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I slowed my steps. Greg was looking for me, so he didn’t see me. I used quiet steps, as quick as I dared, to move across hallways, away from his voice.
After another couple of turns, I was lost. I couldn’t hear Greg any more. I thought at first that was a good thing, because I was possibly away from him, but I also didn’t have a sense of where he might be.
I paused just at the bend of one dim corridor. I stared off into the dark, trying to choose a direction to go.
An arm snagged me around the waist.
I fell back, dropping to the left along another side hallway. I had enough time to catch myself with my hands. A body crashed on top of me.
A gloved hand shoved itself into my mouth, deep enough that it locked my jaw. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t bite down.
“Stop it,” said the masked voice. “And shut up. Greg’s coming.”
I stilled, my heart thundering. I hoped I wasn’t making a mistake. From his tone, even though it was hard to tell from the digital way it was manipulated, it still seemed like he didn’t want to get mixed in with Greg, either.
I’d rather take on the guy without a knife.
I was still for a long time, unable to hear anything over my heart thundering, Volto’s breathing in my ear above me, and the various hospital noises: AC, water, power.
After a long moment, Volto picked himself up. He grasped at my waist until I was standing beside him. He tugged at me so I’d follow.
He guided me down increasingly darker hallways until I was forced to keep a hand on him. I couldn’t see a thing.
“Where are we?” I whispered.
“Not now.”
Footfalls fell heavy behind us, like someone giving chase.
“Run,” Volto said.
He didn’t have to tell me that part.
Through the dark, he yanked me by the arm, this way and that.
Winding through the hallways, out of breath, I started to fall behind.
“Just a little further,” he said.
I wanted to ask how big this hospital was, but from the way he was guiding me, it felt like the long way around the way we had come from.
Down another couple of hallways, the concrete at my feet switched back to tile.
Volto slowed. He pulled at my arm to get me to stop, turning me around. “You’re a pain in the ass. You know that?”
“I’m not really your problem,” I seethed out between breaths. “Why are you doing this?”
“I’m too nice for my own good.”
Footsteps, faint for now, echoed down the corridor. I backed up, as if ducking into the wall would help me to blend in and make me invisible.
“He’s coming for you,” Volto said.
I started to walk off.
He snagged my elbow. “Stop.”
“We have to get away.”
He stilled, his white mask tilted toward me. The shadows changed the facial features from almost a blank expression to one that was eerie with long shadows. “I’ll let you escape, but I need something from you.”
My head jerked back. “What?”
The footsteps got closer. Volto ducked with me into the archway of a shadowed metal door. It didn’t hide us completely.
Volto turned back to me and leaned in close. The jasmine scent from earlier filled my nose. He grabbed my shoulders. “Give me the passcode to the dragon desk.”
My hands fell on his hips to try and push him away. Victor’s desk at home? He was crazy! I couldn’t give him that. “I can’t.”
“Give it to me, or I’ll shout and run off and leave you here for Greg.”
Part of me was willing to take that risk. I didn’t know anything about what was in Victor’s computer at home. And how did this guy know that it existed or that I even knew the code? Between the security around the wall he had to get past, and who knows how much other stuff Victor had set up for his house, how did this guy think he’d be able to get in?
“How can I trust you? After everything you’ve done? The pictures you took of me?”
“I didn’t take any pictures.” The guy shook my arm. “Hurry up. We don’t have time.”
His shaking caused me to grip tighter at his hips. My fingers brushed at something flat in his pocket. A cell phone?
Something Victor said had my lips moving. Nothing important, at least he thought, was on the computer. Part of me thought if I got out of this quickly, I could get someone to call Victor, maybe Gabriel upstairs, and warn him in time to change the passcode, just in case.
And, if I was careful, I could probably get back something better. The edge of the square shape in his pants was something I was willing to risk taking.
I started slow, pretending to be sketchy on the first two digits. I needed a distraction so I could bump into him like Karen had shown me.
Footsteps. I shook, stopping. I whimpered, I hoped I sounded frightened. I pushed my body up against his as if he were one of the guys. When my hip bumped into his, my fingers clipped the edge of his phone. Remembering what Karen told me, I lifted quickly.
He grasped me around the shoulders, catching me. His breath fell heavier against his voice distorter. "I promise you'll get out of this," he said. "I wish you'd listen to me and take a bus out of town. But I need that passcode." His hands massaged my shoulders in what I thought was meant to be a soothing gesture. "Tell me."
“Three, five, seven,” I tried.
He shook me hard again. “Stop lying. You should know better.”
I was a terrible liar. I swallowed, nodding solemnly and diverting my eyes in one direction over his shoulder, slipping the phone into my back pocket. I rattled off the numbers of the code to him, a series of eight digits.
The masked head nodded. “No matter what you hear, you should stay put. Stay right here.” He released me, running in the opposite direction of the oncoming
footsteps.
“Volto!” I hissed at him. I didn’t have a name for him, so I didn’t know what to call to him except for that.
He stopped, but didn’t turn around.
“I thought you’d said you’d help,” I seethed.
“I already did.” He turned the corner and disappeared.
The footsteps were coming closer. I sunk myself back into the door. How did he help? Or did he just lie to me to get the code? I didn’t have time to figure it out now. I wasn’t sure if I should run in the direction he’d gone or listen to him. I fingered the phone in my pocket. If he found it was missing, he might come back for it.
I wanted to try running, but before I could get myself to move, a figure appeared at the other end of the hall. It lingered just in the shadows, waiting.
I caught the glint of something metallic in his hands.
I shrunk closer to the door, sucking myself in. I thought maybe he’d pass up this hallway if he couldn’t see me.
The footsteps got louder, coming closer.
I held my breath.
The figure stopped short just where I was hiding. “I thought I saw a little Sing Song down here,” Greg’s voice cracked my slight hope that this might be a security guard or someone else.
I leapt, ready to run when the metal door slid open. A light shone through revealing an elevator. It illuminated Greg’s face just as he was turning, distracted.
A body dashed in front of me. Before Greg could lift his knife, he was struck in the stomach and tackled.
Greg went flying onto his back, landing hard. The body on top of him heaved himself up.
I caught a wisp of blond mixed in with brown.
Gabriel knelt over Greg. His fists swung hard at Greg’s face, over and over. I could hear the thuds falling as his hand made contact. Gabriel dug his knees into Greg’s stomach.
“Fuck you, motherfucking shit. Touch her again.” With every swing of his fists, Gabriel cursed, sometimes slurring them together until I couldn’t understand.
Greg was sprawled under Gabriel, his legs and hands had jerked at first, as if trying to protect himself. As the onslaught continued, they stilled.
My heart thundered so loud, that for a moment, it was all I could hear. Somehow Gabriel knew where we were. Is that what the masked man had meant?
