“Who the hell are you?” His voice was tight. He knew him.
“Where is Annabelle Spencer?” I asked, pressing the gun to his forehead. He flinched. He definitely knew.
He didn’t answer, but his eyes flicked over my shoulder. I spun around to see a guy with a gun advancing on me from behind. I dropped to my knees and shot the guy coming in behind me just as he shot where my chest was a second ago.
I pulled my knife from the waistband of my jeans and grabbed the guy named Elliot, slamming him against the wall, pressing my knife against his throat. “Where is she?” I growled angrily.
He didn’t answer, but his walkie-talkie started going crazy.
“Elliot? Tannor? What the hell’s going on? Were those gunshots?” the walkie-talkie crackled.
“I don’t know, secure her upstairs, I’ll go check it out,” another guy answered on the line.
Secure her upstairs. Holy shit, she’s here? Anna’s here in this building? Happiness tried to bubble up inside, but I pushed it down. I still had a long way to go and I needed to focus.
“Where is she? Which room?” I asked, grabbing his walkie-talkie from his belt and clipping it on mine instead.
“Fuck you!” he spat.
I pushed the blade of my knife harder against his throat, watching as a thin line of red appeared. “No, fuck you! You’re going to tell me, or you’re going to bleed to death,” I growled angrily.
He sneered at me; he wasn’t going to tell me. I pulled away slightly; I would just knock him out for now, just to take him out of the equation, I didn’t want to waste time tying him up or anything. If Anna was in this building, then I needed to hurry. Obviously they knew I was here because they’d heard the gunshots, so I had no time to waste. When I moved, Elliot went for his gun. Before he could grab it, I reacted instinctively, slashing the blade across his throat, cutting deep. He clutched at his throat as he slumped to the floor, gasping for breath as he bled out. I didn’t bother to wait until he was dead; I turned and made my way out of the room. She was upstairs somewhere, but this freaking place was enormous.
I knew I should call for backup, but I didn’t have time. If they knew I was here then they could move her and then I’d lose her again. I couldn’t take that chance.
I walked up a flight of stairs slowly, keeping my eyes and ears peeled for any signs of life. I saw movement ahead and spotted a guy crouched at the top of the stairs. He hadn’t seen me yet, so I moved across the hall, hiding against a doorway to gain a better angle. I closed one eye and shot him straight in the head, suddenly wishing I had a silencer on my gun so that they wouldn’t hear where I was.
Shifting my bag over my shoulder, I made my way quickly up to the next flight of stairs. If there were guys here then I needed to follow them to lead me to Anna. Another guy turned and leant out of the doorway, firing off a few rounds at me.
I pressed back around the corner, letting him shoot off a couple of shots as I grabbed my extra clip from my pocket. When his shots paused, I leant around the corner, shooting off a couple of rounds before changing my clip quickly but dropping the dead one on the floor on purpose. “Shit,” I mumbled loud enough for him to hear. My plan worked. He stepped out of his little hiding place, obviously thinking I was having trouble reloading and that he could take advantage of it. As soon as he stepped out of this cover, I shot him twice, going for the kill shot. I didn’t care about any of these guys; they were a threat to Anna so they needed to die.
Okay, Taylor, keep going. Four down, probably loads more to go!
As I pressed on up the hallway, Elliot’s walkie-talkie crackled to life on my belt. “I don’t know where they are, there must be more than one guy. Elliot and Tanner are dead, and I’ve heard a lot more shots since then.”
I smiled; I could definitely use that to my advantage if they thought there was more than one of me.
I stopped when I heard whispering around the corner. Pressing myself against the wall, I reached into my shoulder bag and pulled out the little mirror I’d brought from my SWAT kit. I positioned it so I could look around the corner to see who was there. There were two guys talking in whispers, looking around desperately; one of them was running his hand through his hair nervously. Both were armed, but from the way their guns were hanging loosely at their sides, I knew that they had no idea how close to me they were. I shifted and dropped to one knee as I rounded the corner, shooting them both dead instantly.
