Paper Trails 2 | Draft

Prologue

Surprise! I had this written out already, so I figured I'd throw this up (along with the intro, that'll be posted now too) to kind of give you an idea of where we'll be at when the story picks up in March.

"—going to do everything we can to help—"

"—stay with—"

"Miss? Miss?"

I was sweating. Not the light sweating where you could see little armpit stains and droplets of it on your forehead. No, I was sweating. Like a pig. Like a dog. Like a sinner in church. All the funny similes anyone could think of. I could feel it. My clothes were sticking to me to the point where it's uncomfortable.

My eyes wouldn't open. And I couldn't move.

"—breath sounds are uneven. Where is Dr. Collins?"

"I paged him."

"Page him again! This girl needs surgery, or she will—"

"What do we got?"

"GSW to the abdomen—"

Beeping sounds cut her off. Something's not right. I'm—

"We're losing her!"

*****

He stared at me as I tugged at the ropes, making sure they were secure. I made sure to avoid looking him in the eye. But I still felt his eyes on me. Watching. Thinking. Smiling, probably.

When I was finished, I backed away. Looked at Niccolò. He still had his gun pointed at Alfred.

"Kill him," I muttered. "He isn't important. You don't need him. He's worthless."

"Shut up, girl," Alfred hissed, taking a subtle step forward.

"I don't need you to tell me who I need or who is important," Niccolò snapped.

"But—"

"Oh, she's right." Chris cut in, a lazy smirk on his face. I turned to look at him in surprise. They lowered to his leg. It was still bleeding, the blood now seeping through the cloth Nic made me wrap around it. It must fucking hurt, but he ignored the pain. "Alfred...Alfred is useless to you."

"Boss?" Alfred looked at Chris, his voice shaking.

"Shh, Freddy, grown men are speaking." Chris turned back to Niccolò and raised an eyebrow. "Useless to you, but not to me. I'm going to need you to not kill him yet."

"I don't take orders from American scum."

"Now, well, that's just discriminatory."

"Do you think this is a game?" Nic growled. "You think I'm waving this around for fun?"

"No." This time Chris was serious. "But I think I have something you want. You understand the term compromise, no?"

Niccolò cocked his head to the side, as if considering it. He could not be actually considering listening to Chris, right? Was he insane? Chris didn't look bothered. Kept that same smug smile on his face, like he had all the answers. Like he was the smartest man in the room. I was starting to think he maybe was.