Ford Security

by Clara Kendrick

  In the near distance, I can hear a car pulling up to the front of the house. And then seconds later, I can hear the front door opening and then subsequently closing. I tighten my grip on my gun, rage and anger burrow through my veins. Even with all the self-control and discipline in the world, I'm not sure I will be able to stop myself from pulling the trigger before he's given me the information that I need.

  From underneath and above the doors, I can see lights flicker on, illuminating the hallway that leads to the office. He's coming straight for me but he doesn't know I'm here. I have the element of surprise and all that he has left is about to be regrets. Regrets for tying himself to Seth’s wagon. Regrets for crossing me. Regrets that he ever laid eyes on my sister.

  My heart begins to race, beats incredibly fast. If I didn't know any better I would think I'm having a heart attack. But I do know better and I know that is nothing more than adrenaline. I live my life on the edge, always getting myself into situations that I shouldn't survive. But somehow, I always do survive because my will to live and fight for what's right is stronger than any man I've ever come against.

  Both of the two French doors in front of me part open at the same exact time as Christopher Lawson storms into his office.

  Our eyes immediately lock with each other like two opponents in Mortal Kombat. But he doesn't look scared, not even in the slightest. Even as I raise the gun to aim squarely at his head, he remains calm and measured. And I don't know how because even as strong-willed as I am, when a gun is pointed in my face, I tend to at least show some signs of panic.

  People like Christopher, they sold their souls a long time ago. And maybe one of the things they were exchanging their souls for was the ability to never be afraid. In his line of work that would be a beyond useful trait.

  "You're a dead man walking." My finger dances on the trigger, itching to put a bullet through this man's head. But I don't pull the trigger because I need something from him. And he's going to give me what I need. "From the second you walked into this room, your fate has been sealed."

  "Ah." He wags his finger at me with a shit-eating grin hitched across his lips. He's a middle-aged man with a full head of dark black hair. His face and his hands are tan, contrasted against the all-black suit he’s wearing. "You're delusional if you think you're not already dead." He steps towards me. One step first and then another before he stops. He cocks his head sideways and narrows his eyes on me. "What the hell are you doing in my home?"

  "Why are you still alive?"

  "Interesting…" He's not scared at all. "So, it was you who blew up the building and all of my associates?" He grits his teeth before he chuckles wildly. "You’ve got a lot of balls showing up here."

  I decide to take responsibility for the blowing up of the Grimm Industries building, not only because I feel the need to protect Zach and Zane but also because I want to make him feel fear, if that's even possible. "And somehow you escaped—”

  "Yeah, see, the funny thing is…" He wags his finger at me again and cracks a wide mischievous grin that sends a chill down my spine. "When I was standing on the rooftop, at the exact right time I looked over my shoulder and I saw you fleeing. And though I've never known you well, Dominic, I've never trusted you. So, seeing how you and your friend were fleeing the scene, I thought it was in my best interest to flee too. The thing about people like you and I, Dominic, is that we have a high level of self-preservation."

  "If that were true, then what the hell are you smiling about?" I reaffirm my grip on the gun before continuing, "I am standing here in front of you prepared to send a bullet through your brain. Those doors behind you are about to be painted in your own blood. There is nothing to be smiling about."

  He steps a little closer, steps right up next to the desk. He's far enough away from me so that he won't be able to do something stupid but he’s still getting too close for comfort. He leans over the desk slightly, still wearing the same shit-eating grin. It's a smile that makes me want to really pull this trigger because it is one forged from evil and malice and cockiness.

  "Now, let me tell you one last secret." He clicks his tongue against his cheek and then whispers to me, "I knew you were here before I even stepped foot in the front door, and I'm not the only one."

  Chills run down my body again and suddenly I have a feeling that not only am I being watched right now, I've been being watched since I first stepped foot into this house.

  He leans back and straightens himself out, straightens out his jacket of his suit too. "I hope you enjoyed that one final glimpse of your sister because it's the last time you’re ever going to see her again."

  Just when I'm about to pull the trigger, betraying my own promise I made to myself to not kill him until I got the information I needed from him, something peculiar catches my attention from behind me.

  From behind me, I hear glass shattering and feel a pain that's familiar to me, the feeling of a tranquilizer dart burrowing beneath my skin. I grunt out in pain and shuffle forward just before my eyes become heavy, my eyelids tripping over my eyes. My vision is blurred and the sounds all around me become more and more muffled until it all seems to bleed together.

  The last thing I see before my face cracks against the hardwood floor is Christopher approaching me and then dropping to his knees. I try to make eye contact with him but everything goes dark…

  ###

  I awake in the back of a van with my hands bound behind my back, and though my eyes are still heavy and tired, blurry even, I can make out that we're heading deeper and deeper into the Hollywood Hills. My eyes glance up to the front seats in front of me to see two unfamiliar faces sitting there. Neither of them are Christopher Lawson himself.

  I imagine he had his men come at me from behind. And though they had to shatter the beautiful glass windows behind me to shoot me with the tranquilizer dart, I'm sure Christopher has more than enough money to repair that window and then some.

