The Devil's Assistant (Watty Awards Finalist 2011)

Devil's Assistant [4]

Chapter 4

My entire body trembled while my fingers blindly reached for the panic button under the edge of the desk. I had wondered why we needed them but now I understood the necessity of such precautions as I kept my widened eyes on the man. His finger rested tauntingly upon the trigger and it hit me with surprising certainty that Mr Satani had known this was going to happen. Why else would someone have a panic button?

Leaning back in the chair, I tried to blink back tears but they started to leak down my cheeks. The man with a crossbow blinked at me as his stance faltered for a moment. Quickly though, he took on a more determined stance. I didn’t care about his conscience or hesitation, only that the finger that was resting around the trigger kept tightening each time a strong emotion appeared upon his face.  I could only hope that they would let me and Danny go.

The man looked as if he was about to speak but my fingers finally found the panic button, the feel of it giving under my fingers finding no solace within my heart as the lights in the building instantly cut out. Remaining rigid and with Danny clutched within my arms, I stared blindly into the impenetrable darkness.

I let out a yelp as I slipped from my chair, Danny still cradled against my chest as my fingers fumbled for the edge of the desk. Once my fingers caught onto the corner, I let out a breath of relief and slid myself into the space where a person’s feet usually sat. My breath was coming out in nervous pants as I heard all of those people moving around but I was glad for the small reprieve of darkness as it cloaked me from their view. I also didn’t miss the fact that the guy had shot the crossbow as soon as I had ducked my head. I didn’t even want to think about the fact that if I had moved a second later I might have had an arrow through my head.

Less than a minute later the emergency lights came on, they bathed the room in a red hellish glow. I shivered in prospect of what was going to happen. I could already hear the masked hit men muttering from the other side of the desk. The shadow of the crazy crossbow man fell across the desk and onto the wall so that I could see he was still there. Tears welled in my eyes as I prayed over and over to whatever god existed that they would just leave us alone. Heart pounding in my chest, each breath passed my lips in erratic pants. Luck obviously wasn’t on my side as Danny started to squirm in my grasp before a loud wail escaped his lips. His empty mouth made me realise his dummy had fallen out at some point. No manner of shushing would quieten him.

The shouts from behind the desk and the ominous pounding of the slow deliberate footsteps got closer and closer as the masked fiends skirted around the edge of the desk and stopped before me. I took in a sharp breath as I coddled my baby close to me using my little finger to pacify him. The large mountain of the man, who had held a crossbow to my head, crouched down and with a smirk visible in the gaps of his balaclava, reached his thick stubby fingers towards me. Pressing back as far as I could, I yelped as his fingers caught my arm and tightened around it painfully. Struggling against his hold, I tried to pull away but when he tugged and dragged me out from the safety of the desk, I realised that there was no way I could resist without hurting Danny.

With a sigh I relented to his grasp, my whole body was trembling as I tried to fight the urge to either collapse to the floor or fight with all my power to get away. But I knew without even trying that I couldn’t get away. Not at the risk that he or another of his gang would harm Danny. They didn’t look like the sort to be forgiving or caring towards a child. They were cold blooded killers. I could see it in my captor’s eyes – the way the colour of his irises was irrelevant because they were glazed over with the intent to kill. They were cold – unfeeling.

Shivering as his gazed bore into me, I turned my gaze away from him while allowing him to roughly drag me into the centre of his group. He tossed me away from him causing me to stumble slightly before I managed to gain my balance. Pure terror had me staring at the men unblinkingly. I could only hope that this wasn’t it –this was not how I was going to die.