anything around her. That fact caused Cora not to see what the other guy was doing. She could feel it though and gritting her teeth together, she tried to stop herself from calling out.
An intense pressure was building on her shin, the man’s foot crushing the bone beneath it painfully.
“Are you going to agree to my plan, Cora?” Mayana said sternly from the doorway, her arms resting on her hips as she watched her men.
“No,” Cora choked out as the foot at her neck increased in pressure cutting off her air slightly and her insult that was about to follow. It wasn’t enough to stop her breathing all together but for once in her life Cora felt scared—not that she was going to show them that.
“Care to reconsider?”
“No.” She thought short answers with a lack of insult attached to them would work best. She was wrong.
As the word left her mouth the man standing on her shin applied more pressure, the tread of his shoe grinding into the bone and threatening to snap it should she not agree.
Cora could hear her teeth grinding together in pain as she bit her tongue to stop her cry.
The pressure increased, becoming unbearable and Cora tried to squirm out from underneath it. All it did was cause more pressure to be added.
Finally breaking, Cora screamed out in both agony and frustration. She went to try and raise her head on impulse, only to press her throat further into the foot that was there. Her body wriggled on the floor like a beached fish but she couldn’t get free, it only intensified everything as she shouted out.
“One word, Cora. One word and it all stops.”
“No.”
“Not the word I was looking for, Cora.” Mayana tutted but the sound was cut off by another scream as one of her men applied more pressure to her small body.
“One last chance, Cora. Do you agree to my orders?”
Cora could hear Mayana’s patience was wearing thin.
“I will never work for you Mayana and I will never sign anything over to you,” Cora hissed through her teeth as she numbed the pain with her anger.
“Then you’ll do it under force.”
Cora heard the door open and suddenly the pressure on her leg disappeared, releasing a flow of blood to her foot and causing her to wince.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Mayana had already left the room.
As the foot at her neck was removed, Cora went to sit up and inspect the damage. However, she only got half way before a kick landed to her gut. Winding her with a grunt, Cora doubled over, clutching at her stomach as she groaned, her eyes shut tightly.
The door clicked shut and locked behind them, leaving Cora to recover in private. Slowly she regained her breathing. It levelled out and returned to a steady rhythm. When that had settled, Cora pulled herself out of the foetal position and stretched out to massage her shin. She rubbed her throat a few times but it was her leg that had taken the brunt of the attack.
Gently she rubbed her hand over it, trying to ease the ache but only inflamed the pain. There would be a bruise but that wasn’t what worried Cora. What concerned her was that she didn’t know whether it affected her ability to walk.
Only one way to find out I guess, she thought as she braced her hand firmly on the floor. Making sure she put all the pressure on her good leg, she pulled herself to her feet and tentatively lowered her other foot to the floor.
As the sole made contact, Cora winced slightly, a sharp flash of pain shooting along the bone and up her leg. Not one to give up, Cora was determined to beat what she considered an inconvenience. Removing the pressure, Cora placed her foot on the floor again, allowing the pain to shoot up again and again as she tried to get used to it.
Slowly she progressed to walking around the small space. Her jaw was locked tightly together—the only outward sign of pain as she refused to wince with every step.
Cora was at the back of the room when the door slammed open in front of her. She jumped slightly at the noise, startled by the sudden entrance and stumbled, accidentally applying more pressure than she anticipated. It hurt but she was distracted by the figure in the doorway.
“Come on, we’re leaving,” Jed ordered, reaching for her arm.
“Why would I trust you?” she spat, standing so that all her weight was distributed on to her uninjured leg.
“Because I’m your only hope of getting out of here. Mayana is taking things too far. I saw what she did to you and I know what she has planned for you next.” He tried to pull her gently towards the door.
Cora refused to move, testing the words for a lie. Although she wanted to leave, she was slightly disappointed when they came back as truthful. She wanted a reason to hate Jed even more. She didn’t want a reason to be grateful or owe him in any way.
“Cora, we have to leave now. That is unless you want to be used as a hostage, human shield and a weapon against Carvelli.”
“All right, all right I’m moving.” Slowly Cora allowed Jed to guide her out of the door. Lying on the floor unconscious were the two men Mayana had entered the room with and Cora didn’t know whether to be impressed that Jed had managed to take them out without her noticing. She had been trapped inside her mind though, so she doubted much would have penetrated it.
“Can you move any quicker? If I’m caught doing this, I’m dead.” Jed said.
