Double Bind (10 page)

           
She quickly drove around the building to the parking garage exit.
 
Her heart pounding, she parked her car a little way down the street, and turned her radio down.
 
She stared into her rearview mirror and listened to her heart beat and her breath gasping.

           
It felt like she was waiting for eternity.
 
She almost decided to turn her car back on and go.
 
After all, if Valerie didn’t leave right away, then maybe it hadn’t been her.
 
Dozens of people worked with Sarah in her lab.
 
Maybe someone else had really been working.

           
Just as she was about to give up, she saw headlights.
 
She froze, watching the car in her mirror, waiting to see if it was Valerie’s Mustang.
 
The car turned out of the garage and headed the opposite way down the street.
 
It passed under a streetlight and Sarah hissed in a breath.
 
It was indeed a yellow Mustang.

           
Barely daring to breathe, Sarah turned her car on, and turned to follow the yellow car down the road.
 
She knew she was going to have to hurry if she wasn’t going to lose her, but she didn’t dare get too close.
 
She even decided to turn off her headlights.
 
It might be dangerous, but she didn’t want Valerie to figure it out.
 
After all, she didn’t want to be caught and wind up dead.

           
Valerie wound through the city heading deeper into town.
 
Sarah’s fingers worked nervously at the steering wheel as she followed light after light.
 
She prayed that they wouldn’t pass a cop car.
 
She was sure to get pulled over driving so late at night without headlights.
 
She had a feeling that Valerie would notice if a cop car turned on his siren behind her.

           
Luckily she made it through the city without any mishaps.
 
She left her car idling at the corner when she saw Valerie pull into a small dead-end alley.
  
When Valerie parked and turned off her engine, Sarah did the same.
 
She ducked down low in her seat and peered out the window to watch Valerie duck out of her car, looking to her left and right.
 
After a moment, Valerie withdrew a large duffel bag out of her passenger seat and then headed into the warehouse type building.

           
Sarah took a deep breath.
 
This was the moment of truth.
 
She knew that she ought to call the police and tell them that the culprit was inside.
 
She just didn’t know if they would believe her.
 
She wouldn’t believe her.
 
Besides, she didn’t know how long Valerie would be inside the building.
 
She couldn’t risk them getting away because she played it safe.

           
Her heart pounding, Sarah climbed out of her car and walked around the building looking for a way to get inside.
 
The front of the building was all boarded up, covered in placards, ads and graffiti. The sides didn’t appear to have any windows that were lower down than the third story.

           
But the back of the building had a large truck bay opening that, though boarded over, had a small break in the wood that Sarah just thought she might be able to squeeze through.
 
Anyone larger would have a hard time, Sarah just fit through it.
 
She scraped her nice shirt and her pants were going to be filthy, but this wasn’t time to worry about such things.

           
Inside she crouched in a dark corner, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the scene.
 
It appeared to be a factory inside, with the machines turned off and dark.
 
Far above, with only a rickety metal staircase leading up to it was an office with the lights burning.

           
Sarah was glad for the moonlight and the city glow coming in from the high windows as she crept across the factory floor.
 
Her eyes scanned the room for movement, or people, but she saw nothing.
 
That didn’t stop her heart from pounding and her palms getting sweaty as she reached the metal staircase leading up to the office.

           
She hesitated a long moment, wondering what she could do.
 
She knew that Valerie’s accomplices had to be above in the office, but she was terrified of getting caught.
 
If she started up the stairs and they came out, she would be like a sitting duck, and if she waited at the bottom of the stairs to see them, they might notice her standing out in the open.

           
Gritting her teeth, Sarah moved her hands to the stair railing.
 
She was going to do this.
 
She had come this far, and she certainly wasn’t going to back out now.
 
She was just going to catch a glimpse of them.
 
Maybe if she thought she could, she would lock them in the room and then call the cops.

           
She climbed up the stairs agonizingly slowly.
 
She slid each foot onto the step, just waiting for the creak or clang that would give her away and send her scurrying out the door.
 
Still nothing came, and she worked her way up step by step.
 
Before she knew it, she was reaching the top, her head almost cresting above the office windows.
 
She crouched down, climbing up one more step, and then took a long deep breath and poked her head up to see in through the windows.

           
At first, she only saw the back of a chair.
 
Rolling her eyes, she shifted to the side, peering around to see what was on the other side.
 
It was a fairly large office, with several desks and chairs, and filing cabinets.
 
Though everything on this side seemed messy with dust and decay, the inside looked spotless.

           
There were at least 5 people inside the room.
 