I was on the move again. Further up the hall there was a large, expansive room. My eyes widened as I peeked around the corner, checking it was empty. Shit, this isn’t going to be an easy room to cross! There were desks everywhere, giving so many places for people to hide. I frowned and looked at the door on the opposite side, knowing I needed to get to the stairs on the other side. This side of the building was now clear, so she had to be somewhere over there. How the hell am I going to cross this room on my own? There was no possible way I could cover all of my hotspots and my back would be exposed. But there was no other choice.
I reloaded my gun and stepped tentatively into the room. Silently, I berated myself for not calling for backup. I knew I didn’t have time to wait for them, but I should have at least sent someone a message to let them know where I was. I still would have had to move in on my own, but at least they would be aware of her whereabouts if I’d sent that message. If I died right now, they would have no idea. Clearly I had let my emotions get the better of me. I made a mental note to send a message to one of the agents as soon as I made it across the room.
There was a rustle of movement to my right. I flicked around too late, and a guy smashed my gun out of my hand, breaking one of my fingers at the same time. Before I knew it, there was movement from all sides; I knew I needed to move quickly.
I lunged forward and punched one of them in the throat; I gripped his hair and smashed his face into my knee, knocking him unconscious. Before he even hit the floor, another guy stepped out, pointing a gun at me. I grabbed my knife from my waistband and threw it into his chest. I turned to my right, readying myself as another one stepped forward. I knew that move would leave my back exposed, but I had no choice. I punched him in the face, gripped the back of his head and crashed it against one of the desks, just as another guy came from behind and hit me on the back of the head with something hard, knocking me out cold. I didn’t even have time to feel it before I was unconscious.
Chapter Twenty
~ Anna ~
I had no idea how long I had been slumped on the floor – it felt like days, but it was probably only a few hours. I sat there motionless as Jimmy came back, carrying a pre-packed sandwich and bottle of water, putting them next to the unopened one he’d brought me in earlier.
He looked at me apologetically. “I’m sorry, Anna, I am, but I had to. I don’t have a choice,” he explained, frowning. I nodded and turned away from him. I couldn’t look at him because I knew I would cry again, and I needed to be strong now.
“I need the bathroom,” I muttered, defeated.
“Okay, come on then.” He took my arm, holding me tightly as he pulled me to my feet.
As soon as we stepped foot outside of the room I was being held captive in, I elbowed him in the face and ran as fast as I could. I had no idea where I was going as I stumbled along, opening doors at random, hoping to find fire escape or maybe a weapon I could use or something. As I rounded a corner, I ran smack into a beefy guy who wrapped his arms around me. I looked up into Mark’s sneering face. My heart sped up as my mouth popped open in shock. Mark featured in my nightmares a lot of the time. He was Carter’s right-hand man and second in charge. He was probably the one that had been running the organisation while Carter was locked up.
I struggled and thrashed, but he was holding my arms too tightly for me to get away. A muscle in his jaw twitched as he looked down at me distastefully. One of his hands wrapped around my arm with bruising force as he whipped back his other hand and slapped me hard across the face. His grip on my ar
m was the only thing from keeping me from flying to the ground. My whole face exploded in pain and little lights danced in front of my eyes, making me feel dizzy and disorientated.
“Stop struggling or I’ll have to tie you up, and that would be uncomfortable. Carter said we needed to keep you comfortable,” he spat, sneering at me angrily. He’d never understood Carter’s fascination with me; he’d always looked at me like I was a piece of trash – but only when Carter wasn’t there, he wouldn’t dare do it in front of him.
A tear escaped, and I fought to keep them away as I stopped my useless efforts to escape. The best I could hope for now was death, but I knew that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. Maybe if I could piss Carter off enough, he’d kill me. Maybe he’d even kill me by accident, beating me for letting Ashton kiss and touch me. Mark led me to the bathroom and stood there watching while I went, which was humiliating to say the least. When I was done, he pushed me roughly towards Jimmy, so I tripped and fell into his arms. Jimmy looked annoyed as he put me back in the room and was wiping at his split lip with the sleeve of his shirt.
