and put her arm around my shoulders again. Which was probably a good thing because I might have actually crumbled to the floor in a ball of misery if she hadn’t.
“Let’s go. Mama will worry.”
We left her condo and walked to the elevator. She pressed the button and then stood next to me. I stared at my feet; visions of Addy tied up flashed across my mind in a twisted horror reel I couldn’t shake.
When the doors opened, Sonia cried out as an electrical sound pierced the air. Her body jolted forward and tumbled through the open elevator doors, and she fell to the floor in a lifeless heap.
My survival instincts must have kicked in because I’d barely realized my sister had been tased as I spun around to face my attacker. I saw nothing but a man in black with two cut out eyeholes and a third for his mouth when a black gun came barreling at my face. It was too fast to block. Too fast to fight. Light exploded behind my eyes as I was clocked with the butt of the gun. And for the second time that day I blacked out.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The sound of water hitting metal sounded through my head. Something icy cold and flat was pressed up against the side of my face. I’d attempted to blink open my eyes, but a rush of pain exploded throughout my head.
“Psssst. Simone, wake up. Wake up, honey. Hurry.” I heard a voice I recognized, not far away, but still the sound was waving in and out.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
What the hell was that noise?
“Simone, come on. Get up!” I heard it louder, the words spinning in my brain on a useless empty hamster wheel until the dots started to connect.
I’d been hit in the face with a gun.
Sonia had been tased.
Addison had been kidnapped.
“Si, please, sister, wake up. Now before he gets back.” A sob tore from that familiar voice and I rubbed my face against the cold, flat surface and opened my good eye. It was dark. Dank. Cold. My face was smushed flat to the gritty cold concrete under me.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
I rolled over onto my side. My hands were tied behind my back and I was in the corner of a big open space. Maybe a basement.
“Simone…please wake up.”
I heard the plea rasp low and throaty from the female figure twenty feet away. Her head was down in front of her as if she couldn’t hold it up any longer. There was rope tying her chest, legs, and arms to an old wooden chair.
“Addy?” I croaked, my voice sounding as though I’d swallowed glass shards.
Her head came up and those green eyes I adored met my gaze. “Simone!” She gave a shaky small smile. “Can you move? Can you get up?”
I swallowed against the nausea filling my stomach, ebbing up my throat. I breathed in and out slowly for a minute getting a hold on my physical issues.
“Um, I don’t know. Where is he?” I grated through a throat that was so dry it felt like sand coated my esophagus.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. He came in an hour ago and dumped you there. Then he left.”
I used my core strength and swiveled up to sit on my hip with my legs tucked to the side. They were zip-tied together, but if I could get on my back and stretch my arms, dislocating my shoulder, maybe I could get them under me.
“I’m gonna get my arms in front of me.” I announced my plan.
“How the hell are you going to do that?”
I gritted my teeth and rolled back to my side. I shimmied all over the place trying to get my arms under my ass, but it was no use. Pain shot through my arms, shoulders, and head as I tried and failed.
“Maybe if I dislocate my shoulder, I can get my arms out.”
“Are you insane! You’ll pass out again from the pain. Just try to ease up and bounce to me. Then I might be able to untie your arms,” Addy pleaded.
Now that idea was a good one.
I maneuvered back onto my hip then shifted my body until I was up on my knees. The world swayed as nausea stole up my throat again. I breathed through it and waited until it passed. Then I jumped as best I could, landing in an awkward crouch. With as much power as I could muster, I slowly stood up.