Valerie leaned casually against a desk, waving her hands as she spoke.
 
Next to her was an older man that Sarah thought she recognized from the web directory of their competing company.
 
To his left were two burly younger men that looked like nothing but trouble.
 
Sarah had to hold her breath for a moment, hoping against hope that they wouldn’t look her way.
 
She knew that if they caught her, she wasn’t going to be seeing the daylight any time soon.

           
The four of them were talking with an older man that stood next to the chair beside Sarah.
 
Every now and then he would look down at the chair, and Sarah realized that someone must have been sitting in the chair.

           
The big duffel bag sat in the middle of the table.
 
Valerie stepped forward as though to grab it, and the man in the chair stood up to reach for it as well.
 
The two faced each other off for a moment before Valerie backed away, raising her hands in surrender.

           
That was when the new man turned, and Sarah gasped out loud.
 
It was Jared.
 
Her timid, quiet boss was standing with two thugs and a group of people possibly involved in bioterrorism.

           
In shock, Sarah stumbled away, too busy being surprised to be worried that he had seen her poking her head through the window.
 
Unfortunately, she tripped on her heels, and fell backward hard against the stair rail, which sent a loud clang through the room.

           
She pushed her hand against her mouth in horror, as she heard a shout and the door above her opened.
 
Not daring to look back, Sarah sprinted down the stairs, her feet stumbling and tripping over themselves.
 
She felt herself dare to hope when she reached the bottom, ready to head into a real sprint.
 
Why had she worn such nice shoes?
 
She should have been in her trainers.

           
Not that it turned out to matter.
 
She hadn’t taken more than two steps on the hard concrete floor before a large figure tackled her.
 
Screaming and panicking, she tried to flail underneath the large weight, but she couldn’t seem to get free.
 
Another big arm gripped her arms, pinning her down to the ground.
 
She heaved, managing only to turn herself over.
 
She looked up into the glaring scarred face of one of the younger men from the office and she nearly fainted.

           
She struggled, but he was a big man, and his full weight was across her stomach and legs.
 
She couldn’t get free. She wished that he would come close enough for her to
 
smash her head into his face, or bite him, but he held her arms pinned, and his head far back.

           
He looked up as the other brute joined him, and then the others from the room.
 
Valerie came around to glare at her.
 
Sarah glared back.
 
“You bitch!” she yelled.
 
“You pretended to be my friend, and all along you were just setting me up!”

           
Valerie didn’t even flinch, but grinned.
 
“You’re right.
 
And you fell for it, lock stock and barrel.
 
Even after I’d already pinned it on you, you were so excited to get to hang out with me at the club.”

           
“What?
 
I was never!
 
I was pitying you and your fake friends.”

           
Valerie scoffed.
 
“Whatever hon.
 
You’ve gone and gotten yourself in deeper than ever now.”
 
She looked up at someone on the stairwell behind them, and she nodded.
 
“Come on guys, let’s move this conversation back up to somewhere more private.”

           
Sarah struggled as the two brutes each grabbed one of her arms and they lifted her right off the ground on their way up the stairs.
 
Sarah struggled against them, but it was no use.
 
She was completely useless.
 
She screamed and shouted until one of them punched her in the gut.
 
She gasped for air, trying to get the breath back to yell, but by then they were at the top of the stairs, and they were shutting the door behind her.

           
Sarah suddenly understood why she hadn’t been able to hear a word they had said.
 
The room was sound-proofed, the lack of sound buzzing in her ears.
 
Only a speaker on one of the desks gave any hint of sound at the outside.

           
The two brutes threw Sarah to the ground, and she scrambled to her feet.
 
She would show them.
 
She would prove that she was better than them.
 
She wouldn’t let them see her grovel or whine.
 
She was Sarah Gaul, and she would give them every ounce of Spitfire in her.

           
She turned to face Jared and the older man standing next to him.
 
All of the usual melancholy was gone from Jared, and he looked at her with an unfamiliar sardonic expression.
 
Sarah could barely believe that this was the same man that she had been dealing with for years.
 
She suddenly thought back on all the pranks that she and Valerie had played on him and she blushed.
 
Who knew that there was this collected calm man behind all his simpering.

           
“Well, this is an unexpected, and very unfortunately surprise,” Jared said, his mouth shifting disgustedly.
 
“I had hoped that imprisoning your brother would keep you from your incessant sniffing about.”

           
Sarah glared at him.
 
“So you’re the reason that the police wouldn’t let David go!”

           
He shrugged.
 
“Not technically.
 
Clive here just removed some of the security features that were concealing his very illegal work from the police.”