Page 71 of Devious Eyes
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The drop of my stomach and sudden nauseous feeling wakes me. At some point, I must have dozed off. We must be ready to land. A quick scan around the cabin tells me nothing has changed.
The slight bump and rumble as the wheels touch down provide relief yet fill me with dread. Whatever their plan, they wanted me here, in this location. Wherever we are, we taxi around the airstrip, and then all the men are up and out of their seats. I keep my eyes down but try to watch for the woman. She’s the dangerous one. She’s the one I need to watch for.
She stands and accepts one of the pilot's hands to step down the private steps. And then she’s gone. The men gesture for me to stand and leave, and I’m hurried down the steps. Ahead of me are two huge black four-by-four vehicles waiting. The sun is high in the sky, clear of any clouds. I could be anywhere from the limited view I have.
My eye is still half closed, but the pain has subsided.
As I’m put into the car, two men climb in after me. I turn my head and watch out of the tinted windows for clues as to where I am.
It’s only a few minutes before I recognise where we are. We’re back in Miami.
The cars continue in convoy along the streets that I’ve driven a hundred times myself. As we near the port, my heart drops at the thought that we’re going to my brother’s Marina. The sinking feeling in my stomach turns to acid as I skip through all the conversations we’ve had. Did he set this up? Is he involved?
Maybe that’s the explanation I’ve been searching for? Andreas knew how to reach me. How to contact me. He pulled me out of the relative safety I’d found and back into harm's way.
As the cars continue to their destination, the sudden betrayal by my brother comes into stark clarity. He’s always wanted to be bigger. Better. The king amongst his friends and workers. He’s never cared for family or a connection with me beyond how I could benefit him. My heart breaks, and finally, I lose a tear that I’ve been so desperately holding onto.
When the car stops, the men shoot from their seats and pull me from the seat. I go willingly, unable to muster a fight at the realisation that my brother is involved in this. We passed one of his warehouses as we drove deeper into the dock’s industrial estate, but this isn’t where he does business.
The warehouse we enter is old. Rusted aluminium sheeting litters the floor, and the once clean and painted building looks more like someone’s gone to a lot of effort to make a patina pattern over the walls.
Inside, it’s much cleaner. We cross an empty room big enough to house the private jet we just flew in on. I’m marched across the dusty floor through a small doorway where a maze of corridors and rooms are spaced out. A guard—the one with the bump on his head—shoves me inside and closes the door. There’s a snitch and click that tell me he’s padlocked the door. A single pane window, some ten feet above me is the only source of light, shining a beam of brightness into the space. I sit in the pool of sunlight at the end of the room and wait.
They brought me here for something. Otherwise, I’d be dead by now. I cling to that fact. And I have no doubts the woman would have taken a gun and pulled the trigger herself had she wanted to.
The circle of light I’m sitting in slowly grows smaller and smaller as the sun disappears from view. The darkness invades and with it, the thought that I may not make it out of this alive. My only hope is that Andreas will make sure I’m still breathing at the end. I’ll give them what they need, and I can leave.
Simple.More fool me.
The grating sound of metal against metal has me jumping to my feet, my back to the wall. The door opens, and two shadowy figures enter the room. Barely any light filters through now and between that, my eye, and lack of sleep, I’m amazed I’m still standing.
A sick, gut-twisting feeling returns to my stomach ten-fold, poisoning my body and rendering me petrified. I don’t want to go with these men. They’re bigger than those who were on the plane. They grab for my arm, but I bat them away and try to run around them. I get a few feet towards the door before I’m brought to my knees, slamming into the concrete ground.
Burning pain flares across my scalp as I’m hauled to my feet by my hair. I grab the guy’s wrists with my hands, but there’s no way he’s loosening his grip. Two quick punches from the other man not holding me in place.The pain blasts over my face and down to my stomach, replacing the sickness from a moment ago.
No words, no hesitancy. Just violence. Any thought of running vanishes, and I relax my arms. I’m shaken loose and fall to my knees again, small debris on the floor digging into my bruised skin like miniature daggers.
I’m led out of my cell and down the corridor into a bigger room. There are no windows, but a small light in the corner casts the room in a dull, yellow hue. It’s enough for me to make out a body slumped over a chair in the other corner.
Andreas.
“Andreas!” I cry out, wrenching myself free to go to him. “Andreas, can you hear me?”
His head hangs lifelessly from his neck, a trail of blood and drool running from his mouth and nose. His arms are pulled tightly around the chair and fastened at the wrist. His body is covered in dirt…or blood.
“Andreas, can you hear me? Please….it’s Gabriella. Wake up. You have to wake up.”
“Enough.” An American voice speaks, but I take no notice, running my hands over Andreas to check for more injuries. Wet patches and blood coat his skin. His shirt is cut open and soaked with blood. All my heartbreak from earlier is forgotten seeing my brother like this, and sudden realisation dawns that Nate was so right. I’m out of my league and terrified.
Arms wrap around me and lift me away from my brother. “No. He’s hurt. He needs me.” I thrash with my arms and scissor my legs until I hit something.
I’m dropped and try to scurry across the floor to escape, but a blow to my stomach stops me. I look up to see a shadow standing over me and watch as his fist comes down to meet my face.
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Black.
