Wire-Pulling Pt. 02

"We're going on a trip?" I asked, still maintaining the lighthearted and hopefully disarming tone from before. "Where's it going?"

"No use trying to build a connection with us," the guy said as he kept the gun pointed at me, shooting down my attempt immediately. "It will not work. But if you're good and not make problems, you can go home later. Our boss wants to ask you questions. That is all. Now, lean forward. I have special pair of bracelets for you."

Despite what the man had just told me, I wasn't too sure about the prospect of just letting them proceed with their plans. I had not found any indication of Dick working with any Russian organization, so, maybe, these two were representing someone else who had a problem with my former stepfather. Though, my main concern was that, given what I knew about Carver's fate, I couldn't just assume anything and hope for the best. If I were wrong, I'd be dead. The fact that they never bothered to blindfold me, so I wouldn't be able to tell the police about where I had been taken, did not exactly make me believe that Russian's claim of letting me go.

For roughly an hour, we drove west on the 290 leading out of Austin until I saw a sign that said 'Pedernales Falls State Park', and now I was all but certain they were planning to dump my body there! I immediately started going through my options while I couldn't fully suppress the fear that settled in my stomach.

All the possible moves I had learned and studied for years in the company gym played out like a movie in my head. A movie with me in the main role. But, in the end, no matter how hard I tried, I could not come up with any possible move to make the girl stop the car without the guy simply whacking me over the head with his gun, nor could I imagine a way to disarm the guy from my current position without being shot in the process. I had to wait. And that caused my fear to increase substantially as I knew that my chances would decrease if they had backup waiting for us.

We arrived at a small cabin roughly five minutes after they pulled onto a dirt road. The area around that cabin was so densely populated with trees and other greenery, that it would border on a miracle if anyone were to see them hoist me out of the car and indoors. I also knew that trees this densely placed would do a fine job at dissipating the sound waves generated by my screams or the guy's gun. Consequently, I grew rather desperate.

I was confident in my fighting ability, especially since I had, by now, managed to retrieve the TIHK from my back belt loop without either of them noticing. All I needed was a chance, an opening, a moment of negligence on their part, and I could make my move. They asked me to step out of the car in a tone that was so polite, it could only be perceived as sarcasm in that situation. But when we stepped into the cabin, I involuntarily swallowed.

While the cabin, from the outside, looked like it had windows, the inside of it was tiled from floor to ceiling. As if that alone wasn't already bad enough, there was also a short chain hanging from a pulley attached to the ceiling, holding what looked like a hook used in meat markets.

"Lovely," I managed to comment, causing the girl to chuckle.

I moved to the middle of the room where two chairs stood separated by a small table and took my seat facing the entrance. The table held a glass bottle of water, that I was sure as hell not going to make use of, as well as a coffee pot and three drinking glasses. At least it didn't look like the guy's claim about wanting to ask me questions was a lie. For a moment, I felt hope. Maybe, this was just their way of further intimidating their guests, to make them more agreeable. But then again, I knew about Carver, and as the guy fixed my handcuffs to the chair, it was clear that I wouldn't get to enjoy the displayed refreshments even if I wanted to. At least he didn't use hinged cuffs, as those would have hindered my escape a lot more.

"You did well not making fuss," the Russian praised me like he was commending a child while his partner left the room.

"Well, you know, I still have places to be today," I grinned. "When can we expect your boss to arrive?"

Now the Russian's mask slipped for the first time and he regarded me with a smirk that caused me to become slightly nauseated, but I managed to keep that hidden from him as well.

"Oh, sorry for that. You better cancel plans."

And, with that, he turned to leave the room as well. I groaned about my inability to elicit any useful information out of this guy. I still had no idea whether they worked for Dick, his 'consulting' firm, or a third party that really just wanted to know what the hell was going on.

It took me about two minutes to finally get that small, flimsy, piece of plastic into the handcuffs and open them. I mentally vowed to train this crap if I managed to get my ass home again, before quickly but as quietly as possible moved to the door. At first, I strained my ear against the door blade, expecting one of them to stand on the other side of it, but it didn't work. I could only assume that whoever would keep watch was holding the gun, if the girl hadn't retrieved her own piece by now. Either way, I couldn't risk simply using the door handle and check whether it was locked. I hadn't heard a locking sound, but that didn't necessarily mean anything depending on the type of locking mechanism.

Forcefully calming my breath, I looked at the table and a plan took form.

The second thing the girl hadn't noticed when she halfheartedly padded me down was the tiny punch knife hidden in the inner side of my left shoe. It only had a 11/2 inch blade, topped by a handle that was perpendicular to the blade, so it rested almost seamlessly on the padded border of my shoe, and she would've had to look a lot more closely to find it.

