Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 85(@200wpm)___ 68(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 85(@200wpm)___ 68(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
I nod and sink into my seat. “Yes. Yes, we do.” And because I need my mind off all the things that could go wrong, I ask, “How long have you been with Walker Security?”
He pulls us into traffic. “Two years. I was in the military for ten, and then the ATF for just as long.”
“Why’d you join Walker?”
“Same reason most of us do. We’re sick and fucking tired of working for the wrong people for the wrong reasons.” He eyes me in the mirror. “You’re going to be okay. We’ll make sure of it.”
“Thank you,” I say. “I believe you.”
We halt at a stoplight, and he hands me a coin. “It’s good luck. I would be dead if not for that coin a few times over. You take it.”
I laugh. “You think the coin saved your life?”
“I played baseball in college. We’re superstitious people. Take it. My luck is your luck.”
“Oh no, I can’t take your lucky coin.”
“Take it,” he encourages. “You can give it back when you get done talking to your mother.”
I accept the coin. “Thank you.”
“Put it in your pocket,” he says, already driving again. “The pocket is the lucky stop for the lucky coin.”
I do as he’s suggested and say a little prayer when I haven’t prayed in a good long while. Right now, it feels like it’s been too long. Joey pulls us to the curb, and I draw in a breath. “I’ll be back in a few.”
“Make sure you are. If we don’t hear from you in twenty minutes, I’m coming up. I’m texting you my number. You have to communicate.”
“I will,” I say yet again, but this time to Joey, not Damion.
I exit the car, and nerves jump around inside me, warning bells going off for no good reason.
Everything is fine.
I’ll talk to my mother and be out of here in minutes. Well, maybe minutes. If she has a sobbing fit, a lot longer. I walk inside the building, and in a minute I’m in the empty elevator car, punching the button. My mind replays the call I’d shared with my mother earlier.
“I think we should talk.”
“Okay,” she’d said. “I can meet you at my apartment.”
It hits me now that the tone read like she wasn’t at her own place. She must be staying at West Senior’s house, and that does not sit well. She is deeply woven into the web of his deceit. I reach my mother’s door and ring the bell, and then ring it again. When she doesn’t answer, I dial her cell. She picks up on the first ring.
“Sorry, honey. I came to that little coffee shop a few blocks away that Anna and I come to sometimes.” Anna being a friend of hers from some high-society club. “Can you come here? We can have a coffee.”
I breathe out and remind myself my mother really loves that place and often drags me there, so this is not unusual. It just doesn’t sit right at present, but it hits me that maybe, just maybe, she fears there are cameras in the apartment. Maybe she is looking for privacy? This idea takes root, and I rush toward the elevator. Once I’m inside, I text Joey: She’s at the coffee shop three blocks down. It’s called “Mama’s Coffee,” and I’ll ping my location when I arrive.
The doors to the car shut, and I punch the lower level. The car starts to move, and Joey tries to call me. I try to answer, but can’t hear him. “I’m in the elevator. I’ll call you back.” I disconnect, and the elevator halts and then starts going up. My brows furrow, and I punch the lower level, but to no avail. I clearly have to go all the way up before I can go back down. I lean against the wall to wait it out, and Joey calls again, but I still can’t hear him. I text him: The elevator went up instead of down. I’m still in the car. The coffee shop entrance is in the back alley. I’ll exit to the back of the building.
The elevator halts, and I stick my phone in my purse and punch the down button over and over, but the doors to the car open anyway. That’s when a man wearing all black and a mask appears and then stalks toward me. I back up as far as I can, but there is nowhere to go. He grabs me, and fear lodges my scream in my throat. I feel a needle in my neck, and then everything goes dark.
The End…for now