Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Toni

You would imagine given the strange conversation I would be more rather than less careful. You'd imagine I'd be on high alert and always aware of myself. You'd certainly imagine I would think twice before working well into the night at an office in a commercial area of the city which is essentially empty by seven-thirty at night.

You would think that but I'm still tapping at my keyboard when Maxwell says, "And now I can finally take you where you belong." I lift my head, and he stands there with a self-satisfied grin on his face. The room is perhaps forty feet by a hundred feet. There are ten cubicles and eight desks here. I have one of the desks.

I stare at him in shock and I can't think clearly. I want to scream. I want to run. I want desperately to be anywhere other than where I am. I stare at him in shock and then finally say, "I'm not going with you, you sick son of a bitch."

And Maxwell smiles.

It's probably all in my head but I swear it seems to me that the man's face is wolfish. I mean, it actually and truly looks like a wolf's face. People always talk about wolfish smiles, wolfish grins, wolfish gazes, and all that.

The man looks like a wolf.

And he looks evil.

"You're going to be a lot more polite. The sooner the better. For you, I mean. You'll be in the pen with the others, and we make sure to make examples of the ones who aren't behaving like they should. You don't want to be one of those examples."

"Fuck you," I say bitterly.

"That's my point," he says. "You're going to have a baby for us but my guess is you'd like to know which of us is the father." He grins again. "And that's easier when only one of us fucks you like the whore you are."

I really ought to be afraid, I know.

Fear is the appropriate response right now. I get that.

But instead of getting afraid, I get really, really pissed off. I'm not trying to tell you that I'm being wise or anything like that. In fact, I'm quite certain that this is unwise of me but I grab something and swing it at his head. What I end up grabbing is a three-pound orange glass half-sphere paperweight. It connects with his cheek and he screams.

Just in case my stupidity isn't quite clear enough, I want to hit him again. So, instead of running, I swing it again.

His hand comes up and he grabs my wrists. He says with a terrible smile, "Now, nine or ten of us will have you one right after the other in front of all the other women who don't know their place." As he says the words, blood flows from a gash on his cheek from the paperweight.

And my anger is gone.

And you sure as hell better believe there's a whole lot of fear.

"Let go of her and step back right now, motherfucker!"

"Barry!" I breathe out. He's the security guard who stays here after hours. I turn and look and the man has his gun trained on Maxwell. "Oh, Barry!"

Max lets go of me and Barry says, "Get on your fucking knees, you asshole."

Maxwell doesn't respond but simply turns and runs to the window. He leaps through it, shattering the glass. I rush to it and see him disappear down the street. Barry asks from right behind me, "Are you all right Miss Toni?"

I turn and throw my arms around him. I can't respond. I start weeping. He holds me and then finally leads me to a desk and sits me down. A few seconds later, the police arrive. He called them plus the security system sent out an alert when the window was broken. I feel strange and weak.

The police take my statement and Barry's. The company maintenance director arrives to board up the window until it can be fixed. The CEO of the company calls me to make sure I'm okay. I break down crying again while I'm on the phone with him. He assures me that Maxwell could pull a stunt like this a thousand times and it wouldn't change the company's opinion of me.

Everyone is so sweet and so kind. Barry offers to drive me home and so do two of the police officers. I can see Barry has his hands full so I ask one of the officers. I do give Barry a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. He chuckles and makes me promise not to tell his wife I did that. I give him another kiss for the joke and the lightheartedness.

Finally, I'm in the back of the police car and on my way. Everything feels surreal. I've left a message for Vance but when he's on his four day shifts at Company 417, he only gets messages sporadically. It doesn't matter, though. The danger is gone now.

We pull up to the hotel, and the police officer hands me his card. "Now if there's an emergency, you call 911 right away," he says, "but I'll be doing the legwork for the detective investigating so if you remember something or think of something, you can call. If you can't get ahold of the detective, you can call. If it's not an emergency but you're just afraid he might be around, you can call me."

I'm touched by the man. He's probably Vance's age but he doesn't have Vance's vitality or physique. I guess it's strange because I think of this officer as sort of a father figure, a kindly man who's looking out for me. I think of someone his same age as a sexy fuck toy.

Okay, okay. Vance is far more than that to me but you get the point.

Anyway, I thank the man and make my way into the hotel. I feel a little sheepish because I sent my driver/bodyguard away at seven o'clock because I felt bad about making him wait around. I know Vance is going to be upset about that. Well, I'm upset about it, too.

I hear firecrackers, I think. In the parking lot. That's weird because it's almost ten o'clock. I look at the man behind the counter. He shrugs and says, "Probably kids who aren't happy about school starting up again."

"I better make sure they're not in trouble," I say.

"Really, they'll be fine," he says, "I'm sure. Besides, you should just be safe in your room."

I wave his concerns away and walk back out of the lobby to the parking lot. I don't see anyone but then I feel a sting on my neck. It burns and I recognize the sensation as an injection. Maxwell says, "You're going to give me strong sons," and my world goes dark.