“I didn’t ask you to do this.” Looking across at Jed he looked at her incredulously. “What? You want me to thank you?”
“Have you ever let anyone in Cora, trusted anyone?” Jed asked, diverting her to silence the sarcasm.
“So why are you helping me?” Cora used his own tactic against him, changing the subject back.
“I don’t know right now, because sometimes you are an ung
rateful bitch.” His words were clear, she knew he meant it and she couldn’t help but smile at his annoyance.
“So this is about me acknowledging what you are doing? I need to praise and thank you like a schoolboy?” She grinned again.
Jed was unable to see. “Is this just your defence? Do you ever let anyone in?”
“Never. That’s how I survived this long.” Her blunt statement hung in the air, neither knowing how to follow it as Jed led her along to the platform. Seeing her limp becoming more pronounced in the silence, Jed took her arm over his as support. At the platform edge, carefully he lowered her down on to the tracks; his concern something Cora noticed.
“Look, I can’t go any further, I need to get back and make sure no one is following. Keep your hand on the left wall, a platform should appear soon enough. Take that exit and don’t come back unless I call, all right? Do you think you can manage that on your leg?” Jed said apologetically.
Cora said nothing, she didn’t want to be in his debt and thanking him would acknowledge that fact. Instead, she nodded and kept walking, following his instructions as she hissed through the shooting pains.
Chapter 21
“Somebody bring up Cora’s location immediately!” Rogan roared as he hung up on the continuous, unanswered ring while he tried to get hold of her. He wanted to throw the phone across the room but just managed to refrain. Instead his hand tightened around the device so much it looked as if he was going to snap it or reshape it to mould his fingers.
The men that were in the comms room, moved frantically, their steps brisk and purposeful as they dodged his frantic pacing. Liam—who held the position of Rogan’s personal assistant—tapped furiously at his keyboard, flicking through the numerous CCTV images to find the correct screen. His eyes were locked on to it as he complied with Rogan’s orders, sensing his boss wasn’t in the mood to be messed around.
Studying the maps carefully, Liam checked them a few times but when he did not get the desired response, he gulped. Trying to will them into giving him a location, Liam finally admitted he would have to relay the bad news. “Sir, it’s dead. There’s no signal transmitting,” Liam called out nervously, his hands shaking and rattling against his keyboard. He knew Rogan hated any sign of weakness in his men but Liam had been on the receiving end of his wrath more than once, and that affects a person in a certain way. Liam accepted that it came with the job but that didn’t mean he liked it.
“What? It can’t be.” Rogan charged to see the screen for himself. As he reached him, Liam flew up from the seat, allowing Rogan to sit down.
Sure enough, as Rogan studied the screens himself—his face contorting into an angry mask—there wasn’t the slightest blip of red on the screen. He couldn’t believe Cora had found the device. Well, he could but he didn’t expect it to be so soon.
“Get the word out, I want her found and I want to know where she has been,” Rogan ordered, watching his men react instantly, leaving the room in pursuit of Cora.
* * *
Kirby felt like he was six was years old again as he sat in the corridor outside Rogan’s office. He used to want to be included so much that he would sit outside the door for hours, just listening to Rogan’s meeting so he could pretend he was part of the organisation. The only difference between now and then was that at six, Kirby could pretend. At twenty-one he couldn’t.
As well as that, Kirby had more of a purpose this time. As he listened to his father rant, shout and lose his temper with anyone in sight he hoped Rogan would let the information he needed slip.
Everyone thought he was weak, incapable of doing anything. Rogan had added to his insecurity by making sure everyone believed it. Leaving everything to Cora—a girl he hardly knew—over his son was like sending out a memo to everyone in his organisation about his lack of faith. It was for that reason that people ignored him.
Most wouldn’t be allowed to sit where he was, but being Rogan’s son had some advantages, even if he was useless. The first was when he did ask for something, people obeyed. The second was that people underestimated him and therefore left him to his own devices a lot of the time. They assumed that because of the rumours, he wouldn’t be any trouble. It was a useful result from Rogan’s disownment.
Smiling to himself, he watched as Nick—another person above him in the line to Rogan’s inheritance—strode down the corridor half an hour later, his boots making dull thuds as he walked. Nick barely even gave him a second glance. Instead frustrated, he stepped over Kirby’s legs and continued past him into Rogan’s office. As the door shut behind Nick, Kirby leaned forward slightly, shuffling closer to make sure he could catch every word.
