to unwind and then it was back to work once she got to the apartment.
They made slow progress but then the driver turned off the congested avenue and went through a side street. “Where are you going?” Olivia pulled the earbuds from her ears and looked around.
“Traffic is a nightmare. I’m taking a shortcut. We’re not that far away now.”
Warning bells went off and Olivia pulled her phone up as if she were working. “Thanks. I’m swamped with emails back here and the faster I can get out of the car, the faster I can stop feeling as if I’m going to throw up. I hate reading in the back of the car.” She snapped a picture of the driver and emailed it to herself.
The side street turned into an alley and Olivia knew her fear was warranted. She dialed 911 as the car rolled to a stop. Her adrenaline kicked into high gear as she silently slipped off her shoes. She moved the phone into her left hand even as she heard the 911 operator pick up. “Why are we in the alley behind The Thirsty Taco? This isn’t where I live,” she said loudly. She hoped the 911 operator would pick up on her clues and dispatch police.
A man dressed in head-to-toe black materialized from behind a dumpster on her side of the car. He ripped her door open and was reaching for her before Olivia could try to escape out the other side.
“Don’t hurt me!” Olivia cried. “Help!”
There was no way in hell they were getting her out of this car. Olivia gripped the shoe in her right hand and prepared to fight. The man in black reached for her and she stabbed the stiletto heel into his hand.
“Bitch!” The punch to the face came hard and fast. Olivia felt her head snap back and her eyes water. She struggled against the darkness as she felt the man’s hands grab her ankles and begin to pull her from the car. The world snapped back into focus. She had to fight.
“Help!” she screamed at the top of her lungs as she pulled her leg back as far as she could and kicked. She didn’t stop at that. She kicked and kicked and screamed and screamed, hoping someone would hear her.
The man smacked her feet away as if she were an annoying gnat and grabbed her computer bag. “I got her computer. Get her phone.” This wasn’t a standard robbery. They needed something from her electronics. She hoped the 911 operator had enough information because she ended the call and pressed the button to put her phone in sleep mode. Her phone was now completely locked down. No facial recognition or finger touch to open it. No, to open it, you had to have a six-number code that she changed monthly. They would never get it from her. Period. If they thought the code on her phone was tough, they were in for a surprise with her laptop.
Olivia tried to climb into the front, but the driver opened the other back door, fisted her hair in his hand, and yanked. Olivia screamed, her hands automatically coming up to hold his hand on her head to limit the pain. She was flung backward from the front to the backseat, then dragged like a rag doll from the backseat and out the door.
Olivia’s butt hit the dirty ground hard. It jarred her, making her head throb even more as a hand that smelled of cigarettes was placed over her mouth. “Do you have her phone and computer?”
“I got the computer up but need the password. What is it, bitch?” the man in black asked as he bent down in front of her and put his mask-covered face in hers.
Olivia shook her head and lashed out with the best punch she could muster. The satisfaction of landing the surprise punch was short-lived. He punched her hard and fast in the stomach.
“What’s the code?” he demanded again.
Olivia coughed and tried not to panic. She couldn’t get any air. It was all gone. Her lungs burned, her head spun, and she thought she was going to vomit.
“Try the phone. Maybe she has a password app,” the driver suggested. The man picked the phone up from where it had fallen in the backseat even as Olivia struggled to regain control of her mind. There was so much pain mixed with panic that she had to fight to calm down. She knew she had to be