Page 64 of Shifted

"An idiot," I reply, and a disgusting smirk grows on his face. His yellowed, cracked teeth flash toward me as he smiles. "Princess, you've come to play with the wrong people." He lifts his gun to my chest, and I stare at it.

"That's a nice gun, isn't it?" He stares at his Glock at the same time as me. Within an instant, I turn it around and take it in my possession, pointing it towards him and causing the men in the room to aim.

I catch him in the corner of my eye, looming on a balcony. He grins at me, almost as if he were mocking my situation. I didn't present any fear, though on the inside, I felt it consume me. Amartolós nods his head at me as he lifts a gun like it is his way of permitting me to shoot. My eyes quickly gaze back at Enzo, and without a second thought, I shoot him in the chest and dove toward the small sliver in the wall that I came through. Behind me, I hear shots, ones that failed to hit me and others I didn't recognize. As I squeezed through the wall quickly, I blocked it off, pushing a cabinet in its way.

As I run further into the house, I hear the cries of something, of someone. As I approach the noise, I find myself at the end of a hall where a door is chained shut.

"Shh baby, shhh, just sleep." A woman's voice could be heard on the other side of the door. I needed a key to open it, so I lifted the chains and yanked them. They didn't budge. It seemed like a hopeless attempt without wire cutters or a key.

"Are you looking for this?" I turned to Amartolós, who was holding a rusted key in his hand. "The dead security guard around the corner had this wrapped around his neck." He sounded proud of himself, but none of that mattered right now.

"Don't waste any more time" I ripped it from his hand and removed the chains twisting the old gold knob. As I opened the door, I found myself in horror. The daughter and Mother were in a cell together, chained to the floor. She stared at me in fear as she guarded her little girl's body with her own. They looked sick and frail, and then I recognized them: the mother and her little girl hiding behind her. The little girl was Zoe, and her mother was Maya; she went to school with Joely.

"Do what you will to me, but leave my daughter alone," Maya pleaded. As I stepped towards her, she backed up into the wall.

"I'm not here to hurt you. Your husband sent me." Her face stayed the same as if she felt this was some trick. So I did what I could, lifting the key and inserting it slowly into her chain lock.

The fact that the little girl was Joely's age and attended the same daycare. This could've been me and her, and nobody would be looking for us. My eyes burn as I stare at her, but she looks over my shoulder. Amartolós stood holding guard of the door as I freed them. Ropes held their wrists forced together, and marks were left behind due to the tightness.

"You're safe. I promise you that you're safe." I offered Maya my hand, and without any other options, she accepted it, standing up. I took Zoe into my arms as Maya stared at me in fear. I looked at Amartolós, and I handed Zoe off to him.

"Let's get you home," I whisper.

Then Maya struggles to walk with each step she takes. "Can I carry you?" I offer, and she scans my body up and down, confused and offensive.

"I'm stronger than I look, Maya." She looks surprised as I say her name. I've met her a few times in the mornings, but never her husband. Now, I knew Isaac's family and how he protected them so carelessly.

"H-how do you?"

"That's not important. Now, can I carry you?" She nods, and I scoop her up into my arms. She rests weakly in them, and we quietly move out.

As we make it outside, it's clear. We walk diligently to the truck provided, and I place Maya in the back, and Zoe is beside her in the car seat. They both were now sleeping as Amartolós began the drive.

"You know them?"Amartolós asks as I continue to stare at Zoe. My heart breaks as I see the bruise on her chest.

"No." I lie. He doesn't buy it from the sound of his unconvinced sigh.

"So, who are they to you?"

"Nobody, I don't know them, I don't know anyone. My life is a mystery, and it is one I live alone in; let me make that clear," I warn him.

"So you lost your family?" he inquires. He knew I had a family, and I had already let that be known. But he didn’t know who they were; he just wanted to poke his nose where he shouldn’t.

"Why are you so god damn nosey?" He shrugs, focusing on the roads. He glanced at me quickly with a smirk.

"Being a nosey person makes you a good detective, Angel; you should know that by now?" His teasing tone only annoys me further. This man would never know me as I’d never know him. That’s how this line of work went.

"And you're a detective, right?" He shakes his head in annoyance at my stubbornness; he could never know who I was. Curiosity kills me, and I'd lift that mask in a second if it meant knowing his identity with no consequences. But this life comes with strings attached, which I can't tangle with my other one.

Especially with him on a mission to end mine, my guard is up. I won't forget his goals, the one where I end up in a body bag. He turns me into the authorities, and my daughter's life is ruined.

"If I told you a story about myself, would you tell me a story about you? No names included?" I glared at him skeptically and then nodded.

"You first, you offered." He lifts his pinky finger towards me.

"You have to pinky promise you'll share one with me? It could be deep, it could be silly, something you've never told anyone. I'm still a stranger," He offers. He wasn't wrong about that. So, I wrapped my pinky around his in agreement, and he sighed.

"I've never told anyone this because it's quite embarrassing." His eyes focus on the road, and I notice as his hands tighten around the wheel.

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