Remington
Vitaly limped toward and I grimaced at the sight of his ugly face. "What do you want?"
He was supposed to be in Russia. I had no idea how he even got here, or how far he’d go to make pay. I’d been scared before, but now I was terrified.
"What you didn’t give before," he spat out.
I scowled. "You’ll get nothing from , you piece of shit."
He ran his hand up my leg. "I’ll get what I ca for, Remington, and you’ll like it."
Using the strength of my core, I raised my legs and kicked him as hard as I could. It barely made a dent, but it did get him off-kilter, which ant I could sit up and get my hands in front of again.
It made no difference. He dragged up, threw onto a table, akin to a massage table and tied down, before he proceeded to hit in various parts of my body until I nearly passed out.
But when his sister bent down to snarl at , I was so disgusted that this cow was defying the girl-code, I waited until she was close and bit her cheek as hard as I could.
Sothing cracked the back of my head, then everything went black.
Finch
"You were right," Alamo said.
"Yeah, but there’s a keypad on the door. How the hell are we supposed to get in without the combination?" Dash asked.
Alamo ran a hand though his hair. "He’s right. It could be anything."
"Maybe we can blast the lock," Badger said.
"If he hears us coming, he’ll kill her for sure," I said. My mind raced, barely able to focus. I was going insane with the thought of being so close to her but still unable to reach her. To protect her from Vitaly. That smug Russian prick would pay if he hurt her. Suddenly, I was hit with a bolt of pure clarity and blurted out, "1776."
"What?" Alamo asked.
"The code! Try 1776."
Alamo did as I instructed, and the pin pad flashed green. Not only was it the year of Arica’s independence, it was also the year the Bolshoi Ballet was founded. Considering the fact Vitaly was extrely proud of his lineage, I took a guess.
Of course, the only reason I knew any of this was because I’d had to grill Grace on all things ballet when she was studying for her entrance exam into PBC. It was a longshot, but it was one that paid off.
"What the fuck?" he asked in total amazent.
"I’ll explain later, let’s get down there."
I led the way to the bottom of the staircase, my Maglite providing our only light. At the bottom of the stairs was a large room with floor to ceiling shelves lining all four walls. On those shelves where gallon jugs of water, canned goods, and non-perishable food stacked high and deep. At the end of the giant doomsday pantry was a doorway that led to long, left and right hallways, illuminated by LED baseboard lights. The basent was sleek, looked newly constructed, and was nothing like the rest of the house. It also looked like soone had spent considerable ti and money on this secret underground lair. Soundproofing included.
At the end of each hallway was a single, very serious looking door. We split up, with and Badger taking the door on the left, leaving Alamo and Dash to check the on the right. No sooner had they began walking when the door opened quickly with a whoosh and a distracted young, raven-haired woman appeared holding a wad of gauze to her face.
"I can’t believe that little bitch bit ," she muttered to herself as she marched, head down, straight into Alamo’s chest. She let out a high-pitched scream, dropping the gauze to reveal a bloody right cheek.
"Hey there," Alamo said, sounding unsure. None of us knew if we were encountering another one of Vitaly’s victims, or sothing else. However, before Alamo could react, she cleared things up by producing a three-inch blade and sticking Alamo deep in the abdon.
Before he fell to his knees, Alamo cracked his assailant directly in the forehead with the butt of his gun, and she dropped like a stone onto the carpeted hallway floor.
"Aw, shit man, I’ve never hit a woman before," Alamo said, falling to his side, blood pouring from his gut.
"Call 9-1-1!" I shouted to Dash, who imdiately reached for his phone.
"Alamo!" Badger yelled as he began to apply pressure to the wound.
"Tell her I’m sorry I hit her okay?" Alamo said, his color greying.
"Jesus, man, he’s bad!" Badger cried out as door number two swung open.
I couldn’t see anyone standing in the doorway, but this door opened in the sa whooshing fashion as the other, leading to believe they were activated hydraulically.
"Nadia! What the fuck is going on out there?" I heard Vitaly call out.
I turned to the others, held my index finger to my lips, and took two silent steps toward the door before he called out again.
"Nadia, you spoiled brat. You’d better not be throwing one of your tantrums or breaking anything out there! She barely even nipped you. Besides..." he said, his voice getting louder. "...I made sure Remington paid for what she did to your pretty face."
He looked up from cleaning his hands with a bloody rag as he said this, and our eyes connected. I raised my gun and he dropped his grin. I didn’t hesitate to squeeze the trigger and put two holes directly into his chest.
"Remington!" I cried out as I ran to the doorway. Vitaly was still alive and conscious when I reached him, but appeared unable to move, so I stepped over him and ran into the room to find Remington.
"Frisk him," I heard soone say behind .
Knowing they’d make sure Vitaly was taken care of, I focused on finding Remington. I almost passed out when I saw her. She was strapped to a table. Her ankles and right arm were bound, and she had been beat to a pulp. Her left arm was free but was clearly broken, hanging down like a mangled bird’s wing.
Fearing the worst, I watched her chest until I saw the labored rise and fall that assured she was still breathing. Determined to keep her that way, I rushed in and took in the damage.
"Oh, my God baby, what did he do to you?" Tears stread down my face as I gently kissed Remington’s bloodied face. A face that at that mont barely resembled her. Her eyes were closed, lips parted, the left side of her face was already darkening with a giant bruise, and a gash ran along her cheek, leaking blood. "Remi, babe, I need you to wake up."
She didn’t respond.
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