Page 11 of Havoc

“Yes, okay, but make sure you do. We really need to talk.” I hung up and saw a brown-haired woman, about my size, give me a coy wave. She looked oddly familiar, but I couldn’t place her. I took in her hair cut and her freckled face as she got closer, but nothing rang a bell.

“This all feels very Deep Throat, doesn’t it?” She chuckled. Something about the way she held her bag told me she was nervous.

“Do I know you?”

“No, but your friend Hanna Hudson does.” Oh. “Look, I’m sorry to come at you here where you work, but I’m Linda Pestle, and Hanna and I used to work together.”

Okay, I must have seen Linda in a couple of Hanna’s photos over the years, and that was why she seemed familiar. It came to me then.

“Oh, yes, Hanna’s mentioned you.” Apparently, they were pretty good friends. I’d left before Linda came. If I remembered correctly, she worked for Markle Hotel.

“Good, I was hoping she’d mentioned me.” She let out a small breath of relief, and I felt my defenses come down a bit.

“She seemed to be upset the last time we talked. Do you know what kind of trouble she’s having?” I took a couple steps toward her, dying to know how my friend was. “Have you spoken to her? She called me the other day, but I never heard back from her.”

“See, that’s the thing.” Linda licked her lips nervously. “One moment she was rambling to me about some guy, and the next she gets a call and races out. That was two days ago.”

“Why did you come here?” Curiosity nipped at my core.

“Because you were the one who called her that night.” Her mouth twisted. “Is there any chance she said something to you?”

“Like what?”

“Like who the guy was or if she was in some kind trouble?” Her eyes darted around.

“She wanted to tell me, but…” My words fell away like my mind put a stop to them. Something wasn’t right here. Tiny sparks of fear prickled my veins as my brain tried to process something I was unable see.

A surge suddenly connected those sparks together, and my heart jolted as a leather hand slapped over my mouth. I was lifted off the ground and swallowed up by the shadows.

Fear consumed me as I was slammed into a wall. I struggled to see, but his face was covered by a dark mask that only showed his weird white eyes. Then something flashed by my face.

“You scream, and I’ll slit your throat.” I felt the cold steel against my windpipe. Then he pulled it back so I could see the ugly switchblade he held to make his point. I nodded and couldn’t control the heavy, hot tears that burned as they ran over the suddenly hypersensitive skin on my cheeks. He lowered his hand, and I desperately tried to make out his features through the covering. I realized he wore white contacts, and his voice was altered by some sort of device. It sounded mechanical and deep. “What did Hanna say when she called you?” his weird voice demanded. A faint whiff of body odor mixed with spice and something else found its way to my nose. It may have been my fear, but it wasn’t pleasant, and I felt myself gag.

Focus.

Linda, or whoever she was, stayed back, and her head kept going back and forth as she watched. So many terrifying thoughts went through my head, but I willed myself to fight my nausea and stay in the present.

“She told me.” I shook my head to get my thoughts straight. “She thought she was in trouble, but she never said what it was.” An unexpected explosion of pain in my side took my breath away, and I doubled over and felt sick. I’d never experienced anything like that before. I fought to breathe as I was pulled up by my hair and the knife stuck in my face again. I could hear whimpers and realized the sound came from my own throat.

“Try again.” The hand with the knife waved around, and I desperately swallowed back the vomit that threatened.

“She, she got another call. Said she had to call me back.” The man hit me again in the same spot, and I blacked out for a moment. I was on the cold concrete and felt him move my skirt around. I came to with so much fight that I managed to kick him square in the balls. He fell, and I raced around him, but the woman snagged my arm and yanked me back with such force she knocked me right off my feet. My back hit the ground hard, and I was dragged back out of the light.

The man breathed heavily in my ear. “Fucking whore! I should fuck you right here and see what the Gateses think of that.”

It’s strange how some humans handle a life-threatening experience. I switched into survival mode. I kicked, scratched, tried to bite, and flailed around like a crazy person. Sadly, he held on, and I was soon exhausted.

“Are you done?” He punched me hard in the side again, and I lost my will to fight back as the pain blinded me.

“Come on, hurry up!” The Linda woman’s voice found me. Was someone coming? “You’re taking too long. Just tell her.”

What? I struggled to stand. My battered body hurt everywhere.

“I told you to shut up!” he snapped at her, and she gave him the finger. I saw her cower at his words. The guy loosened his hold and put his face to mine.

“Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to be my own personal little spy. So, when I call you, you answer. When I tell you to do something, you do it.” He held up a piece of paper with a number on it. “Memorize it.”

“Spy?” I looked at him. “I’m not going to spy for you. What are you talking about?” My lips trembled as I looked at him in amazement.

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