Nothing Left to Lose (87 page)

Someone’s
here…

That was when I
heard gunshots. I screamed and quickly clamped a hand over my
mouth. Dean dialled his phone again, his eyes and gun both trained
on the door to my bedroom. “It’s Agent Michaels. The jewel’s in
trouble, send more people, now!” he growled as he snapped the phone
shut quickly.

I couldn’t
breathe. Silent tears were falling down my face as Dean positioned
himself between me and the door, with his gun pointed there ready.
I heard more shots and then the bedroom door swung open quickly,
slamming against the wall. Dean let off a couple of shots and the
intruder immediately jumped back against the door frame, out of
sight.

My breathing
was coming out in pants as panic made my head swim. I tried my
hardest to count my heartbeats so that I didn’t have a panic
attack. I needed to remain in control in case we needed to run or
get out quickly.

“Put your gun
down!” the guy ordered from outside the door. I whimpered, and Dean
shushed me again. “Put your gun down, and you won’t get hurt,” the
guy tried again. A cold trickle seemed to run down my back. I
recognised that voice, I couldn’t remember the guy’s name, but he
had dark hair. He worked for Carter. “We have one of your agents.
We don’t want to hurt him, but we will if we don’t get what we
want. All we want is Anna,” he continued.

My blood ran
cold in my veins.
One of our agents? Oh God, please let us get
out of this, please!

Hesitantly,
Peter stepped into the doorway, looking terrified, his hands up in
an ‘I surrender’ fashion. I immediately saw the reason for the
pose. There was a gun to his head. His eyes found us immediately,
his jaw tightened, and he seemed to be holding a silent
conversation with Dean. I had no idea what the intense look on his
face was; all I could see was panic and fear. The dark-haired guy
stepped close behind him, using Peter’s body as a shield as they
both stepped into the room. The gun pressed harder into Peter’s
head, making him wince.

“Come on out,
Anna,” the guy sang, his tone amused. “You don’t want him to get
hurt now, do you?”

I didn’t know
what to do. I was always told to stay behind the agent, keep quiet,
don’t answer, stay small and alert and do as I was told. But that
was Peter standing there. He was a friend of mine, and they had a
gun to his head…

I whimpered,
knowing that I couldn’t do as I was always told. I shifted and Dean
clamped his hand around my wrist, holding me behind him tightly.
“Please don’t hurt them, please!” I begged.

“Shh!” Dean
ordered again.

The guy laughed
quietly, sending a shiver down my spine as I recognised the laugh
too, I definitely knew this guy. “I’m going to give you to the
count of three to step away, Anna, or this one dies,” he
instructed. I groaned, not knowing what to do. Dean’s grip
tightened on my arm; it looked like he was trying to find a shot
that wouldn’t hit Peter.

“One,” the guy
called.

I shook my
head. “Please don’t,” I begged. My heart was hammering in my
chest.

“Two.”

I couldn’t let
him hurt Peter, not because of me. Another person didn’t deserve to
get hurt or killed because of me, I’d already gotten Jack killed, I
couldn’t take another innocent life. I shoved off Dean’s hold and
jumped out from behind him, holding my hands high. “Don’t hurt him,
I’m here!” I cried desperately.

“No,
Annabelle!” Dean shouted as he lunged for me again.

I saw the guy
behind Peter smile as two others stepped through the doorway. I
watched, seemingly in slow motion, as one raised a gun, pointing it
in the direction of Dean. I realised too late what I’d done. I’d
taken away his only leverage; with me out in the open, there was no
reason for them to be lenient on him. The sound of the first
gunshot echoed in my ears, it seemed to reverberate around the
room, making my ears ring. I didn’t want to turn and look, but I
couldn’t stop myself. I turned just in time to see Dean’s body slam
back against the wall; the shot had hit him right in the face,
leaving almost nothing recognisable behind. His blood stained the
wall in an arc-shaped streak as his body slumped to the floor.

I heard
screaming, and some part of my mind vaguely registered that it was
me doing it, but I couldn’t stop. I fell to my knees and gripped my
hands in my hair as I sobbed. Something moved near me, a kind of
scuffle, I glanced up just in time for the second gunshot to go
off. I whimpered and flinched as my heart broke. Peter’s eyes met
mine for a second before he crumpled to the floor, clutching at his
stomach as he groaned.

