Hooked

in a ghost town? Fear spread through her like wildfire. She needed to get away from these bozos or she was cooked.
    The car stopped after a short distance on bumpy road. Tawny could hear the dirt spatter off the wheels into the mudguards. Ghost town, dirt roads, pitch black night. Her heart sank. Even if by some miracle she managed to escape, she was on her own in nowheresville.
    Reggie yanked her out by the upper arm and pulled her along; Colin shuffled beside her. Her high heels sank in the dirt, forcing her to trot along on the balls of her feet.
    “Where’s the key?” Colin asked.
    Tawny heard Reggie mumble and fumble, then a key turned in a lock. They walked inside an area that smelled dank and musty, as if it had been shut up for months, maybe years.
    “Over there,” Reggie said. “The fluorescent lantern Mr. Russo said would be inside the door.”
    Which means there are no lights or they’ve been turned off. Given the awful smell, this is an abandoned building. She almost laughed at the empty theories. What possible difference could it make if she was right? This was the end of the line.
    “Got it,” Colin said. “There, better. We can see.”
    The tap-tap of their shoes echoed in the space as Reggie gripped her arm and dragged her, tripping, up two sets of stairs. He pushed her along for a few steps, brushing against a doorframe, and into a room. The moldy odor gave way to the scent of fresh air, even in the warm night. What did that mean? An old building? Would they push her out of a window? Would a fall from the third floor be fatal? Reggie removed the blindfold, and after her eyes focused, the scene was nothing like she imagined.
    The lantern cast a dim light on a room striped to its core except for a radiator. Why hadn’t they removed that for scrap metal? Was it left on Mario’s orders? Even the window frames had been removed, exposing the vast blackness outside. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered now.
    Reggie pushed her onto the floor against the solid steel, wrenching her shoulder and forcing a muffled sound from her throat. She thrust her jaw forward, hoping he’d remove the tape.
    “Okay, I’ll take it off,” Colin said. “Scream all you want. No one will hear you. We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere.” With a swift flick of his wrist, he ripped the tape from her mouth.
    “Ow.” Tawny felt like her skin had been peeled off.
    “Don’t complain, or I’ll put it back on.”
    “I’m not. Thank you.” After another scan of the room, she asked, “Where are we?”
    “City renovation project, looks like. This will all come down, I’m told.”
    “When?”
    “I don’t know. Soon, I imagine. Enough questions. Your friend will be here soon to explain everything.
    “Friend?”
    “Mr. Russo. He’s your friend, isn’t he?”
    Colin’s sarcastic tone clearly indicated the opposite. No, Mario wasn’t her friend any more, or else she wouldn’t be in this death trap. “You won’t get away with this. The Coopers will sell you out to save their own necks. You know that, don’t you?”
    “Yeah,” Colin said. “Benny’s a survivor. Survivors do whatever it takes to survive. And all because Serena heard me on the phone.”
    “That was a careless mistake for someone so smart, Colin,” Reggie said, putting his big arm around the smaller man. “But we’re partners. We’ll be fine.”
    Dream on. Too bad she wouldn’t be around to see the end result. Then she remembered Mario was coming. Maybe she could talk him out of killing her, for old times’ sake. “So you notch one more murder on your belt, then what?”
    Reggie answered, his tone one of awe. “Mr. Russo said he’d give us lots of money to do this one last job, then he’d take care of us, get us out of the country.”
    Tawny laughed. “And you believe that? You’re bigger fools than I thought. Mario Russo can’t let you live. You know too much.”
    “He’ll take care of us,” Colin said. “He said he would.”
    Yeah, he’ll take care of you, all right. Tawny thought Colin was the smarter of the two, but now she realized they were both dumb as rocks. No arguing with rocks. Still, she had to give it her best shot.
    “You think he’s going to let you walk away after he contracted you to kill Martell? Think again. You’re both loose ends. Mario doesn’t leave loose ends.” The two men exchanged glances, and Tawny thought she might have penetrated their thick skulls. But then they smiled.
    “You’re