Safe

Three

Morning came quickly and Nike was forced awake by movement around her. She squinted against the brightness of the room and wondered why her siblings were making so much noise. She wanted more sleep and turned to do just that except her neck cramped as she turned and she winced and opened her eyes again.
Someone was sitting across from her and with shock, the events of the past day returned and she sat up straight cursing herself for falling asleep in the first place.
Stranger was there again, like the night before and they were still alone. He was fiddling with a cellphone, not hers thankfully and didn't look up when she sat up, gingerly placing her legs on the ground. She winced as blood rushed back into them and stabbing sensations crawled up her leg.
Figuring she might as well get comfortable since it didn't look like her guard would send her on her merry way, Nike kicked off her shoes and shrugged out of her cardigan momentarily saddened by the scuff marks on Sade's new leather sandals. She was still looking at them when a throat cleared and her eyes snapped up to meet those of the man across from her.
"Good morning." He greeted.
Nike stared at him. He stared back and lifted a brow at her. She mumbled something in response.
"Are you hungry?" He asked, still looking at her. She shook her head and he nodded.
"Well, would you like to take a shower? There's a bathroom you can use."
Nike looked at him for a minute and sounding bolder than she felt, she glared at him.
"I want to go home!"
He chuckled and raised both his feet to the table between them.
"No." He said simply.
"Why not?" She asked.
"You're not stupid. You know why."
She huffed and looked down.
"The offer still stands. You look terrible with all that dirt and blood."
"I look like this because of you." She wanted to say but she bit her tongue knowing that despite seeming so nice, he wasn't any different from the gun man from before. He'd been the one to hand her over after all.
"I don't have anything else to wear." She answered quietly.
"I don't mind." He said and she looked up at him, alarmed. He laughed at her reaction and leaned forward.
"I was teasing you. There's a shirt in the bathroom you can wear with your jeans till we wash your clothes."
"Why? Why are you being so nice to me?" She asked looking at him more intently now. He didn't seem interested in hurting her and he looked completely relaxed as he watched her.
"I'm a man under authority. My boss says and I do. No questions asked."
"Who's your boss?" She dared to ask and he chuckled.
"See, that's the curiosity that brought you here."
"You should take that shower now."
She nodded and got up gingerly picking up her shoes before going in the direction he'd pointed. She found a bathroom and some other rooms with shut doors and she slipped into the bathroom quickly wondering if someone would pop out of one of them.
She looked for a lock on the door and finding none, she sighed and mumbled a short prayer that no one would come in while she bathed. There was a bucket, a bar of soap and a bowl in the room and she quickly stripped and filled the bucket with water from the tap then using the soap bar, scrubbed herself down wincing when her fingers touched her cracked lips.
Feeling brand new, she looked around for something to dry herself with but found none and she stood shivering a little from the chilly morning air and wondering what to do. She could let the air dry her but that meant she had to stay naked and Stranger could come in to check on her at any moment so she grabbed the shirt he'd left for her and slipped it on. It dwarfed her which was surprising because she wasn't a short person and the guy hadn't seemed much taller than her but she was slight, slimmer than his lanky, more filled out body and she guessed that accounted for the size of the shirt.
Hating the feeling of her dirty jeans on her skin, she pulled them on quickly and used the soap to wash her blouse as best as she could then she spread it on the door to dry and slipped back out into the living room.
Stranger didn't look like he'd moved but she knew he had because there was a bowl of garri and some water on the table. She sat down and peeked into the bowl wondering if it was for her. She was starving.
"Go on." He said. She reached for the bowl and poured the water into the cereal and dug into it.
"I'm sorry I couldn't find anything else. No one stays in this house."
"Why not?" She asked through a mouthful of food.
"It's a safe house. We stash weapons here and meet before a job."
"Weapons? What do you mean a job?" She asked suddenly scared again.
"What do you think?" He answered and she flashed back to the body she'd seen stuffed into the boot of the car the day before. Instantly she lost her appetite and dropped the bowl on the table. She wondered what they'd done with the body.
"Why are you telling me these things?" She asked.
"Why not? It's not like you can get away." He laughed.
"Finish your breakfast and stop being such a girl."
She picked up the bowl and resumed eating.
"So what's your name?" He asked and Nike sent him what she hoped was a ridiculous look. He wanted to play twenty questions after kidnapping her?
"Look we're going to be here together all day so we might as well talk."
She ignored him and finished her meal then sat back with her feet tucked under her and her arms wrapped around herself.
He rose and came back after a minute with her bag in his hand. He sat and with a dramatic sigh, laid out it's contents on the table between them. He picked up the phone and turned it over admiringly.
"Nice phone." He commented and she blinked. All she could think about was whether the phone had reception in the middle of nowhere where they were.
"Adenike Makinde." He said and she looked up to see her debit card in his hand. She scowled and closed her eyes.
"You know, for someone who's been kidnapped, you're very fiesty."
"You already said you're under authority. If you could kill me, you would have." She retorted.
"Doesn't mean I can't hurt you."
She opened her eyes. "Do you want to?"
He shook his head and she gave him a pointed look.
"Fair enough." He said. He picked up her phone again and fiddled with it. She didn't have a passcode and it unlocked easily.
Stranger grinned down at her phone then turned to screen to her.
"Who's this?"
Nike eyed the photo of Lola that was her wall paper. It had been taken at the pool and her sister, much shorter and curvier than she was was in a tiny black bikini pulling herself out of the pool with a smile. She kept her mouth zipped and he chuckled and kept going through her phone.
It made her uncomfortable that her whole life was in his palm. Her family photos, some of herself and her friends, conversations and her social media. It was all there for him to see.
"I wonder if they miss you already." She heard him say just before he turned on her mobile data and notifications began to flood in. So there was cell reception out there. Good to know, she'd need it if she ever got her hands on the phone.
"Look at this, there's a hashtag trending. Hastag find Nike." He laughed. He scrolled around then suddenly stopped laughing.
She jumped when he scowled at her and rose from his seat. Fear crawled back into her veins and she almost started crying.
"Your dad works with the governor?"
Nike nodded, almost in tears at his now violent pacing and shuddered when he swore loudly and turned off her phone then dug out her SIM card and broke it.
"Stay here!" He barked and stormed off. A door slammed and Nike shook.
She knew her parents would be looking for her and it probably complicated things for her captors that her father was close with the governor of the state. It meant they would deploy more man power to find her and they would. If they didn't kill her first.
She could hear stranger shouting in another room, probably on the phone.
"Complicated!" He shouted and Nike knew she was right. The shouting carried on for a while then he was back in front of her. And he was holding a gun.
The tears she'd been trying to hold back streamed down her face and she gasped through them.
"Please don't kill me." She begged.
"I should have done it earlier." He said and pointed the gun at her.
"No, please!"
He hissed and kicked the table swearing as he raised his arms above his head in anger.
"Fuck! Fuck! You stupid bitch!"
Terror coursed through her at the sudden change in him and she pressed herself further into the sofa hoping he wouldn't hit her. She was still in pain from yesterday's slap.
Eventually he calmed and sat again nittering to himself about how it wasn't a problem and his guys were good and they wouldn't be found.
Nike realized his discovery had changed their plans. They could no longer kill her as they had planned to. So what would they do?