Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 48018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 240(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 240(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Angelo ushers me out of the bathroom. I wonder what he will do with me now that he has me where he wants me. I know the greatest danger to me is probably the risk of him becoming bored and either torturing me or outright killing me. But how to hold the interest of an intelligent psychopath?
Fortunately for me, Bobby Vitali is not far away, and he is not in a good mood. My presence is an irritant he will not tolerate.
He strides down the hall, and when he is close enough for his dark, cruel features to have the most impact, he inspects me with a sneer on his face.
“She looks stupid.”
“Be nice,” Angelo purrs. “She doesn’t look stupid at all. She looks like she belongs to us now. She looks like she’s not she at all. In some quarters, that would be referred to as a disguise.”
Bobby snorts. “She’s short and blonde. Couldn’t look less like me if she tried. She doesn’t belong here. She won’t last.”
He says she won’t last in a tone that strongly implies he is going to make sure I don’t. I look back at him trying to keep my expression neutral, but the truth is, I don’t give a fuck about Bobby Vitali. I am not afraid of him. Not even a little bit. And he is still a kill target.
Angelo taps my ass lightly. “Go to my office,” he says. “It’s the door just ahead. That’s right. I need to speak with Bobby.”
5
I do as I am told and take myself to Angelo’s office. I can hardly believe he is going to let me wander it alone, unsupervised. I have to assume that there are cameras, and that he will review them to see what I did.
Angelo’s office is very stereotypical and well-appointed. He has a big leather chair behind a very large wooden desk, complete with one of those green desk protector blotter things nobody really needs anymore. It’s an anachronism.
I wander the room, completing a little circuit. He didn’t give me any specific instructions, like go sit down, or don’t touch anything, and I think he would if he meant to. I notice several things that could be of interest, but most of all, there is a small switchblade knife sitting on the edge of one of the shelves of one of the bookcases.
When he first captured me, Angelo said I needed a knife. I take the opportunity to slip the little pocketknife up my sleeve, planning on stashing it somewhere else soon. I wish I had pants. Pants have pockets. A bra would be nice too. I don’t need one, but it would give me another place to put things.
Just as I secrete the blade, Angelo steps into the room.
“I was not planning on catching an agent and breaking her,” he says. “I had other plans. Obviously you cannot be unsupervised, and Bobby and I both have to go out. So we will be taking you with us. Suffice to say, if you make any attempt at escape, it will go very badly for you.”
“The surrounds of this place are going to be swarming with agents sooner or later. I missed my check in last night. They will be looking for me.” I am telling a lie, sort of.
“Yes. Probably.”
He has incredible nerve if he plans to just drive me right by teams of agents who are looking for me specifically. The location of Angelo’s home is not especially secret. What stops us from bringing him in is a lack of hard evidence. But finding a kidnapped agent in his possession is going to be more than enough evidence for anyone.
I might not have fucked this up as badly as I thought I had. If someone notices I am gone, and they actually catch Angelo today, then we’ll have him in custody. And all it will have cost me is a haircut. Maybe there’s some way to get word to the teams. All I need is access to a phone. Maybe I can steal one from Angelo, or Bobby, or just any random person I eventually encounter.
These few hours in his custody have been very compelling but hearing him tell me he plans to take me out resets my mind. I am back in agent mode, careful, considered, hiding my true thoughts and motivations.
Angelo leads me out the front door to the car. I wait for him to open a door, but instead he pops the trunk. I understand immediately that I am not going to be transported in the car. He’s going to make me ride in the trunk. It’s the most humiliating move he could have made, and it’s also a mistake. Trunks open from the inside. I’m sure he’s disabled the lever of the internal mechanism to pop it open, but that’s only going to stop someone with absolutely no training.