Chapter 2

"I'd think twice about shooting me if I were you," the man continued as he pulled Stella across to give himself more cover. "Wouldn't want to shoot your colleague."

"Why don't you just let her go and we can talk," Grace tried.

"I don't want to talk."

"What is it that you want then?"

"You'll find out soon."

That was the same answer he gave Stella, and she could only assume the worst. There was something about the way he said it, how the air around her felt stuffy and like it was closing in around her. She had a bad feeling.

Behind her, she felt the man give a small nod, and then everything happened so fast. The tall and muscular guy jumped from behind some stacked boxes—Stella was far too preoccupied seeing Grace come through the door and never having felt so happy to see her, that she hadn't even noticed the guy had hidden.

"Don't move!" he said, aiming both his gun and Stella's Glock at Grace.

Stella struggled against the man's grip, but his arm was like steel, not budging. "Grace, leave."

Grace did a double take at Stella before shaking her head. "Just drop the guns and let her go."

"How about you drop the gun," the tall and muscular guy said, gesturing a gun in the direction of the ground.

"I can't do that," Grace responded.

"Don't do it," Stella said quietly, her teeth gritted.

"Drop it now," the man behind her said, and he lowered the gun to Stella's side, just below the Kevlar vest where it would get a clean shot, "Or this one gets a hole through her."

"Drop the weapon, now!" Grace's voice was stern as she aimed at the man, but it did nothing to persuade him.

Stella closed her eyes miserably when she heard the safety click off, and she felt compelled to hold her breath in anticipation.

"Put it down," it was unsettling how calm this man's voice remained.

"Grace, don't." Stella flinched when the gun dug into her side. She could feel her heart beat in her ears, and the blood rush from her face, when Grace's demeanour changed and she started gradually lowering her gun. Stella shook her head wildly, unable to speak. As soon as that gun was lowered they lost all control. "Grace..." her voice was low, warning.

Grace didn't look at Stella as she slowly put her gun on the ground and raised her hands. Grace started to make a move in a discreet attempt to make a call on her radio. Stella wasn't sure what was happening with the man behind her and if he saw it, but the other guy was barely paying attention as he put one of the guns he was holding into the waistband of his pants in preparation of retrieving Grace's, and he didn't seem to notice her slow movements. Stella could hear the moment she pressed the button, a soft click travelling through the air, which also all too soon alerted the tall and muscular guy into noticing, and he quickly took action. Happening within a mere few seconds, two large steps and he was beside her, looking much bigger than she'd originally thought, and the butt of his gun came down hard on the back of Grace's head.

"No!" Stella blurted as she watched Grace fall to the ground in an unconscious heap. Overwhelmed and forgetting all her training, she simply tried pulling away from the man to get to Grace, but like before, that proved useless. The tall and muscular guy quickly picked up the gun Grace had put down, and then reached into his back pocket, tossing a couple of zip ties to the man.

"Get it done quickly," the man said to the tall and muscular guy as he finally released his hold on Stella, only to push her forward, take off her vest, and bring her arms behind her to tie her wrists together. The tall and muscular guy ripped Grace's radio off, removed her vest, and unclipped her duty belt before flipping her onto her front and binding her hands behind her. He then lifted her up like she was as light as a feather and threw her over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Stella asked, turning around and actually seeing the man for the first time. His hair was close cropped and greying, and his eyes dark. Much the same as with Grace, the man took her radio and duty belt off before pushing her forward to walk to the back exit. "Where are you taking us?" she tried again after not getting an answer. She turned her head, and saw he was holding a gun at her again. He gave a shove to her shoulder, and she kept walking.

There was a small window of opportunity to get out of this mess, to take down at least one of the guys and alert Josh of what was happening, but she didn't want to risk one of them getting away with Grace on her own, especially in her condition, and as frustrating and hard as it was, she kept following the tall and muscular guy in front of her.

The door led straight outside, the light glaringly bright in contrast to the dimly lit warehouse, and Stella half expected to see Josh there. Instead, she was greeted with a musty smell and the noise from a nearby freeway or busy road. There was a grey sedan strategically parked behind a dumpster, and once they got to the car, the tall and muscular guy opened the boot. Stella knew what was going to happen next, and she started frantically looking around for Josh—for anyone—but there was no one around. There was no view to where they were from the front of the building or the street, and even then it was a quiet area. She just hoped Josh was getting suspicious and would come looking, reaching them before they left.

