Page 85 of Push & Pull
“Try not to make a mess in there!” Samson yelled after them. “You’re cleaning it up!”
“That’s more than you ever do in a bathroom!” Petra shouted back at him. Her voice went right into Simone’s ear. As she flinched, Simone followed Petra, who clung to her captive’s wrist and forced her to shuffle along with her bound ankles.You’d never guess this was the woman I was falling in love with.Simone didn’t know if that embarrassed her more than it pained her heart.
The sterile bathroom boasted nothing more than an old toilet and a dingy sink without a mirror. Petra kicked the door closed and turned on the single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.
“You got some strength?” Petra crossed the small bathroom, using nothing but her upper body to pull herself up to the horizontal window at the top of the cold wall. She was careful to keep the window from squelching as it was opened, possibly for the first time in years. Petra then hopped back down and turned to Simone, whose fingers toyed with the tape still slapped on her mouth. “I can only do so much for you. Like give you a boost.”
Petra knelt before Simone, removing a pocketknife from her pocket and hacking away at the binds around Simone’s ankles. Once both feet were free, Simone took a large step back, eager to stretch her legs.
“Right. The tape.” Petra hesitated. “First things first,” she hissed, “I need you to promise to not scream or yell until you’re clear from here, got it? The last thing we want is Dumb & Dumber busting in here. There’s no lock on that door, anyway.”
Simone nodded, glimpsing some of the morning light beyond the window. She braced herself for the moment Petra ripped off the tape.
It hurt more than Simone anticipated. Yet she kept in her howling pain as half of the hairs and skin cells on her face were violently stripped away. The most sound she made was the squeak of her shoes against the cement floor.
“This is your only chance.” Petra pointed her finger into Simone’s chest, tape dangling from her hand. “Get your ass out that window and to freedom. We’re not too far from a police station. I think…” Petra glanced at the window, calculations flashing before her eyes. “We’re facing west, and the police station is about four blocks north. So…” She pointed to her left. “That way. Once you’re out there, keep going that way. I’ll make my own way out of here.”
“What’s going on?” Out of everything Simone could have asked first, that was what came out of her mouth. “What thefuckis hap…”
Petra clamped her hand over Simone’s lips. “Shh! I don’t know how much our voices are traveling out of here. Do you want me to help you out or not? Because if your stepmom doesn’t get that money ready in time, I have no idea what my uncle will do to you. We’re not talking about putting a bullet in your head, if you catch my drift.” She lowered her hand. “This is the man who had no qualms training his daughter to be no more than a grifting succubus. Imagine what he does to women who aren’t his flesh and blood.”
Simone kept her lips closed as Petra pulled her hand away.
“I’m so sorry this happened. I truly had no idea they were planning this.” Petra marched back to the window. Once she was sure it was as open as it could get, she motioned for Simone to come over. “I’ll give you a boost. Do you trust me?”
No.Yet the word wouldn’t come out of Simone, who meant it with every fiber of her aching being.
“Come on. We don’t have much time.”
Petra interlaced her fingers and kept low to the ground. A renewed rush of adrenaline opened Simone’s eyes and brought her closer to freedom than she had been since she woke up on that dirty cot.
With Petra’s sweater still wrapped around her, Simone used her height to her advantage when she stepped on her companion’s hand and was hoisted up to the windowsill. The icy winter air woke her up as she tasted liberty.
It was a tight fit, but the ledge on the other side gave Simone something to grab onto as she was lifted up below and pulled for dear life above.
She wasn’t that high off the ground, but she still crashed when she tumbled through the narrow window. Petra’s sweater cushioned the fall against her arms and hands.
Simone didn’t recognize a single building around her, but she heard seagulls in the air and smelled asphalt in her nose. Without looking back at Petra, she took off running, using the last of her strength to secure her freedom.
Chapter 30
Petradidnotmakeit out of the parking garage in time. Even if she had secured herself an escape route without raising the suspicions, as soon as Samson realized the hostage had escaped through the bathroom window, all bets were off.
Honestly, Petra wasn’t disillusioned. She knew what kind of risk she took. Just because she was “family” didn’t mean Uncle Michail, Samson, and Georgio weren’t above wrecking her life if she had outlived her usefulness.Shoulda been halfway to Cincinnati.In a perfect world, where she either didn’t know about them taking Simone hostage for ransom money, or she didn’t know who the hell Simone Evans was.
Except she had heard, and Petra cared a little too much.
A silver lining tipped in poison appeared before anyone could lay a finger – or a bullet – on Petra. Sirens in the distance caused enough chaos among the group of four that they did what they had planned to do, either in or out of this unique circumstance. They scattered to the four winds, Petra heading south as soon as she burst out the door.
And right into two police cars looking for a troublemaker like her.
In a truly unjust world, she would have been the only one captured. Yet she was soon joined by Georgio and Michail, the three of them riding in the back of separate cruisers while the police continued to hunt down Samson, who had hopped on a speedboat and raced out into the tumultuous waters. While Petra shook her head every time she heard an update on the police scanner, Samson was eventually captured as well. Right before he capsized into the freezing, churning waters.
Petra wasn’t allowed to speak to any of them, not that she wanted to. As soon as they were down at the police station, she caught a glimpse of Simone in another room. She was still wearing Petra’s sweater as she looked the other way and waited for someone, anyone to come give her comfort.
Things could have been worse.
Oh, Petra was interrogated for hours. She was eventually arrested for aiding and abetting a kidnapping, because none of the men were in a hurry to absolve her of the actual crime. While Michail looked at the most punishment, especially since a quick investigation would lead to more questions about his life, Petra wasn’t about to be released, either. She spent more nights in jail than she liked to admit. Once she went before a judge, her bail was set at $50,000, and off to prison she went when she couldn’t pay it.
