I felt the pressure on my windpipe and I couldn’t inhale. The pain increased the longer his hand was wrapped around me and I felt myself getting dizzy as I went longer and longer without oxygen. My eyes got bigger and I looked from Gino to Chris and back again. Chris looked calm and didn’t seem to care at all that I was in the midst of being killed by this man. He kept his cool and kept his attention on Gino.
“Yeah, let’s just bring her downstairs and let her point out the guy. I’m sure by this time she is ready to cooperate,” Chris said as he inched closer to Gino.
I didn’t know if he had intended to actually do anything if Gino continued to strangle me, but luckily Gino released me from his grip. My body collapsed to the ground and I gulped in air as much as I could. I grasped onto my neck and felt the sharp pain that rushed through me as I tried to fill my lungs back up with the sweet oxygen that they had been deprived of.
“You better not fuck with me bitch,” Gino said as he walked toward the stairs at the other end of the warehouse second floor. I now knew why he was such a feared man. His kindness toward me at first had only been an act; that man was clearly willing to murder me without a second thought. I searched Chris’ eyes for some sort of help or understanding as he grabbed me and pulled me to my feet.
For a second I thought I saw something, but then he turned back into Skinner and pulled me roughly toward the stairs.
“We need to stall for about twenty more minutes, do the best you can. I promise I’ll keep you safe,” Chris whispered as we moved down the stairs. There he was; there was the Chris I knew. Now I just had to figure out how to stall a killer for twenty minutes.
Chapter 56
When we reached the bottom floor, no one was asleep anymore. I saw Gunner’s body near the door and it looked like he had a gunshot to his head. I looked away quickly. There was no time to be sad about his death; that would have to come later.
“Line them up,” Gino said to the man who stood next to Chris.
Everyone lined up quicker than I had hoped and within a moment they were ready for Gino. Chris still held onto me as Gino moved toward the line of people.
“This is over, I’m going to kill the girl if you don’t step forward,” Gino said as he looked at the group of people.
I saw the guy from the bed and breakfast and he looked at me and then at Chris. I didn’t know who the third guy was that Chris said was undercover. I also didn’t know how on earth I would be able to stall this situation at all. Chris and the other guy who Gino seemed to trust brought me up to the line of people and stood me next to Gino.
Gino held onto me and Chris and the other guy let go and stepped back. I felt more unsafe than I ever had. Gino clearly had no concern for my life at all; he didn’t care about me or anyone else in the room. He just didn’t want the mole to continue to feed information to the police.
He grabbed me by the hair and pulled me down to the first person in the line.
“Do you know him?” Gino asked.
I shook my head no. We stepped next in line.
“Do you know him?” he asked again.
I again shook my head no. I felt relieved though, if this was how it was going to go, we would easily take twenty minutes and the raid would be here by the time we got to the end of the line. But I wasn’t that lucky. After about ten people, Gino got frustrated and threw me onto the ground.
“Just tell me which one of these guys you know,” Gino yelled.
Chris and the other man came and picked me up from the floor.
“I know her,” the man from the bed and breakfast stepped forward from the other end of the line. I looked at him with urgency; I couldn’t understand why he had stepped forward. Why would he put himself at risk if he knew the raid was coming?
I broke free from Chris and the other man holding me and tried to cause a commotion, but Gino was there quickly and grabbed me by the hair and pulled me toward him. His face was only a few inches away from mine and I could smell his breath.
“You’ll be dead in a few minutes sweetheart, no running away now.” His eyes were cold and void of any emotion. I felt the fear as it took over my body and I couldn’t move. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t stand the thought of him killing the guy that worked with Chris. I closed my eyes and felt Chris and the other man grab onto me again.
This was it; it was all going to be over in just a minute. That man was going to get shot and then I would die too. Gino made his way toward the man with his gun drawn, he passed in front of Chris and I and then the other man who held onto me. I closed my eyes for a moment as I thought Gino was going to shoot the man and I didn’t want to see it happen.
Then suddenly the second man holding onto me let go and wrapped his arm around Gino’s neck. Chris grabbed the gun out of his hands and the man from the bed and breakfast took the gun and held it toward the long line of people. I could see the shock on everyone’s faces. Not only was their boss being held in a headlock, but the two men that were closest to him were the ones doing it. The two men that he had not expected at all were the ones who had turned against him.
Luckily none of them had their weapons anymore since Gino had suspected them all of being possible moles he must have had their weapons taken from them. A few of the people looked like they might try to rescue their leader from Chris and the other man who held him. But there wasn’t enough time.
Within seconds, there was a swarm of swat team people that broke down the door and screamed as they entered the room. I stood still as the men forced their way into the crowd and moved right past me. Each man grabbed one or two people and pressed them to the floor as I heard them shout.
“Put your hands up,” they yelled. “Everyone on your knees with your hands in the air.”
I looked at Chris and the other man that had been holding me. They had control over Gino and were moving him to the ground. It all had happened so quickly. I just stood there and took a step back as I watched the whole scene unfold. It was chaos as each person was held to the ground and searched for weapons. There was screaming and plenty of swearing as Gino’s men put up a valiant fight against the police force that was arresting them.
I continued to move back farther and farther from the scene until I ran into the wall on the other side of the room. Then I slid down against the wall and started to shake as I realized the whole thing was finally over. I pulled my knees up to my chest and covered my face as I was overcome with emotion by the whole situation.
Then suddenly I was swept up off the ground. I looked up and saw Chris. He had me in his arms and walked with me out of the warehouse. I expected he would set me down in the parking lot outside, but instead he just kept walking.
“Where are you taking me?” I choked out, and he continued to walk farther and farther away from the warehouse.
“Somewhere beautiful,” he said. He adjusted his grip and continued to carry me. It reminded me of the night we first made love and how he had carried me from the forest where I had been taking pictures all the way back to my house. I let my head rest on his shoulder as the determination in his steps brought us farther and farther away from the horror of the warehouse. The sound of the police sirens began to get drown out as we moved closer to the city and farther from the crime scene.
The sun was rising as Chris finally sat me down on a bench overlooking the shipping yard. I could see the whole city of Chicago behind me and the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen right in front of me.
“I wish I had my camera,” I whispered as I looked out over the water.
Chris leaned down and kissed me. The gentle loving kiss of a man who had finally finished the hardest job of his life.
“Some moments don’t need a camera to be remembered,” Chris said.
He grabbed my hand and we both looked off into the distance and watched the start of the new day and our new life together.
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 Claire Adams
Secrets (A Standalone Novel) (A Suspense Romance) Page 17
