Chapter 27 - Katie

Sergei had to park across the street from the building I was supposed to go in since their parking garage was full. He grumbled the entire time it took to find a spot, then helped me count out the dozen boxes I'd need for the investment firm's order. After we both stared at them for a second, he told me he needed his hands free, so I carefully stacked them and teetered after him.

He held out his hand at the street exit, looking in all directions before letting me leave the parking structure, then stayed glued to my side as we waited to cross. He glared at every car that stopped at the light and hustled me over to the other side so fast the top box nearly slid off the pile.

"Sergei," I said, stopping on the sidewalk to readjust the stack. "If I wanted to go jogging, I would have worn different shoes."

Not even a corner of his lip twitched. He only motioned for me to hurry up, holding open the door and all but shoving me through. His shoulders relaxed about one-half an inch when we were inside, but he kept close as I told the security guard where we were going.

It was nice being expected. It seemed like ages since I used to come to this building and had to sneak past the reception desk on the days the less friendly staff was working. If they decided to try to run me off on the grounds of not allowing solicitors, I'd have to beg them to call one of the regular offices. I hope someone in there wanted to place an order that day so I could be let up.

Had it really only been two months since Aleks and I got married? It seemed impossible my life would have changed so much. I'd never been able to hold a grudge for too long, and at that point, all my resentment was mostly gone. He'd lived a different life from me and had different expectations. Different ways of seeing things and dealing with problems. It would take time for us to learn how to react to certain situations, and what to expect from each other.

I was lost in my thoughts, daydreaming as if Aleks and I really had a lifetime together as we waited for the elevator. When we got on, Sergei reached over to press the button, stiffening when two businessmen joined us. Shaking myself out of my daze, I noticed my guard glaring at them, and he shot out his hand to keep the door open. It seemed like he might shove them out, but one appeared to be sending a text message while balancing a coffee in his free hand, and a briefcase under his arm, and the other was deep in a conversation on his phone, barely looking up as he pressed his own floor number on the panel.

Sergei deemed them unthreatening and let the doors slide closed. As the elevator began its ascent, he glanced up, his harsh scowl deepening. I followed his gaze to see the security camera in the corner, which had a piece of bubble gum stuck over the lens.

Before I could turn to him, Sergei shoved me behind him, sending my lunch boxes flying out of my arms. I hit the railing hard, wincing at the pain in my side. There was no time to protest, because, in a flash, the two nondescript businessmen had transformed into ruthless fighters.

Their phones, coffee, and briefcase thumped to the floor, and weapons appeared in their hands so fast I shook my head to make sure I was seeing things properly. One had a gun and the other an evil-looking knife, the blade so long I didn't understand where he'd been hiding it.

Sergei whipped his own gun out from beneath his jacket, but before it was fully raised, one of the other guys kicked it out of his hand. It bounced off the ceiling of the elevator and clattered against the metal rail before it hit the floor. By the time I looked up from where it had landed, the second bad guy had Sergei in a backward bear hug with his knife shoved hard against his throat.

Like in a movie, Sergei slammed his head back, a bone-jarring crack sounding as his skull made contact with the knife guy's forehead. It should have sent him to dreamland, but he only snarled out a swear word and shook it off. A bead of blood appeared at Sergei's throat, and moving on pure instinct since my mind was blank with fear, I dropped to the floor and scrambled for the gun.

As soon as my hand wrapped around it, the other guy kicked it out of my grasp. Pain rocketed up from my wrist to my elbow, so bad I feared something was broken. Cradling my arm, I looked up in time to see the knife guy draw his blade across Sergei's neck in a smooth, practiced slash. Before blood could spurt everywhere, he smashed his arm across the cut. His sleeve turned red, and blood from underneath. Sergei's eyes were distant before they closed.

I sobbed as I heard his final gurgle and kicked as hard as I could at the killer's shin, hoping to snap the bone and send him to his knees where I could claw his eyes out. No such luck, so I opened my mouth to scream. A hand clapped over my mouth, hot and suffocating.

"Let's just be quiet," the man who held me hissed in my ear.

Seconds later, the elevator slid open. The man who had me muzzled wrapped his arm around my waist and yanked me towards an emergency stairwell so fast I lost my footing and went limp in his arms. It didn't even make him pause. He just kept dragging me so that one of my cute green pumps flopped into the hall.

Good, that would hopefully be a clue that I was there. The other guy pulled Sergei's lifeless body along behind us, still managing to keep any blood from spilling onto the hallway carpet. He deftly plucked my shoe off the floor as he passed it.

Tears filled my eyes. These men were pros, not missing a beat. If I cried, my nose would run, and with that disgusting, sweaty paw clapped over the lower half of my face, I'd surely suffocate. I kicked and tried to make as much of a ruckus as possible before we got into the stairwell. There had to be cameras on every floor to show what was happening to me. Surely, they couldn't have gone from floor to floor and covered them all with gum. Or maybe they could.

I managed to halfway get out of his grip and kicked the wall near one of the office doors, my last chance before we reached the emergency exit. Someone would come out to see what was going on, wouldn't they?

Mere milliseconds later, my captor was swinging open the heavy door and shoving me through, digging his fingers into my cheek to attempt to save my own life. The other guy dumped Sergei, and, covered in his blood, led the way down the stairs. Mine got sick of me struggling and just picked me up so that my body was pressed against his chest, and my feet dangled off the ground. His hand gripped my face, and he growled in my ear to be still or get hurt.

I tried to swivel my neck to get one last look at my poor guard, who'd been right to be so paranoid all along. The man holding me thought I was making another effort to break free and squeezed me so tight I lost the ability to breathe. Panicking, I nodded that I'd be still, mostly hoping to regain the use of my lungs. I also tried to lull him into letting me walk on my own so I could make a break for it once we hit the ground level.

All I had to do was get one person's attention. Just one.

My prayers were answered when a few floors down, the door above us banged open, and a terrified scream echoed down to us. This was it. Someone would come running down to see what was going on, and I'd be saved.

The door above us only slammed shut again, and I thrashed as wildly as I could, angry, hopeless tears splashing onto the man's hand. Of course. No sane person would go looking for the person who'd left the man they'd murdered in a stairwell like he was a bag of garbage.

Only another floor and we were at ground level, but the emergency exit didn't lead back to the lobby. When the blood-soaked man in front swung the door open, we were outside, behind the building. They headed toward a dark sedan that was parked a few yards away in the alley between buildings, the one in front pulling handcuffs from an inner pocket in his bloody jacket.

My legs still dangled, and I kicked as if my life depended on it, because I feared that it did. The idea of being cuffed and helpless while these evil, murdering strangers took me somewhere to do—

My mind went blank with terror, unable to continue that thought. I tried the headbutting technique I'd seen Sergei do, but it had even less of an effect on the man and made me dizzy to boot. He finally put me down as the other guy tried to get my flailing hands together to put the cuffs on me. I managed to get in a punch across the side of his head, and for a split second there were no hands on me.

My feet skidded as I ducked between them, scrambling toward the crowded street, a shrill scream ripping from my mouth. It only came out as the mildest yelp because one of them punched me with what felt like the force of a battering ram.

The sound of the fist crashing into my face rattled in my ears, almost worse than the actual pain. As my legs crumbled beneath me, I reached for my necklace, wishing for Aleks to appear and end this nightmare.

There was a bright burst of light, then it was all black.