“Please let me go,” I begged, falling to my knees in front of him, gripping his jeans. “I’ll do anything you want.” I hated myself for it, but I would do anything not to have to go through what I went through last time.
“Just a couple more hours and then he’ll be here,” he replied emotionless, pulling his leg out of my grasp and turning for the door. He slammed it shut behind him, making it rattle on its hinges from the force of it. Clearly, with that one little attempt to escape, I’d just lost all hope of Jimmy being nice to me and trying to help me like he used to. I slumped down to the floor and rolled to my side, curling into a ball, waiting for my nightmare to begin all over again.
After what seemed like forever, but could have been five minutes, I heard shouting from outside the door, followed quickly by gunshots. My head snapped up as my mouth dropped open in shock. Gunshots. Oh my God, the police have come for me! Oh thank you, thank you!
I jumped up and moved away from the door as I heard more shouting. Apparently someone was in the building; they were talking heatedly about repositioning or something.
I smiled hopefully. Please, come on, please! More gunshots. I pressed against the wall, waiting and waiting. My eyes were focussed on the door expectantly. Any second now, a couple of secret service agents would burst through. I chewed on my lip excitedly. I’d never complain about having guards again.
Nothing happened for ages. I was starting to lose hope because I couldn’t hear anymore shooting. Had it been a mistake? Had they searched the building but not been able to find me? Had they left? Or maybe Carter’s men had won and had killed yet more agents, more people could be dead because of me. Suddenly, the door burst open. I looked up, startled, seeing two of Carter’s men dragging someone into the room. The guy was clearly unconscious and his feet dragged on the floor.
My heart stopped as I took in who it was they were dragging.
No! Oh God, please no!
I ran over as they dropped his lifeless body into a heap on the floor. “Call an ambulance! Jimmy, call someone! No, Ashton! Jimmy, help him please?” I begged, the tears flowing again now.
“He’s not dead, Anna. They had to knock him out. He killed seven guys. He’s gonna wish he was dead by the time Carter gets here,” Jimmy replied, shaking his head grimly and walking out of the room.
I ran to the door. “Jimmy, please! Help him, please!” I screamed, banging on the door until my fists hurt. I ran back to an unconscious Ashton. Blood covered his face, his hands were red and bruised and a gash on the back of his head was slowly leaking blood onto the floor. I pressed my shirt on it to stop the bleeding; it didn’t look too bad, but he probably needed stitches. A sick sense of foreboding and history repeating itself washed over me. I closed my eyes, horrified.
This was just like in my dream. The broken, bloodied face that I never wanted to see was now cradled in my lap.
“Ashton, please wake up, please,” I begged, wiping some of the blood from his beautiful face. This was exactly the thing I couldn’t have happen! I couldn’t watch someone else that I loved die right in front of me because of me. “You stupid, stupid, adorable boy! Please wake up, please.” I cradled his head on my lap, rocking him gently as my heart broke all over again.
After a while he opened his eyes slowly, groaning, looking around groggily. My heart sped up. “Ashton, are you okay? Oh God, what the hell are you doing here? Why did you come?” I cried, bending and kissing every inch of his face.
He seemed confused for a split second before understanding shot across his face. He immediately jumped up, wincing as he did so, and pulled me to my feet. He pushed me against the wall, pressing his back against my chest, protecting me whilst he patted his pockets.
“Stop it! There’s no one here,” I croaked, gripping his hand. He turned to face me. I could see the pain in his eyes, but he was trying to keep it from me. I lifted his shirt, and I could see ugly, purple marks all over his stomach, making bile rise in my throat.
“Anna, are you okay? Baby Girl, please say you’re okay,” he begged, pulling me to him and wrapping his arms around me tightly.
I closed my eyes as his smell filled my lungs. The familiar scent that was purely Ashton Taylor and no one else. I loved and missed that smell so much. “I’m okay. But why the hell did you come here? Ashton, I can’t see this, I can’t! This is the only thing I can’t cope with. I sent you away so this wouldn’t happen! Why did you do this to me?” I sobbed. My legs wobbled and finally gave way, so I slumped down against the wall, pulling my knees up to my chest and hugging them tightly. Carter was going to come in and have him beaten to death in front of me, and there would be nothing I could do about it but see it every time I closed my eyes.
