Page 41 of Courting Danger

The nearest person stood about a dozen yards away, with several spotlights illuminating the area. There was no way for me to cover the distance without being spotted. Even if I managed to knock that one out, I’d be gunned down by the other people nearby.

For the same reason, I couldn’t just shoot the person. Until I knew how many enemies we faced, I couldn’t risk bringing down an army on us.

A soft tug on my sleeve caught my attention. Looking back at Ghita, I found her pointing at something above us.

The scaffolding.

There was a low spot nearby where we could climb up. Then we could get a better look at our surroundings and the enemies we faced.

Between Ghita’s short height and my bad knee, climbing the scaffolding proved challenging. It was a multi-step process. First, I would climb up, with Ghita supporting me. Then, she would hand me our bag of supplies before I pulled her up behind me.

It took us about twenty minutes to reach the building’s second floor. It still didn’t provide as much cover as I would prefer, but it was at least easier to walk around.

The layout of the building formed a ‘U’ around a central courtyard. The two of us followed this shape around the edge of the courtyard until we found an area where plywood had been nailed into a makeshift wall. It wouldn’t stop a bullet, but it would at least block us from sight if any of our enemies happened to look up.

From here, I counted a dozen people scattered around the open courtyard. It wasn’t an army, but it was more than Ghita and I could fight on our own.

“Over there.” Ghita pointed at a bulldozer sitting almost directly below us. “The ground looks disturbed. Like someone was running.”

She was right. Fresh footprints marked the dirt, with a pattern that suggested frantic movement. Even more odd, they disappeared right under the bulldozer.

“Stay here,” I told her as I searched for a better way to climb down. “I’m going to go take a look.”

I found a discarded ladder that looked like it hadn’t been touched in months. Old wood and rusted joints creaked as I lowered it to the ground, the structure threatening to collapse under my weight.

My knee protested each time I stepped down another rung and I made sure to keep both hands securely on the ladder at all times.

As soon as my feet hit dirt, a spotlight spun in my direction. I ducked behind the wheel of the bulldozer and held my breath. There was no way to avoid making noise on such a rickety ladder, but I’d been hoping it would be mistaken for ambient city sounds.

“You hear something?” someone said from just out of sight. Footsteps plodded across the ground, each one a little closer.

I crawled under the bulldozer just before someone stepped into sight. I pressed up against the back of the tire, hoping the equipment’s shadow would be enough to conceal me.

Two people walked by, one of them absently pointing a flashlight into the darkest shadows of the night.

“Nah, I didn’t hear anything. You’re being paranoid.”

“But I could have sworn I heard—”

“It’s fine. We’re almost done here. There’s only about a half hour left before the bastard runs out of air. Then we can leave.”

Runs out of air?

My heart rate doubled. There was no context where those words could mean anything good.

As the two people turned around to head back, the flashlight’s beam reached under the bulldozer. I curled tighter against the large wheel to stay out of sight, but as I did so, I noticed the light glint off something silver half-buried in the dirt.

It looked vaguely familiar.

As soon as the people with the flashlight left, I unearthed the silver object. A little silver ring sat innocently in my palm.

I had seen this ring before, hooked through Alex’s eyebrow piercing.

Closing my hand into a fist around the ring, I bit my lip to keep from making a sound. Part of me had hoped they were wrong. That Alex was actually somewhere safe and this whole thing was a misunderstanding.

Now I knew for a fact that Alex was there and in danger.

Taking out my phone, I dialed Ghita’s number. She answered before the first ring finished.

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