He sat down next to me. “You’ll know my desire soon.”
His fingers threaded through the back of my hair. His grip tightened as his lips crushed into mine. I pushed at him. This spurred him as he used all his weight to push me into the couch. The more I fought the more violently he came at me.
“Weren’t we going to talk about a contract?” I asked as I wedged my knee between us.
“We’ll talk after.”
He pushed my knee out of the way. Turning to slide out from him, he yanked my hair and jerked me back. I clawed and dug my nails in his face. He stopped a moment to feel for blood. His teeth gnashed together as he backhanded me across my cheek. I kicked at him. He moved quickly out of the path but then caught my leg and pinned me down. His weight had me disarmed. I had no way of protecting myself. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. I spit in his face. His face twisted with rage. Dagor’s hand flew to my throat and his fingers curled around it squeezing off the air flow. With my airway blocked off there was no way to scream for help. Terror was claiming every thought. I clawed his hand to unclench my throat, but it was no use.
I was growing weaker and more frantic with each moment. I punched and scratched but he didn’t recoil. He wasn’t going to give me the air I desperately needed. My arms weakened . . . my eyes blurred. I was barely conscious when a man appeared in the study.
“Sir, there’s been an explosion at one of your warehouses.”
Dagor instantly let go. I coughed and wheezed with the air I gulped. My lungs burned from deprivation.
“Get everyone on the move. Find out who did this!”
The man ran from the room.
Dagor glowered at me. “Did your friends do this?”
“I don’t know anything about it,” I rasped, rubbing the pain from my throat.
“I already know you’re a liar. Was it Greyson Miller?”
“Do you expect a CEO to run around blowing up buildings?”
“He has people to do it for him.”
“I ran here as soon as I heard you had Mya. I didn’t tell anyone or make plans.” I smirked. “It’s too bad you weren’t in the warehouse when it blew up.”
This remark rewarded me another black eye. He punched with such anger I fell back and off the couch. He grabbed the neck of my shirt and dragged me to a closet. He shoved me in and slammed it. I heard the click of the lock imprisoning me in the confined space.
I pounded at the door. “Let me out!”
“Dispose of her,” Dagor said.
“Yes, sir.”
I pulled out my phone. They hadn’t taken it this time. I had the notion in a short time I wouldn’t be able to use it. I called Greyson.
“Nadia, where are you? Have you seen Mya?”
I whispered, “I’m locked in a closet. Dagor gave orders to make dispose of me.”
“Shit! Where are you in the house?”
“The study. It’s near the front entrance.”
“I’m on my way. David and Remy are over at the warehouse. I’ve been looking for Mya at some of his other sites. I can’t find her.”
“She must be here. Find her first.”
The door to the closet opened. I blinked up at a giant man. His thick brow frowned.
“Never mind,” I squeaked into the phone. “Find me first.”
The man seized my phone and smashed it. His hand curled around my arm and dragged me to the entrance where a car was waiting with its trunk open. I twisted my body using all my weight to loosen his hold. He held on with a snake like grip. I punched him in the stomach. He gave a low grunt but was unaffected. He picked me up and flung me into the trunk, slamming it closed.
Son-of-a-bitch! I was locked in the damn trunk again. I repeatedly kicked at the trunk. The only thing that gave way was my energy. This wasn’t good. I already knew my fate, but I didn’t want to consider the ending. Gunned down, suffocation, stabbing? Whatever the outcome, it wasn’t going to be pleasant.
I couldn’t think anymore. All I could do was kick at the trunk in a frenzy. I kicked and kicked until I smashed a tail light. I kicked the tail light again to remove all the pieces and stuck out my hand. I waved frantically hoping someone would see my arm and call the police. Maybe I could wave an object out the small space for someone to take notice. There wasn’t any thing in the trunk. I didn’t have a purse. I only had my clothes.
I yanked off my go-go boot and shoved it through the hole. I shoved it so hard, I lost my grasp. It fell onto the road. Good thing I had two. I had better luck with the second one. I dangled it out of the car trying to use it as a flag. But holding it with only a couple of fingers in a moving car, I lost my grip again.
I had only a few articles of clothing left, and I didn’t want to make my escape naked. But if I didn’t wave something out of the tail light then I was as good as dead. I shimmied my skirt off first and then my bustier. Those eventually were lost as well. Once when the car swerved and once when the car hit a bump so hard I smacked my head on the top of the trunk. I was left with my panties and strapless bra. I was thinking of my next choice when the car stopped and the engine was killed.
The trunk popped opened. The man who had flung me in the trunk gawked at my near nakedness. I used his brief moment of surprise to punch him in the family jewels. He fell down like a sandbag. He obviously didn’t take Remy’s lesson on wearing protective gear.
I hopped out of the trunk and kicked him in the stomach. It gave me an extra moment to make a dash. I had no idea where I was. We were in some sort of alley behind a string of warehouses. I bolted towards the end of the alley. Hopefully there would be a road leading me to a populated place.
Running without shoes wasn’t swift. I looked back to see the man clamber to his feet and run towards me. He wasn’t too quick either since I had punched him.
