Page 52 of Captive Heart

She felt the crush of bodies pushing her anxiety toward a stifling sensation of claustrophobia and moved to one side, away from the worst of the crowd, as she fought to maintain her equilibrium and push down the menacing sense of dread which had her spooked.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, Melody gave herself a stern talking to. This was ridiculous! There was no one here who could possibly know her, because she hadn't been in an environment conducive to promoting friendships or even acquaintances.

That's what the problem was, she told herself. She’d been cloistered and confined without the opportunity of meeting people, let alone being in places where there were any more than half a dozen people at a time, not even a supermarket. She was simply overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people in a relatively confined area, and the shock of noise that inundated her sheltered senses. She was unused to all of this, that was all, so it unnerved her.

Still searching out Laurel, Melody felt slightly safer as she hugged the wall, protected on one side at least. She‘d almost reached the area where she last saw her friend, when some kind of sixth sense had a harsh shudder quaking down her back, so powerful it had her spinning around to check behind her.

She let out an involuntary shriek and reflexively jumped away from the outstretched arm that was poised to grab hold of her. The yelp caused a couple of people close by to turn around, maybe in the expectation of finding another scene being played out close by. Whatever the reason, it was enough to make her would-be assailant pause.

Melody stumbled backward, flustered and lost, her heart pounding from the fear and the knowledge that someone had been about to seize her.

Dear God! She surely must be wrong!

She carried on backing up regardless, her hand on the wall to steady herself. But as she raised her head to seek out the guy, so she could keep her eyes on him and his movements, she realised with a crushing apprehension that her initial suspicions had been right.

Alarm bells started going off in her head almost before her brain managed to comprehend what she was seeing. There was a deafening roar of white noise in her ears which drowned out everything around her and screamed at her to run.

Sheer panic besieged her senses. Her fight or flight reaction kicked in and everything around her sharpened. She knew the layout of this club intimately from the time she’d spent cleaning up when the place was empty. The obscure entrance to the restricted upper tier was behind her and to the left. There was thumbprint technology which Micah had scanned her into so she could move about easily to clear up after club nights. All she had to do was get over there and through the doors, where this creep wouldn’t be able to follow. If he did, there were dungeon monitors who could help her.

Hardly daring to take her eyes off of her pursuer, Melody flicked her gaze hastily across the room to judge the exact trajectory and the density of the crowd, then, without giving herself away, she whirled around and flew across the room, oblivious to anyone and anything except her desperate objective of escaping behind the safety of the electronic security doors.

Drinks spilled, and people cursed. Someone tried to grab her arm, but panic made her strong and she shook them off. Most jumped to get out of her way as she barged past, skidding to a halt, her arm already outstretched to make immediate contact with the thumb plate.

She looked behind her as she waited frantically for the mechanism to disengage. Melody found her eyes drawn, as if by some terrifying magnetism, toward a squat, heavy set body with a square face, unkempt, lanky hair and a dense moustache. Mean black eyes full of malevolence bored into her as he made his way unerringly across the floor in her wake. Melody's eyes widened as he drew inexorably closer and her whole body trembled with fear as she listened for the tell-tale clunk of the locks releasing.

The moment she felt them give way, she leaned her entire body into the door to open it, slipping through as soon as the gap was wide enough for her to squeeze through the skinny frame she had never been more grateful for. The second she cleared the other side, Melody swung around and pressed the entire strength of her being into closing the breach so the automatic locks would kick back into place.

Because she did recognise the nasty, greasy looking man in front of her after all! He was one of V's cronies, one of the beasts he’d invited to torment and brutalise her. One of the six.

And there was absolutely no doubt that his intention was to return her to her captor.

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The man’s fingers slipped through the diminishing gap in the door and Melody knew he would prove stronger than her, but she had terror fuelled adrenaline on her side.

Instinctively, she moved back for an instant then launched her full weight back at the door, trapping the fingers between the door and the frame so her stalker reflexively pulled them away with an angry curse, to stop them being crushed. As soon as the obstruction was cleared, the door clicked shut and the automatic locks clunked into place.

Melody had never heard such a wonderful sound. Nevertheless, she didn't wait around. Still fuelled by the fear that another member might open the door and inadvertently let him through, she dashed down the corridor, which led to a second security door. Pin code this time, a back-up in case an electrical fault prevented the previous door from locking, Micah had told her.

It took two attempts to input the correct digits, she was shaking so badly, and the longer it took, the more panicked Melody became until she was crying and sobbing, desperate to get to a place of safety and biting her lip against the irrational urge to smash at the door and the control panel with her fist, in her frenzy.

Finally, it gave, and Melody yanked at the handle, sprinting through without waiting, this time, to find out if it closed properly behind her.

Thankfully, she didn't have to pass the dungeon and playrooms in the state she was in, just scan herself through into the sanctuary of the private staff area of the building.

She tumbled through the final door and leaned back against it once the locks engaged, her chest heaving and her eyes wild.

While she looked around her at the quiet, bland safety of the familiar surroundings, Melody felt the weight of her fear and the terrifying reality of the incident crash in around her. Her legs were shaking so badly, she could no longer stand up, and the adrenaline, which had driven her, finally flipped over now she was safe. Crumbling into an ungainly heap, noisy, body juddering sobs wracked her slight frame as she finally succumbed to the residual terror.

It was Trinity who found her first, not that she was in any fit state to make the acknowledgment.

"Oh shit!" She heard the other woman's voice as if from a distance and was only vaguely aware of her calling to someone else through the static of the staff radios.

Warm hands tried to stroke and comfort. Crooning noises which made no sense but which her mind interpreted as soothing, pinged against the cotton wool that was clouding her brain.

Finally, she became aware of her name being called over and over, but she didn't know how long it had been going on. There was a knocking, too…or rather more of a hammering, now that her mind finally focused on it.

"Melody, we need to get you moved. You're blocking the doorway," Trinity urged.

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