“I’m sorry. I’m
so sorry,” I whispered, my body hitching with sobs. He made a
strangled gurgling sound in response. His pain-filled, frightened
eyes locked on mine. Before I could reach out and help him, a
shadow fell over us both and another gunshot rang out, followed by
another and another. Each time a bullet hit him, Peter’s body
jerked slightly; by the time the fourth shot came, he didn’t even
flinch.

“Well hello,
Anna. Long time no see.”

I registered
the voice, but I couldn’t respond. I was so scared that I couldn’t
move. My muscles seemed to be made of rock. I couldn’t take my eyes
off Peter’s body. He was dead because of me, and so was Dean. This
was entirely my fault. Maybe if I hadn’t stepped away then they
would still be alive. I thanked God silently that Ashton wasn’t
here; I couldn’t see him get hurt. I knew I had made the right
choice sending him away.

A hand closed
over my elbow, hauling me to my feet. I swayed, my legs almost not
supporting my weight. The only thing that kept me upright was the
vice-like grip on my arm. I looked up from Peter’s dead lifeless
body, to see Jimmy, one of Carter’s men. I remembered him from
Miami. Jimmy didn’t like the way that Carter treated me and would
always try to help me when he could, which wasn’t very often.

“Hi, Anna,” he
said quietly, looking at me almost apologetically.

“Hi, Jimmy,” I
choked out. Internally, I desperately fought for control of my
emotions. If I had to do this on my own then I needed to snap out
of this. I’d grieve later, but right now I needed to focus on
trying to get out of here. I took a few deep, calming breaths.

Jimmy smiled
sadly and dragged me out into the lounge. I swiped at my face
quickly, wiping away the tears, trying to stay strong. “Watch her
while I get her some clothes,” Jimmy instructed as he left me in
the lounge. I looked around desperately, expecting to see Carter,
but he wasn’t there. Instead, there were eight of his men. I knew
all of their faces but only a couple of names. These guys weren’t
like Jimmy, they were mean and heartless.

“Well, well,
well, haven’t you grown up nice,” one of them purred. His eyes
raked over me slowly, and my skin crawled. I wrapped my arms around
myself, wishing I’d put on more than boy shorts and a tank top to
sleep in last night.

One of the
other guys quickly stepped forwards and punched him in the jaw.
“Don’t look at her like that! If Carter saw that, you’d be dead,”
he growled angrily.

I swallowed the
bile that started to rise in my throat at the mention of Carter.
“Are you going to kill me?” I asked, almost pleading for it.

The same guy
that had thrown the punch smiled and shook his head. “No. Carter
sent us to collect his wife,” he answered, smirking at me
nastily.

“Is he here?” I
asked, wringing my shaking hands.

The guy shook
his head. “No, he wanted to be, but they’re keeping pretty close
tabs on him. He sent us here instead. He’ll be along later, don’t
worry.”

I groaned and
dropped my eyes to the floor; I didn’t look up as Jimmy shoved a
pair of jeans and a black top in my hands. “Get dressed. We need to
leave,” he ordered.

I nodded at the
guys all standing there watching me. “You really want me to change
here, in front of everyone?” I asked sarcastically.

“Don’t worry,
sweetheart, I’m sure you don’t have anything we haven’t seen
before,” one guy mocked, sneering at me, looking like he was
already taking my pyjamas off with his eyes.

I smiled
sweetly. “Okay, it’s your funeral, I guess. When Carter finds out
you all watched me undress he’s not going to be best pleased. If
that’s what you want…” I shrugged and reached down to grab the
bottom of my tank top, starting to pull it up.

A collective
gasp filled the room. “No, wait! You can get dressed in the
bathroom,” a blond guy said quickly; his name was Lukas if I
remembered correctly.

I smiled and
followed him to the bathroom that was off the hall. There was a
small window in this bathroom that led to the hallway at the front.
I smiled and locked the door behind me, shrugging out of my clothes
and putting the jeans and T-shirt on as quickly as possible. Once
dressed, I boosted up on the sink and quietly pried the window
open. I stuck my head out and saw there was no one there, so I
boosted myself up and over, dropping down to the floor silently in
my bare feet.

