Hidden Tracks | ✓

44 | cold hard ground

I creaked open the door to find an empty room.

It was a bit small, but fully furnished. To my left was a small bed and a dresser, and a desk was sitting on my right.

As I walked in, I could tell something was unnerving about this place. It wasn't right. The door couldn't be unlocked randomly when all the others were locked.

I could feel a presence here.

My instincts told me to turn around in a flash, just as Jean Gauthier lunged at me from behind the door, where he'd been hiding.

Now, I'd handled men like him before, even with my bare hands. I might not be as good as Soler at combat, but I was definitely a force to reckon with. And in this case, I was also armed with a knife.

I kicked Gauthier in the stomach just as he was about to punch me in the face. He got knocked backward, and I took that opportunity to lunge at him with my knife.

He grabbed my wrists at the last moment and struggled against my grip, the glinting blade of the knife inches away from his face. His eyes were a startling, scary shade of grey, as he narrowed them at me.

I kneed him in the stomach once more, and his grip weakened. Not wasting a moment, I slashed my knife across his cheek.

He let out a groan of pain, but surprisingly, didn't recede as much as I'd expected him to. He cradled his bloodied cheek with one hand while he tried to come at me again.

Right then, something happened which I just wasn't prepared for. If only Jean Gauthier had tried to attack me then, I would've been able to handle him, since I could see him coming. But in my struggle with him, I'd been forced to shift in a position where my back was to the entrance, and I certainly did not anticipate another person hiding behind that mahogany door.

As Gauthier came forward, and I prepared to strike him with my knife, another heavy torso lunged at me from behind, knocking the air out of my body.

Shit.

I fell forward on the floor, and my knife was snatched out of my hands. Even my iron grip wasn't enough to keep it away from them.

I looked up to see two men--Gauthier, and one other man I didn't recognise, who looked even bigger and deadlier than him. He had huge, taut muscles and clearly worked out a lot, and from his stance, I could tell he knew how to fight.

"Get up, girlie," Gauthier taunted, an evil smirk lining his lips.

The second man pulled me up roughly, his grip tight on my arm. I could see my knife in his other hand, and I struggled against him to retrieve it, but to no avail.

Gauthier, seeing me fight, dragged me to one corner of the room, the other man following close behind. They both caged me in against the wall, and that was when I truly started feeling that dreadful thing creeping through my body--fear.

"Caldwell and Beaumont have been captured already, Gauthier," I hissed, trying to get an edge over him. "You have no way out now."

He simply chuckled at my words. "I don't care for them any more than you do, cherie. I was after the money, and now that I've got my share, I couldn't care less about what happens with those two."

"But you," he paused, as if contemplating, "I wonder what I could do with you. You're quite the feisty little one, non?" He hooked a finger under my chin and pulled my face towards his. I wrinkled my nose in disgust but held his gaze.

"You know, hardly anyone ever visits this floor," Gauthier mumbled, his eyes roaming all over my body. "Have you got a tracker?"

"No."