He knew Nick was about to deliver the information he needed.
“You find her?” Rogan’s deep voice came through the wood easily so Kirby could hear.
“Yes. She wasn’t that hard to find and she didn’t put up a fuss for once. A few of the guys found her in her flat. She claims to have sprained her ankle so has been there all day.”
“Claims? You don’t believe her story then?”
“I’m not saying that, I just don’t think we should assume anything she says is going to be the truth.” Nick had learnt from past experiences to always cover himself with Rogan. He had more sway than the rest of Rogan’s employees but very rarely did Nick give his true opinion on matters regarding Cora. It was just better that way.
“So you think she’s just been ignoring my phone calls?”
“My guess is she found the tracking device and is now punishing you. You know how stubborn she gets. Do you want me to send someone to bring her in?”
“No, leave her for a bit. She’s only making the situation worse for herself,” Rogan replied and as Kirby heard footsteps drawing closer to the door he shuffled back a few metres quickly, settling down just as the door swung open and Nick left.
Satisfied with the information he had collected, Kirby stood when the corridor was empty once more. He could now implement his plan. By the evening, he would be one step closer to his goal. People would stop underestimating him and he would prove Rogan wrong.
Within his mind he was certain his problem with Cora would soon be solved.
Chapter 22
Cora had followed Jed’s instructions and emerged from the tube station half an hour after he had left her. She had headed straight for her flat, not wanting to make her leg even worse by walking around for a long time just so she could clear her head. She also had nowhere else to go so whether or not the flat was safe it was all she had besides Rogan’s. Unsurprisingly that place didn’t rank very highly on her list so she had to trust that her guards would stop any repercussion from Mayana.
Sitting with both of her feet up on the sofa a day later, Cora had one of the few remaining books on her lap. It was one Misty had left behind when she packed up and even though Cora was not a big fan of reading—she hated sitting still for so long—it was, on occasion, a nice change of pace. She couldn’t help but laugh though at her situation. There she was in the middle of a fight between two organisations who wanted to use her and she had decided that it was time to start reading a book? After all the ‘she should read more lectures’ from her friend, Cora was sure she would never pick up a book willingly, but here she was in the most extreme circumstances and she was enjoying it. The book was a great distraction from her thoughts and surprisingly intriguing.
However, the progress she had made soon became too good to be true. She had only read fifty pages when her mind began to wander. Cora couldn’t help but wonder what Rogan was doing and whether he had tried to contact her while she had been in the tunnel. If he had, he was probably furious with her and the fact he had sent some of his goons around earlier to check up on her only confirmed her suspicions. It also meant he had found out she had destroyed the tracking device.
The only thing that didn’t make sense was why the men had bought her lie. Well, in all honesty it was only a half lie but they still left incredibly easily. The fa
ct that they hadn’t used force to remove her made her question what Rogan’s motives were.
Smiling at the thought of his anger when he first realised what she had done, she returned to her book. She didn’t know how much time she had given herself by sending his men away, but she planned to spend it relaxing. There was no were else she could go anyway and she wasn’t going to let them ruin the rest of the evening.
* * *
The light was only just beginning to fade as Kirby left the mansion. He had managed to round up four men who were unhappy enough working under Rogan to agree to defy him and help. There were, of course, plenty of men unhappy with their lot. Working for Rogan was not a career path anyone chose willingly yet few would risk their life to get out of it. For that reason, Kirby had to choose the men he had asked wisely. He didn’t want anyone running off to warn Rogan of his plan.
Not to Kirby’s surprise all the men who had agreed to accompany him were guys who had been forced to sign their loyalty and life away because of gambling debts they couldn’t pay off. By offering freedom, when Kirby said he would take over the family business, he had secured their help and loyalty—at least for a night.
Thanks to Nick, Kirby knew exactly where to find Cora. He couldn’t contain his smug grin as he walked on. People had underestimated him; they thought he couldn’t perform and now he was about to prove them wrong. He had been planning ever since Cora returned so it was by no means a rash decision. However, things with Rogan had progressed further than he wanted. He knew people were trying to take him down and Kirby needed everything sorted before the old bastard bit the dust. His plan had been pushed forward, but he was ready. How hard could one girl be to take down? He kept asking himself but he already knew the answer: it wasn’t a girl, it was Cora Shields. She had a reputation, she had a history, and she was skilled. He just hoped surprise would be enough to stun her and with the uneven numbers the force would overpower her.