  For a split second, I start to regret my decision of not following Katie out of the house. She had warned me this would happen, and I was too filled with rage to listen to her. That's one of my character flaws though. I can be hotheaded at the worst possible times. It's a condition of losing everything I've lost in my life. I'm not the best at remaining composed, especially when it comes to my sister that I haven't seen in ten years.

  It was almost easier when I first began to believe that she was dead. It was easier because I was tired of fighting and I had nothing to fight for anymore. But now, I have something to fight for. Even after seeing the security footage of my sister, I still had my doubts that she was alive. Christopher himself confirmed that she was.

  And now until my last dying breaths, I'm going to fight like hell for the people I love.

  Without causing too much commotion and without alerting the two men that I'm awake in the back of the van, I subtly try to push myself against the far right side of the van on the opposite side of the cargo door. I'm looking for something to assist in cutting the ropes that have me bound but there doesn't seem to be anything of use.

  I try to understand why Christopher didn't kill me when he had the chance. His men hit me with tranquilizer darts when they could have just shot me dead. That gives me a little hope that they don't plan on killing me because if they planned to do that, I'd already be dead. No, they have something else planned for me and if that's true, it has to be a fate worse than death.

  Now, I must bide my time until I can make my move. Whenever that time comes, it won't be in the back of this van because I have no tools at my disposal. I'll have to wait for the exact right time and the exact right place, only then will I make my move.

  And these two men will regret ever carrying out Christopher's request. They are nothing more than men for hire. I can tell as much based on the way they carry themselves in the front seat. The two of them, it would seem, have a bond with each other. A bond strong enough that they can laugh even in the face of these horrendous acts.

  I
close my eyes, either to pretend that I'm still asleep or maybe I'll just take a nap. Like I said, I'm not too worried about them killing me right now. And it might be a good thing to get some rest before I send both of them to an early grave.

  The poison from the tranquilizer dart is still inside my system so it doesn't take a lot of effort to begin to drift off into slumber. But almost as soon as I shut my eyes, I hear something strange. At first, it sounds like the grinding of metal against metal. Without thinking, I shuffle to a sitting position and when I do, I can hear the sound of gunfire from right beside us.

  I duck down and shield my face, all the while knowing that there's nothing I can do to protect myself while bound in the back of this van that's about to become a death trap.

  CHAPTER 6

  KATIE

  Tosha, my short little assassin with short brown hair who is also my other best friend besides Alice, steers the car as I unload my clip out the window.

  Bullets clatter against the outside of the white cargo van beside me. And when the driver looks over to me, there's a combination of anger, fear, and death in his eyes. I pass him a glowing smile to annoy him or something, hell I don't know. He jerks the steering wheel to the right and down a neighboring road. As Tosha corrects the wheel to follow him, my upper body that's hanging outside the window is jolted, the side of my body cracking against the side of the window.

  The cargo van races ahead of us, going faster than us but that's all part of the plan. I slide back into the passenger seat and reload my clip as we continue to trail the van.

  As soon as I left Christopher's home, as soon as I saw him pulling into his own driveway, I began to have regrets about leaving Dominic there to fend for himself. He was only there because of me. I mean, I guess it's true that he was technically only there because I had promised him information about his sister. Still, he was only there because I convinced him to go with me. I understood immediately why he couldn't bring himself to leave. He had started to believe that his sister was dead, ripping all hope away from him. For him to discover that his sister was still alive, it must have been a shock to his system. And that's why he chose to stay because he was going to kill Christopher at any cost, even if it meant dying himself.

  But he couldn't see it in the moment how selfish that was. He couldn't see that revenge was going to cost him the thing he wants more than anything else in this world—to see his sister again.

  I called both Tosha and Alice immediately and told them to meet me. They didn't ask too many questions, not even when I asked them to bring semi-automatic weaponry. That's the name of the game. In my line of work, we don't often resort to violence on our own behalf. However, we are trained well enough to use firearms when absolutely necessary. There have been times when we have had to defend ourselves against potential enemies.

  Alice isn't with us though. Not right now. She's been instructed to set the trap on the road up ahead.

  I settle my eyes on the road ahead and pay close attention to every move of the men in front of us. The one thing I can't gather is why they haven't tried firing back yet. We are in a high-speed chase down the streets of the Hollywood Hills. Outside of the occasional celebrity party, these hills are often the quietest parts of the city. Not tonight.

  The only reason I'm firing this gun at all is to scare the drivers and to force them to take the route I need them to take. I have no intention of killing anyone tonight unless it's absolutely necessary. I'm not a mercenary in that regard. And even though I'm not the most noble person in the world, I still value human life. I even value the lives of people who I shouldn't, but I guess that's just a part of my DNA.

  Just up ahead, I need the men to take a right around long and winding curves that will take us higher and higher into the mountains. By the looks of it though, it doesn't seem like they have any intention of taking that path so we have to force them.

