Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
I nodded and held up her tracker before making my way past her and into the bathroom. I dropped the tracker in the toilet before flushing it. When I turned, her expression was scrunched up in question.
“They know we found it. No reason to hang on to it. And if they didn’t. They would assume you are on the elevator down. Either way, we don’t need to keep it at this point.”
“Yours?” she asked.
I shot a thumb over my shoulder toward the kitchen. She followed me there. I snagged a banana because it was right there. Then I put a finger to my lips. She nodded in understanding. At the door, I took care to open it slowly, keeping part of my body hidden. When no shots rang out, I risked a glance. The hallway was empty.
We were over forty stories high, so I went for the elevator. Hopefully, those after us weren’t on to us yet. A quick departure would give us another advantage. I may have pressed the button a few times too many because Tayla’s hand captured mine.
“I can’t begin to understand what you’re going through, but I’m here to talk if you want,” she said.
In her eyes, I could see the shared misery. She hadn’t exactly had an easy time of things over the last year. I’d only endured three months of hell. I squeezed her hand and opened my mouth to say something when the elevator dinged and the doors opened.
20
TAYLA
His lips closed, and that was the end of the conversation. He took my hand in his and we quickly got into the elevator. He hit the button for the garage floor and down we went. Though we hadn’t encountered anyone, my heart raced like we were being chased. Then again, it could have been because he hadn’t let go of me. I took a small step forward, wishing I could lean into him. Yet, I held myself back, not sure what to label what was between us.
When the elevator stopped, his hand tightened on mine and awareness of our surroundings kicked back in. The doors parted and Shawn used his hand to flatten us against the side wall after pressing another button. It was then I spotted a man dressed in dark clothing standing with his back to us. A snake tattoo peeked out of the collar of his shirt on his neck. People didn’t generally hang out in a garage. It was likely he was there for nefarious reasons.
The man turned in our direction as the doors closed. I couldn’t be sure he hadn’t seen us as we descended farther. Once we reached a lower level, Shawn cautiously led us out into a darkened space filled with floor-to-ceiling metal cages. I guessed it was storage for the residents. He placed a finger to his lips, and we made our way down a narrow corridor between cages until we reached a door.
A ding indicated the elevator was back on this floor. Shawn quickly ushered us inside what appeared to be a tiny maintenance office that held a metal desk and shelves. Once he closed the door as softly as possible, he flicked on the overhead light and moved about the space, inspecting the walls.
Not sure what else to do, I kept an ear to the door to see if I could hear anyone coming. Then, a grunt had me turning my attention back to Shawn. He was lifting a shelf. I moved to help him, and expeditiously, we moved it out of the way, revealing what appeared to be a ship’s hatch door with the wheel handle. No way there was a ship down here. Maybe there was a bunker.
Shawn spun the wheel after a few seconds of trying to get it moving. It was sexy as all hell, watching his biceps flex as he used his strength. As I heard footsteps approach, I chastised myself for not keeping my head in the game. There was possibly a man, or men, who wanted to hurt us.
The bunker door popped open with the screeching sound of metal on unoiled hinges and stale air whooshed in. Beyond that was a dank tunnel. Shawn held his hand out to me and helped me through the hatch and over a puddle of something. I didn’t want to guess what it was.
He didn’t take time to shut off the light or conceal what we’d done. He closed the hatch door before he took the banana from his pocket. Then he peeled it open, broke off the top, added the tracker he took from another pocket, and tossed the combo to the left. He bit off another part before we took off at a lope to the right.
I didn’t have to ask why he did what he did. If they were tracking him, they would head to the left of the tunnel. We reached a fork in our path and headed right again. At the same time, we heard the squeaky hatch door open. We picked up the pace as I heard the sounds of a train off in the distance. We had to be in an old access tunnel to the subway. I had so many questions, but didn’t ask a one. Shawn’s purposeful movements felt like he had a plan. When we were safe, we could talk about how he knew where he was going.