Chapter 29 - Katie

I slowly opened my eyes, to see nothing but a grainy blur. Something scratchy rubbed against my cheek as I lay on my side, and there was motion underneath me, like I was being tossed on a stormy sea.

Taking in a big, shuddering breath, I got nothing but stifling, hot air and a mouthful of the burlap sack over my head.

There was a burlap sack over my head.

Panicking, I kicked my legs, hitting something hard and making a metallic thudding sound. Something from above me smacked across the top of my head.

"Shut up and be still," a voice I already recognized, and wished I didn't, said.

"I guess she's awake," another voice said, sounding disappointed. "Just lay still back there," he shouted at me, as if the burlap created a sound barrier between us.

Like hell, I would lay still. I raised my hands to yank the bag away, desperate for a full breath of air. There was a clinking sound, and I jerked my hands apart to find they were cuffed in front of me.

It all came rushing back. Sergei's face as the knife slid across his throat, all of it somehow soundless. The bright gush of red that the killer so deftly kept from spilling all over the elevator. Crushed and broken open lunch boxes had filled the space with the familiar scent of garlic and butter, mixed with the coppery smell of blood.

I stopped thrashing around when my stomach started churning. Oh God, I couldn't possibly be sick with this bag over my head.

Taking slow, shallow breaths, I closed my eyes and tried to imagine I was at the beach. The heat from my breath under the bag was really just the sun beating down on me. None of this was happening.

But what exactly was happening?

Was I being kidnapped? Of course, I was. I was handcuffed with a sack over my head in the back of a moving vehicle. This was definitely a kidnapping. And not in the fun way like when Aleks did it. This was real, and terrifying.

Suddenly, Aleks bursting into the sitting room with his gun drawn after I didn't answer his calls didn't seem so paranoid after all. He tried to tell me time and again that other organizations would stop at nothing to unseat him from his position, but it had all seemed so out there to me.

It didn't now. All those little things I had kept pushing to the side raced to the forefront of my mind as I lay there, trying not to puke.

All the guns in that cabinet. The late night "meetings" and all the cagey answers I got from both Aleks and his sister every time I tried to learn more about their family business.

A bump in the road made my head throb, and I remembered that meaty fist slamming towards my face. I carefully moved my jaw back and forth, grateful it didn't seem broken. I rolled onto my back and got a fresh wave of nausea. Stronger than the last. I needed an unhindered breath, and fast. Trying again to get the bag off, I found it was somehow tied around my neck. I followed the thin rope as best I could to find a knot, but my cuffed hands made it impossible. All the clinking I was making got one of the assholes in front to yell at me again to be still.

"Can you please take the bag off?" I asked meekly. "I feel sick."

"Shut up," was the answer. I took it as a no.

How long was it going to be until we stopped? Should I be hoping it was sooner or later? Thinking about what might happen at our destination made me roll back onto my side and try my slow breathing exercises again. I still felt sick and groggy and like I might lose consciousness again, something I was determined to fight against.

Raising my hands as quietly as I could, I reached for the necklace Aleks had given me. Holding the smooth heart shape in between my fingertips and tracing around the diamonds was a comfort, reminding me that he was out there, probably already going crazy since I clearly wasn't answering my phone now. He'd find me. I had to believe that.

I patted my neck frantically, feeling around under the collar of my blouse. It wasn't there. My necklace was gone. It must have broken during the frantic struggle back at the office building. As I pictured it lying somewhere in the dirt, fury like I'd never felt before washed over me. A growl rose from my throat, and I kicked toward the front seats as hard as I could.

"Knock it off," one of them said. "Holy fuck, she's going to get us killed."

Causing an accident sounded like a great idea, so I kicked harder, my hands clasped at my neck where the heart should have been. A hand smashed my head into the seat, a thumb grinding into my mouth through the burlap. I could smell the salty sweat as his palm covered my nose, cutting off what little air I could get.

"Knock. It. Off," he ground out, pressing harder.

I stopped kicking, and he let go. It did seem odd to get so upset about a broken necklace when my life could be in its final moments, but that was much too scary to think about. Being pissed off about something trivial was easier on my battered mental state. When I was somewhat calm again, my stomach started heaving once more.

This time no amount of pretending to be on the beach could make it settle down. I ignored it as long as I could, but it seemed like it was showtime.

"I'm going to throw up," I called. Just speaking made it worse.

"Shut up."

I hoisted myself to sitting and put my head between my knees, shrugging off the hand that tried to get me to lie back down out of sight. My mind wasn't on other drivers possibly getting concerned about the person with the bag over her head, I was desperately trying not to get sick all over myself.

"I'm really going to puke," I said, retching dangerously. "Please at least take the bag off."

After a slew of cursing, the car pulled over and rolled to a stop. Someone jumped out, and then a blast of hot air hit me. The back door swung open to my right. He grabbed the back of my shirt and hauled me halfway out of the car. My cuffed hands hit the ground hard and I crumpled. Right before my face hit the pavement, he yanked me up, tugging on the knotted rope behind my neck, and then whipped the bag off my head.

Not a moment too soon. I threw up, trying to hit his leather shoes out of spite. At the same time, I tried to take notice of where we were. Any road sign or something I might recognize. We weren't on a main highway since there wasn't much traffic. Only one semi truck had whizzed past us in the few minutes it took me to empty my stomach.

On the other side of the pavement was a ditch full of cacti and agave, and a whole lot of nothing after that. Were we on our way to the desert? That thought didn't do anything to quell the nerves that must have made me sick in the first place, and I dry-heaved a few more times before the guy decided I was done.

"I'll leave the bag off if you lie still," he said. I looked up, but there wasn't a hint of compassion in his eyes.

A sense of hopelessness settled over me as I nodded weakly. I'd already seen their faces when they'd attacked Sergei and me in the elevator. They made no effort to conceal themselves now. And we were headed out into the desert, a notorious place to make someone disappear forever.

He shoved me back into the car, and I curled into a ball. The driver turned around and scowled as the other guy told him about the deal he'd made with me about leaving the bag off.

"One move, one sound, and the bag is back on. And you'll go in the trunk," he said.

I closed my eyes until he started the car again, taking my silence for compliance. There was no way I wanted to end up in the trunk, with or without the bag over my head.

Once we were on the road again, I tried to watch out the corner of the window to see if I could catch any signs on an overpass or a tower I could use to identify where we were heading. Keeping track of the turns might have been helpful if we made any. Except for one left after about ten minutes, it was nothing but a long stretch of nothing but electrical wires. The only sounds were of the rare truck passing us, which happened less and less, and my captors' low muttering in a language I didn't understand.

If only I had taken Aleks more seriously, but hadn't I done what he said? Sergei was glued to my side as he'd been instructed, and I really was going to go straight home after I delivered the meals to the charity. Someone had been determined to grab me, just like Aleks had feared. Everything I thought was foolish paranoia had turned out to be true.

What kind of business dealings led to kidnappings and murders? I had no experience in this life. Even when my family had money, it hadn't been anywhere near the level of Aleks's empire.

More than anything, I wanted to see his stern face melt into a smile. I wanted to feel his arms around me. There was no way I never saw him again. No way we didn't get to kiss and make up. I might have had limited time with him, but these jerks weren't going to cut it even shorter.

I had to believe all that was true, or I'd disintegrate. Giving up on watching nothing but the cloudless sky out the window, I rolled over and closed my eyes. With my head throbbing from the punch and my stomach still acting up, I began to plan the honeymoon I'd been dreaming about before this little blip in our happy life happened.

Because I was going to see Aleks again. I had to.