Having been distracted, Stella was taken aback when she heard a thump from the car, and looked to see Grace, still unconscious, lying in the boot. Without warning, she herself was all but picked up and thrown in next to her. "Hey. Hey! No! Stop!" but she was cut off by the boot slamming shut, and she automatically curled into herself and flinched away. She stayed still for a moment, and an eerie silence filled the air. She could feel Grace behind her, and she couldn't help but try to nudge her away in such a small space. The car rumbled to life, and the momentum of the careless reversing and then accelerating tossed the two into each other. After a while, a grunt came from Grace.

"Grace?"

There was nothing but the noise from the running engine for a few moments, and then Grace started moving, and her breathing got heavy and erratic, like she was panicking.

"Grace. Grace!" Stella tried, "Grace, hey—ow!—stop moving! We're in the back of a car."

"What?" she sounded confused.

"Those guys, they tied us up and put us in the boot," Stella explained. "How's your head?"

"It's fine," Grace replied, sounding distracted. After a few moments she quickly added, "Does Josh know what happened?"

"No, I don't think your boyfriend knows," Stella couldn't help herself. She'd kept it bottled up for long enough.

"He's not my boyfriend," Grace sighed, a mixture of annoyance and pain. "Does anyone know what happened?"

Stella shook her head, even though it was pointless in the dark. "I don't think so."

There was silence between them for several seconds before Stella piped up. "I hope you know this is all your fault."

"How is this my fault?" Grace scoffed.

"Because I'm not the one who gave up her only source of hope and got herself jumped."

"And I'm not the one who got into this mess in the first place."

"If you hadn't have given up your gun, we wouldn't even be in this situation."

"If I didn't, you'd probably be lying in a pool of your own blood by now," Grace countered.

"Well at least Josh would've heard the shot and would've come to help take these guys down. That's if he wasn't too busy thinking of ways to ruin his career by dating a co-worker."

"Don't bring Josh into this, Stella, he didn't even know what was going on."

"Clearly, otherwise we wouldn't be in here right now because he'd have gone all Rambo on their arse to save his girl."

"He's not my boyfriend! I'm not his girl!"

"Even your own husband can see what's going on, Grace!"

Each time they spoke, their voices got louder and had raised to yelling. Stella knew she'd crossed the line as soon as she said it, but it took her a few seconds to apologise. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"Does he really know?" Grace sounded hurt, though curious.

Stella fought back the urge to call her out on basically admitting she was having an affair. "I don't know. I just said it because I was mad," although they were far from friends, she still sugar coated it while simultaneously dodging the truth.

There was silence again. When she thought about it, Stella didn't know why she kept dissing Grace, especially when she didn't do it to Josh as well. Even though she didn't agree with what they were doing, she knew you couldn't help your feelings.

"Did you know about that second guy before I came in?" Grace asked quietly.

Stella groaned, remembering how stupid she was for not paying proper attention. "Yes. But believe it or not, I've never been more happy to see you, so forgive me if I forgot to mention the other guy," her answer came out defensive.

Surprising her, Grace didn't get frustrated. "I suppose we'd still end up being in a similar situation anyway."

"So how do we get out of this one?" Stella pulled against her bindings, testing them for what felt like the hundredth time. "Can you get out of the ties?"

There was movement behind her, and then a defeated sigh, "No."

"Can you turn around? Maybe I can try yours."

The enclosed space was unforgiving, mostly for Stella who was unintentionally pushed and kicked several times in the process. Finally, Grace had turned and they were back to back. Stella fumbled in the darkness to find Grace's hands and the zip ties, and then tried to put her fingernail underneath the tab of one of the ties. She attempted to push the tie back through the feed, but the zip ties on her own wrists were digging in, feeling like they were grinding into her skin. She tried again, but her fingernail kept slipping off the tab and she couldn't hold it up without the binds cutting into her. Stella let out a heavy, painful sigh, shaking her head. "I can't do it."

"Let me try." Grace found her hands and attempted to do the same. She wasn't sure if it was just because her wrists were more sensitive from the constant rubbing of the plastic, but she was sure Grace tightened them instead. "I'm sorry, they're too tight. I can't."

"Shit," Stella wasn't sure if there was anything they could do but wait. She had no idea why she and Grace were kidnapped, what these guys wanted, where they were going. From the travel time she estimated, she assumed they were outside the city, or at least close to it. The ride had become more smooth with less stopping, and there weren't as many vehicle noises.

They were getting farther away from help, and if they were going to get out of this situation, she and Grace would have to work together, however painful that may be.