Page 134 of Submission

“Parker brought me home and is still downstairs in the lobby. Let him take you wherever you want to go.”

“I’m just going for a walk. I don’t need him to take me anywhere.”

As soon as the elevator doors close, the tears roll down my face. I’m not sure if they are tears of sadness or frustration, probably a little of both.

When I finally reach the lobby of our building, I don’t see Parker and figure he’s probably sitting in the car waiting to be told he can end for the day from Hunter.

After the attempt on Hunter’s life, he hired his security to work the lobby entrance of our building, but I noticed that the guy who’s usually down here isn’t at the desk either. A foreboding feeling crawls along my spine.

Something is off.

I stand at the locked glass doors of the building and look outside for a moment to see if I can spot either Parker or the security dude.

I can’t find either of them, but what I do see is a large black Audi with tinted windows and the silhouette of two people in the backseat arguing.

I’d know that nose anywhere.

It’s Naomi.

Immediately, I exit the building and knock on the window, fearing that she’s in trouble. As I wait for a window to roll down, the driver gets out of the car.

He’s a formidable-looking man with a thick black beard and cold dark eyes.

“Can I help you?” He says with a distinct southern dialect that reeks of danger.

“I want to speak to Naomi?”

I point to the backseat.

“You have the wrong car.”

I squint my eyes and watch as the two people continue to talk to each other, and I am more sure than ever that I have the right person. I know her profile. I know my friend. But maybe her real name isn’t Naomi? Could that be it?

“The woman in that car is a friend of mine. I recognize her. I just want to talk to her.”

“Can you step away from the car, miss?” He says, asking the question in a very rhetorical fashion.

“I’m standing outside my home where you happened to be parked. You can’t make me leave the area.”

The surly man presses the ear pod in his ear and takes a call. He grunts an “okay” to whoever is on the other end and then suddenly gives me the oddest look.

After that, things happen at breakneck speed. The man lunges toward me while simultaneously grabbing me around the waist with one arm and placing the opposite hand over my mouth.

I kick out my legs and they flail in the air.

I scream against his calloused hand, “Help!” My cries muffled.

I try reaching backward with my fists so I can gouge his eyes out or at least fight my way out of his grasp.

But it’s all to no avail.

It doesn’t take him long to pull me into the passenger seat of the vehicle and lock the doors.

I’m breathing heavily, tears streaming down my face, when I notice that Noemi and another strange man are staring stoically at me.

“Noemi!” I cry. “What’s going on?”

“Quiet,” the piece of garbage next to me says as he lifts a hand so close to my face that I’m positive it’s a warning of something much more sinister if I don’t shut my mouth.

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