“Very clever,”
Lukas stated from the front door, making me scream as I jumped
about a mile into the air. He tossed a pair of sneakers at me.
“Better put those on too, don’t want you to cut your feet,” he said
sarcastically.

I frowned and
pulled them on. There had to be something else; if there weren’t so
many of them then I could have fought them. One of their guns would
give me a chance, but would I actually be able to shoot someone
like Ashton had taught me? I didn’t know the answer. Shooting a
human being was miles apart from shooting a paper target.

The blond guy
grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the building. My emotions got
the better of me again, the tears started to flow when I saw the
first body of the new agents that had been sent to protect me. They
were all lying, broken and still bleeding, on the way out of the
building.

“Are they all
dead?” I whispered to Lukas.

He nodded in
confirmation. “Yeah, you had a lot of guards, but then I guess you
are the first daughter now. It’s a shame that one who was posing as
your boyfriend wasn’t here. Carter didn’t like his hands on you,
even if it was all a fake,” he said, shrugging casually.

I closed my
eyes, thinking of Ashton, allowing myself to be led along. “He
wasn’t my boyfriend. We had to act like that. My father made us. He
was just a bodyguard,” I lied desperately.

He chuckled
darkly. “Oh, Carter knows that, if he didn’t know that then that
asshole would be dead already,” he stated, watching me
intently.

I didn’t say
anything as he led us to a black car at the front of the building
and held the door open for me. I felt sick as I climbed in the
car.

We drove for
about an hour or so through the back streets until we came to a
derelict-looking building. I looked around but didn’t recognise the
place at all. The sun was coming up just as we pulled into the
underground parking lot. As we parked up, I closed my eyes.
Please God, let me get through this,
I prayed silently.

Jimmy opened my
door for me, motioning for me to get out. “Come on, Anna.”

I climbed out
and looked around quickly. There were only four of them now; this
was definitely worth a try. I knew that they wouldn’t be expecting
me to be any trouble, so their underestimation of me would work to
my advantage. I punched Jimmy in the stomach, and as he bent over
in pain, I kicked the other guy in the groin, hard, making him
grunt and fall to the floor in agony. I turned and readied myself
as saw another guy approaching, but Jimmy had righted himself and
wrapped his arms around me from behind, grabbing my arms and
pinning them down. I struggled and thrashed, but I couldn’t get
free, so I gave up. I wasn’t getting out of here just yet.

“That was
fucking stupid, Anna. Just calm down or you’ll get yourself hurt!”
Jimmy growled warningly in my ear. I sighed and nodded as he opened
a fire door and started leading me up the stairs.

“Where are we?
What is this place?” I asked, desperately looking around. It looked
like an old factory or something; there were sewing machines, desks
and tables all over the place. A thick layer of dust and dirt
covered everything in sight, proving that this place hadn’t been
used for a while. Crude graffiti stained the walls, most of the
windows were boarded up and the plaster on the walls was peeling
and cracked. I had no hope of a caretaker or someone stopping by to
check on the building and just so happen to rescue me; this place
hadn’t been used in years by the look of it.

My gaze
immediately landed on a phone as I was led past one of the desks.
If I can just get to one of those phones! But who should I call,
and what should I say? I don’t even know where I am!

Jimmy was still
holding my arms tightly as he guided me through the different
levels and doors of the maze-like place. With each passing step, my
hope of ever getting out of here faded a little more. I probably
just needed to accept the fact that this was my fate and that I
wasn’t going to be able to escape his men, there were too many of
them. Jimmy shoved me roughly through another door and into a room
that looked like some kind of disused office. I glanced around
quickly, taking in my surroundings. There was one window, one door
and no phone. It was hopeless. The door slammed shut behind me and
I jumped at the click of the lock. Not ready to give up yet, I
turned and hammered on the door. “Jimmy, please let me out,
please!” I begged unashamedly as tears flowed freely down my
cheeks.

“Carter will be
here tonight, Anna. Just chill out for a few hours, okay? You
hungry? I could get you some food,” he offered from the other side
of the door.

“I’m not
hungry. Please let me go. You know what he’s going to do to me.
Please?” I slumped down to the floor, crying hopelessly.