  "You know what to do," I say to Tosha and catch a quick glance at my friend and coworker. There's a steel resolve written all over her face and it's remarkable because in this game of tug-of-war, she has no personal stakes.

  "Oh," she chuckles, "I think I have an idea."

  She accelerates faster and faster until we are zipping into the oncoming lane where there is no traffic and creep up so that we’re right beside the van. I exhale sharply and prepare myself for impact as she swerves to the right and collides against the van, sending sparks flying as metal crunches against metal. We almost lose control of the vehicle before she steers to the left and away from the van, but the van has done exactly what I needed it to do.

  The men drive higher into the mountains, taking the exact route I need them to. Tosha speeds up so that we are tailing them once more and still in this very moment, I can't understand why they're not fighting back. There's a sinking feeling in my gut that says that they, too, are up to something.

  I ignore that voice though.

  We are now about a half-mile out from the trap so I retrieve my phone and call up Alice. The phone rings twice before she answers it with a huff. "Hello?"

  "Are you in place?" I question her.

  "Everything is ready." And just like that, she hangs up the phone. I drop the phone into the center console and reaffirm my grip on my gun. I close my eyes and pray silently that Alice hasn't set the trap too far in advance because if she has, we risk being caught in the crossfire like collateral damage.

  "Slow down a little," I say to Tosha, my heart just about to beat out of my chest. On the surface, we are so far out of our league. This isn't a typical night in our business. A typical night is sitting at the computer and doing recon. Most of the information—secrets—we steal and sell to the highest bidder are procured from hard drives. It's not often that we need to confront anyone unless a job goes severely wrong. Still, I can't help but to smile just a little knowing that we are expanding our horizons.

  I can feel us slowing down as Tosha applies pressure to the brakes. I imagine the man in the van will soon enough wonder why we pulled back, but by then it will be too late. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Alice standing in-between trees in the near distance.

  Showtime.

  The van crosses the threshold, its tires racing over a spike strip that Alice left in the road. The tires pop as the sharp spikes dig into the rubber, forcing the van to veer out of control. Down to the rims, the wheels spin against the asphalt sending hot sparks into the air behind it. I watch with bated breath, hoping that Dominic isn't injured in the inevitable crash. But it's a risk we had to take because I don't know if there is any other way to get Dominic back without casualties.

  In front of us, Alice races into the middle of the road to retrieve the homemade spike strips. And as soon as she rolls them out of the way, Tosha accelerates past Alice and towards the van that has now come to a stop, its front tires buried in a ditch so that the van is facing downwards towards the forest.

  Tosha brings us to an abrupt stop just beside the scene of the accident. I pop open the passenger door and jump out onto my feet with my gun aimed squarely at the driver door ahead.

  The door is pushed open and the driver rolls out of the van and onto the asphalt. He coughs as he tries to collect himself and forces himself to his feet.

  By the time he does so, I'm standing right in front of him with the gun aimed squarely at him. He swallows a gulp in his throat and raises his hands above his head indicating that he is prepared to surrender. He has a familiar face but I can't quite pinpoint where I've seen him before. I'm sure that after we leave the scene of the accident, when we are driving back into the city safe and sound, that's when I'll remember who he is.

  From behind me, I hear Tosha running towards me. And then out of the corner of my eye, she rushes to the van and slides the side cargo door open. She climbs into the back of the van as Alice races around to the passenger door with her gun held high.

  It's quite the beautiful sight. Three women taking control of the situation; the three of us saving a man from two other
men. It's a woman's world right now and I’m reveling in it.

  The man before me shivers slightly. His hands shake while held high above his head. And his lips tremble as he begins to speak. "We have nothing to do with this."

  "That's interesting considering you're holding my friend hostage in the back of your van."

  His eyes shift to the side as Tosha retrieves Dominic from the back of the van. As soon as Dominic's feet land on the asphalt, Tosha cuts the ropes holding his hands behind his back with a sharp knife. He sighs out in relief once his hands are free and steps towards me and then beside me. By the look in his eyes, I can see that he's tired. He's probably only just awoken because he was either knocked out cold or tranquilized.

  He moves to grab my gun but I step sideways. I'm not about to let him take matters into his own hands. Not after seeing how hotheaded he was before, and besides I think I have a good grip on the situation myself without the interference or protection of a man, even one as strong as Dominic.

  I reaffirm my grip on the gun as Alice escorts the passenger to stand beside his friend. Both of them have their hands held up in the air and this would be an ideal situation to force information from them, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they don't know anything. I know what a hired hand looks like and these two men fit all of the criteria.

  "Do I know you?" The driver glances at me with a sideways look with eyes that glisten with the possibility that he's seen me before, which only makes sense because I know I've seen him before. I just can't figure out where. "You look so familiar."

  "What the hell is he talking about?" Dominic questions from beside me and I can feel his eyes burning against my flesh as he takes measure of the situation before him. The last thing I need from him right now is for him to not trust me, but something tells me trust is going to be an uphill battle with him. "Do you know this man?"