I reached the end of the alley and found a road on my left. I ran for it and reached an intersection. There was a man talking on a cell phone at the opposite corner. I ran through the intersection and swiped the man’s phone. I called my apologizes as he gave me the middle finger and yelled obscenities. If I wasn’t concentrating on keeping myself alive, I would have complimented him on his colorful use of the English language.
“Greyson,” I wheezed into the cell phone when he answered. “I have no idea where I am. But I’m running, and there’s a giant man after me.”
“Can you see any road signs?”
“No. I’m near the warehouses. I ran through an intersection. There’s no way I’m going back to read the sign.” I peeked behind me. The man was catching up and was only half of a block behind.
“Keep running. I’m going to get David on the line.”
“Keep running? I’m ready to pass out.”
Greyson cussed. David promptly arrived on the line.
“Did you find Mya?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about Mya. Just run your ass off.”
I peeked behind me again. He was within tackling distance. “He’s right behind me.”
“Follow my instructions. You’re going to stop, turn abruptly, and knee him in the groin. Give him an uppercut to his jaw as he goes down. You remember from the punching bag, right?”
“Yeah,” I said with labored breathing.
“Shit,” Greyson said. “Nadia, do it quickly. Don’t give him time to react.”
“She can do it,” David said. “Don’t think about it. Do it.”
I sucked in one last breath and turned around. The man was right on top of me within a matter of a few steps. I brought my knee up as he was grabbing me. He toppled on contact. I followed through with an uppercut as he was on his way down. It wasn’t as perfectly executed as David’s, but the result was nearly the same. The man tumbled back grabbing at his privates. What I didn’t expect was him kicking out at me. His anvil-sized foot swiped my feet from under me. I crashed onto the concrete. My head bounced on the unforgiving surface on impact. It was lights out.
Chapter 23
“N
adia, wake up. Nadia!”
My eyes fluttered open. “Where am I?” I croaked.
“I have no idea.”
I turned to the voice in the dark. I could only distinguish a fuzzy shadow.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“It’s Mya.”
I propped myself up. I was sprawled on a cold concrete slab. My body was freezing and sore.
“You don’t know where we are?”
“No. They brought me here hours ago. They dropped you off a few minutes ago. I thought you were dead.”
“Did you overhear them talking?”
“I heard them say they needed to dispose of something soon.”
“That would be us.”
Mya let out a squeak and broke into a sob.
“We’ll find a way out,” I said with my brave voice. “Greyson is looking for us.”
“Greyson is looking for us?”
“I was on the phone with him before I was knocked out.”
“That makes me feel better. How will he know how to find us here?”
“We need to figure that out ourselves. Where’s the door?”
“I think a little to our left. I’ve been sitting here because I can’t see anything.”
“I’m sick of them throwing me in dark buildings. You would think they could turn a light on once in awhile.”
“Maybe they’re trying to save on electricity.”
“Anything’s possible. Let’s try to find the door. Maybe there’s a light switch near it.”
“Oh, I didn’t think of that.”
We both stood and shuffled to the direction of the door with our arms stretched. After twenty shuffles we arrived at a wall.
“Mya, do you think we’re near the door?”
“I think it might be over to the right.”
We trailed the length of the wall running our hands along. We reached the end of the wall without any luck.
“Let’s try the other way.”
We hurried to the other side. My hand ran across a dip and a seam. This must be the door.
“I think this is it. Feel around the seam of the door and a foot from the door frame for a light switch.”
I tried on my side. Mya tried on hers. We didn’t find anything. I kicked the door in frustration. Learning from my past failure at knocking down a door, I changed my tactic and ran at it throwing my back into it. It didn’t budge.
“Nadia, you’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Better hurt than dead.”
Mya let out a sob.
“Sorry. Let’s keep moving along the wall. We might find something useful.”
We trekked around the sides of two walls. On our third wall there was a pin of light up towards the ceiling.
“Mya, do you see that light?”
“It’s really small.”
“Do you remember seeing any windows in here?”
“Hmm, I do remember seeing windows, but they were all black.”
“Give me your shoe.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll throw it at the window and see if I can break it.”
“Oh, okay.” Mya slipped off her shoe and handed it to me.
I groaned. “It’s a foam flip flop.”
“I know. I just bought them. They’re super cute. You’ll have to see them once we’re out of here.”
“I can’t break a window with a foam flip flop. Is there any thing in this room we could throw?”
“I don’t think so.”
“There has to be something. Let’s crawl around and see what we can find.”
We crawled around for a solid ten minutes. The only thing I found was a bunch of dirt and dust. With all the dust kicked up, breathing became challenging.
“I think I found something,” Mya said. “I don’t know what it is. It’s like a fuzzy rock.”
I winced. “Meet me at the window.”
She handed me the fuzzy rock. “What do you think it is?”
The tail of the fuzzy rock hung limply through my fingers. It’s a good thing I hadn’t eaten because I was ready to heave. “Right now, it’s our way out of here. You might want to stand back in case any glass falls.”