Ashton slid down the wall next to me, trying to hide his grimace of pain. “I couldn’t leave you, Anna, I had to try. I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you,” he muttered, gripping his hair roughly. I could see he was trying not to cry, and it broke my heart; he never even got sad, let alone cried.
I moved and wrapped my arms around him tightly. “Please don’t. Everything’s going to be fine, we just need to think of a plan,” I lied, knowing it was hopeless. I jumped up and ran to the door. “Jimmy, please! Talk to me please?” I begged, kicking the door in frustration.
“Anna, just settle down. Carter’s just called, he’s not too far away now, it won’t be too much longer,” he answered.
“Jimmy, you know who my father is, I could get a pardon for you. I’ll tell him all the things you used to do for me. Or, I have money, I could give you money, please,” I begged, pressing my forehead against the door.
“Anna, I can’t, I’m sorry.”
“Just get my bodyguard out of here then. He’ll give you money. Please just sneak him out and say he escaped, please?” I screamed desperately. I needed Ashton out of here before Carter arrived, I couldn’t bear to think of the alternative.
“Shh! He’s here, Anna,” Jimmy hissed, and I heard him walk away from the door.
Before I even had a chance to register what Jimmy had said, Ashton grabbed me and pushed me against the wall, pressing against me, hard. “Just stay behind me. Everything’s going to be okay,” he stated, obviously trying to reassure me with words, but I knew him to well, he had no hope in his voice at all.
“No, it won’t. I’m just going to pray that he kills you quickly,” I muttered hopelessly as the door opened.
Chapter Twenty-One
The man who haunted my dreams walked into the room. I whimpered and pressed into Ashton’s back, trying to disappear. My eyes raked over him, seeing that he looked exactly the same as I remembered him, although he had a few grey flecks in his brown hair now. Mark, Jimmy, and two other guys walked into the room behind him. I hated the fact that Mark was here. I had seen him torture people for hours before he killed them; he was going to torture Ashton, I just knew it. A sob rose in my throat, but I swallow
ed it back down. I couldn’t cry, crying was weakness to Carter.
“Well, this is the guy, is it? The one who killed seven of my men?” Carter asked, sneering at Ashton. The sound of his voice made me whimper and clutch Ashton’s shirt for dear life. It was just as I remembered and still made my blood turn cold in my veins and a shiver run down my spine.
Mark nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, I found some SWAT credentials on him. Agent Ashton Taylor, but then, we already knew his name,” he stated, holding out Ashton’s wallet to Carter.
Carter cocked his head to the side, his eyes raking over Ashton slowly from head to toe. “Agent Taylor. Well, I guess that saves me some time, now I don’t have to come and look for you in LA. But why are you here all alone? I thought you’d been reassigned,” Carter asked, raising one eyebrow curiously.
My breathing hitched as my eyes widened. They knew Ashton lived in LA and had planned on moving on him? Please let me get him out of here! “He’s my bodyguard, Carter,” I said, quickly stepping out from behind Ashton. Before I could get more than a step away from him, Ashton grabbed my wrist and jerked me back behind him.
“Stay behind me!” he ordered harshly.
I saw Carter nod, and almost immediately Mark punched Ashton in the stomach, making him double over with pain. I screamed, but he still didn’t let go of me, he held me behind him protectively.
I can’t watch this again, I just can’t. I pushed Ashton, making him lose his balance and fall to the floor. I ripped my wrist from his hold and punched Mark as hard as I could in the face, looking at him challengingly. Come on, asshole, hit me back! Come on, do it! He spat blood onto the floor and whipped back his hand, slapping me hard across the face. My eyes rolled in their sockets as pain exploded in my head, making my eyes water.
In an instant there was a gun to Mark’s head. “You touch her again and I swear, not only will I kill you, but I will kill your whole family,” Carter growled menacingly at him.