I held the knife with my left before grabbing the water bottle off the table, moved back to stand next to the door, and threw the bottle to the floor right in front of the doorway where it shattered. Then I took a deep breath and shouted a hearty "SCOOOOORE!". If anything, I had hoped the now wet and slippery tile floor would work to my advantage.

Within three seconds of the bottle shattering, the door flew open and the girl came rushing in with a disturbed look on her face, panting in excitement and waving the gun around as she realized I wasn't at the table where she had expected to find me. Immediately, I stepped behind her and slung my left arm around her neck, making sure my blade only stopped after the tip had nicked her skin before I quickly placed my right over her mouth to keep her from screaming and alerting her partner.

Honestly, I was not at all eager to hurt, let alone kill, anyone other than Dick. But since I had surprised her from behind, I had to make sure she knew about the blade, so she wouldn't try anything. And she would certainly try something the moment I removed the blade from her throat so she could see the damn thing, so, regrettably, she had to feel it! I wasn't even sure whether I could have gone through with it had she tried to resist or call for backup, despite being as scared as I was, and despite having learned how to justify such an action in situations like this one. In theory, at least. We had quite a few ex-military guys working in the firm who told us about their experiences and how they came to terms with them. For now, all I needed was her to be scared, and that I had achieved splendidly.

"I should kill you," I quietly growled into the now very still girl's ear, utterly failing to keep the excited trembling out of my voice. "But I'm honestly not too fond of the idea. So, why don't you slowly move your pretty ass over to the table. And don't try anything stupid, or I'll resolve this situation by the book and won't risk you screwing with me."

Hearing that last part, her eyes grew wider than they had been since the moment the cold metal made contact with her delicate skin. Through my grip on her neck, I could feel that she wanted to nod but didn't want to risk me misunderstanding her and pulling the knife across her throat. Instead, she gave me a barely audible whimper in confirmation before carefully moving a foot forward.

After we made it to the table, I made her sit in the chair I had been in before and place her gun on the table. I removed my hand from her mouth to grab the gun with it but immediately knew that I would not use the thing if I could help it. The gun felt weird. It wasn't any model I had ever used before and, without entertaining any stereotypes, I knew that some of those Russians weren't as particular as we were when it came to gun maintenance.

"Put the cuffs on," I instructed, and she readily followed suit. "Now hold 'em up. Hook the chain into the meat hook." Again, she complied without a second of hesitation, though now her eyes had lost their defiant look.

I made sure she was properly hooked before pulling the chain at the other end of the pulley, first lifting her out of the chair and then forcing her to stand on her toes, so she couldn't jump and unhook herself. Her face looked pained but she did not make a sound. Tough people, those Russians.

"Now tell me, how many of you are here, and don't you dare lie to me!" I said, pointing her gun at her.

"I did not see anyone else. But I'm here for first time. I don't even know the other guy. He said, friend of his got screwed by someone, he wants to scare that someone. He pays five hundred dollars if I help, so I help. I was supposed to keep watch until he comes back, then I could leave."

I wasn't sure whether I could believe her, but I could believe that she needed the money, given her getup. I pulled the gun's slide back a little to check if there even was a round in the chamber and couldn't stop my eyebrows from rising in disbelief at what I saw. That only worsened when I pulled out the magazine to make sure I hadn't seen wrong.

"What the hell did you expect to achieve with that!?" I asked, showing her the bullets in the magazine that all had a green plastic cap where the projectile was supposed to sit, but she just looked at me in obvious confusion. "Is that even your gun?"

She just shook her head.

"He gave gun to me," she finally explained after I kept looking at her expectantly. "But I saw his gun. No green caps. I told you already, we were supposed to scare you, not kill you, so I didn't ask questions. And, if I did good job, I would work for him from now on and get real gun."

"When will he be back?" I asked.

"He wanted to get money from other cabin. Is not far."

"Alright. You can wait here for your future employer," I grinned, causing her to give me a clearly pissed look before I moved to the door.

I sympathized with her circumstances. I really did. After I arrived in this town by myself and lived in that trailer park, I knew full well how tempting a job like this could be for someone who desperately needed money to survive. Not only did this seem like a quick and easy way to make a few hundred bucks, she was presented with the opportunity to join that guy's crew. She would belong somewhere. Maybe even have a support network. But I couldn't afford to play white knight and save myself. She would have to look for another job opportunity.

Standing at the door, I went over my options with the new information I just received. The door was still wide open since I, as I had to admit, completely forgot about it over relieving the girl of her weapon. A quick look outside confirmed that nobody was around to notice the changed power structure in the cabin. At least I had that going for me. I had also found the girl's purse, which held a phone and a little money. I took the phone, leaving her money alone. Of course, there was no service, so I couldn't call for help.