I took careful aim and shot the dead rat at the window. The window shattered, showering the concrete with the tinkling sound of falling glass. The outside streetlight gave us enough illumination to find our way around our prison.
“We need to find a way to climb out the window,” I said.
“There’s nothing in here to climb on.”
Mya was right. There wasn’t any thing to climb on.
“Mya, I’ll boost you on my shoulders. You can climb out.”
“No way. I’m not going by myself.”
“There isn’t any other way. If you can climb out of here, you can find help to get me out.”
Mya considered it and nodded. She clambered onto my shoulders. With help from the wall, she stood to reach her hands up to the window ledge. She only kicked me in the head once. But with my growing collection of bruises, what was one more?
“Can you get out?” I asked.
“I don’t think so. My fingers can’t firmly hold onto the ledge. There’s no way I can pull myself up.”
A sound from outside the building echoed in our metal prison. We froze.
“Get down,” I whispered.
Mya scurried down. I grabbed her hand as we ran for the door.
“Stay flat against the wall,” I said.
We flattened ourselves to the wall as much as possible. I had an easier time since I wasn’t hauling around size Ds like Mya. Sometimes small breasts come in handy. I’ll have to remember the next time I complain while shopping for bras.
My breath caught as I heard the clicking sound of the lock unlatching. The door swung opened. Two men stepped in. They noticed the broken window right away.
“Shit! They escaped,” a man said.
I signaled to Mya and we bolted out the door. I swung the door with a slam. Flipping the bolt, we locked the men in their prison. The men banged on the door as Mya and I ran to their car which was idling in front. As we both jumped in, a gun shot rang out. A bullet ripped a hole through the metal door. I gunned the car and sped out of the lot.
“Where are we going?” Mya asked.
“To Greyson’s house.”
“You know where that is?”
“I’ve been there. A lot has happened in the last couple of days. We can give him a call once we’re there.”
“Do you know you’re not wearing any clothes?”
“I was wondering why I was cold,” I said.
The drive to Greyson’s didn’t take us long. My foot was no longer under the command of my head. It had mutinied along with my twitching eye. I had the car floored and only yielded at intersections. My foot never touched the brakes. Mya clutched her seatbelt for dear life.
We screeched to a halt in front of Greyson’s house and scurried to the door. It was locked and the house was quiet. Mya knocked on the door while I struggled to open the front windows. Neither worked.
“I’m going to break the window,” I said.
“Maybe you can find another fuzzy rock.”
“I’d rather not find a fuzzy rock.” I shivered from the remembrance of the tail between my fingers. “A normal one will do.”
Snatching a rock from the ground, I smashed it through the front window. I cleared off the remaining glass shards from the window frame and wiggled my way through. As I ran to the front door to open it for Mya, I noticed an alarm panel by the door. A light on the panel blinked angrily at me and told me I had set off the silent alarm.
“That rock seemed to work well too,” Mya said. “I wonder what kind of rock grows fur.”
“It wasn’t a rock. It was a dead rat.”
A sudden “eek” burst forth from Mya. Her body grew rigid as her eyes rolled back. She toppled over like chopped down tree.
Crap!
“Mya?” I nudged her. S
he was out cold.
I spied out the small window near the front door to see headlights zooming up the driveway. Greyson and David hopped out and rushed in. For a few confusing minutes, every one simultaneously shouted questions. David finally silenced every one with a sharp whistle.
“What happened to Mya?” David asked, pointing down at her.
“She passed out. She’ll be fine.”
“Why did she pass out?”
“She touched a furry rock.”
They surveyed me with a quizzical expression.
“Where are your clothes?” Greyson asked.
“I lost them on the road.”
“How’s your head? You’re not making any sense.”
“It could be better. I cracked it on the concrete. I think there might be blood caked in my hair. I’ve been a bit preoccupied to notice.”
Greyson inspected my head while David picked up Mya.
“I’m going to take her to a guestroom,” David said.
Greyson nodded. His fingers traveled through my hair putting light pressure on my scalp.
“I think you need to go to the hospital. You have blood all through your hair. It’s all dried now, but it worries me you’ve received two blows to the head so close together.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Why don’t you take a shower and dress? Then I’ll take you to the hospital.”
“Really, I’m fine.”
“Humor me.”
“A shower would feel perfect. Hopefully it will wash off the dead rat cooties.”
Greyson raised his eyebrow as I hauled myself up the stairs to take a shower.
I dug through his dresser and found a jogging suit. I couldn’t see Greyson wearing a jogging suit. He must workout though. His body wouldn’t be so firm if he didn’t. I pondered the vision as I stripped and stepped in the shower. I let the water pour over me. I was about to reach for the shampoo when Greyson nabbed it first.
“Let me,” he said.
I clutched my heart. “You scared me half to death.”
“I wanted to assist with the removal of dead rat cooties. And I wanted to talk to you more. What happened with Dagor?”
I filled him in on the story while his fingers lathered shampoo into my hair. I might have left out a few pieces of the story. They were all blending together.
The Big Blind (Nadia Wolf) Page 22