Loverboy (The Company #2) - Sarina Bowen Page 0,101
First, I fucked up big time. I shouldn’t have come here tonight. They were waiting for me. Second—even worse—I never should have left Posy and Aaron alone upstairs.
I push that last thought aside, though, because I can’t help Posy until I get out of this jam.
“Get up nice and slow now,” the new guy says. “You’re going to log into your computer for us.”
The fourth guest at this party pulls my laptop out of his jacket and opens the lid. The last time I saw that computer, it was a few feet away from Posy. That was only five minutes ago, though. They couldn’t have done much damage upstairs.
“The laptop is biometric,” I say carefully. “Once you walk away from me, the machine shuts down.” This isn’t strictly true, but it could keep me alive. And right now The Company security system alerts should be lighting up more brightly than the Empire State Building.
“Fuck it. We’ll just remove the hard drive, then,” says the goon-in-chief. “Take him to the basement. We gotta do this quick.”
Shit. My guys better hurry their asses up.
I’m prodded to my feet and shoved toward the basement door. It’s dark down there, and my arms are pinned, making the descent tricky. I reach the bottom and spot a chair and a table waiting. But in my peripheral vision I catch a glimpse of something that makes me cold inside.
One of the goons is pulling on a gas mask. And there’s a red ribbon looped over his arm.
I'm hit with so much dread I actually stumble, causing the man holding my arms to yank hard on them. Max says there’s nobody braver than a man with nothing to lose.
That’s not me anymore. I have everything to lose.
Taking a deep breath, I force myself to walk carefully across the room, taking in my surroundings. The space is lit only by one of the goons’ flashlights. But aside from the chair, there’s very little down here that I could use as a weapon. I spot that narrow little window Saroya broke—the pane is still damaged.
The men shove me toward the chair.
“Hurry,” the boss chides.
As soon as my ass lands on the seat, someone moves behind me and grabs my hands. I make fists, hoping for a zip tie instead of cuffs.
I’m rewarded by the bite of plastic against my skin. Thank fuck. But then someone places a metal canister on the table in front of me. It looks like a miniature oxygen tank.
But there won’t be oxygen inside it. I don’t know what that substance is, or how fast it can kill me. I only know it won’t be pretty.
Now all the goons except the gas mask guy are backing away from me. This is it. Either I’m going to save myself in a big fucking hurry, or I’m dying in this basement.
I've walked into a trap without even telling Posy that I love her. I missed my fucking chance. But if I survive the next hour, I’m not wasting any more time.
Mr. Gas Mask walks over to the circuit box and flips a switch, probably restoring electricity to the building. A single lightbulb flickers to life over my head. The other men hustle up the stairs.
It’s time to make a decision. Am I going to try the stairs, where the goons may be waiting with their guns? Or try the tiny window? I’ll only get one chance to get out of here.
Before I make up my mind, things start to happen fast. Mr. Gas Mask walks over and pulls a pin from the canister. I take a deep breath and hold it just as I hear a hiss.
He bolts for the stairs.
“GUNNAR!” shouts someone in the distance.
I hear another gunshot. Followed by more shouting.
The window it is, then. I’m quickly shucking off the zip tie, just as my eyes start to burn. Holy fuck. I clamp them closed. I stand up, feel for the chair, and grab it. Raising it blindly into the air, I poke the chair legs in the direction of that window. My lungs are burning, but I hear glass breaking, and I stab at it a few more times, needing to clear as much glass as I can so I can get out of that small space.
It’s chaos behind me. I hear muffled shouts from the gas mask guy. Is he trapped down here too?
I drop the chair and risk my eyes for a peek at the window. I’ve cleared about eighty percent of