I had no doubt that overpowering the guy would be a lot harder than the hired help that currently hung behind me and, as I had just learned, he was holding a gun loaded with actual bullets instead of just blanks. Waiting for him could turn out to be a fatal mistake. My best chance would be to make a run for the woods. So, that's exactly what I did, though I refrained from doing too much actual running as I was afraid it would cause too much rustling, giving away my position.

Just as I passed by the gate leading to the lot, the Russian's Volvo pulled in, followed by a big, black, and expensive-looking Escalade SUV. From my hiding spot, I could see both of the cars stop in front of the cabin and, when I heard the Russian's voice, decided to rather stay hidden, thankful for the onsetting dusk, than move and make any noise.

"Jelena!" The Russian called out. "Gde ty?!"

As the Russian entered the cabin, the driver of the Escalate, an older guy wearing a dark gray suit under a beige trench coat, stood next to his car, letting his eyes wander with a visibly displeased expression. The way he held his own gun without bothering to take off his black leather gloves told me that he was very used to handling it, and the way his eyes moved over the greenery told me that my decision to not risk making any sounds was the right one! Suddenly, the Russian came running out of the cabin, joining the suit guy in his inspection of their surroundings.

"Well, Lieutenant Comrade," The suit guy ranted in a mocking tone. "Great work! Not only did you let the target escape, but you also created additional liabilities in the process!"

His voice did not leave any question as to who was in charge. That must've been the Boss the Russian had spoken of earlier. I quickly strained my neck as much as dared to risk to get a good look at the Escalade's license plate and committed it to memory. Just like I didn't want to make too much noise from moving, I didn't want to risk using the girl's phone to take pictures and have some light reflections from the phone case draw their attention.

"What liability?" the Russian asked and, without saying a word, suit guy raised his gun to the cabin's doorway and pulled the trigger twice.

I felt like my whole body was collapsing in on itself. I felt like puking. I knew full well what - or better yet who - the guy just shot at. And the only reason I didn't gasp or flinch was the fact that I had never witnessed a murder while it happened, and now lay in the dirt completely stunned, like a deer in the headlights. All the while, those two guys had no problem whatsoever with what just happened.

The shooter looked angry before letting his gaze wander once more, while the Russian looked mildly annoyed at the most. For the tenth time since they picked me up, my mind went back to what happened with Carver. But Carver was a real threat to them since they knew I had proof of him lying. They had a reason to shut the guy up. But this girl... she was just there! She probably didn't even know my name, and they still disposed of her like her life meant nothing!

And I was the one who had let her hang there, unable to even try and run or defend herself!

The urge to puke came back with a vengeance and I realized that I would not be able to hold it in much longer. I had to get away from there. Fast! I crawled, as quietly as possible, along the road, until I was far enough away to risk getting up and start running. No matter what, the road would be the last place they looked for me since they had just passed it on their way to the cabin and didn't notice anything unusual. Right now, they were most likely combing through the forest, hoping to find me still hiding somewhere or hearing me make a ruckus as I fought my way through the dense vegetation.

Luckily, after about fifteen minutes of intense sprinting that had my lungs burning, I reached a little convenience store that they called a 'Trading Post', meant for hikers to get what they needed before starting on their trail. Here I had service with Jelena's phone and managed to call Bill, who had to all but scream at me before I calmed down enough to inform him of what happened, the Escalade's license plate number, and the gas station where my car hopefully still remained.

"Fucking idiot!" was all he cared to comment in a disturbingly disappointed tone after asking me why I had made the drive to Austin all by myself. "Stay where you are and don't call 911. After that cop tried to destroy the evidence of your break-in, I'd rather call someone over there that I worked with before. Don't worry. They'll be there just as quick!"

I opted to duck behind one of the shelves, acting like I was inspecting the store's goods, to keep out of sight while waiting for help to arrive. Though I couldn't pull my thoughts away from the girl they shot.

Now, with a calmer mind, I reached even more disturbing conclusions than when I was in the process of fleeing that scene. Considering her rather strong Eastern European accent, the way she was dressed, and the way her eyes kept up the defiant look while not completely hiding the fear she felt as she hung from the ceiling... it was a real possibility that she was one of those girls that didn't make their trip into this country on an entirely voluntary basis. It would certainly explain why she did such a bad job at padding me down, as well as all the other actions that made me question their professionalism.

I felt like I was about to have a panic attack, but about five minutes into waiting for the police to arrive, a ruckus outside pulled my attention away from my disturbing thoughts. I heard shouting and, when I dared stand up to look out of a window, saw a bunch of hikers run towards the store. When I looked in the direction they were running from, my heart sank even more.

A pillar of smoke rose from the park grounds, and I didn't have to wonder exactly what had been set on fire.