Heartbeats

Chapter 1

“All clear.”

      I moved though the empty hallway, my footsteps making no sound. The fluorescent lights shone too bright and the ceiling was too low, but I didn´t let any of that distract me. I strained my ears, searching for any sounds. There were none.

      I turned the corner into another empty hallway. This one branched in two directions.

      The small headset crackled to life. “Take a left.”

      I obliged. My heartbeat sounded way too loud in my ears, and I tried to ignore it as best as I could. Something was wrong. I hadn´t encountered any guards. Live ones, that is. At various intervals, I had found neat stacks of human bodies, all of which had had clean shots. They had died instantly, never having a chance to make a sound.

      Somebody else was in the building with me, and I was guessing that they were going after the same thing.

      I quickened my footsteps to the end of the hallway, encountering five doors. Two doors on each side of the hallway and one at its end.

      My hand drifted to the small device in my ear, applying pressure to the button opening the channel.

      “Reach?” I murmured.

      “Working on it.”

      I waited, my back to a wall, straining to hear anything. I counted my heartbeats. One. Two. Three.

      “Second door to your right.”

      I padded over to the door, pressing my ear to it. When I didn´t detect any sound, I slowly turned the handle with my left hand, my right still holdingthe gun.

      I entered another room. The smell of blood reached me easily, and I glanced to the corner where I could see another corpse.

      I swore under my breath and glanced around the room. There was a hallway on each side of the room. No doors.

      “Left.” Reach told me before I could ask.

      I increased my pace, hoping to catch whomever it was that was in front of me.

      This time, I heard a murmur of voices around the bend of the hallway. A man and a woman. I pressed myself against the wall before the bend, straining to hear the conversation.

      It took me exactly four heartbeats to realize the voices came from a TV set. I peeked around the corner. Sure enough, the TV was on, and unlike all the other rooms, somebody was watching it.

      The guard reached towards the remote control on the table and turned up the volume before settling back to his chair. He was the only one in the room.

      I eased towards him, careful where I stepped, raised my arm, and struck him in the head with the butt of the gun. The guy slumped to his chair, unconscious.

      I considered the situation. This was the only room where I had found somebody alive. Either the gunman had sneaked through this room and skipped killing this guy (doubtful) or he had taken the other hallway.

      I went in through to the next hallway. This one had two doors and branched out at the end.

      “Door to your right.” Reach informed me. “And this is your door, Genie. The papers should be on the third drawer down on the desk.”

      I slipped in into the room. It was a small office with a window looking out to the garden. A man sat in the desk with his back to me. He was muttering under his breath as he shuffled some papers. This time, I lifted a leg and clipped him on the side of his head. He immediately crumpled to the desk, a small grunt escaping his lips before he was fellunconscious.

      I crouched next to the desk, inspecting the drawers. With my gloved hands I slowly tugged the third drawer. It came out smoothly, no resistance whatsoever. My left hand had just grasped the stack of papers when I heard the soft sound of a gun being drawn.

      “Put your gun on the floor.”

      Stupid. How could I be so careless? Having my back to the door. It was a rookie mistake.

      Slowly, I obeyed.

      “Now stand up. Slowly. With hands were I can see ´em.”

      The stack of papers was still in my hand when I straightened, and I cursed over and over in my head. Stupid stupid stupid.

      My earphone crackled. “Genie? Everything all right?”

      “That´s it.” The masculine voice behind me continued. “Now, kick the gun back. While you´re at it, do the same with the knife you´re trying to reach.” There was a small trace of a British accent on his voice

      My fingertips stilled at the edge of my waistband before plucking out the knife and letting it drop to the floor with a dull clatter. Carefully, I kicked them both back with my boot.

      Slowly, I started to turn.

      “Nu-uh-uh. You stay right there, love.” He sounded much closer and I clenched my teeth, the lines of my body tensing. I tried catching his reflection in the window, but the only thing I could discern was a shadow behind me, a little to my right.

      “Genie? I´m sending backup.” Reach.

      I felt my body relax. I rolled my shoulders, letting my hands fall loosely to my sides.

      “Well?” I finally spoke. “Now what?”

      He chuckled. I felt his breath on the nape of my neck a second before the papers were taken from me. My back warmed with his proximity, and my shoulders tightened once again in tension.

      “I´ll be taking those. And thanks for leading me here. I´d found myself a little lost at the end.” I clenched my teeth in anger.

      “I´d love to stay and chat but, well, I have places to be, things to steal, and I´m guessing you know the drill.” The next time he spoke, his presence was undeniably close. His chest brushed against my back and his lips almost brushed against my ear. “By the way, great ass. I´ve been staring at it the whole time.”

      The statement took me by surprise and I whirled around as he raised the gun. Nineteen, maybe twenty. Unruly dark hair. Bright eyes. Green? Blue? A mixture, I think. A rakish grin. The last thing I saw was his quick wink before his gun came down and clipped me in the head.

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Hey guys! I´m just starting here (literally - its my first story in Wattpad), so feel free to comment. Any helpful criticism/ideas will be much appreciated! So... yeah thanks.:)