***A Choose Your Own Adventure Story. Instructions and explanations can be found in Chapter One.***
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Chapter Eight: Holding Back
The thought of Juliet, or any of his other friends, being punished kept him from fighting back.
Once he was almost, but not quite fully down on his knees, Thomas heard movement from behind. Before he could react, he felt something hard connect with his back sending him violently stumbling forward. His left shoulder connected hard with the junction of two walls, taking the brunt of the impact before leaving him sprawled awkwardly on the floor.
He picked himself up off the ground as quickly as he could, ignoring the twinge of pain from his shoulder, and ran towards the front door of the guest house, hoping to see something which might help him find Higgins. As he stepped outside, Magnum heard rather than saw a car driving away. Pouring on as much speed as possible as he ran, he wasn't able to see the black SUV's license plate – or even if it had one in the first place.
As Thomas started back towards the guest house, he began cursing himself out for not reacting faster, feeling guilty he had no way to start tracking Higgins.
Immediately upon entering, Magnum searched the house for the phone he'd been given, not wanting to risk being out of touch with Ivan for long. It took him a minute or so before he'd found the damn thing because it had managed to end up underneath the couch.
As he stood up again, he rotated his shoulder this way and that, trying to determine if it had been injured from his up close and personal look at the wall of his house. Feeling it was only bruising, Thomas began to consider his next move.
Though Ivan said he had Higgins, and it was more than likely he did, Thomas didn't know if he should simply take the man's word for it.
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If Thomas takes Ivan's word that he has Higgins, go to Chapter Ten.
If Thomas goes to check on Higgins, go to Chapter Eleven.
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