Page 74 of Unexpectedly Wanted
“I don’t get paid enough to carry people,” the guy jerking me around said. “Fuckin’ move your ass.”
“I can’t exactly see,” I said, while internally telling myself to shut it. “I’m not sure which way you want me to go or if there are any obstacles in my path. Sorry if my brain and body seem a little hesitant tomove.”
I felt something cold and hard press against the back of my head. I froze.
“I will shoot you,” asshole one growled in my ear.
“I don’t think your boss wants me dead. If he did, I have a feeling I’d already be that way. You went through a lot of trouble to get me here, and with the bag over my head and all, I’m guessing that killing me isn’t something you can do.”
“I didn’t say I was going to kill you,” he said, dark humor in his tone. “I said I was going to shoot you. Plenty of places for me to do that and still keep you breathing.”
I swallowed hard.
Okay, no more opening my mouth, no matter how much I wanted to.
As he dragged me along, I tried my hardest not to stumble, but it hadn’t been easy.
I heard the creaking of metal. A few more steps and he was releasing his hold on me.
The bag was ripped off my head, and I blinked at the harsh light.
I was in a room. Big Paws was behind me, blocking the door. A skinnier man was off to the left, but still behind me. I assumed he was the one that sounded nasally.
The room was big. More like a small warehouse, I suppose. I noticed a few doors on the far back wall, but nothing that indicated what might be behind them. I probably didn’t want to know.
There was a cheap desk set up in the middle of the room. And a man sat in the chair, facing a set-up of three monitors. He looked around my age, maybe a few years younger. His hair was black and long, nearly brushing his shoulders. His eyes were… scared. That was all I could say.
“Nice of you to join us,” a man said as he stepped out of the far corner of the room. He was tall. Dressed in a plain suit, the shirt unbuttoned at the top. His hair didn’t remind me of a villain’s. Nor did his face. But the glint in his eyes did. It said he was evil. It said he was mad. It said… I wouldn’t like what was coming.
And for me to be able to read that… well, for sure, no ointment or small bandage was going to be useful by the time he was done with me.
“So you’re the one that found a way into my system,” he said, stepping forward. His shoes sounded like explosions going off in my ears. I knew that was ridiculous. There was no way they could really be that loud, but my mind was already in fear mode, so everything seemed amplified. “What did you see? I know you were in there poking around. What do you know? Tell me how you did it.”
“I found a problem in your security code. I was able to—”
“Stop,” he said, hand going up in the air to make his point. “I don’t really care. I just want to know if you can fix it. I can’t have people getting in and finding out what I’m up to.”
I probably could fix it. But was that something I should tell him? I didn’t want to fix it, that was for sure. However, I didn’t really think I had a choice here.
“Y-yes,” I said.
Thebangfrom the gun caused me to jump and scream. I hadn’t been able to shut my eyes because it happened so fast. The man in the chair was now slumped over the desk, a hole in his head. Warm, sticky blood was on my face. It was on my face, right next to my mouth.
I leaned over and threw up everything I’d had to eat in the last three days, right at my feet.
“I hate it when they puke,” the skinny guy said from behind me.
“Clear him out,” the head guy said.
Skinny Guy moved, walking over to the chair and kicking the guy out of it. His body fell to the floor with athump. He didn’t move. I had no idea why I kept my eyes on the lifeless body, hoping that by some chance, he wasn’t really dead.
“Sit,” the head guy ordered me.
There was blood and brain matter all over the desk and keyboard. On the monitors. On the chair he expected me to sit in.
I was trying not to think about how it was all over me as well.
My eyes bounced from the chair to the dead man, who was now being drug to the door by the skinny guy. The door I’d just walked through not that long ago.
